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1972
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![the casket of 1 of 11 Isreali Athletes killed at the Olympics](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090117003827im_/http://i.infoplease.com/images/year1972.jpg) |
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World Events
- President Nixon makes unprecedented eight-day visit to Communist China and meets with Mao Zedong (Feb. 17).
- Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland in bid for peace (March 24).
- Eleven Israeli athletes at Olympic Games in Munich are killed after eight members of an Arab terrorist group invades Olympic Village; five guerrillas and one policeman are also killed (Sept. 5).
- Nixon orders "Christmas bombing" of North Vietnam (Dec.). Background: Vietnam War
U.S. Events
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $1,237.30 billion Federal spending: $230.68 billion Federal debt: $435.9 billion Median Household Income (current dollars): $9,697 Consumer Price Index: 41.8 Unemployment: 5.9% Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.08
Sports
Super BowlDallas d. Miami (24-3)World SeriesOakland A's d. Cincinnati (4-3)NBA ChampionshipLA Lakers d. New York (4-1)Stanley CupBoston d. NY Rangers (4-2)WimbledonWomen: Billie Jean King d. E. Goolagong (6-3 6-3) Men: Stan Smith d. I. Nastase (4-6 6-3 6-3 4-6 7-5)Kentucky Derby ChampionRiva RidgeNCAA Basketball ChampionshipUCLA d. Florida St. (81-76)NCAA Football ChampionsUSC (12-0-0)
Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction: Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner Music: Windows, Jacob Druckman
Oscars awarded in 1972 Academy Award, Best Picture: The French Connection, Philip D'Antoni, producer (Twentieth Century-Fox) Nobel Prize for Literature: Heinrich Böll (Germany) 1972 Emmy Awards 1972 Tony Awards Grammys awarded in 1972 Record of the Year: "It's Too Late," Carole King Album of the Year: Tapestry, Carole King (Ode) Song of the Year: "You've Got a Friend," Carole King, songwriter Miss America: Laurie Lea Schaefer (OH) More Entertainment Awards...
Events- Time Inc. transmits HBO, the first pay cable network.
- Women dominate the 1971 Grammy Awards, taking all four top categories. Carole King won Record, Album and Song of the Year, while Carly Simon takes the Best New Artist award.
- The National Institute of Mental Health and the surgeon general issue a report that claims exposure to violence on television fosters aggression in children.
- Gloria Steinem's Ms magazine debuts.
- M*A*S*H premieres on CBS.
- Atari introduces the arcade version of Pong, the first video game. The home version comes out in 1974.
Movies- The Godfather, Deliverance, Cabaret, Sleuth, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Books- John Ashberry, Three Poems
- John Gardner, The Sunlight Dialogues
- Maxine Kumin, Up Country
- James Merrill, Braving the Elements
- Eudora Welty, The Optimist's Daughter
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Stanford Moore, and William Howard Stein (all US), for pioneering studies in enzymes Physics: John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper, and John Robert Schrieffer (all US), for theory of superconductivity, where electrical resistance in certain metals vanishes above absolute zero temperature Physiology or Medicine: Gerald M. Edelman (US), and Rodney R. Porter (UK), for research on the chemical structure and nature of antibodies
- CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) scanning is developed in England.
- The compact disk is developed by RCA (US).
- The antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) is developed by Bryan B. Malloy (Scotland) and Klaus K. Schmiegel (US). Background: Health & Nutrition
- The video disk is introduced by Philips Company (Netherlands).
- Electronic mail is introduced. Queen Elizabeth will send her first email in 1976. Background: Computers and Internet
- Apollo XVII, the last manned moon landing to date, returns to Earth with 250 pounds of lunar samples. Background: US Staffed Space Flights
Deaths
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