WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO SEPTEMBER 1978
Find out what all happened January to September 1978

Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the 5th-largest oil spill in history. (16. March 1978)

Janet Parker is the last person to die of smallpox, in a laboratory-associated outbreak. (11. September 1978)

Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees the United States to France after pleading guilty to charges of having sex with a 13-year-old girl. (1. February 1978)

U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been negligently disposed of. (7. August 1978)

King Hussein of Jordan marries American Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor. (15. June 1978)

The Great Blizzard of 1978, a rare severe blizzard with the lowest non-tropical atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the US until October 2010, strikes the Ohio – Great Lakes region with heavy snow and winds up to 100 mph (161 km/h). (26. January 1978)

The 730 (transport), Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side. (30. July 1978)

Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter. (7. April 1978)

Soviet satellite Cosmos 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. January 1978)

PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727-214, collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 and crashes in San Diego, resulting in the deaths of 144 people. (25. September 1978)

The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. (18. January 1978)

Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" is born. (25. July 1978)

The Israeli Defense Force invades and occupies southern Lebanon, in Operation Litani. (14. March 1978)

The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed. (1. June 1978)

Four days before the scheduled opening of Japan's Narita International Airport, a group of protestors destroys much of the equipment in the control tower with Molotov cocktails. (26. March 1978)

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. August 1978)

President Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania is ousted in a bloodless coup d'état. (10. July 1978)

Papal conclave: Pope John Paul I is elected to the Papacy. (26. August 1978)

Muhammad Ali outpointed Leon Spinks in a rematch to become the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title 3 times at the Superdome in New Orleans. (15. September 1978)

Puerto Rico police assassinate two nationalists in the Cerro Maravilla murders. (25. July 1978)