* 1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, Nobel laureate ( d. 1979 )

* 1979 – Sam Atwell, Australian actor

* 1979 – Christine Smith, American model and actress

* 1979 – Lord Frederick Windsor, British financial analyst

* 1907 – Hardie Gramatky, American author and animator ( d. 1979 )

* 1979 – Claire Danes, American actress

* 1979 – Jordan De Jong, American baseball player

* 1979 – Elena Grosheva, Russian gymnast

* 1979 – Mateja Kežman, Serbian footballer

* 1979 – Jennifer Morrison, American actress and model

* 1979 – Paul Nicholls, English actor

* 1979 – Cristian Ranalli, Italian footballer

* 1979 – Gerardo Torrado, Mexican footballer

* 1979 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten and three others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland.

* 1886 – Rebecca Clarke, English composer and violist ( d. 1979 )

* 1979 – Giovanni Capitello, American actor and producer

* 1979 – Tian Liang, Chinese diver

* 1979 – Sarah Neufeld, Canadian violinist ( Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre )

* 1979 – Aaron Paul, American actor

* 1979 – Rusty Smith, American speed skater

* 1979 – Francesco Bellotti, Italian cyclist

* 1979 – Megumi Okina, Japanese actress and singer

* 1929 – Abdi İpekçi, Turkish journalist ( d. 1979 )

* 1979 – Michael Kingma, Australian basketball player

* 1979 – Tony Stewart, American football player

# The Primates ' Meeting ( first met in 1979 ) is the most recent manifestation of international consultation and deliberation, having been first convened by Archbishop Donald Coggan as a forum for " leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation ".

The game was short-listed for the first Spiel des Jahres board game awards in 1979.

In 1979, the Walkman was introduced, making it the world's first portable music player.

Brooks directed his first feature film, Real Life, in 1979.

Stroustrup began developing C ++ in 1979 ( then called " C with Classes "), and, in his own words, " invented C ++, wrote its early definitions, and produced its first implementation ... chose and formulated the design criteria for C ++, designed all its major facilities, and was responsible for the processing of extension proposals in the C ++ standards committee.

The first attempts to synthesize bohrium by hot fusion pathways were performed in 1979 by the team at Dubna.

On 6 May 1997, following the 1997 general election which brought a Labour government to power for the first time since 1979, it was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, that the Bank of England would be granted operational independence over monetary policy.

Building on this first edition, in 1979, B. Dennis Sustare wrote " Different Worlds Present the World of Druid's Valley: A Bunnies & Burrows Campaign " in Different Worlds, a magazine published by Chaosium.

Since 1979, a facsimile edition of that first edition has been available in four paper-bound volumes.

The rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created / paralleled a dedicated market for " independent " or " alternative comics " in the U. S. The first such comics included the anthology series Star Reach, published by comic book writer Mike Friedrich from 1974 to 1979, and Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, which continued sporadic publication into the 21st century and which Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini adapted into a 2003 film.

Chaosium, from 1979 to 1985, published the thirty-eight first ones and Sleuth Publications, from 1985 to 1987, the nine last ones.

The first Masorti communities in the State of Israel were founded in 1979 by North American olim.

Shark expert and underwater filmmaker Valerie Taylor was among the first to develop and test the mail suit in 1979 while diving with sharks.

In 1979, Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected.

Pope John Paul II visited Chicago in 1979 during his first trip ever to the United States after being elected to the Papacy in 1978.

He earned his master's degree in theater from The Catholic University of America ( CUA ) in Washington, D. C., where he met his first wife, actress Susan Sarandon ; they divorced in 1979.

The first of the matches with coloured uniforms was the WSC Australians in wattle gold versus WSC West Indians in coral pink, played at VFL Park in Melbourne on 17 January 1979.

Anderson was involved in the fledgling alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s and was the first act to come on stage at The Comedy Store when it opened in 1979.

In 1979, HP released the first alphanumeric, programmable, expandable calculator, the HP-41C.

* 1979 – The first European Ariane rocket is launched.

Beginning in 1973, INGRES delivered its first test products which were generally ready for widespread use in 1979.

* 1979 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.

In 1974, Technics released the first SL-1200 turntable, which evolved into the SL-1200 MK2 in 1979 — which, as of the early-2010s, remains an industry standard for DJing.

In 1979, the Sugar Hill Gang released " Rapper's Delight ", the first hip-hop record to become a hit.