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Millennium: 2nd millennium
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1940s  1950s  1960s  - 1970s -  1980s  1990s  2000s
Years: 1969 1970 1971 - 1972 - 1973 1974 1975
1972 by topic:
Subject:      Archaeology - Architecture - Art
Aviation - Film - Home video - Literature (Poetry)
Meteorology - Music (Country, Metal)
Rail transport - Radio - Science - Spaceflight
Sports - Television - Video gaming
Countries:      Australia - Canada - India - Ireland - Malaysia - New Zealand - Norway - Pakistan - Singapore - South Africa - Soviet Union - UK - Zimbabwe
Leaders:    Sovereign states - State leaders
Religious leaders - Law
Categories: Births - Deaths - Works - Introductions
Establishments - Disestablishments - Awards

Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. According to measurements of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest ever year, as two leap seconds were added during this year, an event which has not since been repeated.

Contents:

1. Events of 1972
   • -  Jan. ^. Feb. ^. March ^. April
   • -  May ^. June ^. July  ^.  Aug.
   • -  Sept. ^. Oct. ^. Nov. ^.  Dec.
   • -  Undated ^. Ongoing
2. Births
3. Deaths
4. Nobel prizes
5. Ship events
6. See also -  Notes -  External links

Events of 1972

January
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
31  

January

• January 2 - Pierre Hotel Robbery: Six men rob the safety deposit boxes of The Pierre Hotel in New York City of at least $4 million.
• January 4 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge at the Old Bailey in London.
• January 4 - Kurt Waldheim becomes Secretary General of the United Nations.
• January 5 - U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.
• January 7 - An Iberian Airlines passenger plane crashes into a 250-meter peak on the island of Ibiza; 104 are killed.
• January 9 - Howard Hughes speaks by telephone to denounce Clifford Irving's supposed biography of him.
• January 9 - The RMS Queen Elizabeth is destroyed by fire in Hong Kong harbor.
• January 11 - East Pakistan wins independence as Bangladesh.
• January 13 - Prime Minister of Ghana Kofi Abrefa Busia is overthrown in a military coup.
• January 14 - King Frederick IX of Denmark dies; he's succeeded by his daughter Queen Margaret II of Denmark.
• January 16 - Super Bowl VI: The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Miami Dolphins 24-3.
• January 19 - The Libertarian enclave Minerva on a platform in the South Pacific, sponsored by the Phoenix Foundation, declares independence. Soon neighboring Tonga annexes the area and dismantles the platform.
• January 23 - A New Delhi bootlegger sells wood alcohol to a wedding party; 100 die.
• January 24 - Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi is discovered in Guam; he had spent 28 years in the jungle.
• January 25 - Shirley Chisholm, the first African American Congresswoman, announces her candidacy for President.
• January 26 - Yugoslavian air stewardress Vesna Vulovic is the only survivor when her plane crashes in Czechoslovakia. She survives after falling 10,160 meters in the tail section of the aircraft.
• January 26 - The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is set up on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra.
• January 28 - Richard Chanfray claims he is the Count of St Germain on French television.
• January 30 - Bloody Sunday: The British Army kills 13 unarmed nationalist civil rights marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland.
• January 30 - Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
• January 31 - King Birendra succeeds his father as King of Nepal.

February

February
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 
28 29          

• February 1 - The first scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) is introduced (price $395).
• February 2 - A bomb explodes at the British Yacht Club in West Berlin, killing Irwin Beelitz, a German boat builder.
• February 2 - The German militant group Movement 2 June announces its support of the Irish Republican Army.
• February 2 - Anti-British riots take place throughout Ireland. The British Embassy in Dublin is burned to the ground, as are several British-owned businesses.
• February 3–13 - The 1972 Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Japan.
• February 4 - Mariner 9 sends pictures from Mars.
• February 5 - U.S. airlines begin mandatory inspection of passengers and baggage.
• February 5 - Bob Douglas becomes the first African American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
• February 9 - The British government declares a state of emergency over a miners' strike.
• February 15 - President of Ecuador José María Velasco Ibarra is deposed for the fourth time.
• February 15 - Phonorecords are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.
• February 17 - Volkswagen Beetle sales exceed those of the Ford Model-T when the 15,007,034th Beetle is produced.
• February 18 - The California Supreme Court voids the state's death penalty, commuting all death sentences to life in prison.
• February 19 - Asama-Sanso incident: Five United Red Army memberes break into a lodge below Mount Asama, taking the wife of the lodge keeper hostage, starting the
• February 21 - The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
• February 21–28 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon makes an unprecedented 8-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.
• February 22 - Aldershot bombing: An Official IRA bomb kills 7 in Aldershot, England.
• February 23 - Angela Davis is released from jail. A Caruthers, California farmer, Rodger McAfee, helps her make bail.
• February 23 - A Lufthansa plane is hijacked and taken to Aden. Passengers are released after a ransom of 16 million German marks is agreed.
• February 24 - North Vietnamese negotiators walk out of the Paris Peace Talks to protest U.S. air raids.
• February 26 - A coal sludge spill kills 125 people in Buffalo Creek, West Virginia.
• February 26 - Luna 20 comes back to Earth with a cargo of moon rocks.
• February 28 - The Asama-Sanso incident ends in a standoff between 5 members of the Japanese United Red Army and the authorities, in which 2 policemen are killed and 12 injured.