1973

The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.

The Republic of Ireland general election is held. Liam Cosgrave becomes the new Taoiseach.

The first handheld mobile phone call is made by Martin Cooper of Motorola in New York City.

The Sears Tower in Chicago, United States, is topped-out, becoming the world's tallest building at 1,451 feet (442 m).

A Tupolev Tu-144 crashes at the Paris air show; 15 are killed.

A very long total solar eclipse occurs. During the entire second millennium, only seven total solar eclipses exceeded seven minutes of totality.

The Avianca Building in Bogotá, Colombia, suffers a serious fire, in which four people are killed.

South Korean politician Kim Dae-jung is kidnapped in Tokyo by the KCIA.

Jim Croce, Maury Muehleisen and four others are killed in a plane crash shortly after takeoff following a concert at Northwestern Louisiana University in Natchitoches.

The Sydney Opera House in Australia is opened by Queen Elizabeth II after 14 years of construction work.

Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 (Gerald Carr, William Pogue, Edward Gibson) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an 84-day mission.

Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.