1978

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1940s  1950s  1960s  – 1970s –  1980s  1990s  2000s
Years:	1975 1976 1977 – 1978 – 1979 1980 1981

1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

• January 14 – The Sex Pistols played their final show (until a 1996 reunion) at San Francisco's Winterland
• April 22 – The Blues Brothers make their first appearance on Saturday Night Live. The duo of Jake & Elwood Blues (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) are introduced by Paul Shaffer (as Don Kirschner) and perform "Hey Bartender"
• April 26 – Ringo Starr's, Ringo, a musical version of The Prince and the Pauper airs on American television. Starr's fellow former Beatle George Harrison provides the narration
• May 8 – Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler are the first humans on the Mount Everest without oxygen tanks
• July 25 – First human birth from in vitro fertilization
• August 6 – Pope Paul VI dies at the age of 80. Albino Luciani become the new pope, Pope John Paul I
• August 17 – Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
• August 26 – The first Canada Jam Festival is held in Ontario, featuring sets by the Doobie Brothers, the Commodores, Kansas, Dave Mason, and the Atlanta Rhythm Section
• September 28 – Pope John Paul I dies after 34 days in office
• October 1 – Vietnam attacks Cambodia
• October 16 – Karol Wojtyła elected pope, and calls himself Pope John Paul II
• November 18 – Jim Jones and his followers commit suicide
• November 27 – San Francisco politician Dan White assassinates Harvey Milk and George Moscone
• December 21 - John Wayne Gacy is arrested for the killings of 33 boys and young men.
• Garfield, a comic strip, debuts
• Space Invaders is created by the Taito Corporation

Births

• January 13 – Tinga, Brazilian footballer
• January 28 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
• January 30 – Daniel Lindström, Swedish singer
• February 7 – Ashton Kutcher, American actor
• March 11 – Didier Drogba, Ivorian footballer
• March 21 – Kevin Federline, American doofus
• April 6 – Myleene Klass, English musician
• April 30 – Tom Fulp, Newgrounds creater
• May 22 – Katie Price, English model and singer
• June 9 – Matthew Bellamy, English singer
• June 9 – Miroslav Klose, Polish footballer
• June 11 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian actor
• June 19 – Dirk Nowitzki,
• June 21 – Frank Lampard, English footballer
• June 29 – Nicole Scherzinger, American singer and actress
• July 19 – Chiara Zanni, Canadian actress
• August 22 – Jeff Stinco, Canadian Musician- Simple Plan
• August 23 – Kobe Bryant, NBA star
• September 25 – Rafał Wiechecki, Polish politician
• September 28 – Bushido, German singer
• September 30 – Candice Michelle, American model and wrestler
• October 2 – Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer
• October 6 – Carolina Gynning, Swedish model
• October 5 – Gerald Asamoah, German footballer
• October 7 – Alesha Dixon, English singer
• October 26 - CM Punk, American professional wrestler
• November 25 – Ringo Shiina, Japanese singer
• December 2 – Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer
• December 2 – Chris Wolstenholme, English musician
• December 18 – Katie Holmes, American actress
• Alison Balsom, English musician
• Miri Ben-Ari, Israeli violinist

Deaths

• January 14 – Kurt Gödel, Czech mathematician (b. 1906)
• March 21 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, 5th President of Ireland (b. 1911)
• May 14 – Robert Menzies, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
• May 17 – Armin T. Wegner, German writer (b. 1886)
• August 6 – Pope Paul IV, heart attack (b. 1897)
• September 28 – Pope John Paul I (b. 1912)
• November 19 – Jim Jones, American cult leader (b. 1931)

Movies released

• The Deer Hunter
• Grease
• The Last Waltz
• The Lord of the Rings, animated movie by Ralph Bakshi
• Superman, starring Marlon Brando and Christopher Reeve

Nobel Prizes

• Nobel Prize in Physics – Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Arno Allan Penzias, Robert Woodrow Wilson
• Chemistry – Peter D Mitchell
• Medicine – Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, Hamilton O Smith
• Literature -Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polnish writer and journalist
• Peace – Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat and Menachem Begin
• Economics – Herbert Simon