1977 (MCMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1977th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 977th year of the 2nd millennium, the 77th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1970s decade.
Contents
Events
January
January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
January 11 – The first episode of Finnish children's TV show Pikku Kakkonen ("Little Number Two") is aired on Yle TV2.
January 17 – 49 Navy and Marine enlisted members on a landing craft from the USS Trenton and USS Guam are killed by a collision in Barcelona harbour, Spain.
January 18
Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.
Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, a suburb of Sydney, leaves 83 people dead.
SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
January 19 – An Ejército del Aire CASA C-207C Azor (registration T.7-15) plane crashes into the side of a mountain near Chiva, on approach to Valencia Airport in Spain, killing all 11 people on board.
January 20 - Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th President of the United States after defeating Gerald Ford in the 1976 election.
January 23 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India calls for fresh elections to the Lok Sabha, and releases all political prisoners.
January 24 – The Massacre of Atocha occurs, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
February
February 2 – The Congress Party of India, led by Indira Gandhi, splits with Jagjivan Ram and other senior leaders, forming Congress for Democracy. This party later merges with the Janata Party.
February 3 – In northern Japan a blizzard piles snow on rooftops, causing many to collapse killing at least 31 people.
February 4 – Eleven CTA commuters are killed when an elevated train derails from the Loop in central Chicago, United States.
February 7 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24 (Viktor Gorbatko, Yury Glazkov) to dock with the Salyut 5 space station.
February 18
American Space Shuttle program: First test flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise mated to the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignites wreaths to the late Mao Zedong, killing 694 people, mostly children. It remains the deadliest fire in China.
February 23 – Óscar Romero, an outspoken opponent of violence, becomes Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.
February 28 – Queen Elizabeth II opens the New Zealand Parliament in person, after Parliament is summoned for a special short session to allow her to deliver the Speech from the Throne.
March
March 4 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in the Vrancea Mountains of Romania kills over 1,500 people.
March 8 – The Australian parliament is opened by Elizabeth II in her capacity as Queen of Australia.
March 9 – Hanafi Siege: Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Movement members take over 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., killing 1 person and taking 149 hostages (the hostage situation ends 2 days later).
March 10 – The rings of Uranus are discovered.
March 12 – The Centenary Test between Australia and England begins at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
March 19 – Results of elections to the Indian Parliament are declared. Indira Gandhi's Congress Party is routed by the opposition Janata alliance.
March 21 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi withdraws the state of emergency which was implemented on June 25, 1975.
March 27 – Tenerife disaster: A collision between KLM and Pan Am Boeing 747s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, kills 583 people. This becomes the deadliest accident in aviation history.
April
April 2 – Horse racing: Red Rum wins a record third Grand National at Aintree Racecourse in the UK.
April 4 – Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes on a highway in New Hope, Georgia, United States, killing 72 people.
April 7 – German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light near his home in Karlsruhe. The "Ulrike Meinhof Commando" later claims responsibility.
April 9 – Spain legalizes the Communist Party of Spain, which had been outlawed since 1939.
April 11 – London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.
April 17 – Belgian prime minister Leo Tindemans' Christian Social Party gains eight seats in the lower house in parliamentary elections.
April 18 – An annular solar eclipse was visible in Africa, and was the 29th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 138.
April 24 – In northern Bangladesh, a cyclone kills 13 people and injures about 100 others.
April 28 – A federal court in Stuttgart, West Germany, sentences Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment.
April 30 – The Cold War between Cambodia and Vietnam evolves into the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
May
May 1 – The Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul results in 34 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
May 12 – Portugal and Israel establish diplomatic relations.
May 14 – An IAS Cargo Boeing 707 airplane crash in Lusaka, Zambia, kills all six on board.
May 16 – A 20-passenger S-61L topples sideways at takeoff from the roof of the Pan Am Building in Midtown Manhattan. Four passengers are killed by the turning rotors and a woman at street level is killed by a falling blade.
May 17 – The Likud Party, led by Menachem Begin, wins the national elections in Israel.
May 23
Scientists report using bacteria in a lab to make insulin via gene splicing.
Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages), and a passenger train on the Bovensmilde–Assen route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. The children are released on May 26. On June 11, Dutch Royal Marines storm the train, and six terrorists and two hostages are killed.
May 25 - Star Wars is released in the United States by director George Lucas, It immediately became a major pop culture phenomenon, and became a major box office hit for the next 6 years.
May 27
The 1977 Aeroflot Ilyushin 62 airplane crash in Cuba kills 69 people.
A demonstration and coup attempt in Angola takes place. Thousands are killed by the government and Cuban forces.
May 28 – The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, United States, is engulfed in fire; 165 are killed inside.
June
June 5 – A bloodless coup installs France-Albert René as President of the Seychelles.
June 15 – Spain has its first democratic elections, after 41 years of Francoist Spain.
June 21 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (40th government since the founding of the Turkish republic, but fails to receive the vote of confidence).
June 25 – The 1977 Rugby League World Cup culminates in Australia's 13–12 victory over Great Britain at the Sydney Cricket Ground before about 24,450 spectators.
June 27
Djibouti receives its independence from France.
Constitution for the Federation of Earth is adopted by the second session of the World Constituent Assembly, held at Innsbruck, Austria.
June 30 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is permanently disbanded.
July
July 1
The East African Community is dissolved.
The Championships, Wimbledon (tennis) – Virginia Wade wins the women's singles title in the centenary year of the tournament, Wade's first and only Wimbledon title and her third and final Grand Slam title overall; she remains the last British woman to win the singles title at Wimbledon.
July 5 – General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrows Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
July 9 – The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile organises the youth event of Acto de Chacarillas, a ritualised act reminiscent of Francoist Spain.
July 10 – A temperature of 48.0 °C (118.4 °F), a record for continental Europe, is recorded in Greece.
July 13
Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ethio-Somali War.
New York City is affected by a complete electricity blackout lasting through the following day that results in citywide looting and other criminal activity, including arson.
July 21–24 – The Libyan–Egyptian War, sparked by a Libyan raid on Sallum, begins.
July 21 – Süleyman Demirel, of AP forms the new government of Turkey (41st government a three-party coalition, so-called second national front (Turkish: Milliyetçi cephe)).
July 22 – The purged Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power nine months after the "Gang of Four" was expelled from power in a coup d'état.
July 27 – The Soviet Politburo orders Boris Yeltsin to demolish the Ipatiev House, where Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family were shot in 1918. Yeltsin later refers to this as a barbarian act.
August
August 4 – U.S. president Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
August 9 – The military-controlled government of Uruguay announces that it will return the nation to civilian rule through general elections in 1981 for a president and Congress.
August 12 – The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise, makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
August 15
The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the Wow! signal for a notation made by a volunteer on the project.
Nazi war criminal Herbert Kappler escapes from the Caelian Hill military hospital in Rome.
August 17 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
August 20 – Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
August 26 – The National Assembly of Quebec passes the Charter of the French Language (Law 101, La charte de la langue française) making French the official language of the Canadian province of Quebec.
September
September 4 – The Golden Dragon massacre, involving rival Chinatown gangs, takes place in San Francisco, United States. Five are killed.
September 5
Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.
German Autumn: Employers Association President Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany. The kidnappers kill three escorting police officers and his chauffeur. They demand the release of Red Army Faction prisoners.
September 7 – Torrijos-Carter treaties: Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The U.S. agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.
September 8 – Interpol issues a resolution against the copyright infringement of video tapes and other material, which is still cited in warnings on opening pre-credits of videocassettes and DVDs.
September 10 – Murderer Hamida Djandoubi is the last person executed by guillotine in France (at Marseille) and the last legal beheading in the Western world.
September 15 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic, as an Italian company in Turin, Centro Studi e Laboratori Telecomunicazioni (CSELT) begins operation of two telephone exchanges.
September 18 – Courageous (U.S.), skippered by Ted Turner, sweeps the Australian challenger Australia in the 24th America's Cup yacht race at Newport, Rhode Island.
September 19
Under pressure from the Carter Administration, President of Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza Debayle lifts the state of siege in Nicaragua.
October
October 1 – Energy Research and Development Administration combines with the Federal Energy Administration to form United States Department of Energy.
October 7
The Soviet Union adopts its third Constitution. The Soviet National Anthem's lyrics are returned after a 24-year period, with Joseph Stalin's name omitted.
Pelé plays his final professional football game, as a member of the New York Cosmos.
October 13 – German Autumn: Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand the release of 11 Red Army Faction members.
October 17–18 – German Autumn: GSG 9 troopers storm the hijacked Lufthansa passenger plane in Mogadishu, Somalia; three of the four hijackers die.
October 18 – German Autumn: Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin commit suicide in Stammheim prison; Irmgard Möller fails (their supporters still claim they were murdered). They are buried on October 27.
October 19 – German Autumn: Kidnapped industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer is found murdered in Mulhouse, France.
October 20 – Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a charter plane crash outside Gillsburg, Mississippi, three days after the release of their fifth studio album Street Survivors.
October 21 – The European Patent Institute is founded.
October 23 – The president of Catalonia, Josep Tarradellas, returns to Barcelona from exile and the autonomous government of Catalonia, the Generalitat, is restored.
October 26
November
November 1 – 2060 Chiron, first of the outer Solar System asteroids known as Centaurs, is discovered by Charlie Kowal.
November 2 – The worst storm in Athens' modern history causes havoc across the Greek capital and kills 38 people.
November 6 – The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, United States, fails, killing 39 people.
November 8
Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.
San Francisco elects City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the U.S.
November 9 – Gen. Hugo Banzer, president of the military government of Bolivia, announces that the constitutional democracy will be restored in 1978 instead of 1980 as previously provided.
November 19
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to make an official visit to Israel, when he meets with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
TAP Portugal Flight 425 crashes at Madeira Airport, Funchal, Portugal, killing 131 and leaving 33 survivors.
November 22
British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
The TCP/IP test succeeds, connecting 3 ARPANET nodes (of 111), in what eventually becomes the Internet protocol. See Packet Radio Van
December
December – The Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific (CESDAP) is implemented.
December 4
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself emperor.
Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia, killing all 100 passengers and crew on board.
December 6 – South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.
December 10 – 1977 Australian federal election: Malcolm Fraser's Liberal/National Country Coalition government is re-elected with a slightly reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Consequently, Whitlam resigns as ALP leader after holding the job for nearly 11 years; he is replaced by former treasurer Bill Hayden.
December 13 – a chartered Douglas DC-3 aircraft carrying the University of Evansville basketball team to Nashville, Tennessee, crashes in rain and dense fog about 90 seconds after takeoff from Evansville Regional Airport; 29 people die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and head coach Bob Watson.
December 18 – SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730, an international charter service from Zurich to Funchal Airport (Madeira), hits the sea during a landing attempt. Many of the 36 who die drown, trapped inside the sinking aircraft. Twenty-one people survive with the help of rescuers and by swimming to the shore.
December 19 – The Mw 5.9 Bob–Tangol earthquake rocks Iran, killing at least 584 people and injuring 1,000.
December 20 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
Births
January
January 1 – Hasan Salihamidžić, Bosnian footballer
January 3 – Mayumi Iizuka, Japanese voice actress
January 4 – Irán Castillo, Mexican actress and singer
January 10 - Michelle O'Neill, Northern Irish politician, First Minister of Northern Ireland
January 11
Anni Friesinger-Postma, German speed skater
Devin Ratray, American actor
January 13 – Orlando Bloom, British actor
January 14 – Narain Karthikeyan, Indian Formula One driver
January 15 – Giorgia Meloni, Italian politician
January 17 – Leigh Whannell, Australian actor and writer
January 21 – Jerry Trainor, American actor, comedian and musician
January 22 – Hidetoshi Nakata, Japanese footballer
January 25 – Hatem Trabelsi, Tunisian footballer
January 26 – Vince Carter, American basketball player
January 28 – Takuma Sato, Japanese racing driver
January 31
Bobby Moynihan, American actor, comedian, producer and writer
February
February 2 – Shakira, Colombian singer-songwriter and musician
February 5 – Ben Ainslie, British sailor
February 7 – Mariusz Pudzianowski, Polish strongman
February 11 – Mike Shinoda, American musician, singer and rapper
February 18
Ike Barinholtz, American actor, comedian and screenwriter
László Nemes, Hungarian film director and screenwriter
February 19 – Gianluca Zambrotta, Italian footballer
February 20
Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
Gail Kim, Canadian professional wrestler and actress
February 21 – Jonathan Safran Foer, American author
February 23 – Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, Estonian skier
February 24 – Floyd Mayweather Jr., American boxing champion
February 25 – Hakan Yakin, Turkish football player and coach
February 26
Olsi Baze, columnist, writer and human rights activist.
Shane Williams, Welsh rugby player
February 28
March
March 1 – Rens Blom, Dutch athlete
March 2 – Chris Martin, British rock musician
March 3 – Ronan Keating, Irish singer
March 4 – Ana Guevara, Mexican track and field athlete and politician
March 6
Paquillo Fernández, Spanish race walker
Santino Marella, Canadian professional wrestler
March 7
Ronan O'Gara, Irish rugby player
March 8 – James Van Der Beek, American actor (d. 2026)
March 9
Peter Enckelman, Finnish footballer
Shannon Miller, American gymnast
March 10 – Robin Thicke, American-Canadian R&B singer-songwriter and actor
March 11 – Becky Hammon, American basketball player
March 14
Matthew Booth, South African footballer
Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (d. 2011)
Kim Nam-il, South Korean footballer
March 15 – Brian Tee, Japanese American actor
March 16 – Mónica Cruz, Spanish actress and dancer
April
April 1 – Vitor Belfort, Brazilian mixed martial artist
April 2
Michael Fassbender, Irish-German actor
Nicki Pedersen, Danish speedway rider
April 5
Jonathan Erlich, Israeli tennis player
Daniel Majstorović, Swedish soccer player
April 9 – Gerard Way, American musician and comic book writer
April 10 – Cristiano Zanetti, Italian footballer
April 12
Tobias Angerer, German cross-country skier
Gemma Mengual, Spanish synchronised swimmer
April 14
Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress
Rob McElhenney, American actor
April 16 – Freddie Ljungberg, Swedish footballer
April 17 – Frederik Magle, Danish composer, concert organist, and pianist
April 21 – Jamie Salé, Canadian figure skater
April 22
Mark van Bommel, Dutch football player and coach
Steven Price, British film composer
May
May 4 – Emily Perkins, Canadian actress
May 5
Choi Kang-hee, South Korean actress
Virginie Efira, Belgian actress and television anchor
Jessica Schwarz, German film and television actress
May 9 – Marek Jankulovski, Czech footballer
May 10 – Nick Heidfeld, German racing driver
May 11
Janne Ahonen, Finnish ski jumper
Victor Matfield, South African rugby player
May 12 – Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (d. 2017)
May 13
Samantha Morton, English actress
Tarik Sektioui, Moroccan footballer
May 14 – Roy Halladay, American baseball player (d. 2017)
May 16
Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress
Emilíana Torrini, Icelandic singer
May 23
Richard Ayoade, British actor and presenter
Ilia Kulik, Russian figure skater
Yevgeny Rodionov, Russian soldier (d. 1996)
June
June 1
Sarah Wayne Callies, American actress
Jónsi, Icelandic singer
June 2 – Zachary Quinto, American actor
June 7
Chen Luyun, Chinese basketball player (d. 2015)
Donovan Ricketts, Jamaican footballer
June 8 – Kanye West, American rapper and record producer
June 9 – Peja Stojaković, Serbian basketball player
June 11
Kim Hee-sun, South Korean actress
Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer
June 12 – Ana Tijoux, French-Chilean musician
June 17 – Bartosz Brożek, Polish philosopher and jurist
June 18 – Kaja Kallas, 19th prime minister of Estonia
June 21 – Jochen Hecht, German ice hockey player
June 23 – Jason Mraz, American singer-songwriter
June 24 – Amir Talai, American actor
June 25
Layla El, English dancer, model, and retired professional wrestler
Naoya Tsukahara, Japanese gymnast
July
July 1 – Liv Tyler, American actress
July 2 – Carl Froch, British boxer
July 5 – Nicolas Kiefer, German tennis player
July 6
Audrey Fleurot, French actress
Max Mirnyi, Belarusian tennis player
July 8
Milo Ventimiglia, American actor
Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player
July 10 – Chiwetel Ejiofor, English actor
July 11 – Finau Maka, Tongan rugby union footballer
July 12
Steve Howey, American actor
Brock Lesnar, American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist
July 13 – Kari Wahlgren, American voice actress
July 14 – Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden
July 15 – Lana Parrilla, American actress
July 18 – Alexander Morozevich, Russian chess Grandmaster
July 21
Paul Casey, English golfer
Allison Wagner, American swimmer
July 24
August
August 2 – Edward Furlong, American actor
August 3 – Tom Brady, American football player and entrepreneur
August 8 – Marílson Gomes dos Santos, Brazilian long-distance runner
August 9 – Chamique Holdsclaw, American basketball player
August 12
Jesper Grønkjær, Danish footballer
Iva Majoli, Croatian tennis player
August 13 – Michael Klim, Australian swimmer
August 15
Martin Biron, Canadian hockey player
Igor Cassina, Italian gymnast
August 16 – Tamer Hosny, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actor
August 17
Tarja Turunen, Finnish operatic soprano
Thierry Henry, French footballer
William Gallas, French footballer
August 18 – Lukáš Bauer, Czech cross-country skier
August 20
Felipe Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
Manuel Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
Henning Stensrud, Norwegian ski jumper
September
September 1 – David Albelda, Spanish footballer
September 2
Frédéric Kanouté, Malian soccer player
Elitsa Todorova, Bulgarian singer-songwriter
September 4 – Lucie Silvas, English singer
September 5 – Sin Cara, Mexican-American professional wrestler
September 6 – Katalin Novák, Hungarian politician
September 9 – Soulja Slim, American rapper (d. 2003)
September 11 – Ludacris, American rapper and actor
September 12
2 Chainz, American rapper
Idan Raichel, Israeli singer-songwriter
September 13 – Fiona Apple, American singer
September 15
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author
Tom Hardy, English actor
Jason Terry, American basketball player
September 18 – Kieran West, British Olympic oarsman
September 20 – Namie Amuro, Japanese singer
September 23 – Suzanne Tamim, Lebanese singer, actress, and murder victim (d. 2008)
October
October 1 - Claudia Palacios, Colombian journalist and newsreader
October 2 – Didier Défago, Swiss Olympic alpine skier
October 3 – Antonio Di Natale, Italian football player and coach
October 4
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, French politician
Bowie Jane, Australian DJ, singer, producer, lawyer and contestant on Big Brother Season 25
October 6 – Daniel Brière, Canadian ice hockey player and executive
October 8 – Anne-Caroline Chausson, French mountain bicycle racer
October 10 – Brandon Vera, Filipino-American retired mixed martial artist and former ONE Heavyweight World Champion
October 11 - Matt Bomer, American film, stage, and television actor
October 12 – Bode Miller, American skier
October 13
Paul Pierce, American basketball player
Kiele Sanchez, American actress
October 14
Kelly Schumacher, American basketball and volleyball player
Oleg Velyky, Ukrainian and German handball player World champion 2007 (d. 2010)
October 15 – David Trezeguet, French footballer
November
November 10 – Brittany Murphy, American actress and singer (d. 2009)
November 11
Maniche, Portuguese footballer
Scoot McNairy, American actor
November 13 – Huang Xiaoming, Chinese actor and singer
November 16
Oksana Baiul, Ukrainian figure skater
Maggie Gyllenhaal, American actress
November 17 – Ryk Neethling, South African swimmer
November 18 – Trent Barrett, Australian rugby league player
November 19
Mette Frederiksen, Danish politician
Kerri Strug, American gymnast
November 21 – Tobias Sammet, German singer and songwriter
November 24 – Colin Hanks, American actor
November 28 – Fabio Grosso, Italian football player and coach
November 30 – Nelsan Ellis, African-American film and television actor and playwright (d. 2017)
December
December 1 – Brad Delson, American musician (Linkin Park)
December 2 – Nancy Mace, American politician
December 6 – Andrew Flintoff, English cricketer
December 7 – Luke Donald, English golfer
December 8
Elsa Benítez, Mexican model and television host
Sébastien Chabal, French rugby union player
Matthias Schoenaerts, Belgian actor and producer
December 10 – Andrea Henkel, German professional biathlete
December 12 – Adam Saitiev, Chechen wrestler, Olympic gold medalist
December 16
Anu Nieminen, Finnish badminton player
René Redzepi, Danish chef
December 17 – Oxana Fedorova, Russian model
December 20 – Sonja Aldén, Swedish pop singer
December 21
Gregor Horvatič, Slovenian politician
Emmanuel Macron, 25th president of France
December 23 – Jari Mäenpää, Finnish musician
December 24 – Domingo Vega, also known as Américo, Chilean singer
Nobel Prizes
Physics – Philip Warren Anderson, Sir Nevill Francis Mott, John Hasbrouck Van Vleck
Chemistry – Ilya Prigogine
Physiology or Medicine – Roger Guillemin, Andrew Schally, Rosalyn Yalow
Literature – Vicente Aleixandre
Peace – Amnesty International
Economics – Bertil Ohlin, James Meade