Timeline December 1978

Events in December 1978 15

• 1898 – 1978 Golda Meir (1898-1978) Died 8 December 1978, aged 80 Meir served as Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974, the country's first and to date only female head of government. She died in Jerusalem after a long battle with lymphoma.
• 1964 – 1978 University of Illinois Moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he continued developing theoretical frameworks for chemical reactions.
• 1971 – 1978 Cincinnati Politics and Mayor Served on the Cincinnati City Council and as the city's 56th Mayor from 1977 to 1978. Had earlier resigned from the council in 1974 over a prostitution scandal but was re-elected at the next election.
• 1976 – 1978 Discovery of V(D)J Recombination Made the Nobel Prize-winning discovery that immune cells physically rearrange segments of their DNA — cutting and splicing gene fragments — to generate the enormous diversity of antibodies needed to fight disease. This overturned the prevailing dogma that DNA was static in somatic cells.
• 1976 – 1978 Leaving Ike Turner Left Ike Turner in 1976, fleeing their Dallas hotel room with 36 cents in her pocket. Their divorce was finalised in 1978. She later revealed years of horrific physical abuse during their marriage.
• 1976 – 1978 War Films of the 1970s Appeared in a run of major World War II films: The Eagle Has Landed (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977) and Force 10 from Navarone (1978), establishing him as a go-to actor for military roles.
• 1977 – 1978 Here You Come Again — Crossover Success Released Here You Come Again, which topped the country charts for five weeks and crossed over to number three on the pop charts. The album went platinum, making her the first female country artist to sell a million copies. Won her first Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance.
• 1978 1978: Mario Andretti Lotus Italian-born American Andretti won the title in Colin Chapman's revolutionary ground-effect Lotus 79, the season's dominant car.
• 1978 Co-founded Biogen Co-founded Biogen, one of the first biotechnology companies, alongside Walter Gilbert and other scientists. Biogen would grow into one of the world's largest biotech firms, focused on neurological diseases. Sharp served as Chairman of the Scientific Board.
• 1978 Joined Caltech Appointed to the California Institute of Technology as the Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry, where he would remain for the rest of his career.
• 1978 Australian Open 1978 Men: Guillermo Vilas · Women: Chris O'Neil
• 1978 Spanish Constitution of 1978 adopted Spain enshrines democracy after Franco Spanish voters approved a new constitution by referendum, establishing a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy after decades of dictatorship under Francisco Franco. King Juan Carlos I signed it into law before the Cortes Generales.
• 1978 Marvin Gaye releases Here, My Dear Divorce album An album about his divorce, its royalties assigned to his ex-wife.
• 1978 Superman: The Movie released Christopher Reeve stars in landmark superhero film Directed by Richard Donner and starring Christopher Reeve, the film was among the first big-budget adaptations of a comic book superhero and set the template for the genre. Its tagline promised audiences would "believe a man can fly".
• 1978 Vietnam invades Cambodia Vietnamese forces launch full-scale invasion to topple the Khmer Rouge Following years of border clashes and Khmer Rouge atrocities, Vietnam launched a full invasion of Cambodia on 25 December 1978. The offensive drove the Khmer Rouge from power within two weeks, ending its genocidal rule but triggering a decade-long Vietnamese occupation.