1978Nov, 23
Cyclone kills about 1000 people in eastern Sri Lanka.
The 1978 Sri Lanka Cyclone (JTWC designation: 04B) was one of the most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Sri Lanka since modern records began. The cyclone formed on November 17, 1978, and attained peak intensity on November 23, 1978, right before making landfall in Batticaloa. Sri Lanka's eastern province was heavily affected by the cyclone.
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Events on 1978
- 11Feb
Aristotle
Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. - 27Apr
Watergate scandal
Former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes. - 25Jul
In vitro fertilisation
Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF. - 22Oct
Pope John Paul II
Papal inauguration of Pope John Paul II. - 18Nov
Jim Jones
In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to a mass murder-suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier.