January
3rd	Apple Computer Inc. is incorporated
10th	Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
10th	Ocean Park opens in Hong Kong
15th	Kälvesta air disaster: A Swedish airliner crashes into a residential area of Stockholm, killing all 22 on board
17th	Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah (the first execution after the reintroduction of the death penalty in the USA)
18th	Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease
18th	Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, near Sydney, leaves 83 people dead
18th	SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina
19th	U.S. President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka "Tokyo Rose")
19th	Snow falls in Miami, Florida (despite its ordinarily tropical climate) for the only time in its history. Snowfall has occurred farther south in the United States only on the high mountains of the state of Hawaii
20th	Jimmy Carter succeeds Gerald Ford as the 39th President of the United States
21st	U.S. President Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders
23rd	Roots begins its phenomenally successful run on television
24th	Massacre of Atocha during the Spanish transition to democracy
27th	Record company EMI sacks the controversial United Kingdom punk rock group the Sex Pistols
29th	Actor Freddie Prinze dies from a self inflicted bullet wound

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February
4th	Fleetwood Mac's Grammy-winning album Rumours is released
7th	The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24 (Viktor Gorbatko, Yuri Glazkov) to dock with the Salyut 5 space station
11th	A 20.2-kg (44-lb.-9-oz.) lobster is caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean)
18th	The space shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747, at Edwards Air Force Base in California
18th	Prog 1 of 2000AD, currently the UK's longest running comic, is launched. Issue dated 26th February 1977
28th	State Opening of the New Zealand Parliament, by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

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March
4th	The 1977 Bucharest Earthquake kills 1,500
5th	Formula One driver Tom Pryce dies after colliding with a track marshal at the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami
8th	State Opening of the Australian parliament by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia
9th	Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims take over 3 buildings in Washington, DC, killing 1 person and taking more than 130 hostages. The hostage situation ends 2 days later
12th	The Centenary Test between Australia and England begins at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
15th	Tenor Luciano Pavarotti and the PBS opera series Live from the Met both make their American television debuts. Pavarotti stars in a complete production of Puccini's La Boheme
27th	A collision between KLM and PanAm Boeing 747s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, kills 583 (the worst single aviation accident on record)

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April
1st	Hay-on-Wye declares independence as a publicity stunt
7th	German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light near his home in Karlsruhe. "The Ulrike Meinhof Commando" later claims responsibility
8th	Punk band The Clash's debut album The Clash (album) is released in the UK on CBS Records
11th	London Transport's Silver Jubilee buses are launched
22nd	First use of optical fiber to carry live telephone traffic
27th	The Guatemala City air disaster kills 28 people
28th	A Stuttgart court sentences Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment

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May
1st	Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul: 34 dead, hundreds injured
3rd	HMS Invincible is launched at Barrow-in-Furness by Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom
7th	Pierre Elliot Trudeau does a pirouette behind the back of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada
7th	Marie Myriam wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 for France with her song L'oiseau et l'enfant ("The Bird and the Child")
10th	Manchester United won The FA cup
14th	In Milan, Italy, during a far-left demonstration, a hooded person shoots at the police, killing a policeman, Antonio Custra. The scene is photographed and the picture of the hooded man shooting in the middle of the street will appear in many magazines around the world
17th	The Likud Party, led by Menachem Begin, wins the elections in Israel
17th	Queen Elizabeth II commences her 1977 Silver Jubilee tour in Glasgow
23rd	Scientists report using bacteria in a lab to make insulin
23rd	Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages), and a passenger train in Bovensmilde-Assen route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. On June 11, Dutch Royal Marines storm the train; 6 terrorists and 2 hostages are killed
25th	Star Wars opens in cinemas and subsequently becomes the then-highest grossing film of all time
26th	George Willig climbs the South Tower of the World Trade Centre
27th	Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, opens the new Air Terminal Building at Edinburgh Airport
27th	The 1977 Aeroflot Ilyushin 62 airplane crash in Cuba kills 69 people
28th	In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 inside

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June
5th	A coup takes place in Seychelles
5th	The first Apple II computers go on sale
6th	Jubilee celebrations are held in the United Kingdom to celebrate twenty-five years of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. Celebrations continue until the 9th
7th	After campaigning by Anita Bryant and her anti-gay "Save Our Children" crusade, Miami-Dade County, Florida voters overwhelmingly vote to repeal the county's gay rights ordinance
10th	James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee (he is recaptured on June 13)
15th	Spain has its first democratic elections, after 41 years under the Franco regime
16th	Oracle Corporation was incorporated in Redwood Shores, California as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates
20th	The Supreme Court of the United States rules that states are not required to spend Medicaid funds on elective abortions
20th	Anglia Television broadcasts the fake documentary "Alternative 3", which enters into the conspiracy theory canon
25th	American Roy Sullivan is struck by lightning for the 7th time
26th	Some 200,000 protesters march through the streets of San Francisco, protesting Anita Bryant's anti-gay remarks and the murder of Robert Hillsborough

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July
1st	CKO a now-defunct Canadian all news radio network began broadcasting on this date
5th	General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq overthrows Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan
13th	The New York City blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours, resulting in looting and other disorder
14th	Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden is born
15th	Anti-drug campaigner Donald Mackay disappears near Griffith, New South Wales (presumed murdered)
19th	Flood in Johnstown, PA caused by massive rainfall, kills over 75 people and causes billions in damage
22nd	The purged Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power nine months after the "Gang of Four" was expelled from power in a coup d'état
24th	Led Zeppelin play their last U.S. concert in Oakland, CA at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. A brawl erupts between Led Zeppelin's crew and promoter Bill Graham's staff resulting in criminal assault charges for several of Led Zeppelin's entourage including drummer John Bonham
28th	The first oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System reaches Valdez, Alaska
30th	Left-wing German terrorists Susanne Albrecht, Brigitte Mohnhaupt and a third person assassinate Jürgen Ponto, chairman of the Dresdner Bank in Oberursel, West Germany

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August
3rd	The Tandy Corporation TRS-80 Model I computer is announced at a press conference
4th	U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy
9th	The military-controlled Government of Uruguay announces that it will return the nation to civilian rule through general elections in 1981 for a President and Congress
10th	David Berkowitz is captured in Yonkers, New York, after over a year of murders in New York City as the Son Of Sam
12th	The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise, makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA)
15th	The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by The Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "WOW!" signal for a notation made by a volunteer on the project
15th	Nazi, Herbert Kappler escapes from the Caelian Hill military hospital in Rome
16th	Australian rock group INXS is formed
16th	Elvis Presley dies at age 42
20th	The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft

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September
3rd	The Commodore PET computer is first sold
5th	Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay
5th	Employers Association President Hanns-Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany. The kidnappers kill 3 escorting police officers and his chauffeur. They demand the release of Red Army Faction (RAF) prisoners
6th	Steve Biko suffers a massive head injury in police custody in South Africa, later dying
7th	Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The U.S. agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century
8th	INTERPOL issues a resolution against the piracy of video tapes and other material, which is still cited in warnings on opening pre-credits of videocassettes and DVDs today
10th	Hamida Djandoubi's is the last guillotine execution in France
16th	Talking Heads' debut album Talking Heads: 77 is released
19th	Under pressure from the Carter Administration, President Somoza lifts the state of siege in Nicaragua
21st	A nuclear non-proliferation pact is signed by 15 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union
28th	The Porsche 928 debuts at the Geneva Auto Convention
29th	The modern Food Stamp Program began when the Food Stamp Act of 1977 was enacted

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October
1st	Pelé plays his final professional football game as a member of the New York Cosmos
13th	Four Palestinians hijack a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Somalia and demand release of 11 Red Army Faction members (see Lufthansa Flight 181)
14th	Bing Crosby died of heart attack
14th	David Bowie releases his album "Heroes"
17th	GSG 9 troopers storm a hijacked Lufthansa passenger plane in Mogadishu, Somalia; 3 of the 4 hijackers die
18th	Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin commit suicide in Stammheim prison; Irmgard Möller fails (their supporters still claim they were murdered). They are buried October 27
18th	Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, opens the 3rd session of the 30th Canadian Parliament
19th	Kidnapped industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer is found killed in Mulhouse, France
20th	Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a charter plane crash outside Gillsburg, Mississippi three days after the release of their album Street Survivors
21st	The European Patent Institute is founded
26th	The last natural smallpox case is discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination and, by extension, of modern science
28th	Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols is released in the United Kingdom
28th	Atari 2600 game system is released

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November
1st	2060 Chiron, first of the outer solar system asteroids known as Centaurs, is discovered by Charlie Kowal
2nd	The worst storm in Athens' modern history causes havoc across the Greek capital and kills 38 people
6th	The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia fails, killing 39
8th	Greek Archaeologist Manolis Andronikos discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina
8th	San Francisco elects City Supervisor Harvey Milk who is the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the US
9th	Gen. Hugo Banzer, President of the military government of Bolivia, announces that the constitutional democracy will be restored in 1978 instead of 1980 as previously provided
19th	Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, seeking a permanent peace settlement
19th	TAP Portugal Flight 425 crashes at Madeira Airport, Funchal, Portugal, killing 131 and leaving 33 survivors
21st	The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta aka Delta Force is Created in the USA
22nd	British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service
22nd	First three nodes of the ARPAnet are connected, in what would eventually become the Internet

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December
1st	First flight of Lockheed's top-secret stealth aircraft project designated Have Blue, precursor to the U.S. F-117A Nighthawk
4th	Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor
4th	Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 is hijacked and crashed in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia, killing all the 100 passengers and crew aboard the flight
13th	A DC-3 charter plane carrying the University of Evansville basketball team to Nashville, Tenn., crashes in rain and dense fog about 90 seconds after takeoff from Evansville Dress Regional Airport. Twenty-nine people die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and its head coach Bob Watson
16th	Mikhail Baryshnikov's production of The Nutcracker, adapted from his stage version, and in which he stars with Gelsey Kirkland and the American Ballet Theatre, is shown on television for the first time by CBS. It later moves to PBS, where it becomes an annual attraction for many years. The production eventually becomes the most popular video version of the ballet