1980

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Years:	1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983

1980 by topic:

Arts

Architecture - Art - Film - Literature Music (Country, UK) - Television - Home video

Science and technology

Archaeology - Aviation Meteorology - Rail transport - Radio - Science

By country

Australia - Canada - France - Germany - India Ireland - Malaysia - Mexico - New Zealand - Pakistan Singapore - South Africa - UK - Wales - Zimbabwe

Other topics

Awards - Sport - Law - State leaders - Sovereign states - Religious leaders - Video gaming

Birth and death categories

Births - Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments - Disestablishments

Works category

Works

1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. It is equivalent to 2733 a.U.c., and to 1400 AH.

Contents 1 Events 1.1 January 1.2 February 1.3 March 1.4 April 1.5 May 1.6 June 1.7 July 1.8 August 1.9 September 1.10 October 1.11 November 1.12 December 1.13 Unknown dates 2 Births 2.1 January 2.2 February 2.3 March 2.4 April 2.5 May 2.6 June 2.7 July 2.8 August 2.9 September 2.10 October 2.11 November 2.12 December 3 Deaths 3.1 January 3.2 February 3.3 March 3.4 April 3.5 May 3.6 June 3.7 July 3.8 August 3.9 September 3.10 October 3.11 November 3.12 December 3.13 Unknown dates 4 Nobel prizes 5 Templeton Prize 6 Ship events

Events

January

January
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• January 1-April 1 - A national steel strike is called in the United Kingdom.
• January 1 - Changes to the Swedish Act of Succession make Victoria of Sweden Crown Princess over her younger brother.
• January 4 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
• January 6 - The president of Sicily, Piersanti Mattarella, is assassinated by the Mafia.
• January 7 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
• January 9 - In Saudi Arabia, 63 Muslim fanatics are beheaded for their part in the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in November, 1979.
• January 11 - Nigel Short, 14, is the youngest chess player to be awarded the degree of International Master.
• January 22 - Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet scientist and human rights activist, is arrested in Moscow.
• January 26 - Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
• January 27 - Six American diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran as they board a flight to Zürich, Switzerland and thereby end the Canadian caper operation.
• January 31 - The Spanish Embassy in Guatemala is taken down and set on fire, killing 36 people.

February

February
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• February 2 - Abscam: Reports surface that FBI personnel are targeting members of the U.S. Congress in a sting operation.
• February 2-February 3 - The infamous New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot takes place: 33 inmates are killed and more than 100 inmates injured.
• February 4 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
• February 13 - The XIII Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.
• February 15 - In Vanuatu, followers of John Frum's cargo cult on the island of Tanna declare secession as the nation of Tafea.
• February 22 - The United States Olympic Hockey Team defeats the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the Winter Olympics, in the Miracle on Ice.
• February 23 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
• February 25 - A coup in Suriname ousts the government of Henck Arron. Leaders Desi Bouterse and Rou Horb replace it with a National Military Council.
• February 27 - M-19 guerrillas begin the Dominican embassy siege in Colombia, holding 60 people hostage, including 14 ambassadors.

March

March
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31

• March 1 - The Voyager 1 probe confirms the existence of Janus, a moon of Saturn.
• March 3 - Pierre Trudeau returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.
• March 4 - Robert Mugabe is elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
• March 14 - In Poland, a plane crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing a 14-man American boxing team and 73 others.
• March 18 - Fifty people are killed at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, when a Vostok-2M rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation.
• March 20 - The pirate radio station Radio Caroline sinks.
• March 21 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
• March 21 - Mafioso Angelo Bruno is assassinated in Atlantic City.
• March 24 - The Australia Olympic Committee announces it will send an Olympic delegation to Moscow, despite objections by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.
• March 24 - Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed by gunmen while celebrating Mass in San Salvador. At his funeral 6 days later, 42 people are killed amid gunfire and bombs.
• March 26 - A mine lift cage at the Vaal Reef gold mine in South Africa falls 1.2 miles, killing 23.
• March 27 - The Norwegian oil platform Alexander Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
• March 27 - The Silver Thursday market crash occurs.

April

April
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• April 1 - The Mariel boatlift from Cuba begins.
• April 1 - New York City's Transport Works Union Local 100 goes on strike, which continues for 11 days.
• April 2 - The St. Pauls riot breaks out in Bristol.
• April 7 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions, following the taking of American hostages on Sunday, November 4, 1979.
• April 10 - Spain and the United Kingdom agree to reopen the border between Gibraltar and Spain, closed since 1969.
• April 12 - Samuel Doe takes over Liberia in a coup d'etat, ending over 130 years of democratic presidential succession in that country.
• April 18 - Zimbabwe gains independence from the United Kingdom; Robert Mugabe becomes Prime Minister.
• April 19 - Johnny Logan wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 with the song, What's Another Year.
• April 21 - Rosie Ruiz wins the Boston Marathon, but is later exposed as a fraud and stripped of her award.
• April 24 - Pennsylvania Lottery Scheme: the state lottery is rigged by 6 men including the host of the live TV drawing, Nick Perry.
• April 24-April 25 - Operation Eagle Claw, a commando mission in Iran to rescue American embassy hostages, is aborted after mechanical problems ground the rescue helicopters. Eight United States troops are killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation.
• April 27 - The Dominican embassy siege ends with all hostages released and the guerrillas flying to Cuba.
• April 30 - Iranian Embassy Siege - Six Iranian-born terrorists take over the Iranian embassy in London, UK. SAS retakes the Embassy on May 5; 1 terrorist survives.
• April 30 - Luis Muñoz Marín, the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at the age of 82.
• April 30 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicates, and her daughter Beatrix ascends to the throne.

May

May
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• May 4 - Yugoslav president Tito dies. The funeral ceremony later becomes the world's biggest diplomatic meeting and media event ever, with more than 140 state delegations in Belgrade from all over the world (only the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005 will have more news coverage and a higher number of delegations).
• May 7 - Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in 1911, is released from prison in Beacon, New York, after 68 years and 245 days - the longest-ever time served by an inmate.
• May 9 - In Florida, a Liberian freighter named the Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, sending 35 people (most of whom were in a bus) to a watery death as a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapses.
• May 17 - A Miami, Florida court acquits 4 White police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a Black insurance executive, provoking 3 days of race riots.
• May 18 - Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 and causing US$3 billion in damage.
• May 18 - May 27 - Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.
• May 20 - Referendum: Voters in Quebec reject by a vote of 60% a proposal to seek independence from Canada.
• May 24 - The International Court of Justice calls for the release of U.S. Embassy hostages in Tehran.
• May 25 - Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Johnny Rutherford wins for a third time in car owner Jim Hall's revolutionary ground effect Chaparral car; the victory is Hall's second as an owner.
• May 26 - John Frum supporters in Vanuatu storm government offices on the island of Tanna. Vanuatu government troops land the next day and drive them away.
• May 26 - In South Korea, military government forces and pro-democracy protesters clash; 2,000 protesters die.

June

June
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• June 1 - In Los Angeles, comedian Richard Pryor is badly burned trying to freebase cocaine.
• June 3 - A series of deadly tornadoes strikes Grand Island, Nebraska, causing over $300m in damage, killing 5 people and injuring over 250.
• June 3 - U.S. Senator Edward Moore Kennedy wins several primaries, including California, on 'Super Tuesday', but not enough to overtake President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic Party nomination.
• June 10 - Apartheid: The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a statement by their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela, which says in part: 'UNITE! MOBILISE! FIGHT ON! BETWEEN THE ANVIL OF UNITED MASS ACTION AND THE HAMMER OF THE ARMED STRUGGLE WE SHALL CRUSH APARTHEID!'[1]
• June 10 - A Unabomber bomb injures United Airlines president Percy Wood in Lake Forest, Illinois.
• June 19 - Iraqi security forces shoot dead 3 gunmen who attacked the British Embassy in Baghdad. The unknown attackers are killed in the embassy gardens by Iraqi security men, sent at the urgent request of the British ambassador, Alex Stirling.
• June 22 - West Germany beats Belgium 2-1 to win the 1980 European Football Championship.
• June 23 - Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, dies in an air crash.
• June 23-September 6 - Heat Wave of 1980
• June 25 - A Muslim Brotherhood assassination attempt against Syrian president Hafez al-Assad fails. Assad retaliates by sending the army against them.
• June 26 - A DC-9 belonging to the Italian Airline Itavia crashes into the sea near Naples after an explosion occurs in the air - 81 people die - a bomb or a missile is suspected to be the cause of the accident but no culprits are ever found.
• June 27 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs a bill requiring 19- and 20-year old males to register for a peacetime military draft, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• June 29 - Vigdis Finnbogadottir becomes the president of Iceland.

July

July
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• July 9 - Pope John Paul II visits Brazil; 7 people are crushed to death in a crowd meeting him.
• July 15 - A severe and destructive thunderstorm strikes four counties in western Wisconsin, including the city of Eau Claire. It causes over $250m in damage, and one person is killed.
• July 16 - Former California Governor and actor Ronald Reagan is nominated for U.S. President, at the Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan. Influenced by the Religious Right, the convention also drops its long standing support for the Equal Rights Amendment, dismaying moderate Republicans.
• July 19 - Former Turkish Prime Minister Nihat Erim is killed by 2 gunmen in Istanbul, Turkey.
• July 19-August 3 - The Summer Olympic Games are held in Moscow, USSR.
• July 25 - Popular Australian hard rock band AC/DC releases ultra popular album Back In Black, featuring hits such as Hell's Bells and You Shook Me All Night Long.
• July 30 - Vanuatu gains independence.

August

August
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• August 2 - A terrorist bombing at the railway station in Bologna, Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200.
• August 7-August 14 - Lech Wałęsa leads the first of many strikes at the Gdańsk shipyard.
• August 14 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter defeats Senator Edward Kennedy to win renomination, at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.
• August 17 - In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo.

September

September
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• September 5 - The St. Gothard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.
• September 12 - Kenan Evren stages a military coup in Turkey. It stops political gang violence, but begins stronger state violence which leads to the execution of many young activists.
• September 17 - After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
• September 17 - Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay.
• September 22 - The command council of Iraq orders its army to "deliver its fatal blow on Iranian military targets," initiating the Iran-Iraq War.
• September 26 - The Mariel Boatlift officially ends.
• September 29 - The Washington Post publishes Janet Cooke's story of Jimmy, an 8-year-old heroin addict (later proven to be fabricated).
• September 30 - Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduce the DIX standard for Ethernet, which is the first implementation outside of Xerox, and the first to support 10 Mbit/s speeds.

October

October
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• October sees the launch of two important new cars for the British and European markets - the Austin Metro (British Leyland's modern entrant into the mini-car sector) and the Ford Escort MK3 (which is a massive leap forward over its competitor as a front-wheel drive hatchback).
• October 14 - The Staggers Rail Act is enacted, deregulating American railroads.
• October 18 - The Fraser Government is re-elected for a third consecutive term in Australia with a reduced majority.
• October 25 - Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.
• October 27 - Six IRA prisoners in Maze prison refuse food and demand status as political prisoners; the hunger strike lasts until December.
• October 28 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan debate in Cleveland, Ohio. Reagan's genial, witty performance causes him to overtake Carter in the polls.
• October 30 - El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.
• October 31 - The Polish government recognizes Solidarity.
• October 31 - Mohammad Reza Shah, eldest son of the late shah of Iran, proclaims himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.

November

November
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• November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1980: Republican challenger former Governor Ronald Reagan of California defeats incumbent Democrat President Jimmy Carter by a wide margin, exactly one year after the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis.
• November 12 - Voyager program: The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn, when it flies within 77,000 miles of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.
• November 20 - The trial of the Gang of Four begins in China.
• November 21 - A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada kills 87 people.
• November 21 - Millions of viewers tune into the US TV soap opera Dallas to learn who shot lead character J.R. Ewing. The "Who shot J.R.?" event is a national obsession.
• November 23 - A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people.

December

December
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• December 8 - Former Beatle John Lennon dies in the hospital after being shot outside his New York apartment by Mark David Chapman, a deranged fan who had received his signature earlier in the day.
• December 11 - CERCLA is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
• December 15 - The Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian Language) is created.
• December 16 - During a summit on the island of Bali, OPEC decides to raise the price of petroleum by 10%.
• December 26 - Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento," kills himself by overdose on San Quentin prison death row.

Unknown dates

• Lawrence Klein is awarded the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
• Hassan Fathy and Plenty International / Stephen Gaskin are awarded the Right Livelihood Award.
• Victoria, Australia, decriminalises homosexual acts between consenting adults.

Births

January

• January 1 - Elin Nordegren, Swedish model
• January 1 - Mark Nichols, Canadian curler
• January 2 - Rebekah Teasdale, British model and journalist
• January 7 - Gabriela Bazan, Peruvian activist
• January 8 - Rachel Nichols, American actress
• January 9 - Sergio García, Spanish golfer
• January 10- Janelle Pierzina, American reality star
• January 11 - Mike Williams, American football player
• January 14 - Cory Gibbs, American soccer player
• January 14 - Sosuke Sumitani, Japanese announcer
• January 16 - Albert Pujols, Dominican Major League Baseball player
• January 16 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian actress
• January 17 - Kimberly Spicer, American model
• January 17 - Zooey Deschanel, American actress
• January 18 - Julius Peppers, American football player
• January 18 - Jason Segel , Actor
• January 20 - Jenson Button, British racecar driver
• January 21 - Kevin McKenna, Canadian footballer
• January 22 - Christopher Masterson, American actor
• January 24 - Nicole Marie Lenz, March 2000 Playboy Playmate, actress, and model
• January 25 - Christian Olsson, Swedish athlete
• January 25 - Alicia Keys, American musician
• January 25 - Michelle McCool-Alexander, American professional wrestler
• January 27 - Marat Safin, Russian tennis player
• January 28 - Nick Carter, American singer, member of Backstreet Boys
• January 30 - Wilmer Valderrama, Venezuelan/Colombian-American comedian

February

• February 5 - Robin Vik, Czech tennis player
• February 6 - Mamiko Noto, Japanese seiyu (voice actress)
• February 10 - César Izturis, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
• February 10 - Steve Tully, English footballer
• February 11 - Natasha Bobo, American actress
• February 11 - Matthew Lawrence, American actor
• February 12 - Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
• February 12 - Christina Ricci, American actress
• February 15 - Conor Oberst, American singer/songwriter
• February 16 - Ashley Lelie, American football player
• February 18 - Regina Spektor, Russian-born American singer-songwriter
• February 20 - Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
• February 20 - Artur Boruc, Polish football (soccer) goalkeeper
• February 27 - Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former U.S. president Bill Clinton
• February 28 - Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player
• February 28 - Piotr Giza, Polish footballer
• February 29 - Simon Gagne, Canadian hockey player

March

• March 2 - Lance Cade, American professional wrestler
• March 7 - Laura Prepon, American actress
• March 7 - Anthony Ocana, Dominican composer & guitarist
• March 9 - Chingy, American rapper
• March 13 - Molly Stanton, American actress
• March 14 - Aaron Brown, English footballer
• March 16 - Todd Heap, American football player
• March 18 - Alexei Yagudin, Russian figure skater
• March 21 - Ronaldinho, Brazilian football player
• March 21 - Marit Bjørgen, Norwegian cross-country skier
• March 30 - Yalin, Turkish pop music singer and songwriter
• March 30 - Paul Wall, American Rapper, Promoter, DJ and Jeweller
• March 31 - Chien-Ming Wang, Taiwanese Major League Baseball player

April

• April 1 - Randy Orton, American professional wrestler
• April 1 - Yūko Takeuchi, Japanese actress
• April 8 - Ben Freeman, British actor
• April 13 - Jana Cova, Czech pornographic actress
• April 14 - Ben Wells, American actor
• April 26 - Paul London, American professional Wrestler
• April 17 - Brenda Villa, American water polo player
• April 20 - Jasmin Wagner, German singer
• April 20 - Channing Tatum, American actor and model
• April 21 - Vincent Lecavalier, Canadian hockey player
• April 26 - Jordana Brewster, American actress

May

• May 6 - Taebin, Korean hip-hop artist (1TYM)
• May 6 - Kate Lawler, Reality TV show star
• May 7 - Johan Kenkhuis, Dutch swimmer
• May 9 - Grant Hackett, Australian swimmer
• May 15 - Josh Beckett, Boston Red Sox pitcher
• May 15 - Rocky Marquette, American actor
• May 24 - Cecilia Cheung, Hong Kong actress
• May 30 - Steven Gerrard, English footballer
• May 31 - Andy Hurley, American drummer

June

• June 1 - Oliver James, British actor
• June 10 - Francelino Matuzalem, Brazilian football player
• June 13 - Sarah Connor, German singer
• June 16 - Brad Gushue, Canadian curler
• June 16 - Joey Yung, Hong Kong singer
• June 17 - Kimeru, Japanese singer
• June 17 - Venus Williams, American tennis player
• June 19 - Jason White, American football player
• June 22 - Jade Marcela, American actress
• June 23 - Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indian cricketer
• June 25 - Nozomi Takeuchi, Japanese actress
• June 26 - Jason Schwartzman, American actor
• June 26 - Michael Vick, American football player
• June 29 - Katherine Jenkins, Welsh soprano
• June 29 - Martin Truex Jr, American race car driver

July

• July 3 - Roland Mark Schoeman, South African swimmer
• July 5 - Eva Green, French actress and composer
• July 6 - Pau Gasol, Catalan basketball player
• July 7 - Michelle Kwan, American figure skater
• July 8 - Robbie Keane, Irish footballer
• July 10 - Adam Petty, American race car driver (d. 2000)
• July 10 - Jessica Simpson, American singer
• July 18 - Kristen Bell, American actress
• July 20 - Gisele Bundchen, Brazilian supermodel
• July 22 - Kate Ryan, Belgian singer
• July 24 - Gauge, American actress
• July 29 - Fernando González, Chilean tennis player
• July 30 - Diam's, French female rapper

August

• August 3 - Jonathan D. Gordon, American Illustrator
• August 11 - Lee Suggs, American football player
• August 14 - Roy Williams, American football player
• August 12 - Matt Thiessen, Canadian singer/guitarist
• August 16 - Vanessa Carlton, American singer
• August 19 - Darius Danesh, Scottish singer-songwriter & actor
• August 26 - Macaulay Culkin, American actor
• August 26 - Chris Pine, American actor
• August 27 - Derrick Strait, American football player
• August 28 - Debra Lafave, American teacher
• August 29 - Nicholas Tse, Hong Kong singer

September

• September 3 - Jennie Finch, American softball player
• September 6 - Samuel Peter, boxer, heavyweight champion
• September 6 - Kerry Katona, English TV presenter and former pop star with Atomic Kitten
• September 7 - Mark Prior, baseball player
• September 10 - Mikey Way, American bassist (My Chemical Romance)
• September 12 - Sean Burroughs, baseball player
• September 12 - Yao Ming, Chinese basketball player
• September 13 - Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japanese baseball player
• September 19 - Tegan Quin, Canadian singer/songwriter
• September 19 - Sara Quin, Canadian singer/songwriter
• September 21 - Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
• September 25 - T.I., American Rapper
• September 30 - Martina Hingis, Swiss tennis player

October

• October 4 - Me'Lisa Barber, American athlete
• October 13 - Ashanti, American musician
• October 14 - Terrence McGee, American football player
• October 16 - Sue Bird, American basketball player
• October 16 - Timana Tahu, Australian Rugby League Player
• October 17 - Ekaterina Gamova, Russian volleyball player
• October 23 - Kanzi the Bonobo
• October 28 - Alan Smith, English footballer
• October 28 - Christy Hemme, American professional wrestler
• October 31 - Samaire Armstrong, American Actress

November

• November 3 - Dan Marsala, American lead vocalist (Story of the Year)
• November 11 - Willie Parker, American football player
• November 12 - Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor
• November 15 - Ace Young, American singer and reality show finalist
• November 16 - Kayte Christensen, American basketball player
• November 17 - Isaac Hanson, American musician
• November 19 - Adele Silva , British Actress
• November 21 - Hank Blalock, American baseball player
• November 25 - Nick Swisher, American baseball player
• November 25 - Josh Mathews, American professional wrestling announcer

December

• December 6 - Steve Lovell, English football player
• December 6 - Kei Yasuda, Japanese singer
• December 7 - John Terry, English football player
• December 9 - Ryder Hesjedal, Canadian professional cyclist
• December 10 - Sarah Chang, American violinist
• December 18 - Christina Aguilera, American singer
• December 19 - Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor
• December 19 - Marla Sokoloff, American actress
• December 20 - Ashley Cole, English football player
• December 22 - Devin Anderson, American composer
• December 25 - Laura Sadler, British TV actress (d. 2003)
• December 30 - Eliza Dushku, American actress

Deaths

January

• January 3 - Joy Adamson, Austrian-born conservationist and author (murdered) (b. 1910)
• January 8 - John Mauchly, American physicist and inventor (b. 1907)
• January 10 - George Meany, American labor leader (b. 1894)
• January 18 - Sir Cecil Beaton, English photographer (b. 1904)
• January 25 - Roland Barthes, French literary critic, philosopher. (b. 1915)
• January 28 - Franco Evangelisti, Italian composer (b. 1926)
• January 29 - Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and comedian (b. 1893)
• January 30 - Professor Longhair, American musician (b. 1918)

February

• February 2 - William Howard Stein, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
• February 7 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer (b. 1904)
• February 13 - David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)
• February 19 - Bon Scott, Scottish-born singer (AC/DC) (b. 1946)
• February 20 - J.B. Rhine, parapsychologist (b. 1895)
• February 20 - Alice Longworth, Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, wife of Nicholas Longworth (b. 1884)

March

• March 1 - Dixie Dean, English football player (b. 1907)
• March 1 - Wilhelmina, high-fashion model and owner of model agency (b. 1940)
• March 5 - Jay Silverheels, American actor (b. 1912)
• March 16 - Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (b. 1898)
• March 25 - Roland Barthes, French literary critic and writer (b. 1915)
• March 25 - Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (b. 1913)
• March 29 - Mantovani, Italian-born conductor and arranger (b. 1905)
• March 31 - Vladimír Holan, Czech poet (b. 1905)
• March 31 - Jesse Owens, American athlete (b. 1913)

April

• April 12 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand snooker and billiards player (b. 1895)
• April 15 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
• April 24 - Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (b. 1904)
• April 29 - Alfred Hitchcock, British film director (b. 1899)
• April 30 - Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and politician (b. 1898)

May

• May 4 - Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
• May 18 - Ian Curtis, British musician and singer (Joy Division) (b. 1956)
• May 28 - Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician (b. 1895)

June

• June 7 - Henry Miller, American writer (b. 1891)
• June 12 - Milburn Stone, American actor (b. 1904)
• June 13 - Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (b. 1942)
• June 21 - Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (b. 1923)
• June 23 - Clyfford Still, American painter (b. 1904)
• June 23 - John Laurie, British actor (b. 1897)

July

• July - Robert Brackman, American painter (b. 1898)
• July 7 - Dore Schary, American film writer, director, and producer (b. 1905)
• July 17 - Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
• July 24 - Peter Sellers, English actor (b. 1925)
• July 25 - Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, poet, actor (b. 1938)
• July 26 - Kenneth Tynan, English theatre critic (b. 1927)
• July 27 - Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (b. 1919)
• July 31 - Pascual Jordan, German physicist (b. 1902)

August

• August 7 - Jackie Cochran, American pilot (b. 1906)
• August 10 - Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (b. 1917)
• August 14 - Dorothy Stratten, Canadian model (murdered) (b. 1960)
• August 19 - Otto Frank, father of Jewish diarist Anne Frank (b. 1889)
• August 20 - Joe Dassin, French singer (b. 1938)
• August 24 - Yootha Joyce, British actress (b. 1927)

September

• September 8 - Willard Libby, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
• September 16 - Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist (b. 1896)
• September 17 - Anastasio Somoza García, former President of Nicaragua (assassinated) (b. 1925)
• September 25 - John Bonham, British drummer (Led Zeppelin) (b. 1948)

October

• October 6 - Hattie Jacques, Starr of Carry On Films (Heart Attack) (b. 1922)
• October 25 - Virgil Fox, American organist (b. 1912)
• October 25 - Victor Galindez, Argentine boxer (race car accident) (b. 1948)
• October 27 - John Hasbrouck van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)

November

• November 4 - Elsie MacGill, Canadian aeronautical engineer (b. 1904)
• November 7 - Steve McQueen, American actor (b. 1930)
• November 18 - Conn Smythe, NHL coach 1927-1931 (b. 1895)
• November 20 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1900)
• November 22 - Norah McGuinness, Northern Irish painter and illustrator (b. 1901)
• November 22 - Mae West, American actress (b. 1893)
• November 27 - F. Burrall Hoffman, American architect (b. 1882)

December

• December 2 - Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born writer (b. 1914)
• December 4 - Francisco Sá Carneiro, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1934)
• December 4 - Stanislawa Walasiewicz, Polish-born runner (b. 1911)
• December 7 - Darby Crash, American songwriter, singer for The Germs (heroin overdose) (b. 1958)
• December 8 - John Lennon, British singer, songwriter, and guitarist (The Beatles) (murdered) (b. 1940)
• December 16 - Harland Sanders, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1890)
• December 16 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
• December 24 - Karl Dönitz, President of Germany (b. 1891)
• December 24 - Siggie Nordstrom, model, actress, entertainer, socialite and lead singer of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1893)
• December 26 - Richard Chase Serial Killer (b. 1950)
• December 29 - Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941)
• December 31 - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and professor (b. 1911)

Unknown dates

• Clement Martyn Doke, South African linguist

Nobel prizes

• Physics - James Watson Cronin, Val Logsdon Fitch
• Chemistry - Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert, Frederick Sanger
• Medicine - Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset, George D. Snell
• Literature - Czesław Miłosz
• Peace - Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

Templeton Prize

• Prof. Ralph Burhoe

Ship events

• List of ship launches in 1980
• List of ship commissionings in 1980
• List of ship decommissionings in 1980
• List of shipwrecks in 1980