1973

Years: 1970 1971 1972 - 1973 - 1974 1975 1976
Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1973 in art 1973 in aviation 1973 in film 1973 in literature 1973 in music 1973 in politics 1973 in sports 1973 in television

Table of contents

1 Events

1.1 January
1.2 February-May
1.3 June-July
1.4 August-September
1.5 October
1.6 November
1.7 December

2 Year in topic
3 Births

3.8 January-June
3.9 July-December

4 Deaths

4.10 January-August
4.11 September-December

5 Nobel Prizes
6 Heads of state in 1973

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 23 - Eruption in Heimaey begins
January 17 - George Foreman breaks Joe Frazier's professional career undefeated heavyweight world boxing champion status.
January 23 - President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
January 27 - U.S. involvement in Vietnam War ends with the signing of peace pacts

February-May

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 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 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 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 29 - The last United States soldiers leave Vietnam
April 6 - Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft
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 14 - Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.
May 17 - Watergate scandal: Hearings begin in the United States Senate and are televised.

June-July

June 1 - Greek military junta abolishes the monarchy and proclaims a republic.
June 4 - patent for the ATM granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
June 9 - Secretariat wins the Belmont Stakes becoming the first Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing winner since 1948.
June 25 - Erskine Hamilton Childers is elected the fourth President of Ireland.
June 30 - Very long total solar eclipse visible in NE South America, the Atlantic, and central Africa. During the entire Second Millennium, only seven total solar eclipses exceeded seven minutes of totality. This was the last. Observers aboard a Concorde jet were able to stretch totality to about 74 minutes by flying along the path of the moon's umbra.
July 10 - The Bahamas gain full independence within the British Commonwealth
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 25 - Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.

August-September

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.
August 22 - Henry Kissinger, U.S. National Security Adviser, is named Secretary of State.
September 11 - Chile's democratically elected government is overthrown in military coup after serious instability. President Salvador Allende dies, and General Augusto Pinochet heads a military junta that will govern Chile for the next 17 years.
September 15 - Sweden's king Gustav VI Adolf dies. Carl XVI Gustav becomes king.
September 20 - Billed as The Battle of the Sexes, Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
September 28 - ITT bombed in New York City to protest their involvement with the Coup in Chile.

October

October 6 - Fourth and largest Arab-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, 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 - A worldwide oil shortage, the 1973 energy crisis, followed an Arab Oil Embargo against several countries which gave support to Israël.
October 20 - The Saturday Night Massacre
October 20 - Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II

November

November 1 - Watergate Scandal: Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor.
November 3 - Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury (on March 29, 1974 it became the first space probe to reach that planet).
November 7 - The United States 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, 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 25 - 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 House confirmed him 387 to 35).

December

December 1 - Papua New Guinea gains self government from Australia.
December - Chile breaks diplomatic contacts with Sweden.
December 3 - Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.
December 15 - Gay rights: The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its DSM-II.

Year in topic

1973 in art
1973 in film
- The Sting
- American Graffiti directed by George Lucas, starring Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ron Howard
- The Exorcist
1973 in literature
1973 in music
1973 in sports
1973 in television
- January 6 - Schoolhouse Rock premieres
- January 14 - Worldwide 1.5 billion people from about 40 countries watch "Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii" many of them live via satellite.
- The Six Million Dollar Man debuts
- Large-screen projection color TVs hit the market

Births

January-June

January 8 - Sean Paul, Jamaican reggae singer
January 11 - Rahul Dravid, cricketer, India
January 13 - Nikolai Khabibulin, Russian NHL goalie
January 19 - Drea de Matteo, actress
January 29 - Jason Schmidt, Major League Baseball All-Star
February 4 - Oscar De La Hoya, boxing champion
February 11 - Varg Vikernes, Norwegian artist, founder of the music band Burzum.
February 14 - Steve McNair, American football quarterback
February 16 - Cathy Freeman, Australian athlete
February 21 - João Carlos Donário, Portuguese Motorcycling champion
February 26 - Marshall Faulk, American football player
February 26 - Jenny Thompson, U.S. Olympic swimmer
February 28 - Eric Lindros, ice hockey player
March 1 - Ryan Peake, guitarist with the band Nickelback
March 9 - Aaron Boone, Major League Baseball All-Star
March 17 - Caroline Corr, singer, musician ("The Corrs")
March 23 - Jason Kidd, basketball star
April 4 - David Blaine, illusionist
April 24 - Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketerer
May 1 - Oliver Neuville, soccer player, German national team
May 10 - Dario Franchitti, automobile racer
May 16 - Tori Spelling, actress
June 1 - Heidi Klum, German supermodel
June 1 - Derek Lowe, baseball pitcher
June 8 - Lexa Doig, Canadian actress (Andromeda)
June 10 - Faith Evans, R&B singer
June 22 - Carson Daly, talk show host, VJ
June 28 - Denise Carleton, actress, singer and dancer
June 30 - Chan Ho Park, Korean baseball pitcher

July-December

July 11 - Konstantinos Kenteris, Greek athlete
July 20 - Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway
July 20 - Peter Forsberg, Swedish NHL player
July 23 - Nomar Garciaparra, baseball star
July 23 - Monica Lewinsky, former White House intern
July 26 - Kate Beckinsale, actress (Van Helsing)
August 1 - Tempestt Bledsoe, actress (The Cosby Show)
August 8 - Scott Stapp, Creed lead singer
August 12 - Richard Reid, alleged Al-Qaida operative; "the shoe bomber"
September 12 - Darren Campbell, British athlete
September 19 - José Azevedo, Portuguese cyclist
October 3 - Neve Campbell, actress
October 10 - Mario López, actor (Saved by the Bell)
October 22 - Ichiro Suzuki, Japanese baseball star, American League MVP and Rookie of the Year in 2001
October 29 - Gabrielle Union, actress
November 5 - Johnny Damon, baseball player
November 12 - Martin M. Weiss, Author
December 2 - Monica Seles, tennis champion
December 7 - Terrell Owens, American football star
December 15 - Surya Bonaly, figure skater
December 28 - Adam Lockett, baseball player
December 30 - Ato Boldon, Trinidad and Tobago athlete

Deaths

January-August

January 22 - Lyndon Johnson, President of the United States
January 23 - Kid Ory, musician
January 24 - J. Carrol Naish, actor
January 26 - Edward G. Robinson, actor
February 11 - Hans D Jensen, German physicist.
February 15 - Wally Cox, actor
March 6 - Pearl S. Buck, novelist
March 10 - Eugene 'Bull' Connor, segregationist
March 8 - Ron Pigpen McKernan of the Grateful Dead
March 14 - Chic Young, cartoonist (Blondie)
March 26 - Noel Coward, composer, playwright
April 8 - Pablo Picasso, outstanding artist of the 20th century
April 21 - Arthur Fadden, thirteenth Prime Minister of Australia
April 26 - Irene Ryan, actress
May 11 - Lex Barker, actor
May 18 - Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives
June 18 - Roger Delgado, actor (b. 1918)
July 6 - Otto Klemperer, conductor
July 20 - Bruce Lee, Chinese-American martial artist and film star.
August 17 - Jean Barraqué, composer

September-December

September 2 - J. R. R. Tolkien, writer
September 11 - Salvador Allende, Chilean president
September 19 - Gram Parsons, musician
September 23 - Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet
September 29 - W. H. Auden, English poet
October 2 - Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner
October 17 - Ingeborg Bachmann, lyricist, narrator and writer (b. 1926)
October 22 - Pablo Casals, Catalan virtuoso cellist and conductor
November 27 - Frank Christian, jazz musician (b. 1887)
December 1 - David Ben-Gurion, former Prime Minister of Israel
December 3 - Emile Christian, jazz musician (b. 1895)
December 20 - Bobby Darin, singer

Nobel Prizes

Physics - Leo Esaki, Ivar Giaever, Brian David Josephson
Chemistry - Ernst Otto Fischer, Geoffrey Wilkinson
Medicine - Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen
Literature - Patrick White
Peace - Henry A. Kissinger, Le Duc Tho
Economics - Wassily Leontief