1978

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

• 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
  • Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom
• 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^[1]
• 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

• January 13 – Tinga, Brazilian footballer
• January 14 - Abdelaziz Ahanfouf, German-Moroccan footballer
• January 25 – Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 6th President of Ukraine
• January 28 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
• January 30 – Daniel Lindström, Swedish singer

• February 7 – Ashton Kutcher, American actor

• March 7 – Azis, Bulgarian singer
• March 11 – Didier Drogba, Ivorian footballer
• March 21 – Kevin Federline, American doofus

• April 4 - Sam Moran, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
• April 6 – Myleene Klass, English musician
• April 30 – Tom Fulp, Newgrounds creater

• May 1 – Belal Jadallah, Palestinian journalist
• May 22 – Katie Price, English model and singer

• June 9 – Matthew Bellamy, English singer
• June 9 – Miroslav Klose, Polish-German footballer
• June 11 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian actor
• June 19 – Dirk Nowitzki, German basketball player
• June 20 – Frank Lampard, English footballer
• June 21 – Gervase Markham, British computer programmer and blogger (d. 2018)
• June 29 – Nicole Scherzinger, American singer and actress

• July 19 – Chiara Zanni, Canadian actress

• August 22 – Jeff Stinco, Canadian musician
• August 23 – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player (d. 2020)

• 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

• January 1 – Nicolae Simatoc, Romanian football player (b. 1920)
• January 5 – Sally Eilers, American actress (b. 1908)
• January 8 – André François-Poncet, French politician (b. 1887)
• January 13 – Hubert Humphrey, 38th Vice President of the United States (b. 1911)
• January 14 – Kurt Gödel, Czech mathematician (b. 1906)
• January 28 – Greta Johansson, Swedish diver (b. 1895)

• February 2 – Wendy Barrie, English actress (b. 1912)
• February 9 – Hans Stuck, German racing driver (b. 1900)

• March 21 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, 5th President of Ireland (b. 1911)

• April 16 – Philibert Tsiranana, 1st President of Madagascar (b. 1912)

• May 1 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (b. 1903)
• May 2 – Vong Savang, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Laos (b. 1931)
• May 9 – Aldo Moro, 38th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1916)
• May 13 – Sisavang Vatthana, 3rd Prime Minister of The Kingdom of Laos (b. 1907)
• May 14 – Robert Menzies, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
• May 17 – Armin T. Wegner, German writer (b. 1886)
• May 24 – Cyrille Adoula, 4th Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1921)
• May 30 – Tetsu Katayama, 46th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
• May 31 – József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)

• June 2 – Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer (b. 1895)
• June 12 – Guo Moruo, Chinese politician (b. 1892)
• June 24 – Ahmad al-Ghashmi, President of North Yemen (b. 1941)

• July 26 – Mary Blair, American artist (b. 1911)

• August 6 – Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)
• August 6 – Edward Durrell Stone, American architect (b. 1902)
• August 22 – Jomo Kenyatta, 1st President of Kenya (b. 1894)
• August 26 – Charles Boyer, French actor (b. 1899)
• August 26 – José Manuel Moreno, Argentine footballer (b. 1916)

• September 7 - Keith Moon, English drummer (b. 1946)
• September 28 – Pope John Paul I (b. 1912)

• October 9 – Jacques Brel, Belgian musician (b. 1929)
• October 17 – Giovanni Gronchi, 3rd President of Italy (b. 1887)

• November 15 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (b. 1901)
• November 19 – Jim Jones, American cult leader (b. 1931)

• December 3 – Golda Meir, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)
• December 10 – Ed Wood, American screenwriter (b. 1924)
• December 11 – Raúl Alberto Lastiri, 39th President of Argentina (b. 1915)
• December 27 – Houari Boumédiène, 2nd President of Algeria (b. 1932)

• 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