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Todd Matthews Jouda

Todd Matthews Jouda

Todd Matthews-Jouda (born June 20, 1979) is a hurdling athlete who is notable for having switched nationality from United States to Sudan in September 2003. His personal best is 13.36 seconds, but being set in 2002 (i.e. before he switched to Sudan), it is not a national record. Instead, his Sudanese record is 13.45, a result which he achieved in October 2004. Competing for his new nation, Matthews-Jouda became African champion in July 2004 and competed at the Summer Olympics a month later. He was in fact selected as flag bearer for Sudan. He finished last in his heat at the 2005 World Championships.

Major achievements

External links


- Matthews-Jouda, Todd Matthews-Jouda, Todd Matthews-Jouda, Todd Matthews-Jouda, Todd

June 20

June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining.

Events


- 451- According to some sources, this was the date of the Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' victory over Attila the Hun.
- 1214 - University of Oxford receives its charter.
- 1631 - The sack of Baltimore: the Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates.
- 1685 - Monmouth Rebellion: The Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.
- 1756 - British garrison imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
- 1782 - The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
- 1789 - Deputies of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath
- 1791 - The Flight to Varennes began.
- 1819 - The US vessel Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. She is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, most of the journey was made under sail.
- 1837 - Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.
- 1862 - Barbu Catargiu is assassinated.
- 1863 - West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
- 1877 - Alexander Graham Bell installs world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- 1893 - Lizzie Borden is acquitted of murdering her stepmother and father.
- 1919 - 150 die at the Teatro Yaguez fire, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
- 1939 - Benny Goodman's Song School ends its radio series.
- 1948 - Toast of the Town, later The Ed Sullivan Show, debuts.
- 1956 - A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashed in Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey killing 74 people
- 1960 - Independence of Mali and Senegal.
- 1963 - The so-called "red telephone" was established between Soviet Union and United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- 1966 - Canada sells 336 million bushels (9.14 teragrams) of wheat to Soviet Union.
- 1969 - Jacques Chaban-Delmas becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1969 - Greg Gilbo was born
- 1977 - Oil begins to flow through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).
- 1980 - Roberto Duran starts his classic boxing trilogy with Sugar Ray Leonard by defeating him in Canada by a decision in 15 rounds, to gain the WBC world Welterweight championship.
- 1983 - LZW patent filed in USA.
- 1990 - Asteroid Eureka discovered.
- 1991 - German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin.
- 2001 - Pervez Musharraf becomes president of Pakistan
- 2001 - In Texas, USA, Andrea Yates drowns her children in a bathtub and admits to the crime. She would be sentenced to life in prison.
- 2003 - LZW patent expires in USA.
- 2003 - Formation of Wikimedia Foundation announced.
- 2004 - Ken Griffey, Jr. becomes the 20th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 2005 - Terri Schiavo's remains are buried in Clearwater, Florida.

Births


- 1005 - Ali az-Zahir, caliph (d. 1036)
- 1389 - John, Duke of Bedford, regent of England (d. 1435)
- 1566 (O.S.) - King Sigismund III of Poland (d. 1632)
- 1583 - Jacob De la Gardie, Swedish soldier and statesman (d. 1652)
- 1634 - Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy (d. 1675)
- 1642 (O.S.) - George Hickes, English minister and scholar (d. 1715)
- 1647 - John George III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1691)
- 1717 - Jacques Saly, French sculptor (d. 1776)
- 1723 - Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1816)
- 1723 - Theophilus Lindsey, English theologian (d. 1808)
- 1756 - Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (d. 1792)
- 1763 - Wolfe Tone, Irish patriot (d. 1798)
- 1771 - Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, Scottish philanthropist and entrepreneur (d. 1820)
- 1786 - Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet
- 1808 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (d. 1888)
- 1819 - Jacques Offenbach, German composer (d. 1880)
- 1860 - Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer, footballer, and coach (d. 1937)
- 1861 - Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (d. 1947)
- 1887 - Kurt Schwitters, German painter and writer (d. 1948)
- 1891 - John A. Costello, second Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland (d. 1976)
- 1899 - Jean Moulin, French Resistance leader (d. 1943)
- 1905 - Lillian Hellman, American playwright (d. 1984)
- 1906 - Catherine Cookson, British novelist (d. 1998)
- 1909 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor (d. 1959)
- 1912 - Anthony Buckeridge, English author (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Chet Atkins, American guitar player
- 1928 - Jean-Marie Le Pen, French politician
- 1930 - Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish artist
- 1931 - Olympia Dukakis, American actress
- 1931 - Martin Landau, American actor
- 1936 - Danny Aiello, American actor
- 1940 - Eugen Drewermann, German theologian
- 1940 - John Mahoney, English actor
- 1941 - Ulf Merbold, German physicist and astronaut
- 1942 - Brian Wilson, American bass player and singer (The Beach Boys)
- 1944 - Cheryl Holdridge, American actress
- 1945 - Anne Murray, Canadian singer
- 1946 - Xanana Gusmão, President of East Timor
- 1947 - Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, American singer the Crystals
- 1947 - Candy Clark, American actress
- 1948 - Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru
- 1949 - Lionel Richie, American musician and singer The Commodores
- 1951 - Tress MacNeille, American voice actress
- 1952 - John Goodman, American actor
- 1954 - Michael Anthony, American musician
- 1956 - Ace Andres, American musician
- 1958 - Chuck Wagner, American actor
- 1960 - John Taylor, English musician, Duran Duran
- 1960 - Jeremy Monteiro, Singaporean pianist
- 1963 - Viktor Kožený, Czech businessman
- 1967 - Nicole Kidman, Australian actress
- 1968 - Robert Rodríguez, American Film-maker
- 1970 - Russell Garcia, British field hockey player
- 1970 - Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco
- 1971 - Jeordie White, American bassist
- 1977 - Stefán H. Ófeigsson, Icelandic space engineer
- 1978 - Frank Lampard, English footballer
- 1981 - Ardian Gashi, Norwegian footballer

Deaths


- 451 - Theodorid, King of the Visigoths
- 840 - Louis the Pious, King of the Franks, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (b. 778)
- 1597 - Willem Barentsz, Dutch navigator
- 1668 - Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (b. 1620)
- 1776 - Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer (b. 1704)
- 1787 - Karl Friedrich Abel, German composer (b. 1723)
- 1800 - Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician (b. 1719)
- 1820 - Manuel Belgrano, Argentine lawyer and politician (b. 1770)
- 1837 - William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1765)
- 1866 - Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician (b. 1826)
- 1925 - Josef Breuer, Austrian psychologist (b. 1842)
- 1945 - Bruno Frank, German author (b. 1878)
- 1947 - Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (whacked) (b. 1906)
- 1958 - Kurt Alder, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1993 - Vince Foster, Deputy White House Counsel (suicide) (b. 1945)
- 1995 - Emil Cioran, Romanian-born French philosopher and essayist (b. 1911)
- 1998 - Conrad Schumann, East German border guard (b. 1942)
- 1999 - Clifton Fadiman, American author (b. 1902)
- 2002 - Erwin Chargaff, Austrian biochemist (b. 1905)
- 2002 - Tinus Osendarp, Dutch runner (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Bob Stump, U.S. Congressman from Arizona (b. 1927)
- 2005 - Jack Kilby, American electrical engineer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances


- Day of The Royal Victorian Order
- Roman Empire – Festival in honor of Summanus
- Ancient Latvia – Zalu Diena
- UNHCR World Refugee Day
- Flag Day in Argentina (1938)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/20 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 19 - June 21 - May 20 - July 20 – listing of all days ko:6월 20일 ms:20 Jun ja:6月20日 simple:June 20 th:20 มิถุนายน

1979

This page refers to the year 1979. For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see 1979 (song). 1979 (MCMLXXIX) is a common year starting on Monday.

Events


- 1979 energy crisis - occurred in the wake of the Iranian Revolution

January


- January 1 - United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the "International Year of the Child." Many musicians donate to the "Music for UNICEF" fund.
- January 1 - Sino-American relations: United States and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations
- January 4 - State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings.
- January 7 - Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodian capital, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge retreat to Thailand
- January 8 - The French tanker Betelgeuse explodes at the Gulf Oil terminal at Bantry in Ireland - 50 dead
- January 13 - YMCA sues the Village People for libel because of their song of the same name
- January 16 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocate to Egypt after a year of turmoil.
- January 19 - Former US Attorney General John N. Mitchell released on parole after 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama
- January 29 - Brenda Ann Spencer opens fire at random in San Diego, California, killing two teachers and wounding 8 students

February


- February 1 - Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter
- February 1 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
- February 2 - Sid Vicious dies of heroin overdose
- February 3 - Khomeini creates the Council of the Islamic Revolution
- February 7 - Supporters of Khomeini take over the Iranian law enforcement, courts and government administration
- February 7 - Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either planet was known to science.
- February 10-February 11 - Iranian army mutinies and joins the Islamic Revolution
- February 11 - Khomeini seizes power in Iran.
- February 14 - In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police
- February 14 - Musician Walter Carlos reveals that he has undergone a sex change operation and become Wendy
- February 17 - The People's Republic of China invades northern Vietnam, launching the Sino-Vietnamese War.
- February 22 - Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.

March

March and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel sign the Camp David Accords.]]
- March 1 - Scotland voted narrowly for home rule, which was not implemented, and Wales voted against
- March 5 - Voyager I passes Jupiter
- March 13 - In Grenada, Maurice Bishop leads a successful coup
- March 14 - In China, a Hawker-Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing killing at least 200
- March 25 - The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, was delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch
- March 26 - In a ceremony at the White House, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel sign a peace treaty
- March 28 - Nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, releases radiation
- March 28 - In Britain, Jim Callaghan's government loses a motion of confidence by one vote, forcing a general election
- March 29 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia dies in office. He is replaced by Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Mustain Billah ibni Almarhum Sultan Sir Abu Bakar Riayatuddin Al-Muadzam Shah, Sultan of Pahang.
- March 30 - Airey Neave, World War Two veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed by INLA bomb in British House of Commons car park
- March 31 - The Royal Navy withdraws from Malta

April-May

May.]]
- April 1 - Iran's government becomes Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially
- April 1-April 18 - Police lock Andreas Mihavecz in a holding cell in Bregenz, Austria and forget him there for the next 18 days without food or drink
- April 2 - Soviet biowarfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores. 66 dead plus unknown amount of livestock
- April 4 - President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed
- April 10 - A tornado hits in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people. It was the most notable tornado of twenty-six that hit that day.
- April 11 - Tanzanian troops take Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Idi Amin flees
- April 17 - Schoolchildren in the Central African Republic arrested for protesting against wearing the expensive, school uniforms. Around 100 killed.
- April 23 - Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach
- May 1 - Greenland gets home rule
- May 4 - Conservatives win the British general election; Margaret Thatcher becomes the new prime minister.
- May 9 - Unabomber bomb injures Northwestern University graduate student John Harris
- May 10 - The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
- May 25 - American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, Illinois, a DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.

June


- June 1 - The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power, in succession to Ian Smith and under his power-sharing deal.
- June 2 - Pope John Paul II visits his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country
- June 3 - A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 600,000 tons (176,400,000 gallons) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill to date. Some estimate the spill to be 428 million gallons, making it the largest unintentional oil spill ever.
- June 4 - Joe Clark becomes Canada's sixteenth, and youngest, prime minister.
- June 12 - Bryan Allen flies the Gossamer Albatross, man powered, across the English Channel.
- June 18 - Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement in Vienna.
- June 20 - a national guard soldier in Nicaragua kills ABC TV news correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter Juan Espinosa. Other members of the news crew capture the killing on tape
- June 23 - Sydney: New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway. It operates as a shuttle between Central & Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line during 1980.

July-August


- July 2 - The Susan B. Anthony one-dollar coin is introduced in the US.
- July 3 - President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
- July 9 - A car bomb destroys a Renault owned by "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
- July 11 - The space station Skylab returns to Earth.
- July 12 - A "Disco Demolition Night" publicity stunt goes awry at Comiskey Park forcing the Chicago White Sox to forfeit their game against the Detroit Tigers.
- July 12 - Assassination of Carmine Galante, boss of Bonanno mafia family
- July 13 - Skylab re-enters the Earth atmosphere; the wreckage lands in Australia
- July 16 - Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Vice President Saddam Hussein replaces him
- July 17 - Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami; Sandinistas form a new government on July 19.
- July 19 - The Marxist Sandinistas take control of Nicaragua
- July 19 - Maria de Lurdes Pintasilgo becomes prime minister of Portugal
- July 24 - Soviet Union exchanges Gerald Brook for spies Peter and Helen Kroger with United Kingdom
- July 31 - 400 Iranian pilgrims are killed after clashes with Saudi security forces in Mecca
- August 5 - Polisario signs a peace treaty with Mauritania
- August 5 - Government of Mauritania signs a peace treaty with Polisario
- August 9 - The first British nudist beach is established in Brighton
- August 27 - Lord Mountbatten and three others assassinated by the I.R.A..

September-October


- September 1 - The American Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km
- September 7 - The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for $1 billion to avoid bankruptcy.
- September 7 - ESPN starts broadcasting.
- September 16 - Three families flee from East Germany by balloon
- September 20 - French paratroopers help David Dacko to overthrow Bokassa
- September 22 - The South Atlantic Flash is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test.
- October 14 - A major gay rights march in the United States takes place in Washington, DC, involving many tens of thousands of people.
- October 16 - 23 people die in Nice, France, when the coastal town is hit by a tsunami
- October 21 - 259 Muslim radicals occupy Kaaba and the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Saudi Arabian army goes in to expel them
- October 26 - South Korean president Park Chunghee killed by KCIA head Kim Jaekyu.
- October 27 - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains independence.

November

November
- November 1 - Iran hostage crisis: Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urged his people to demonstrate on November 4 and to expand attacks on United States and Israeli interests
- November 2 - French police shoots gangster Jacques Mesrine in Paris
- November 3 - In Greensboro, North Carolina, five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot to death and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally
- November 4 - Iran hostage crisis begins: 3000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the United States embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (63 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former shah back to Iran to stand trial.
- November 5 - The radio news program Morning Edition premieres on National Public Radio.
- November 6 - At Montevideo , Uruguay the International Olympic Committee adopts a resolution where Taiwan Olympic and sports team participate with the name Chinese Taipei in future Olympics Games and international sports tournaments and championships .
- November 12 - Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all oil imports into the United States from Iran
- November 14 - Iran hostage crisis: US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States and US banks in response to the hostage crisis
- November 16 - Bucharest Metro Line 1 is opened, in Bucharest, Romania (from Timpuri Noi to Semanatoarea stations, 8.63 km)
- November 17 - Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
- November 20 - A group of around 200 militant Muslims occupied Mecca's Grand Mosque. They were driven out by French commandos (allowed into the city under these special circumstances despite their being non-Muslims) after bloody fighting that left 250 people were killed and 600 wounded.
- November 20 - Group of Sunni muslims barricade themselves into the Holy Mosque of Mecca. They hold out until December 4
- November 21 - After false radio reports from the Ayatollah Khomeini that the Americans had occupied the Great Mosque in Mecca, the United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set afire, killing four. (see: Foreign relations of Pakistan)
- November 23 - In Dublin, Ireland, Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten
- November 28 - The Mount Erebus disaster: an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes into Mount Erebus on a sightseeing trip, killing all 257 people on board.

December


- December 5 - Jack Lynch resigns as Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland. Successor Charles Haughey.
- December 21 - Ceasefire for Rhodesia signed at London
- December 24 - Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
- December 24 - The launch of the first European Ariane rocket.
- December 26 - In Rhodesia, 96 Patriotic Front guerillas enter the capital Salisbury to monitor a ceasefire that begins in December 28
- December 27 - The Soviet Union seizes control of Afghanistan and Babrak Karmal replaces overthrown and executed President Hafizullah Amin.

Unknown dates


- The World Health Organization declares the world free of naturally occurring smallpox.
- UNICEF declares 1979 the "International Year of the Child."
- VisiCalc becomes the first spreadsheet program.
- Guardian Angels civilian patrol group forms in New York City.
- Sprengel Museum opens in Hanover, Germany.
- Windsor Tower was built in Madrid, Spain.
- The first usenet experiments were conducted by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis of Duke University.

Births


- January 15 - Mary Pierce, American tennis player
- January 16 - Aaliyah, American singer (d. 2001)
- January 20 - Rob Bourdon, American drummer (Linkin Park)
- January 21 - Brian O'Driscoll, Irish rugby player
- January 24 - Tatyana Ali, American actress
- January 29 - Sui Feifei, Chinese basketball player
- February 9 - Mena Suvari, American actress
- February 9 - Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress and model
- February 11 - Brandy Norwood, American singer
- February 16 - Valentino Rossi, Italian race car driver
- February 21 - Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress and singer
- March 9 - Melina Perez, American professional wrestler
- March 11 - Benji Madden and Joel Madden, twins from Good Charlotte
- March 12 - Pete Doherty, English singer and guitarist (The Libertines and Babyshambles)
- March 30 - Norah Jones, American musician
- April 4 - Heath Ledger, Australian actor
- April 3 - Daniel Lane, British music journalist (Kerrang!)
- April 8 - Alexi Laiho, Finnish guitarist (Children of Bodom)
- April 10 - Rachel Corrie, American activist (d. 2003)
- April 10 - Tsuyoshi Domoto, Japanese artist
- April 10 - Sophie Ellis-Bextor, English singer
- April 12 - Claire Danes, American actress
- April 18 - Michael Bradley, American basketball player
- April 19 - Kate Hudson, American actress
- April 19 - Antoaneta Stefanova, Bulgarian chess player
- April 28 - Jorge Garcia, American actor
- May 2 - Roman Lyashenko, Russian hockey player (d. 2003)
- May 24 - Tracy McGrady, American basketball player
- May 25 - Jonny Wilkinson, English rugby player
- May 26 - Ashley Massaro, American professional wrestler and model
- June 5 - Pete Wentz, American bassist and lyricist (Fall Out Boy)
- June 13 - Nila Håkedal, Norwegian beach volleyball player
- June 23 - LaDainian Tomlinson, American football player
- June 24 - Craig Shergold, British cancer patient
- June 28 - Randy McMichael, American football player
- June 29 - Marleen Veldhuis, Dutch swimmer
- July 3 - Ludivine Sagnier, French model and actress
- July 5 - Amélie Mauresmo, French tennis player
- July 9 - Enav Itamar, Israeli Writer
- July 21 - David Carr, American football player
- July 26 - Johnson Beharry, British war hero
- August 10 - Joanna Garcia, American actress
- August 13 - Taizo Sugimura, Japanese politician
- August 16 - Sarah Balabagan, Filipina prisoner and singer
- August 26 - Jamal Lewis, American football player
- August 28 - Robert Hoyzer, German football referee
- September 13 - Bjørn-Arild Berthelsen, Norwegian Salvation Army soldier
- September 13 - Ivan Miljković, Serbian volleybal player, considered as the best attacker in the world, Olympic Champion in 2000 (with the team of Jugoslavia)
- September 15 - Amy Davidson, American actress
- September 28 - Bam Margera, American skater
- October 1 - Rudi Johnson, American football player
- October 14 - Stacy Keibler, American professional wrestler
- October 17 - Kimi Räikkönen, Finnish race car driver
- October 30 - Yukie Nakama, Japanese actress
- November 6 - Lamar Odom, American basketball player
- November 7 - Jon Peter Lewis, American singer and songwriter
- November 13 - Ron Artest, American basketball player
- December 12 - Nate Clements, American football player
- December 14 - Michael Owen, English footballer
- December 15 - Adam Brody, American actor
- December 17 - William Green, American football player
- December 23 - Summer Altice, American model and actress
- December 27 - Carson Palmer, American football player

Deaths

January-March


- January 3 - Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (b. 1887)
- January 5 - Charles Mingus, American musician (b. 1922)
- January 13 - Donny Hathaway, American musician (b. 1945)
- January 26 - Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York, Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
- February 2 - Sid Vicious, English musician (Sex Pistols) (drug overdose) (b. 1957)
- February 7 - Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal (b. 1911)
- February 9 - Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- February 12 - Jean Renoir, French film director (b. 1894)
- February 14 - Reginald Maudling, British politician (b. 1917)
- February 23 - W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (b. 1900)
- February 28 - Mr. Ed, American talking horse (b. 1949)
- March 1 - Mustafa Barzani, Iraqi Kurdish politician (b. 1903)
- March 19 - Richard Beckinsale, British actor (b. 1947)
- March 28 - Emmett Kelly, American clown (b. 1898)
- March 29 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, King of Malaysia (b. 1917)
- March 30 - Airey Neave, British politician (asassinated) (b. 1916)

April-September


- April 4 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, President and Prime Minister of Pakistan (executed) (b. 1928)
- April 4 - Edgar Buchanan, American actor (b. 1903)
- April 10 - Nino Rota, Italian composer (b. 1911)
- April 23 - Blair Peach, New Zealand-born anti-Nazi campaigner (killed by police) (b. 1946)
- May 2 - Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- May 11 - Barbara Hutton, American socialite (b. 1912)
- May 29 - Mary Pickford, Canadian actress and studio founder (b. 1892)
- June 1 - Werner Forssmann, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1904)
- June 11 - John Wayne, American actor (b. 1907)
- June 17 - Duffy Lewis, baseball player (b. 1888)
- June 19 - Paul Popenoe, American eugenicist (b. 1888)
- June 29 - Lowell George, American musician (Little Feat) (b. 1945)
- July 3 - Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1888)
- July 8 - Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
- July 8 - Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- July 10 - Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (b. 1894)
- July 12 - Minnie Riperton, American singer (b. 1947)
- July 16 - Alfred Deller, English countertenor (b. 1912)
- July 22 - Nittatsu Hosoi, Japanese priest (b. 1902)
- July 29 - Bill Todman, American game show producer (b. 1916)
- August 2 - Thurman Munson, baseball player (b. 1947)
- August 3 - Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- August 6 - Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
- August 12 - Ernst Boris Chain, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (b. 1906)
- August 27 - Earl Mountbatten, last British Viceroy of India (assassinated) (b. 1900)
- August 31 - Sally Rand, American dancer (b. 1904)
- September - Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III, King of Malaysia (b. 1907)
- September 8 - Jean Seberg, American actress (b. 1938)
- September 10 - Agostinho Neto, Angolan nationalist (b. 1922)
- September 28 - John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (b. 1921)
- September 29 - Francisco Macias Nguema, first president of Equatorial Guinea

October-December


- October 6 - Elizabeth Bishop, American poet (b. 1911)
- October 10 - Christopher Evans, British psychologist and computer scientist (b. 1931)
- October 13 - Rebecca Clarke, English composer and violist (b. 1886)
- October 16 - Johan Borgen, Norwegian author (b. 1903)
- October 22 - Nadia Boulanger, French composer and composition teacher (b. 1887)
- October 26 - Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea (b. 1917)
- November 1 - Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States (b. 1896)
- November 29 - Zeppo Marx, American actor and comedian (b. 1901)
- December 3 - Dhyan Chand, Indian hockey player (b. 1905)
- December 23 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (b. 1898)
- December 27 - Hafizullah Amin, President of Afghanistan (b. 1929)

Fictional


- June 13 - Pamela Voorhees, serial killer, mother of Jason Voorhees (b. 1930)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Sheldon Lee Glashow, Abdus Salam, Steven Weinberg
- Chemistry - Herbert C. Brown, Georg Wittig
- Medicine - Allan M. Cormack, Godfrey N. Hounsfield
- Literature - Odysseas Elytis
- Peace - Mother Teresa
- Economics - Theodore Schultz, Arthur Lewis

Templeton Prize


- Rev. Nikkyo Niwano Category:1979 als:1979 ko:1979년 ja:1979年 simple:1979 th:พ.ศ. 2522

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign