1959 (MCMLIX ) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar , the 1959th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 959th year of the 2nd millennium , the 59th year of the 20th century , and the 10th and last year of the 1950s decade.
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1959 .
Map of the world in 1959, highlighting the main world affairs of the year
January
January 8 : Fidel Castro arrives in Havana
January 1 – Cuba : Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.[1]
January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the vicinity of Earth's Moon , where it was intended to crash-land, but instead becomes the first spacecraft to go into heliocentric orbit .
January 3
January 4
January 6 – The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated.
January 7 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro .
January 8 – Charles de Gaulle is inaugurated as the first president of the French Fifth Republic .
January 9 – The Vega de Tera disaster in Spain, a flood caused by a dam collapse, nearly destroys the town of Ribadelago and kills 144 residents.[3]
January 10 – The Soviet government recognizes the new Castro government of Cuba.
January 11 – The Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques is founded in Monaco .
January 12 – Motown Records was founded by Berry Gordy in Detroit ,
January 15 – The Soviet Union conducts its first census after World War II .
January 21 – The European Court of Human Rights is established.
January 22 – Knox Mine disaster : Water breaches the River Slope Mine in Port Griffith , near Pittston, Pennsylvania , United States; 12 miners are killed.
January 25
January 30 – Danish passenger/cargo ship MS Hans Hedtoft , returning to Copenhagen after its maiden voyage to Greenland , strikes an iceberg and sinks off the Greenland coast with the loss of all 95 on board.[5]
September
September 26 : Typhoon Vera storm pathMap key
Tropical depression (≤38 mph, ≤62 km/h)
Tropical storm (39–73 mph, 63–118 km/h)
Category 1 (74–95 mph, 119–153 km/h)
Category 2 (96–110 mph, 154–177 km/h)
Category 3 (111–129 mph, 178–208 km/h)
Category 4 (130–156 mph, 209–251 km/h)
Category 5 (≥157 mph, ≥252 km/h)
Unknown
September 14 – Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 becomes the first human-made object to crash on the Moon .
September 15 –28 – USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev and his wife tour the United States, at the invitation of U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower .
September 16 – The Xerox 914 , the first plain paper copier, is introduced to the public.
September 17 – The hypersonic North American X-15 research aircraft, piloted by Scott Crossfield , makes its first powered flight at Edwards Air Force Base , California.
September 23 – The MS Princess of Tasmania , Australia's first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across the Bass Strait .
September 26
Typhoon Vera hits central Honshū , Japan, as a 160 miles per hour (260 km/h) Category 5 storm, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000 homeless. Most of the victims and damage are centered in the Nagoya area.
First large unit action of the Vietnam War takes place, when two companies of the ARVN 's 23rd Division are ambushed by a well-organized Viet Cong force of several hundred, identified as the "2nd Liberation Battalion".
September 30 – Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev meets Mao Zedong in Beijing.
November
November 1 – In Rwanda , Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa is beaten up by Tutsi forces, leading to a period of violence known as the wind of destruction .
November 2 – At a ceremony near Toddington , British Minister of Transport Ernest Marples opens the first section of the M1 Motorway , between Watford and Crick , along with two spur motorways, the M45 and M10 . Three decades of large scale motorway construction follow, leading to the rapid expansion of the UK motorway network .
November 15 – The brutal Clutter family murders are committed in Holcomb, Kansas , inspiring Truman Capote 's In Cold Blood (1966).
November 20 – The Declaration of the Rights of the Child is adopted by the United Nations .
The MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor ), also known as the MOS transistor , is invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in the United States.[13] [14] It revolutionizes the electronics industry ,[15] becomes the fundamental building block of the Digital Revolution [16] and goes on to become the most widely manufactured device in history.[17] [18]
More information Births ...
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Rigoberta Menchú
Linda Blair
Mauricio Macri
Joachim Kunz
John McEnroe
Vazgen Sargsyan
Jens Stoltenberg
Laura Chinchilla
Alberto Fernández
David Hyde Pierce
Dame Emma Thompson
Sean Bean
Pedro Pierluisi
Stephen Harper
Hugh Laurie
Klaus Iohannis
Christian Wulff
Suzanne Vega
Tupou VI
Susana Martinez
Kevin Spacey
Sanjay Dutt
Rosanna Arquette
Gustavo Cerati
Magic Johnson
Morten Harket
Elizabeth Peña
Mauricio Funes
Ken Watanabe
Evo Morales
John Magufuli
Bryan Adams
Sean Young
Florence Griffith Joyner
February
February 5 – Jennifer Granholm , Canadian-American politician, 47th Governor of Michigan (2003–2011)
February 8
February 9 – Joachim Kunz , East German Olympic weightlifter
February 13 Benur Pashayan , Soviet Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler (d. 2019 )
February 14 – Renée Fleming , American soprano[31]
February 16 – John McEnroe , American tennis player[32]
February 18 – Jayne Atkinson , English-born American film, theatre and television actress
February 22 – Kyle MacLachlan , American actor
February 23 – Clayton Anderson , American astronaut[ citation needed ]
February 26 – Rolando Blackman , Panamanian basketball player
March
March 4 – Irina Strakhova , Russian race walker
March 5 – Vazgen Sargsyan , 8th Prime Minister of Armenia (d. 1999 )
March 6 – Tom Arnold , American actor and comedian
March 7 – Donna Murphy , American actress and singer
March 8 – Aidan Quinn , Irish-American actor
March 9 – Takaaki Kajita , Japanese nuclear physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics [33]
March 11 – Dejan Stojanović , Serbian-American poet, writer, essayist and businessman
March 13 – Kathy Hilton , American socialite and philanthropist[34]
March 14 – Tamara Tunie , American actress
March 15 – Eliot Teltscher , American tennis player[35]
March 16 – Jens Stoltenberg , 27th Prime Minister of Norway [36]
March 18
March 21 – Nobuo Uematsu , Japanese composer[39]
March 22 – Matthew Modine , American actor
March 28 – Laura Chinchilla , 49th president of Costa Rica [40]
March 30 – Andrew Bailey , executive director banking and chief cashier at the Bank of England
April
April 2
April 3 – David Hyde Pierce , American actor[41]
April 7 – Rejoice Timire , Zimbabwean activist and politician (d. 2021)[42]
April 15
April 16 – Alison Ramsay , Scottish field hockey player[45]
April 17 – Sean Bean , British actor[46]
April 21 – Robert Smith , lead vocalist of The Cure [47]
April 22 – Ryan Stiles , American-Canadian comedian[48]
April 24 – Paula Yates , British television presenter (d. 2000 )[49]
April 26 – Pedro Pierluisi , Governor of Puerto Rico
April 27 – Sheena Easton , Scottish singer[50]
April 30 – Stephen Harper , 22nd Prime Minister of Canada [51]
May
May 1 – Yasmina Reza , French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter[52]
May 3
May 9
May 10 – Victoria Rowell , American actress
May 12 – Ving Rhames , African-American actor
May 14 – Patrick Bruel , French singer
May 17 – Marcelo Loffreda , Argentine rugby player and coach
May 20 – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole , Hawaiian singer (d. 1997 )[56]
May 21 – Loretta Lynch , American politician, 83rd United States Attorney General
May 22 – Morrissey , British singer[57]
May 24 – Pelle Lindbergh , Swedish-born hockey player (d. 1985 )
May 27 – Donna Strickland , Canadian physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics[58]
May 29
August
August 3
August 6 – Rajendra Singh , Indian water conservationist , Magsaysay Award (2001)
August 7 – Koenraad Elst , Belgian Indologist
August 10 – Rosanna Arquette , American actress
August 11 – Gustavo Cerati , Argentinian singer (d. 2014 )[67]
August 14
August 15 – Scott Altman , American astronaut
August 17
August 25
August 26 – Stan Van Gundy , American basketball coach and TV commentator[68]
August 27
August 28 – Arthur Holden , Canadian actor and writer
August 29
August 30 – Mark Jackson , Australian rules footballer and actor
August 31 – Tony DeFranco , Canadian singer
September
September 2 – Guy Laliberté , Canadian Cirque du Soleil founder
September 4
September 6 – Gaetano Varcasia , Italian voice actor and theatre director (d. 2014 )
September 7
September 8 – Daler Nazarov , Tajik composer, singer and actor
September 11 – John Hawkes , American actor
September 12 – Sigmar Gabriel , German politician
September 13
September 14 – Morten Harket , Norwegian rock singer (A-ha )
September 16 – Peter Keleghan , Canadian actor
September 17 – Olivia Lozano , Venezuelan politician[72]
September 18
September 21 – Dave Coulier , American comedian
September 23
September 28 – Dantes Tsitsi , Nauruan politician
September 29 – Jon Fosse , Norwegian Nynorsk novelist, dramatist and poet, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature [73]
September 30
October
October 1 – Youssou N'Dour , Senegalese singer
October 2 – Lena Hades , Russian artist
October 3 – Fred Couples , American golfer
October 4 – Chris Lowe , British musician[75]
October 7 – Simon Cowell , English music producer and television talent show judge
October 8
October 9 – Boris Nemtsov , Russian politician (murdered. 2015 )
October 10
October 13 – Marie Osmond , American singer
October 15
October 17 – Francisco Flores Pérez , President of El Salvador (d. 2016 )
October 18 – Mauricio Funes , 44th President of El Salvador
October 21 – Ken Watanabe , Japanese actor
October 22 – Arto Salminen , Finnish writer (d. 2005 )
October 23
October 24 – Michelle Lujan Grisham , American politician, governor and representative from New Mexico
October 25 – Chrissy Amphlett , Australian rock singer (d. 2013 )
October 26
October 27 – Rick Carlisle , American basketball coach
October 29 – John Magufuli , 5th President of Tanzania (d. 2021 )
October 31 – Neal Stephenson , American writer
December
December 1 – Wally Lewis , Australian rugby league player
December 3 – Kathy Jordan , American tennis player[82]
December 4 – Christa Luding-Rothenburger , German speed skater
December 5 – Yoshitomo Nara , Japanese artist
December 6 – Satoru Iwata , Japanese president of Nintendo (d. 2015 )
December 11 – Li Gui-min , Taiwanese politician
December 13 – Johnny Whitaker , American actor
December 14 – Evan Ziporyn , American composer
December 17 – Gregg Araki , American director
December 19 – Waise Lee , Hong Kong actor
December 20 – Stephen Chan Chi Wan , general manager of TVB
December 21 – Florence Griffith Joyner , American athlete (d. 1998 )
December 22 – Bernd Schuster , German footballer and manager
December 24 – Lee Daniels , American director and producer[83]
December 25 – Michael P. Anderson , American astronaut (d. 2003 )
December 26 – Glenna Cabello , Venezuelan political scientist
December 28 – Ana Torroja , Spanish singer
December 29
December 30 – Tracey Ullman , British-American comedian and actress
December 31
February
The Big Bopper
Buddy Holly
Baby Dodds
February 3 – Killed in the crash of a private plane :
February 4 – Una O'Connor , Irish actress (b. 1880 )
February 7 – D. F. Malan , South African politician, 4th Prime Minister of South Africa (b. 1874 )[86]
February 11 – Marshall Teague , American race car driver (b. 1921 )
February 12 – George Antheil , American composer (b. 1900 )
February 14 – Baby Dodds , American jazz musician (b. 1898 )
February 15 – Sir Owen Richardson , British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879 )
February 18 – Gago Coutinho , Portuguese aviation pioneer (b. 1869)
February 22 – Helen Parrish , American actress (b. 1924 )
February 23 – Pierre Frieden , Luxembourgish politician and writer, 18th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (b. 1892 )
February 25 – Klawdziy Duzh-Dushewski , Soviet architect, diplomat and journalist (b. 1891 )
February 26
February 28
March
Lou Costello
Ichirō Hatoyama
March 1 – Mack Gordon , American composer and lyricist (b. 1904 )
March 2 – Eric Blore , English actor (b. 1887 )
March 3 – Lou Costello , American actor and comedian (b. 1906 )
March 4 – Maxie Long , American athlete (b. 1878 )
March 6
March 7 – Ichirō Hatoyama , Japanese politician, 36th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1883 )
March 15
March 17 – Galaktion Tabidze , Georgian poet (b. 1891 )[87]
March 19 – Umberto Barbaro , Italian critic (b. 1902 )
March 23 – Dominick Trcka , Czechoslovak Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1886 )
March 24 – Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi , Sudanese political figure and religious leader, Imam of the Ansar and 1st Prime Minister of Sudan (b. 1885 )
March 26 – Raymond Chandler , American-born novelist (b. 1888 )
March 28 – Lyubov Golanchikova , Soviet pilot (b. 1889 )
March 29 – Barthélemy Boganda , 1st Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1910 )
June
Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus
Hitoshi Ashida
June 1 – Sax Rohmer , English author (b. 1883 )
June 4 – Charles Vidor , American director (b. 1900 )
June 8 – Pietro Canonica , Italian sculptor (b. 1869 )
June 9 – Adolf Windaus , German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876 )
June 13 – Seán Lester , Irish diplomat (b. 1888 )[89]
June 14 – Jerónimo Méndez , Chilean politician, acting President of the Republic (b. 1887 )
June 15 – Kazimierz Bein , Polish ophthalmologist (b. 1872 )
June 16 – George Reeves , American television actor (b. 1914 )
June 18
June 20
June 22 – Bruce Harlan , American Olympic diver (b. 1926 )
June 23
June 27
June 30 – José Vasconcelos , Mexican politician, writer and philosopher (b. 1882 )
September
Edmund Gwenn
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
September 6
September 7 – Maurice Duplessis , Premier of Quebec (b. 1890 )
September 9 – Ramón Fonst , Cuban fencer (b. 1883)
September 11 – Paul Douglas , American actor (b. 1907 )
September 14 – Wayne Morris , American actor (b. 1914 )
September 18 – Adolf Ziegler , German painter (b. 1892 )
September 20 – Nikandr Chibisov , Russian commander (b. 1892 )
September 22
September 24 – Wolfgang Paalen , German-Austrian-Mexican painter, sculptor and art philosopher (b. 1905 )
September 25 – Helen Broderick , American actress (b. 1891 )
September 26 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike , 4th Prime Minister of Ceylon (b. 1899 )
September 28
September 30 – Taylor Holmes , American actor (b. 1878 )
October
Errol Flynn
George Marshall
October 1 – Enrico De Nicola , Italian jurist, politician and journalist, 1st President of Italy (b. 1877 )
October 6 – Bernard Berenson , American art historian (b. 1865 )
October 7 – Mario Lanza , American tenor (b. 1921 )
October 9 – Shirō Ishii , Japanese microbiologist and lieutenant general of Unit 731 (b. 1892 )
October 14 – Errol Flynn , Australian actor (b. 1909 )
October 15 – Stepan Bandera , Ukrainian nationalist leader (b. 1909 )
October 16 – George C. Marshall , United States Secretary of State , recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1880 )
October 18 – Boughera El Ouafi , Algerian athlete (b. 1898 )
October 19 – Ebrahim Hakimi , 29th Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1869 )
October 20 – Werner Krauss , German actor (b. 1884 )
October 22 – Joseph Cahill , Australian politician (b. 1891 )
October 28 – Camilo Cienfuegos , Cuban revolutionary (b. 1932 )
October 29 – King Sisavang Vong of Laos (b. 1885 )[94]
November
Jose P. Laurel
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson
November 1 – Zhang Jinghui , Chinese general and politician Prime Minister of Manchukuo (b. 1871 )
November 2 – Federico Tedeschini , Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and eminence (b. 1873 )
November 4 – Friedrich Waismann , Austrian mathematician, physicist and philosopher (b. 1896 )
November 6
November 7 – Victor McLaglen , English actor and boxer (b. 1886 )
November 10 – Lupino Lane , British actor (b. 1892 )
November 15 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson , Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869 )
November 17 – Heitor Villa-Lobos , Brazilian composer (b. 1887 )
November 20 – Alfonso López Pumarejo , 2-time President of Colombia (b. 1886 )
November 21 – Max Baer , American boxer and actor (b. 1909 )
November 22 – Molla Mallory , American tennis champion (b. 1884 )
November 24
November 25 – Gérard Philipe , French actor (b. 1922 )
Handbook on the Cuban Armed Forces . DIA. 1979. p. 1.
"Today in History". Washington Post Express . January 25, 2012. p. 26.
"Three Rescue Vessels Reach Ship-Iceberg Collision Scene". Tribune . Oakland. January 31, 1959. p. 1.
"21 Die as Jet Hits School On Okinawa", Oakland Tribune , June 30, 1959, p1
Warner, Denis (1964). The Last Confucian: Vietnam, South-East Asia, and the West . Sydney: Angus and Robertson. pp. 112–114.
Gant, Margaret Elizabeth (1979). The Raven's Story . Glen Raven, NC: Glen Raven, Inc. ISBN 0-9603138-0-X .
Graham Betts, ed. (2005). Complete UK Hit Albums 1956-2005 . Collins. p. 352. ISBN 9780007205325 .
Joel Whitburn (2007). Joel Whitburn presents Billboard top adult songs, 1961-2006: chart data compiled from Billboard's adult contemporary charts, 1961-2006, and adult top 40 charts, 1996-2006 . Record Research Incorporated. p. 20. ISBN 9780898201697 .
Paul T Hellmann (2006). Historical Gazetteer of the United States . Taylor & Francis. p. 642. ISBN 9781135948597 .
Chase's Calendar of Events 2020: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months . Bernan Press. 2019. p. 130. ISBN 9781641433167 .
"Biography" . CIDOB Foundation (in Spanish). Retrieved February 26, 2023 .
Chase's Calendar of Events 2020: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months . Bernan Press. 2019. p. 207. ISBN 9781641433167 .
Film Review: Special . Visual Imagination Limited. 2005. p. 96.
Chase's Calendar of Events 2023: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months . Bernan Press. 2022. p. 235. ISBN 9781636710693 .
Chase's Calendar of Events 2020: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months . Bernan Press. 2019. p. 245. ISBN 9781641433167 .
Prime Ministers of Canada Gr. 4-8 . On The Mark Press. 2006. p. 67. ISBN 1-55035-721-2 .
Rajamani, R. C (2000). Portraits of India's Parliamentarians for the New Millennium: Lok Sabha . Gyan Publishing House. p. 307. ISBN 9788121206921 .
"Ben Elton" . British Comedy Guide . Retrieved November 13, 2020 .
B. Turner, ed. (2017). The Statesman's Yearbook 2014: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World . Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 587. ISBN 9781349596430 .
Kekoa Enomoto, Catherine; Kakesako, Gregg K. (June 26, 1997). " 'IZ' Will Always Be" . Honolulu Star-Bulletin .
Simpson, Mark (2004). Saint Morrissey . London: SAF Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 0-946719-65-9 .
Chase's Calendar of Events 2020: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months . Bernan Press. 2019. p. 318. ISBN 9781641433167 .
B. Turner, ed. (2017). The Statesman's Yearbook 2014: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World . Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 997. ISBN 9781349596430 .
B. Turner, ed. (2017). The Statesman's Yearbook 2014: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World . Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 516. ISBN 9781349596430 .
Camila Diaz (December 18, 2018). "Daniela Romo" . Historia-Biografia.com . Retrieved August 24, 2019 .
"Ana Denicola" . ianas.org . Inter-American Network of Academics of Sciences. Archived from the original on November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017 .
Biographical information and career statistics from
"G. D. H. Cole". The Times . London. January 15, 1959.