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| Year | Name / Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 01-01-1978 | Air India Flight 855 | Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Bombay, India, due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, killing all 213 people on board. |
| 01-05-1978 | Naomi Uemura | Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone. |
| 01-06-1978 | Patent Cooperation Treaty | The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed. |
| 01-07-1978 | Northern Territory | The Northern Territory in Australia is granted self-government. |
| 01-10-1978 | Tuvalu | Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom. |
| 02-01-1978 | President of Pakistan | On the orders of the President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, paramilitary forces opened fire on peaceful protesting workers in Multan, Pakistan; it is known as 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills. |
| 02-03-1978 | Czechoslovakia | Czech Vladimír Remek becomes the first non-Russian or non-American to go into space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28. |
| 02-03-1978 | Charlie Chaplin | The late iconic actor Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from his grave in Switzerland. |
| 03-05-1978 | The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as "spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States. | |
| 03-09-1978 | Rhodesian Bush War | During the Rhodesian Bush War a group of ZIPRA guerrillas shot down civilian Vickers Viscount aircraft (Air Rhodesia Flight 825) with a Soviet-made SAM Strela-2; of 56 passengers and crew 38 people died in crash, 10 were massacred by the guerrillas at the site. |
| 03-11-1978 | Dominica | Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom. |
| 04-05-1978 | South African Defence Force | The South African Defence Force attacks a SWAPO base at Cassinga in southern Angola, killing about 600 people. |
| 04-12-1978 | Assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk | Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco's first female mayor. |
| 05-03-1978 | Landsat 3 | The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. |
| 05-09-1978 | Camp David Accords | Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland. |
| 06-02-1978 | Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 | The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour. |
| 06-12-1978 | Constitution of Spain | Spain ratifies the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in a referendum. |
| 07-04-1978 | Neutron bomb | Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter. |
| 07-07-1978 | Solomon Islands | The Solomon Islands becomes independent from the United Kingdom. |
| 07-08-1978 | Jimmy Carter | U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently. |
| 07-09-1978 | Georgi Markov | While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Gullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from a specially designed umbrella. |
| 07-10-1978 | Aeroflot Flight 1080 | Aeroflot Flight 1080 crashes after takeoff from Koltsovo International Airport, killing 38. |
| 08-05-1978 | Mount Everest | The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. |
| 08-09-1978 | Black Friday (1978) | Black Friday, a massacre by soldiers against protesters in Tehran, results in 88 deaths, it marks the beginning of the end of the monarchy in Iran. |
| 08-10-1978 | Ken Warby | Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 275.97 knots at Blowering Dam, Australia. |
| 09-02-1978 | Budd Company | The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. |
| 09-03-1978 | Suharto | President Soeharto inaugurated Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll highway in Indonesia, connecting Jakarta, Bogor and Ciawi, West Java. |
| 09-06-1978 | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens its priesthood to "all worthy men", ending a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men. |
| 10-07-1978 | Moktar Ould Daddah | President Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania is ousted in a bloodless coup d'état. |
| 10-08-1978 | Ford Pinto | Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto litigation. |
| 10-12-1978 | Arab–Israeli conflict | Arab–Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 11-02-1978 | Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 | Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 crashes at the Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada with 42 deaths and seven survivors. |
| 11-03-1978 | Coastal road massacre | Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel's Operation Litani. |
| 11-06-1978 | Altaf Hussain (Pakistani politician) | Altaf Hussain founds the student political movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) in Karachi University. |
| 11-07-1978 | Los Alfaques disaster | Los Alfaques disaster: A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain killing 216 tourists. |
| 11-12-1978 | Lufthansa heist | The Lufthansa heist is committed by a group led by Lucchese family associate Jimmy Burke. It was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil, at that time. |
| 12-05-1978 | Zaire | In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga); the local government asks the US, France and Belgium to restore order. |
| 13-01-1978 | Food and Drug Administration | United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled "paid" or "volunteer" donors. |
| 13-02-1978 | Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing | Hilton bombing: A bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman. |
| 13-08-1978 | Palestinians | One hundred fifty Palestinians in Beirut are killed in a terrorist attack during the second phase of the Lebanese Civil War. |
| 14-03-1978 | Israel Defense Forces | The Israel Defense Forces launch Operation Litani, a seven-day campaign to invade and occupy southern Lebanon. |
| 14-04-1978 | 1978 Georgian demonstrations | Tbilisi demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language. |
| 14-11-1978 | France | France conducts the Aphrodite nuclear test as 25th in the group of 29 1975–78 French nuclear tests. |
| 15-03-1978 | Somalia | Somalia and Ethiopia signed a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War. |
| 15-09-1978 | Caesars Superdome | At the Superdome in New Orleans, Muhammad Ali outpoints Leon Spinks in a rematch to become the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title three times. |
| 15-11-1978 | Douglas DC-8 | A chartered Douglas DC-8 crashes near Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183. |
| 15-12-1978 | Jimmy Carter | U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan). |
| 16-02-1978 | Bulletin board system | The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago). |
| 16-03-1978 | Aldo Moro | Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped; he is later murdered by his captors. |
| 16-03-1978 | Balkan Bulgarian Airlines | A Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashes near Gabare, Bulgaria, killing 73. |
| 16-03-1978 | Amoco Cadiz | Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history at that time. |
| 16-09-1978 | 1978 Tabas earthquake | The 7.4 Mw Tabas earthquake affects the city of Tabas, Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 15,000 people are killed. |
| 16-10-1978 | October 1978 conclave | Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, he becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523. |
| 17-02-1978 | The Troubles | The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30 others, all Protestants. |
| 17-04-1978 | Mir Akbar Khyber | Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking the Saur Revolution in Afghanistan. |
| 17-08-1978 | Double Eagle II | Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine. |
| 17-09-1978 | Camp David Accords | The Camp David Accords are signed by Israel and Egypt. |
| 18-01-1978 | European Court of Human Rights | The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom's government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. |
| 18-10-1978 | Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics | Based on the world's first children's art museum, the Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics opened in Yerevan. |
| 18-11-1978 | McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet | The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet makes its first flight, at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, United States. |
| 18-11-1978 | Jonestown | In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. |
| 19-01-1978 | Volkswagen Beetle | The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW's plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003. |
| 19-02-1978 | Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport | Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorisation from the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces kill 15 Egyptian commandos and destroy the Egyptian C-130 transport plane in open combat. |
| 19-06-1978 | Garfield | Garfield's first comic strip, originally published locally as Jon in 1976, goes into nationwide syndication. |
| 19-08-1978 | Cinema Rex fire | In Iran, the Cinema Rex fire causes more than 400 deaths. |
| 19-09-1978 | Solomon Islands | The Solomon Islands join the United Nations. |
| 21-06-1978 | Tim Rice | The original production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Evita, based on the life of Eva Perón, opens at the Prince Edward Theatre, London. |
| 21-10-1978 | Disappearance of Frederick Valentich | Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft. |
| 22-03-1978 | Karl Wallenda | Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope suspended between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico. |
| 22-06-1978 | Charon (moon) | Charon, the first of Pluto's satellites to be discovered, was first seen at the United States Naval Observatory by James W. Christy. |
| 22-08-1978 | Nicaraguan Revolution | Nicaraguan Revolution: The FSLN seizes the National Congress of Nicaragua, along with over a thousand hostages. |
| 22-08-1978 | District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment | The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment is passed by the U.S. Congress, although it is never ratified by a sufficient number of states. |
| 22-12-1978 | 11th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party | The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform. |
| 23-03-1978 | United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon | The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line. |
| 23-05-1978 | Tupolev Tu-144 | A Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near the Russian town of Yegoryevsk, killing two. |
| 23-10-1978 | Aeroflot Flight 6515 | Aeroflot Flight 6515 crashes off Syvash, killing all 26 people aboard. |
| 23-11-1978 | 1978 Sri Lanka cyclone | Cyclone kills about 1,000 people in eastern Sri Lanka. |
| 23-11-1978 | Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 | The Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 goes into effect, realigning many of Europe's longwave and mediumwave broadcasting frequencies. |
| 23-12-1978 | Alitalia Flight 4128 | Alitalia Flight 4128 crashes into the Tyrrhenian Sea while on approach to Falcone Borsellino Airport in Palermo, Italy, killing 108. |
| 24-01-1978 | Soviet Union | Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered. |
| 24-02-1978 | Yuba County Five | The Yuba County Five disappear in California. Four of their bodies are found four months later. |
| 25-05-1978 | Ted Kaczynski | The first of a series of bombings orchestrated by the Unabomber detonates at Northwestern University resulting in minor injuries. |
| 25-06-1978 | Rainbow flag (LGBTQ) | The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. |
| 25-07-1978 | Puerto Rico | Puerto Rican police shoot two nationalists in the Cerro Maravilla murders. |
| 25-07-1978 | Louise Brown | Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF. |
| 25-09-1978 | Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 | PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 and crashes in San Diego, killing all 135 aboard Flight 182, both occupants of the Cessna, as well as seven people on the ground. |
| 26-06-1978 | Air Canada Flight 189 | Air Canada Flight 189, flying to Toronto, overruns the runway and crashes into the Etobicoke Creek ravine. Two of the 107 passengers on board perish. |
| 26-08-1978 | August 1978 conclave | Papal conclave: Albino Luciani is elected as Pope John Paul I. |
| 26-09-1978 | Air Caribbean Flight 309 | Air Caribbean Flight 309 crashes in Residencial Las Casas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing six. |
| 26-12-1978 | Dakar Rally | The inaugural Paris-Dakar Rally begins. |
| 27-04-1978 | John Ehrlichman | John Ehrlichman, a former aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, is released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, Arizona, after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes. |
| 27-04-1978 | Saur Revolution | The Saur Revolution begins in Afghanistan, ending the following morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. |
| 27-04-1978 | Willow Island disaster | Willow Island disaster: In the deadliest construction accident in United States history, 51 construction workers are killed when a cooling tower under construction collapses at the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia. |
| 27-11-1978 | San Francisco | In San Francisco, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White. |
| 27-11-1978 | Kurdistan Workers' Party | The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is founded in the Turkish village of Fis. |
| 27-12-1978 | Spanish transition to democracy | Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship. |
| 28-03-1978 | Supreme Court of the United States | The US Supreme Court hands down 5–3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity. |
| 28-04-1978 | President of Afghanistan | The President of Afghanistan, Mohammad Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels. |
| 28-06-1978 | Supreme Court of the United States | The United States Supreme Court, in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke bars quota systems in college admissions. |
| 28-12-1978 | United Airlines Flight 173 | United Airlines Flight 173 crashes in a residential neighborhood near Portland International Airport, killing 10 people. |
| 30-07-1978 | 730 (transport) | The 730: Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side. |
| 30-09-1978 | Finnair Flight 405 | Finnair Flight 405 is hijacked by Aarno Lamminparras in Oulu, Finland. |
| 31-01-1978 | Holy Crown of Hungary | The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II. |
