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1972
1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar).
Events
January
- January 19 - 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 22 - Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join the EEC.
- January 23 - New Delhi bootlegger sells wood alcohol to a wedding party - 100 dead
- 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 woman elected to US Congress, announces her candidacy for US president.
- January 26 - Yugoslavian air stewardress Vesna Vulovic is the only survivor when her plane crashes in Czechoslovakia. She survives after falling about 30,000' in the tail section of the aircraft.
- January 28 - Richard Chanfray claims he is Count of St Germain on French television.
- January 30 - Bloody Sunday - the British Army kills 13 unarmed Roman Catholic civil rights marchers in Derry, Ireland.
- January 30 - Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
- January 31 - King Mahendra of Nepal dies, becoming the second king to die that month, and is succeeded by his son, Birendra.
February
March
April
May
- May 5 - An Alitalia DC-8 crashes west of Palermo, Sicily – 115 dead.
- May 13 - Fire in a nightclub atop the Sennichi department store in Osaka, Japan – 115 dead.
- May 15 - Governor George Wallace of Alabama is shot by Arthur Herman Bremer at a Laurel, Maryland political rally.
- May 17 - The closing notice is posted for the Broadway musical Hair.
- May 18 - Four troopers of both SAS and SBS are parachuted onto the HMS Queen Elizabeth II, 1000 miles off Britain in the Atlantic, after a bomb threat and demand for ransom. It turns out to be bogus.
- May 19 - Three out of six bombs explode in the Springer Press building in Hamburg, Germany - 17 injured. The Red Army Faction claims responsibility.
- May 21 - In Rome, Laszlo Toth attacks Michelangelo's Pieta statue with a sledgehammer shouting that he is Jesus Christ
- May 22 - Earthquake lasting 20 seconds destroys most of Bingol, Turkey - more than 1000 dead, 10.000 made homeless
- May 22 - Ceylon becomes the republic of Sri Lanka under prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike when its new constitution is ratified.
- May 24 - A RAF bomb explodes in the Campbell Barracks of the US Army Supreme European Command in Heidelberg. Three US soldiers Clyde Bonner, Ronald Woodard and Charles Peck are killed.
- May 26 - Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev sign SALT I treaty in Moscow (including Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; also other agreements were made).
- May 26 - Willandra National Park is established in Australia.
- May 30 - The Angry Brigade goes on trial.
- May 30 – 3 members of Japanese Red Army kill 24 and injure 100 in Lod Airport, Israel.
June
June 8, 1972: Phan Thị Kim Phúc, center left, running down a road near Trang Bang after an ARVN napalm chemical attack in the Vietnam War. (©Nick Ut/Associated Press)
July
August
September
October
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- Jackson, David A.; Symons, Robert H.; and Berg, Paul. (1972). Biochemical Method for Inserting New Genetic Information into DNA of Simian Virus 40: Circular SV40 DNA Molecules Containing Lambda Phage Genes and the Galactose Operon of Escherichia coli. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 69(10), 2904-2909.
November
- November 1 (exact date not known) - At a scientific meeting in Honolulu, Herbert Boyer and Stanley N. Cohen conceived the concept of recombinant DNA. They published their results in November 1973 in PNAS. Separately in 1972, Paul Berg also recombined DNA in a test tube. Recombinant DNA technology has dramatically changed the field of biological sciences, especially biotechnology, and opened the door to genetically modified organisms.
- November 5 - Group of Amerindians occupies the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
- November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 1972: Republican incumbent Richard Nixon defeats Democratic Senator George McGovern (the election had the lowest voter turnout since 1948 with only 55 percent of the electorate voting).
- November 11 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.
- November 14 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 (1,003.16) for the first time.
- November 16 - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adopts the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
- November 17 - Juan Perón returns to Argentina.
- November 22 - Vietnam War: The United States loses its first B-52 Stratofortress of the war.
- November 29 - Atari kicks off the first generation of video games with the release of their seminal arcade version of PONG, the first game to achieve commercial success.
- November 30 - Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels are now down to 27,000.
December
Unknown dates
Births
January
February
- February 1 - Yoshi DeHerrera, American television personality
- February 2 - Klára Dobrev, wife of Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány
- February 4 - Giovanni Silva De Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- February 5 - Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark
- February 5 - Koriki Choshu, Japanese comedian
- February 7 - Alex Bassi, American race car driver
- February 8 – Paul Wight, American professional wrestler (billed as The Big Show)
- February 11 - Steve McManaman, British footballer
- February 14 - Drew Bledsoe, American football player
- February 14 - Hiroshi, Japanese comedian
- February 15 - Jaromir Jagr, Czech hockey player
- February 16 - Jerome Bettis, American football player
- February 17 - Billie Joe Armstrong, American musician (Green Day)
- February 17 - Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater
- February 21 - Seo Taiji, Korean musician
- February 24 - Richard Chelimo, Kenyan athlete (d. 2001)
- February 29 - Antonio Sabato Jr., Italian actor
March
- March 6 - Terry Murphy, Northern Irish snooker player
- March 6 - Shaquille O'Neal, American basketball player
- March 10 - Takashi Fujii (Matthew Minami), Japanese television performer
- March 10 - Matt Kenseth, American race car driver
- March 10 - Eugene Roshal, Russian-born computer programmer
- March 15 - Mark Hoppus, American musician (blink-182)
- March 17 - Mia Hamm, American soccer player
- March 20 - Alexander Kapranos, British singer and guitarist (Franz Ferdinand)
- March 22 - Shawn Bradley, American basketball player
- March 22 - Elvis Stojko, Canadian figure skater
- March 23 - Judith Godrèche, French actress
- March 27 - Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Dutch footballer
April
- April 3 - Jennie Garth, American actress
- April 4 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American politician
- April 5 - Krista Allen, American actress
- April 11 - Jason Varitek, American baseball player
- April 13 - Mariusz Czerkawski, Polish ice hockey player
- April 17 - Tony Boselli, American football player
- April 17 - Jennifer Garner, American actress
- April 17 - Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
- April 19 - Rivaldo, Brazilian footballer
- April 24 - Chipper Jones, American baseball player
- April 29 - Roman Dirge, American artist, writer and cartoonist
May
June
- June 4 - Derian Hatcher, American hockey player
- June 5 - Justin Smith, American drummer, The Seeds
- June 7 - Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
- June 15 - Andy Pettitte, American baseball player
- June 19 - Brian McBride, American soccer player
- June 21 - Irene van Dyk, South African-born netball player
- June 23 - Zinédine Zidane, French footballer
- June 25 - Carlos Delgado, Puerto Rican baseball player
- June 29 - Samantha Smith, American activist (d. 1985)
July
August
September
- September 2 - Sergei Zholtok, Russian hockey player (d. 2004)
- September 8 - Lisa Kennedy, American disc jockey and political satirist
- September 10 - Ghada Shouaa, Syrian athlete
- September 12 - Jason Statham, British actor
- September 17 - Bobby Lee, American comedian
- September 21 - Liam Gallagher, British singer (Oasis)
- September 21 - Jon Kitna, American football player
- September 22 - Bob Sapp, American boxer and kickboxer
- September 24 - Karyn Bosnak, American author
- September 28 - Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress
- September 28 - Dita Von Teese, American burlesque artist
- September 30 - Ari Behn, Norwegian author
October
- October 5 - Grant Hill, American basketball player
- October 9 - Etan Patz, disappeared school boy
- October 17 - Eminem, American rapper and actor
- October 17 - Wyclef Jean, Haitian rapper
- October 20 - Snoop Dogg, American rapper and actor
- October 24 - Pat Williams, American football player
- October 28 - Terrell Davis, American football player
- October 28 – Brad Paisley, American country music performer
- October 28 - Trista Rehn, American television personality
- October 29 - Takafumi Horie, Japanese entrepreneur (Livedoor)
November
December
- December 4 - Nikki Tyler, American actress
- December 7 - Hermann Maier, Austrian skier
- December 9 - Tre Cool, German drummer (Green Day)
- December 10 - Brian Molko, Belgian singer (Placebo)
- December 12 - Joel Cahen, Israeli artist
- December 13 - Chris Grant, Australian footballer
- December 19 - Alyssa Milano, American actress
- December 19 - Warren Sapp, American football player
- December 22 - Vanessa Paradis, French Singer and actress
- December 28 - Patrick Rafter, Australian tennis player
- December 29 - Jason Kreis, American soccer player
- December 29 - Jude Law, British actor
- December 30 - Kerry Collins, American football player
Deaths
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Nobel prizes
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