1973
|
'''1973''' '''(MCMLXXIII)''' was a common year starting on Monday.
Events
January
January 1 - United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark enter the ''European Economic Community'', now known as the European Union.
January 3 - Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led by George Steinbrenner.
January 15 - Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President of the United States Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
January 17 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines.
January 22 - Supreme Court of the United States rules on Roe v. Wade.
January 22 - George Foreman breaks Joe Frazier's professional career undefeated heavyweight world boxing champion status.
January 22 - Nigerian Airlines passenger plane from Mecca crashes in Kano, Nigeria - 176 dead.
January 23 - The eruption of Eldfell on the Icelandic island of Heimaey begins.
January 23 - President of the United States|President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
January 25 - Derren Nesbitt convicted of assaulting Anne Aubrey
January 27 - U.S. involvement in Vietnam War ends with the signing of peace pacts. See Paris Peace Accords.
February
February 11 - Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
February 12 - Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post distance in SI|metric on signs. (See: Metric system in the United States)
February 21 - Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down a Libyan Arab Airlines jet killing 100.
February 22 - Sino-American relations: Following President Richard Nixon's Nixon visit to China 1972|visit to mainland China, the United States and the People's Republic of China agree to establish liaison offices.
February 27 - The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
March
March 1 - The New York Joffrey Ballet's ''Deuce Coupe Ballet'' opens. The ballet is set entirely around music by The Beach Boys.
March 7 - Comet Kohoutek is discovered.
March 8 - Irish Republican Army|IRA bombs explode in the Whitehall and the Old Bailey.
March 16 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Elizabeth II opens the New London Bridge.
March 29 - The last United States soldiers leave Vietnam.
March 31 - Paramount's Carowinds opens for the first time.
April
April 2 - Launch of LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
April 4 - World Trade Center officially opens in New York with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
April 6 - Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
April 17 -Germany|German GSG-9 group formed officially
May
May 5 - Shambu Tamang becomes the youngest person to climb to the summit of Mount Everest.
May 8 - A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement who were occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ends with the surrender of the militants.
May 10 - Polisario formed.
May 14 - ''Skylab'', the United States' first space station, is launched.
May 17 - Watergate scandal: Hearings begin in the United States Senate and are television|televised.
May 27 - By the virtue of non-retroactiveness of the copyright laws of the USSR, all works published before this date are public domain. This applies worldwide.
June
June 1 - Greece|Greek military junta abolishes the monarchy and proclaims a republic.
June 3 - Tupolev Tu-144 crashes at the Paris air show - 15 dead.
June 4 - patent for the automated teller machine|ATM granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
June 9 - Secretariat (racehorse)|Secretariat wins the Belmont Stakes becoming the first Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing winner since 1948.
June 10 - Grandson of J. Paul Getty is kidnapped in Rome.
June 22 - W. Mark Felt|William Mark Felt retires from the FBI.
June 25 - Erskine Hamilton Childers is elected the fourth President of Ireland.
June 26 - On Plesetsk Cosmodrome 9 persons were killed at an explosion of a Cosmos 3-M rocket.
June 30 - Very long total solar eclipse. During the entire Second Millennium, only seven total solar eclipses exceeded seven minutes of totality.
July
July 1 - US Drug Enforcement Agency founded.
July 5 - Isle of Man begins to issue its own postage stamps
July 10 - The Bahamas gain full independence within the British Commonwealth.
July 12 - A major fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The disaster comes to be known as the 1973 National Archives Fire.
July 16 - Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander Butterfield informs the United States Senate committee investigating the scandal that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
July 20 - France resumes nuclear bomb tests in Mururoa Atoll over protestations of Australia and New Zealand.
July 25 - Soviet Union|Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.
July 28 - Watkins Glen Summer Jam, a massive rock festival featuring The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band and The Band attracts over 600,000 music fans.
July 30 - An 11-year legal action for the victims of Thalidomide ends.
July 31 - Militant protesters of Ian Paisley disrupt the first sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly
August
August 2 - Flash fire kills 51 at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas, Isle of Man.
August 5 - Black September (group)|Black September members open fire at Athens airport - 3 dead, 55 injured.
August 8 - 1973 Kidnapping of Kim Dae-Jung
August 13 - The film of ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is released.
August 15 - The U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, marking the official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia.
September 22 - Henry Kissinger, United States National Security Advisor, starts his term as United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State.
September
September 11 - Chile's democratically-elected government is overthrown in a military coup after serious instability. President Salvador Allende dies, and General Augusto Pinochet heads a military junta that will govern Chile for the next 16 years.
September 15 - Sweden's king Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden|Gustav VI Adolf dies. Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden|Carl XVI Gustav becomes king.
September 18 - The two German Republics, the BRD and the East Germany|DDR, are United Nations member states|admitted to the United Nations.
September 20 - Billed as ''The Battle of the Sexes'', Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
September 28 - ITT was bombed in New York City as a protest of their involvement with the Coup in Chile.
October
October 6 - Yom Kippur War - Fourth and largest Arab-Israel|Israeli conflict begins as Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel as Jews mark Yom Kippur.
October 10 - Spiro T. Agnew resigns as vice president of the United States and then, in federal court in Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore, pleads no contest to charges of evasion of income taxes on $29,500 he received in 1967 while he was governor of Maryland. He is fined $10,000 and put on three years' probation.
October 17 - Arab Oil Embargo against several countries which gave support to Israel, triggerring the 1973 energy crisis.
October 20 - The Saturday Night Massacre.
October 20 - Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Elizabeth II.
October 26 - Yom Kippur War ends.
October 27 - The Canyon City meteorite, a 1.4 kilogram|kg chondrite type meteorite struck earth in Fremont County, Colorado.
November
November 1: Watergate scandal, acting Attorney General Robert Bork appointed Leon Jaworski as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor.
November 3 - Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury (planet)|Mercury (on March 29, 1974 it became the first space probe to reach that planet).
November 7 - The Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress overrides President Richard M. Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limits presidential power to wage war without congressional approval.
November 11 - Egypt and Israel sign a United States-sponsored cease-fire accord.
November 14 - In the United Kingdom, Anne, Princess Royal|Princess Anne marries a commoner, Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey (they divorced in 1992).
November 16 - Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.
November 16 - US President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.
November 17 - Watergate scandal: In Orlando, Florida, US President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook."
November 17 - Student uprising against the military regime in Athens, Greece.
November 21 - President Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Bushardt, revealed the existence of an 18-and-a-half-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
November 25 - Greece|Greek Dictator George Papadopoulos is ousted in military coup led by Lieutenant General Phaidon Gizikis.
November 27 - The United States Senate votes 92 to 3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States (on December 6, the United States House of Representatives|House confirmed him 387 to 35).
December
December - Chile breaks diplomatic contacts with Sweden.
December 1 - Papua New Guinea gains self government from Australia.
December 3 - Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter.
December 15 - Gay rights: The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its DSM-II.
December 23 - The OPEC doubles the price of crude oil.
December 30 - Terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez|Carlos fails in his attempt to assassinate British businessman Joseph Sieff.
December 31 - In the United Kingdom|UK, as a result of high coal and oil prices, the Three-Day Week officially comes into force.
Unknown dates
The National House Building Council was formed in the United Kingdom.
The COSC The Swiss Official Chronometer testing Institute was founded in Switzerland by 5 Watch Cantons of Switzerland|Cantons & FH, Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.
Title Queen of Australia created
Fictional events
December 6 - Susie Salmon murdered, in Alice Sebold's ''The Lovely Bones''.
Births
January
January 1 - Danny Lloyd, American actor
January 8 - Sean Paul, Jamaican singer
January 11 - Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer
January 13 - Nikolai Khabibulin, Russian hockey player
January 14 - Giancarlo Fisichella, Italian race car driver
January 15 - Tomás Galásek, Czech football player
January 17 - Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican football player
January 18 - Crispian Mills, British musician (The Jeevas and Kula Shaker)
January 19 - Karen Lancaume, French actress (d. 2005)
January 29 - Jason Schmidt, baseball player
February
February 4 - Oscar De La Hoya, American boxer
February 11 - Varg Vikernes, Norwegian musician (Burzum)
February 14 - Steve McNair, American football player
February 16 - Cathy Freeman, Australian athlete
February 17 - Amy Van Dyken, American swimmer
February 20 - Kimberley Davies, Australian actress
February 22 - Shota Arveladze, Georgian football player
February 24 - Jordan Jovtchev, Bulgarian gymnast
February 26 - Marshall Faulk, American football player
February 26 - Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
February 28 - Eric Lindros, Canadian hockey player
March
March 1 - Ryan Peake, Canadian guitarist (Nickelback)
March 9 - Aaron Boone, baseball player
March 13 - Edgar Davids, Dutch football player
March 17 - Caroline Corr, Irish musician (The Corrs)
March 23 - Jason Kidd, American basketball player
March 29 - Marc Overmars, Dutch football player
March 30 - Adam Goldstein, American DJ
April
April 1 - Stephen Fleming, New Zealand cricket captains
April 4 - David Blaine, American magician
April 5 - Pharrell Williams, American musician and producer (The Neptunes)
April 6 - Rie Miyazawa, Japanese actress and singer
April 8 - Bobby Ologun, Nigerian television performer and martial artist
April 10 - Roberto Carlos, Brazilian football player
April 11 - Jennifer Esposito, American actress
April 24 - Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
April 28 - Elisabeth Röhm, American actress
May
May 1 - Oliver Neuville, German football player
May 3 - Michael Reiziger, Dutch football player
May 10 - Dario Franchitti, Scottish race car driver
May 14 - Natalie Appleton, Canadian singer (All Saints (band)|All Saints)
May 16 - Tori Spelling, American actress
May 30 - Leigh Francis, British comedian
May 31 - Dominique van Roost, Belgian tennis player
June
June 1 - Fred Deburghgraeve, Belgian swimmer
June 1 - Heidi Klum, German model
June 1 - Derek Lowe, baseball player
June 8 - Lexa Doig, Canadian actress
June 9 - Tedy Bruschi, American football player
June 9 - Iain Lee, British comedian and radio and television presenter
June 10 - Faith Evans, American singer
June 12 - Darryl White, Australian footballer
June 13 - Sam Adams (football player)|Sam Adams, American football player
June 22 - Carson Daly, American talk show host
June 26 - Gretchen Wilson, American singer
June 28 - Adrian Annus, Hungarian athlete
June 30 - Chan Ho Park, Korean Major League Baseball player
July
July 4 - Gackt, Japanese singer
July 9 - Kelly Holcomb, American football player
July 11 - Konstantinos Kenteris, Greek athlete
July 15 - John Dolmayan, Lebanese-born drummer (System of a Down)
July 17 - Eric Moulds, American football player
July 20 - Peter Forsberg, Swedish hockey player
July 20 - Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway
July 23 - Nomar Garciaparra, baseball star
July 23 - Fran Healy, British singer (Travis)
July 23 - Monica Lewinsky, White House intern
July 23 - David Mitchell (actor)|David Mitchell, British comedian
July 26 - Kate Beckinsale, English actress
August
August 1 - Tempestt Bledsoe, American actress
August 6 - Asia Carrera, American actress
August 8 - Scott Stapp, American singer (Creed (band)|Creed)
August 12 - Richard Reid, English terrorist
August 14 - Kieren Perkins, Australian swimmer
August 19 - Mette-Marit|Mette-Marit Tjessem-Høiby, Crown Princess of Norway
August 20 - Todd Helton, baseball player
August 24 - Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer
September
September 4 - Jason David Frank, American actor
September 5 - Rose McGowan, American actress
September 12 - Darren Campbell, British athlete
September 14 - Nas (rapper)|Nas, American rapper
September 18 - Mark Shuttleworth, South African entrepreneur
September 19 - José Azevedo, Portuguese cyclist
September 22 - Craig McRae, Australian footballer
October
October 3 - Neve Campbell, Canadian actress
October 10 - Mario López, American actor
October 22 - Ichiro Suzuki, Japanese baseball player
October 24 - Levi Leipheimer, American professional cyclist
October 26 - Seth MacFarlane, American voice actor
October 29 - Gabrielle Union, American actress
October 30 - Silvia Corzo, Colombian newsreader
November
November 1 - Aishwarya Rai, Indian actress
November 5 - Johnny Damon, baseball player
November 12 - Martin M. Weiss, American author
November 14 - Lawyer Milloy, American football player
November 14 - Dana Snyder, American voice actor
November 28 - Jade Puget, American guitarist (AFI)
November 29 - Ryan Giggs, Welsh footballer
November 29 - Raphael Smith, South African screenwriter and songwriter
December
December 2 - Monica Seles, Yugoslavian-born tennis player
December 3 - Holly Marie Combs, American actress
December 7 - Terrell Owens, American football star
December 15 - Surya Bonaly, French figure skater
December 14 - Thuy Trang, Vietnamese-born actress (d. 2001)
December 17 - Paula Radcliffe, British athlete
December 29 - Theo Epstein, baseball general manager
December 30 - Ato Boldon, West Indian athlete
Deaths
January-April
January 22 - Lyndon Johnson, President of the United States (b. 1908)
January 23 - Kid Ory, American musician (b. 1886)
January 24 - J. Carrol Naish, American actor (b. 1897)
January 26 - Edward G. Robinson, American actor (b. 1893)
January 31 - Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel Prize in Economics|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
February 11 - Hans D Jensen, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
February 15 - Wally Cox, American actor (b. 1924)
February 23 - Dickinson W. Richards, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
February 19 - Joseph Szigeti, Hungarian violinist (b. 1892)
March 6 - Pearl S. Buck, American writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
March 8 - Ron Pigpen McKernan, American musician (Grateful Dead) (b. 1945)
March 14 - Rafael Godoy, Colombian composer (b. 1907)
March 14 - Chic Young, American cartoonist (b. 1901)
March 26 - Noel Coward, English composer and playwright (b. 1899)
April 8 - Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist (b. 1881)
April 16 - Istvan Kertesz, Hungarian conductor (b. 1929)
April 19 - Hans Kelsen, Austrian-born legal theorist (b. 1881)
April 21 - Arthur Fadden, thirteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
April 26 - Irene Ryan, American actress (b. 1902)
May-August
May 2 - Alan Carney, American actor and comedian (b. 1909)
May 11 - Lex Barker, American actor (b. 1919)
May 12 - Art Pollard, American race car driver(b. 1927)
May 14 - Jean Gebser, German author, linguist, and poet (b. 1905)
May 18 - Jeannette Rankin, first U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1880)
June 18 - Roger Delgado, English actor (b. 1918)
July 2 - Swede Savage, American race car driver (b. 1946)
July 6 - Otto Klemperer, German-born conductor (b. 1885)
July 7 - Veronica Lake, American actress (b. 1922)
July 8 - Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer (b. 1877)
July 20 - Bruce Lee, American martial artist and actor (b. 1940)
July 29 - Roger Williamson, British race car driver (b. 1948)
August 1 - Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer (b. 1882)
August 11 - Karl Ziegler, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
August 12 - Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
August 16 - Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1888)
August 17 - Conrad Aiken, American writer (b. 1889)
August 17 - Jean Barraqué, French composer (b. 1928)
September-December
September 2 - J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (b. 1892)
September 11 - Salvador Allende, President of Chile (b. 1908)
September 19 - Gram Parsons, American musician (b. 1946)
September 23 - Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
September 29 - W. H. Auden, English poet (b. 1907)
October 2 - Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (b. 1897)
October 17 - Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian writer (b. 1926)
October 22 - Pablo Casals, Catalan cellist and conductor (b. 1876)
November 11 - David "Stringbean" Akeman, American banjo player (b. 1915)
November 11 - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
November 27 - Frank Christian, American musician (b. 1887)
December 1 - David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1886)
December 3 - Emile Christian, American musician (b. 1895)
December 20 - Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
December 20 - Luis Carrero Blanco, first minister of Spain (assassinated) (b. 1907)
December 25 - Gabriel Voisin, French aviation pioneer (b. 1880)
December 26 - Harold B. Lee, president of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints|The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
Unknown date
Friedrich Panse, German psychiatrist (b. 1899)
Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics - Leo Esaki, Ivar Giaever, Brian David Josephson
Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry - Ernst Otto Fischer, Geoffrey Wilkinson
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine - Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen
Nobel Prize in Literature|Literature - Patrick White
Nobel Peace Prize|Peace - Henry A. Kissinger, Le Duc Tho
Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel|Economics - Wassily Leontief
Mother Theresa
|