At A Glance

3 October 1979 at a glance

Day of the week
3 October 1979 was a Wednesday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “My Sharona” by The Knack.
Top Film of 1979
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1979 was Moonraker.
Bestselling Novel of 1979
“The Matarese Circle” by Robert Ludlum was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1979.
Top-Rated TV Show
“60 Minutes” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1979–80 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 3 October is Libra.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 3 October 1979 fell in the Year of the Goat.
Birthstone
The birthstone for October is Opal.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 3 October 1979 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 3 October

  • 1985 The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight, carrying two DSCS-III Satellites on STS-51-J.
  • 1986 TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron at the Chalk River Laboratories in Canada, is officially opened.
  • 1990 The German Democratic Republic is abolished and becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany; the event is afterwards celebrated as German Unity Day.
  • 1991 Nadine Gordimer is announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
  • 1993 An American attack against a warlord in Mogadishu fails; eighteen US soldiers and over 350 Somalis die.

Famous people born on October 3

  • Alicia Vikander, Swedish actress (born 1988)
  • Zlatan Ibrahimović, Swedish footballer (born 1981)
  • Lena Headey, British actress (born 1973)
  • ASAP Rocky, American rapper and songwriter (born 1988)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.

Events of 1979 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1979 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • February 20 – This Old House premieres on PBS.
  • March 29 – America's most serious nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.
  • April 1 – Nickelodeon debuts on cable television, playing children's television shows 24 hours a day. Pinwheel, which first premiered on the channel C-3 in 1977, was one of the first shows to be broadcast on the channel.

Life in the US in 1979

President

Jimmy Carter

Gas (per gallon)

$0.86

Loaf of Bread

$0.43

Average House

$62,900

Weekly Wage

$250

Or

Browse by Year

Famous Faces Born in the 1970s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

About The Day You Were Born

Ever wondered what was happening in the world when you took your first breath? Our birthday lookup tool reveals the fascinating history of your special day.

About The Birthday Chronicle and where our data comes from →