Mother Theresa of India is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work among the sick and poor in 1979. Also that year, Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Middletown, Penn., is damaged in an accident; evacuation plans are prepared for people living 10-20 miles downwind of the plant.

Elsewhere around the world:

• Cuban President Castro visits the United States for the first time in 19 years and addresses the United Nations General Assembly.

• Egypt and Israel sign a peace treaty.

• Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital discover that cancer cells form a protective cocoon around the tumor, preventing the body’s defenses from fighting the disease.

• A black hole is discovered in the center of the Milky Way.

• Pioneer II, a space probe, discovers two new moons and two new rings around Saturn. Viking I discovers that Jupiter has a ring and a 14th moon.

• Scientists discover a giant worm off the coast of the Galapagos Islands which appears to absorb nutrients directly from the ocean. It may require a new zoological classification.

• A dime-sized silver and copper disk found near Bar Harbor, Maine, in 1961 is identified as a Norse penny minted between 1065 and 1080. It is the first datable Viking artifact found in North America.