October 1972 - October 1, 1972 (Sunday)

October 1, 1972 (Sunday)

• Publication of the first reports of the production of a recombinant DNA molecule marked the birth of modern molecular biology methodology.
• Singapore Airlines (SIA), with 10 aircraft, and Malaysia Airlines, were created with the breakup of Malaysia Singapore Airlines. SIA now serves 80 cities in 40 nations around the world.
• At about 1:00 a.m. local time, off of the coast of South Vietnam, an explosion on board the USS Newport News killed 19 sailors and injured ten others.
• Florida's new death penalty statute, the first to be passed in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared all existing capital punishment laws unconstitutional, went into effect.
• The Oregon Minimum Deposit Law took effect, as Oregon became the first state to require a deposit on all beverage containers, including cans.
• Born: Jean Paulo Fernandes, Brazilian footballer
• Died: Louis Leakey, 69, Kenyan anthropologist; and Kenneth Edgeworth, 92, Irish astronomer