January 6
Events Pre-1600
*1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eve ...
– The
Asian Socialist Conference
The Asian Socialist Conference (ASC) was an organisation of socialism, socialist political party, political parties in Asia that existed between 1953 and 1965. It was established in an effort to build a Pan-Asianism, Pan-Asian multinational soci ...
opens in
Rangoon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
.
*
January 12
Events Pre-1600
* 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
*1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned s ...
–
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n
émigré
An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate".
French Huguenots
Many French Huguenots fled France followi ...
s found a
government-in-exile
A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile u ...
in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
.
*
January 14
Events Pre-1600
*1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
*1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
1601–1900
*1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...
** Marshal
Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
-sponsored
Robertson Panel
The Robertson Panel was a scientific committee which met in January 1953 headed by Howard P. Robertson. The Panel arose from a recommendation to the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) in December 1952 from a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) re ...
first meets to discuss the
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
phenomenon.
*
January 15
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
* 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...
–
Georg Dertinger
Georg Dertinger (25 December 1902 – 21 January 1968) was a German politician.
He was born in Berlin into a middle-class Protestant family. Dertinger briefly studied law and economics. After his study he became a journalist and later editor for ...
, foreign minister of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
, is arrested for spying.
*
January 19
Events Pre-1600
* 379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to ''Augustus'', and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
* 649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender ...
– 71.1% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into ''
I Love Lucy
''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...
'', to watch Lucy give birth to Little Ricky, which is more people than those who tune into Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration the next day. This record has yet to be broken.
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
–
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
is
sworn in
Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to giv ...
as the 34th President of the United States.
*
January 24
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.
* 914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt.
*1438 – The Cou ...
**
Mau Mau Uprising
The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the ''Mau Mau'', an ...
: Rebels in
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...
announces that agriculture will be
collectivized
Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...
in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
.
*
January 31
Events Pre-1600
* 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades.
* 1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the t ...
–
February 1
Events Pre-1600
* 1327 – The teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
* 1411 – The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Toruń), Mon ...
– The
North Sea flood of 1953
The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm surge that struck the Netherlands, north-west Belgium, England and Scotland. Most sea defences facing the surge were overwhelmed, causing extensive flooding.
The storm and flo ...
kills 1,836 people in the southwestern Netherlands (especially
Zeeland
, nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge")
, anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem")
, image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg
, map_alt =
, m ...
), 307 in the United Kingdom, and several hundred at sea, including 133 on the ferry in the
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
.
February
*
February 1
Events Pre-1600
* 1327 – The teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
* 1411 – The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Toruń), Mon ...
– The surge of the North Sea flood continues from the previous day.
*
February 3
Events Pre-1600
* 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
*1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
*1488 – ...
–
Batepá massacre
Batepá is a village on São Tomé Island in São Tomé and Príncipe. Its population is 775 (2012 census).creoles, known as ''forros'', are massacred in
São Tomé
São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities.
History
Álva ...
, by the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners.
*
February 5
Events Pre-1600
* 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
* 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
* 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians ar ...
– Walt Disney's feature film ''
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...
'' premieres.
*
February 11
Events Pre-1600
*660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
* 55 – The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman empire, on the eve of his coming ...
** United States President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
refuses a clemency appeal for
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...
.
** The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
breaks diplomatic relations with
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, after a bomb explosion at the Soviet Embassy, in reaction to the '
Doctors' plot
The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Healthcare in Russia, Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. ...
'.
*
February 12
Events Pre-1600
*1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna.
*1429 – English forces under ...
– The
Nordic Council
The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomou ...
is inaugurated.
*
February 13
Events Pre-1600
* 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the ''Diploma Ottonianum'', recognizing John as ruler of Rome.
*1322 – The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on the night of 12th–13th.
*1462 – The ...
–
Transsexual
Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignment ...
Christine Jorgensen
Christine Jorgensen (May 30, 1926 – May 3, 1989) was an American trans woman who was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery. She had a career as a successful actress, singer and rec ...
returns to New York after successful
sex reassignment surgery
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...
in Denmark.
*
February 19
Events Pre-1600
* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...
–
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
approves the first literature censorship board in the United States.
*
February 25
Events Pre-1600
* 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.
* 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
...
–
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, film-maker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted the 46th greatest of all time ...
's film, ''
Les Vacances de M. Hulot
''Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot'' (french: Les Vacances de M. Hulot; released as ''Monsieur Hulot's Holiday'' in the US) is a 1953 French comedy film starring and directed by Jacques Tati. It introduced the pipe-smoking, well-meaning but clumsy c ...
'', is released in France, introducing the ''gauche'' character of Monsieur Hulot.
*
February 28
Events Pre-1600
*202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.
* 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
*1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on ...
**
James Watson
James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Watson, Crick and ...
and
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical struc ...
of the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
announce their discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule.
** Greece,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
Balkan Pact
The Balkan Pact, or Balkan Entente, was a treaty signed by Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia on 9 February 1934
.
March
*
March 1
Events Pre-1600
*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first Roman triumph, triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor ...
**
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
suffers a
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
, after an all-night dinner with
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
interior minister
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...
and future premiers
Georgy Malenkov
Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov ( – 14 January 1988) was a Soviet politician who briefly succeeded Joseph Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union. However, at the insistence of the rest of the Presidium, he relinquished control over the par ...
,
Nikolai Bulganin
Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Булга́нин; – 24 February 1975) was a Soviet politician who served as Minister of Defense (1953–1955) and Premier of the Soviet Union (1955–1 ...
, and
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
. The stroke paralyzes the right side of his body and renders him unconscious until his death on
March 5
Events Pre-1600
* 363 – Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
* 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern ...
.
**
Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg
Lieutenant-General Bernard Cyril Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, (21 March 1889 – 4 July 1963) was a British-born New Zealand soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, who served as the 7th Governor-General of New Zealand from 1946 to 1952.
Freyb ...
is made deputy constable and lieutenant governor of
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
.
*
March 6
Events Pre-1600
* 12 BCE – The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor.
* 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
* 845 & ...
–
Georgy Malenkov
Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov ( – 14 January 1988) was a Soviet politician who briefly succeeded Joseph Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union. However, at the insistence of the rest of the Presidium, he relinquished control over the par ...
succeeds
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, as
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
and First Secretary of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
.
*
March 8
Events Pre-1600
* 1010 – Ferdowsi completes his epic poem ''Shahnameh''.
*1126 – Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León.
* 1262 – Battle of Hausbergen between bour ...
– The
Thieves World
Thieves' World is a shared world fantasy series created by Robert Lynn Asprin in 1978. The original series comprised twelve anthologies, including stories by science fiction authors Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Andrew J. Offutt, C. J. Cherryh, ...
, which has been transformed into the
Russian mafia
Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...
, are freed from prisons by the Malenkov regime, ending the
Bitch Wars
The Bitch Wars, or Suka Wars (russian: Сучьи войны , translit= ''Suchyi voyny '' or in singular: russian: Сучья война , translit= ''Suchya voyna''), occurred in the Soviet Gulag labor-camp system between 1945 and 1953, around ...
.
*
March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
– The
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
nominates
Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...
from
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
as
United Nations Secretary General
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The role of the secretary-ge ...
.
*
March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
–
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
is selected
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...
.
*
March 17
Events Pre-1600
* 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
* 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eigh ...
– The first
nuclear test
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...
of
Operation Upshot–Knothole
Operation Upshot–Knothole was a series of eleven nuclear test shots conducted in 1953 at the Nevada Test Site. It followed ''Operation Ivy'' and preceded ''Operation Castle''.
Over 21,000 soldiers took part in the ground exercise Desert Roc ...
is conducted in
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, with 1,620 spectators at .
*
March 18
Events Pre-1600
* 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10.
* 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''violent''), causing at least 1,070 deaths, and $3.57 million in damage.
*
March 19
Events Pre-1600
* 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.
*1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends ...
– The
25th Academy Awards
The 25th Academy Awards were held on March 19, 1953 at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, and the NBC International Theatre in New York City, to honor the films of 1952. It was the first Oscars ceremony to be televised, the first ceremony ...
Ceremony is held (the first one broadcast on television).
*
March 25
Events Pre-1600
* 421 – Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto.
* 708 – Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to vi ...
Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
natives.
*
March 26
Events Pre-1600
* 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, is ...
–
Jonas Salk
Jonas Edward Salk (; born Jonas Salk; October 28, 1914June 23, 1995) was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. He was born in New York City and attended the City College of New Y ...
announces his
polio vaccine
Polio vaccines are vaccines used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio). Two types are used: an inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV) and a weakened poliovirus given by mouth (OPV). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all chil ...
.
*
March 29
Events Pre-1600
* 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving.
* 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...
– A fire at the Littlefield Nursing Home in
Largo, Florida
Largo is the third largest city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, as well as the fourth largest in the Tampa Bay area. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 82,500, up from 69,371 in 2000.
Largo was first incorporated in 1 ...
, kills 33 persons, including singer-songwriter
Arthur Fields
Arthur Fields (August 6, 1884 – March 29, 1953) was an American singer (baritone) and songwriter.
Biography
He was born Abraham Finkelstein in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up mainly in Utica, New York. He became a professional ...
.
April
*
April 7
Events Pre-1600
* 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town.
* 529 – First ''Corpus Juris Civilis'', a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Empe ...
–
Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...
is elected
Secretary-General of the United Nations
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The role of the secretary-g ...
.
*
April 8
Events Pre-1600
* 217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
* 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
*1139 – Ro ...
–
Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...
is sentenced to 7 years in prison for the alleged organization of the
Mau Mau Uprising
The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the ''Mau Mau'', an ...
in the British
Kenya Colony
The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in ...
.
*
April 16
Events Pre-1600
* 1457 BC – Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail.
* 69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.
* 73 – Masad ...
** President Eisenhower delivers his "Chance for Peace" speech, to the National Association of Newspaper Editors.
** The Habar Corporation's building in Chicago, United States, catches fire, killing 35 employees.
*
April 25
Events Pre-1600
* 404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.
* 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the ...
–
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical struc ...
and
James Watson
James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Watson, Crick and ...
double helix
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* ...
May 2
Events Pre-1600
* 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
* 1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
* 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and impris ...
–
Hussein
Hussein, Hussain, Hossein, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein or Husain (; ar, حُسَيْن ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-i-N ( ar, ح س ی ن, link=no), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", "h ...
is crowned
King of Jordan
The king of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is Jordan's head of state and monarch. He serves as the head of the Jordanian monarchy—the Hashemite dynasty. The king is addressed as His Majesty ().
Jordan is a constitutional monarchy. However, ...
.
*
May 5
Events Pre-1600
* 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins.
*1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.
* 1260 – Ku ...
–
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxley ...
first tries the
psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
hallucinogen
Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorized ...
mescaline
Mescaline or mescalin (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is a naturally occurring psychedelic protoalkaloid of the substituted phenethylamine class, known for its hallucinogenic effects comparable to those of LSD and psilocybin.
Biological sou ...
, inspiring his book ''
The Doors of Perception
''The Doors of Perception'' is an autobiographical book written by Aldous Huxley. Published in 1954, it elaborates on his psychedelic experience under the influence of mescaline in May 1953. Huxley recalls the insights he experienced, rangin ...
''.
*
May 9
Events Pre-1600
* 328 – Athanasius is elected Patriarch of Alexandria.
*1009 – Lombard Revolt: Lombard forces led by Melus revolt in Bari against the Byzantine Catepanate of Italy.
*1386 – England and Portugal formally rati ...
** France agrees to the provisional independence of
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
, with King Norodom Sihanouk.
** Australian Senate election, 1953: The Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal/National Party of Australia, Country Coalition (Australia), Coalition Menzies Government (1949-66), Government, led by Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister Robert Menzies, holds their Australian Senate, Senate majority, despite gains made by the Australian Labor Party, Labor Party, led by H. V. Evatt. This is the first occasion where a Senate election is held without an accompanying Australian House of Representatives, House Of Representatives election.
* May 11 – 1953 Waco tornado outbreak, Waco tornado outbreak: An Fujita scale, F5 tornado hits in the downtown section of Waco, Texas, killing 114.
* May 15 – The Standards And Recommended Practices (SARPS) for Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) are adopted by the ICAO Council. These SARPS are in Annex 15 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, Chicago Convention, and 15 May is celebrated by the AIS community as "World AIS Day".
* May 18 – At Rogers Dry Lake, Californian Jacqueline Cochran, Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to exceed Speed of sound, Mach 1, in a North American F-86 Sabre at .
* May 25 – Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its only nuclear artillery test: Upshot-Knothole Grable.
* May 29 – 1953 British Mount Everest expedition: Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay from Nepal become the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
June
* June 1 – Uprising in Plzeň (1953), Uprising in Plzeň: Currency reform causes riots in Czechoslovakia.
* June 2 – Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, South Africa, Dominion of Pakistan, Pakistan, and Dominion of Ceylon, Ceylon, at Westminster Abbey.
* June 7 – Italian general election, 1953, Italian general election: the Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democracy party wins a plurality in both legislative houses.
* June 7-June 9, 9 – Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: A single storm-system spawns 46 tornadoes of various sizes, in 10 states from Colorado to Massachusetts, over 3 days, killing 246.
* June 8
** On the second day of the Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence, a tornado kills 115 in Flint, Michigan; it will be the last to claim more than 100 lives, until the 2011 Joplin tornado.
** Austria and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
open diplomatic relations.
* June 9
** On the third day of the Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence, a tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado the day before hits in Worcester, Massachusetts, killing 94.
**
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
Technical Services Staff head Sidney Gottlieb approves of the use of LSD in an MKUltra subproject.
* June 13 – Hungarian Prime Minister Mátyás Rákosi is replaced by Imre Nagy.
* June 17 – Uprising of 1953 in East Germany, Workers' Uprising in East Germany: The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
orders a Division (military), Division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
* June 18
** Egypt declares itself a republic.
** Tachikawa air disaster: A United States Air Force Douglas C-124 Globemaster II crashes just after takeoff from Tachikawa Airfield near Tokyo, Japan, killing all 129 people on board in the worst air crash in history up to this time, and the first with a confirmed death toll exceeding 100.
* June 30 – The first roll-on/roll-off ferry crossing of the English Channel, Dover–Boulogne, takes place.
July
* July 3 – The first ascent of Nanga Parbat in the Pakistan Himalayas, the world's List of highest mountains, ninth highest mountain, is made by Austrian climber Hermann Buhl alone on the 1953 German–Austrian Nanga Parbat expedition, German–Austrian expedition.
* July 9 – The U.S. Treasury formally renames the Bureau of Internal Revenue; the new name (which had previously been used informally) is the Internal Revenue Service.
* July 10 – The Soviet official newspaper ''Pravda'' announces that
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...
has been deposed as head of the NKVD.
* July 17 – The greatest recorded loss of United States midshipmen in a single event results from an USMC R4Q NROTC crash, aircraft crash near NAS Whiting Field.
* July 26 – Fidel Castro and his brother lead a disastrous assault on the Moncada Barracks, preliminary to the Cuban Revolution.
* July 27 – The Korean War ends, with the Korean Armistice Agreement: The United Nations Command (Korea) (United States), People's Republic of China and North Korea sign an armistice agreement at Panmunjom, and the north remains Communism, communist, while the South Korea, south remains Capitalism, capitalist.
August
* August 5 – Operation Big Switch: Prisoners of war are repatriated to the United States after the Korean War.
* August 8 – Soviet prime minister Georgi Malenkov announces that the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
has a hydrogen bomb.
* August 12
** The 1953 Ionian earthquake of magnitude 7.2 totally devastates Cephalonia and most of the other Ionian Islands, in Greece's worst natural disaster in centuries.
** Soviet atomic bomb project: "Joe 4", the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon, is detonated at Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakh SSR.
* August 13 – Four million workers go on strike in France to protest against austerity measures.
* August 15–August 19, 19 – Cold War: 1953 Iranian coup d'état – Overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, by Iranian military in favour of strengthening the monarchical rule of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, with the support of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (as "Operation Ajax") and the United Kingdom.
* August 17 – The first planning session of Narcotics Anonymous is held in Southern California (see October 5).
* August 20 – The French government ousts King Mohammed V of Morocco, and exiles him to Corsica.
* August 22 – The last prisoners are repatriated from Devil's Island to France.
* August 25 – The French general strike ends.
* August – High Arctic relocation of Inuit families by the Government of Canada.
September
* September 4 – The discovery of REM sleep is first published, by researchers Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman.
* September 5 – The United Nations rejects the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
's suggestion to accept the People's Republic of China as a member.
* September 7 –
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
becomes head of the Soviet Union, Soviet Central Committee.
* September 23 – The Pact of Madrid is signed by Francoist Spain and the United States of America, ending a period of virtual isolation for Spain.
* September 25 – The first German prisoners of war return from the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
to West Germany.
* September 26 – Rationing of sugar ends in the UK.
October
* October – The UNIVAC 1103 is the first commercial computer to use random-access memory.
* October 5
** Earl Warren is appointed Chief Justice of the United States, by President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
.
** The first meeting of Narcotics Anonymous is held (the first planning session was held August 17).
* October 6 – UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is made a permanent specialized agency of the United Nations.
* October 9
** West German federal election, 1953: Konrad Adenauer is re-elected as German chancellor.
** Fearing communist influence in British Guiana, the British Government suspends the constitution, declares a state of emergency, and militarily occupies the colony.
* October 10
** Roland (Monty) Burton wins the 1953 London to Christchurch air race, in under 23 hours flying time.
** The Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea is concluded in Washington, D.C.
* October 12 – The play ''The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial'' opens at Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Plymouth Theatre, New York.
* October 22 – Kingdom of Laos, Laos becomes independent from France.
* October 23 – Alto Broadcasting System in the Philippines makes the first television broadcast in southeast Asia, through DZAQ-TV. Alto Broadcasting System is the predecessor of what will later become ABS-CBN Corporation.
* October 30 – Cold War: U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
formally approves the top secret document of the United States National Security Council NSC 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the Communism, communist threat.
November
* November 5 – David Ben-Gurion resigns as prime minister of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
* November 9
** Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–70), Cambodia becomes independent from France.
** The Laotian Civil War begins between the Kingdom of Laos and the Pathet Lao, all the while resuming the First Indochina War against the French Army in a Two-front war.
* November 20
** The Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, piloted by Scott Crossfield, becomes the first manned aircraft to reach Mach number, Mach 2.
** Authorities at the Natural History Museum, London announce that the Human skull, skull of Piltdown Man (allegedly an early human discovered in 1912) is a hoax.
* November 20–November 22, 22 – First Indochina War: Operation Castor – In a massive airborne operation in Vietnam, French forces establish a base at Điện Biên Phủ.
* November 21 – Puerto Williams is founded in Chile, as the southernmost settlement of the world.
* November 25 – Match of the Century (1953 England v Hungary football match): The England national football team loses 6–3 to Hungary national football team, Hungary at Wembley Stadium (1923), Wembley Stadium, their first ever loss to a continental team at home.
* November 29 – First Indochina War: Battle of Dien Bien Phu – French paratroopers consolidate their position at Điện Biên Phủ.
* November 30 – Kabaka crisis: Mutesa II of Buganda, Edward Mutesa II, the ''Kabaka of Buganda, kabaka'' (king) of Buganda, is deposed and exiled to London by Andrew Cohen (colonial governor), Sir Andrew Benjamin Cohen, Governor of Uganda.
December
* December 2 – The United Kingdom and Iran reform diplomatic relations.
* December 6 – With the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Arturo Toscanini performs what he claims is his favorite Beethoven symphony, ''Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven), Eroica'', for the last time. The live performance is broadcast across the United States on radio, and later released on records and CD.
* December 7 – A visit to Iran by American Vice President Richard Nixon sparks several days of riots, as a reaction to the August 19 overthrow of the government of Mohammed Mossadegh by the U.S.-backed Shah. Three students are shot dead by police in Tehran. This event becomes an annual commemoration.
* December 8 – U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
delivers his ''Atoms for Peace'' address, to the United Nations General Assembly.
* December 17 – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approves color television (using the NTSC standard).
* December 23 – The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
announces officially that
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...
has been executed.
* December 24 – Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge collapses at Tangiwai, New Zealand, sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River; 151 are killed.
* December 25 – The Amami Islands are returned to Japan, after 8 years of United States military occupation.
* December 30 – Ramon Magsaysay becomes the 7th President of the Philippines.
Date unknown
* Global meat packing industry JBS S.A., JBS is founded in Anapolis, Goias, Brazil.
* China First Building Corporation, as predecessor part of China State Construction Engineering, founded in Beijing.
Births
January
* January 1 – Gary Johnson, American businessman, politician and 29th Governor of New Mexico
* January 4 – George Tenet, American Central Intelligence Agency director
* January 5
** Pamela Sue Martin, American actress
** Mike Rann, Australian politician
*
January 6
Events Pre-1600
*1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eve ...
– Malcolm Young, Australian musician (d. 2017)
* January 10
** Pat Benatar, American rock singer
** Bobby Rahal, American race car driver
* January 11 – Eduard Kučera, Czech businessman, co-founder of Avast, Avast Software
* January 13 – John Wake, English cricketer
* January 16 – Robert Jay Mathews, American neo-Nazi, founder of the terrorist group ''The Order (white supremacist group), The Order'' (d. 1984)
*
January 19
Events Pre-1600
* 379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to ''Augustus'', and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
* 649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender ...
– Richard Legendre, Canadian tennis player, politician
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
– Jeffrey Epstein, American financier and sex offender (d. 2019)
* January 21 – Paul Allen, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Microsoft (d. 2018)
* January 22
** Myung-whun Chung, South Korean conductor, pianist
** Jim Jarmusch, American director
* January 23 – Dušan Nikolić, Yugoslav footballer (d. 2018)
*
January 24
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.
* 914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt.
*1438 – The Cou ...
– Moon Jae-in, 19th President of South Korea
* January 26
** Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, Secretary General of NATO
** Lucinda Williams, American singer-songwriter
* January 28 – Colin Campbell (ice hockey, born 1953), Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player, executive
* January 29
** Peter Baumann, German keyboard player, songwriter (''Tangerine Dream'')
** Paulin Bordeleau, Canadian ice hockey player
** Lynne McGranger, Australian actress
** Juan Paredes (boxer), Juan Paredes, Mexican boxer
** Louie Pérez, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
** Fred Riebeling, Australian politician
** Grażyna Szmacińska, Polish chess player
** Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (d. 1995)
** Yorie Terauchi, Japanese actress
** Hwang Woo-suk, South Korean veterinarian, academic
*
January 31
Events Pre-1600
* 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades.
* 1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the t ...
– Sergei Ivanov, Russian first deputy prime minister and minister of defense
February
* February 2 – Duane Chapman, American bounty hunter
* February 4 – Kitarō, Japanese New Age musician
* February 7 – Dan Quisenberry, American baseball player (d. 1998)
* February 8 – Mary Steenburgen, American actress
* February 9
** Ciarán Hinds, Irish actor
** Rick Wagoner, American automotive executive
* February 10 – June Jones, American quarterback, current NCAA Football head coach at Southern Methodist University
*
February 11
Events Pre-1600
*660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
* 55 – The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman empire, on the eve of his coming ...
– Jeb Bush, American politician, 43rd List of governors of Florida, Governor of Florida
*
February 12
Events Pre-1600
*1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna.
*1429 – English forces under ...
– Nabil Shaban, Jordanian-British actor and writer
* February 14 – Sergey Mironov, Russian statesman, Speaker of the Federation Council
*
February 19
Events Pre-1600
* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...
**Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentine lawyer and politician, President of Argentina and Vice President of Argentina
**Massimo Troisi, Italian actor, film director (d. 1994)
* February 20 – Riccardo Chailly, Italian orchestral conductor
* February 21 – William Petersen, American actor
* February 22 – Geoffrey Perkins, British comedy producer, writer and actor (d. 2008)
*
February 25
Events Pre-1600
* 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.
* 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
...
** José María Aznar, Prime Minister of Spain
** Martin Kippenberger, German artist
* February 26 – Michael Bolton, American singer
* February 27
** Ian Khama, 4th President of Botswana
** Yolande Moreau, Belgian actress, writer and director
*
February 28
Events Pre-1600
*202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.
* 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
*1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on ...
** Paul Krugman, American economist
** Ricky Steamboat, American professional wrestler
** Osmo Vänskä, Finnish orchestral conductor
March
*
March 1
Events Pre-1600
*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first Roman triumph, triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor ...
– Richard Bruton, Irish politician, economist
* March 3
** Arthur Antunes Coimbra, Brazilian footballer, manager
** Robyn Hitchcock, British singer-songwriter
** Agustí Villaronga, Spanish filmmaker
* March 4
** Emilio Estefan, Cuban percussionist
** Rose Laurens, French singer-songwriter (d. 2018)
** Kay Lenz, American actress
*
March 5
Events Pre-1600
* 363 – Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
* 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern ...
– Tokyo Sexwale, South African businessman, politician, anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner
*
March 6
Events Pre-1600
* 12 BCE – The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor.
* 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
* 845 & ...
– Jan Kjærstad, Norwegian author
* March 10 – Debbie Brill, Canadian high jumper
* March 11
** László Bölöni, Romanian footballer
** Bernie LaBarge, Canadian guitarist/vocalist
* March 12
** Carl Hiaasen, American author
** Ron Jeremy, American pornographic and straight actor, filmmaker and stand-up comedian
** Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepalese politician
*
March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
– Johan Ullman, Swedish medical doctor, physicist and inventor
* March 15 – Kumba Iala, Guinea-Bissauan politician, 3rd President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2014)
* March 16
** Bryan Duncan, American Christian musician
** Isabelle Huppert, French actress
** Richard Stallman, American free software proponent
*
March 17
Events Pre-1600
* 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
* 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eigh ...
– Filemon Lagman, Filipino revolutionary (d. 2001)
*
March 18
Events Pre-1600
* 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10.
* 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
– Takashi Yoshimatsu, Japanese composer
*
March 19
Events Pre-1600
* 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.
*1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends ...
– Lenín Moreno, Ecuadorian politician, 44th President of Ecuador
* March 20 – Sándor Csányi (banker), Sándor Csányi, Hungarian business executive, banker
* March 23 – Chaka Khan, African-American soul singer
* March 24 – Mathias Richling, German comedian
*
March 26
Events Pre-1600
* 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, is ...
** Lincoln Chafee, American politician
** Elaine Chao, American politician, wife of Senator Mitch McConnell
* March 28 – Melchior Ndadaye, 4th President of Burundi (d. 1993)
April
* April 2
** Jim Allister, Irish politician
** Rosemary Bryant Mariner, American naval aviator (d. 2019)
* April 3
** Sandra Boynton, American author, songwriter and illustrator
** Russ Francis, American football player
* April 4 – Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician
* April 6 – Andy Hertzfeld, American computer programmer
* April 9 – John Howard (singer-songwriter), John Howard, English singer-songwriter
* April 10 – Heiner Lauterbach, German actor
* April 11
** Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium
** Andrew Wiles, British-born mathematician
* April 13 – Stephen Byers, English Labour Party politician, Secretary of State for Transport
* April 14 – Eric Tsang, Hong Kong actor
*
April 16
Events Pre-1600
* 1457 BC – Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail.
* 69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.
* 73 – Masad ...
** Peter Garrett, Australian musician, politician
** J. Neil Schulman, American writer, activist
* April 17 – Linda Martin, Irish singer, television presenter and Eurovision Song Contest 1992 winner
* April 18 – Rick Moranis, Canadian actor
* April 19 – Ruby Wax, American-born British-based performer
* April 20 – Sebastian Faulks, British novelist
* April 22 – Juhani Komulainen, Finnish composer
* April 24 – Eric Bogosian, American actor, playwright, monologist and novelist
*
April 25
Events Pre-1600
* 404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.
* 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the ...
– Ron Clements, American animation director, producer
* April 28
** Roberto Bolaño, Chilean author (d. 2003)
** Kim Gordon, American rock musician
* April 29
** Nikolai Budarin, Russian cosmonaut
** Bill Drummond, South African-born British artist and musician (The KLF, K Foundation etc.)
* April 30 – Merrill Osmond, American pop singer
May
*
May 2
Events Pre-1600
* 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
* 1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
* 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and impris ...
** Valery Gergiev, Russian-Ossetian conductor
** Jamaal Wilkes, American basketball player
* May 3
** Salman Hashimikov, Soviet Union, Soviet Wrestling weight classes, heavyweight sport wrestling, wrestler
** Gary Young (drummer), Gary Young, American musician (Pavement (band), Pavement, Gary Young's Hospital)
*
May 5
Events Pre-1600
* 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins.
*1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.
* 1260 – Ku ...
** Ibrahim Zakzaky, Nigerian Shia, Shia-Islam cleric
** Dieter Zetsche, German auto executive
* May 6
** Aleksandr Akimov, Soviet engineer who was the shift supervisor during the events of the Chernobyl disaster (d. 1986)
** Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
** Graeme Souness, Scottish footballer, manager
** Lynn Whitfield, African-American actress
* May 7 – Ian McKay, British soldier (Victoria Cross, VC recipient) (d. 1982)
* May 8
** Billy Burnette, American musician
** Alex Van Halen, Dutch-born American rock musician
* May 11 – David Gest, American entertainer, producer and television personality (d. 2016)
* May 14
** Michael Hebranko, American exemplar of morbid/mortal obesity (d. 2013)
** Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia
* May 15
** George Brett, American Major League Baseball player
** Mike Oldfield, English composer (''Tubular Bells'')
* May 16
** Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
** Richard Page (musician), Richard Page, American musician
* May 17 – Luca Prodan, Italian–Scottish musician and singer (d. 1987)
* May 19 – Victoria Wood, English comic performer (d. 2016)
* May 20 – Robert Doyle, Australian politician
* May 21 – Jim Devine, British politician
* May 23 – Agathe Uwilingiyimana, 4th Prime Minister of Rwanda (d. 1994)
* May 24 – Alfred Molina, English actor
* May 26
** Kay Hagan, American lawyer, banking executive and politician (d. 2019)
** Michael Portillo, English politician
* May 29
** Aleksandr Abdulov, Russian actor (d. 2008)
** Danny Elfman, American composer
* May 30 – Colm Meaney, Irish actor
* May 31 – Kathie Sullivan, American singer
June
* June 1
** David Berkowitz, American serial killer
** Diana Canova, American actress, adjunct professor
* June 2
** Keith Allen (actor), Keith Allen, British actor
** Cornel West, African-American philosopher, political activist, social critic, author
* June 3 – Erland Van Lidth De Jeude, Dutch-born wrestler, opera singer and actor (d. 1987)
* June 4
** Paul De Meo, American screenwriter, producer (d. 2018)
** Susumu Ojima, Japanese entrepreneur
* June 5 – Kathleen Kennedy (producer), Kathleen Kennedy, American film producer
* June 7
** Johnny Clegg, South African Zulu musician and anthropologist (d. 2019)
** Dougie Donnelly, Scottish television broadcaster
* June 8 – Ivo Sanader, 8th Prime Minister of Croatia
* June 10 – John Edwards, American politician
* June 11
** Peter Bergman, American actor
** Barbara Minty, American model
* June 12 – Michael Donovan, Canadian voice actor
* June 13
** Tim Allen, American actor, comedian (''Home Improvement (TV series), Home Improvement'')
** Atso Almila, Finnish conductor, composer
*June 14 – Hana Laszlo, Israeli actress and comedian
*June 15
**Antonia Rados, Austrian television journalist
**Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Paramount leader of China
* June 20 – Ulrich Mühe, German actor (d. 2007)
* June 21 – Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 2007)
* June 22
** Wim Eijk, Dutch archbishop
** Cyndi Lauper, American singer (''Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'')
*June 23
**Vincenzo Di Nicola, Italian-Canadian psychologist, psychiatrist and philosopher
* June 24 – Ivo Lill, Estonian artist
* June 29
** Don Dokken, American rock singer, musician
** Colin Hay, Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter (''Men at Work'')
** Ingo Kühl, German painter, sculptor and architect
July
* July 1
** Pat Donovan, American football offensive lineman
** Lawrence Gonzi, 11th Prime Minister of Malta
** Jadranka Kosor, Croatian politician
** Nasir Ali Mamun, Bengali portrait photographer
** Sangay Ngedup, Prime Minister of Bhutan
* July 2 – Nacer Sandjak, Algerian footballer and manager
* July 3
** Lotta Sollander, Swedish alpine skier
** Les Strong, English association footballer
* July 11
** Angélica Aragón, Mexican actress
** Leon Spinks, African-American boxer (d. 2021)
* July 12 – Alessi Brothers, American pop rock singer-songwriter duo
* July 15
** Jean-Bertrand Aristide, President of Haiti
** Raisul Islam Asad, Bangladeshi actor
* July 17 – Nuria Bages, Mexican actress
* July 19 – Shōichi Nakagawa, Japanese politician (d. 2009)
* July 21
** Jeff Fatt, Australian musician, former member of The Wiggles
** Sylvia Chang, Taiwanese actress
* July 23 – Najib Abdul Razak, 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia
* July 24
** Tadashi Kawamata, Japanese contemporary artist
** Claire McCaskill, U.S. Senator
* July 25 – Tim Gunn, American fashion expert
* July 27 – Yahoo Serious, Australian filmmaker
* July 29
** Ken Burns, American documentary filmmaker
** Geddy Lee, Canadian rock musician (Rush (band), Rush)
* July 31
** Tōru Furuya, Japanese voice actor
** James Read, American actor
August
* August 1
** Robert Cray, American musician
** Steven Krasner, American sportswriter
* August 2 – Butch Patrick, American child actor and musician
* August 4 – Antonio Tajani, Italian politician, President of the European Parliament
* August 5
** András Ligeti, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2021)
** Rick Mahler, American baseball player (d. 2005)
* August 8 – Nigel Mansell, English 1992 Formula 1 world champion
* August 9 – Jean Tirole, French Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Nobel Prize-winning economist
* August 11 – Hulk Hogan, American professional wrestler
* August 12
** Carlos Mesa, President of Bolivia
** Teddi Siddall, American actress (d. 2018)
* August 14
** Cliff Johnson (game designer), Cliff Johnson, American game designer
** James Horner, American film composer (d. 2015)
* August 15
** Wolfgang Hohlbein, German writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction
** Carol Thatcher, English television personality
** Sir Mark Thatcher, English businessman
* August 16 – Kathie Lee Gifford, American singer and actress
* August 17 – Herta Müller, German Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize-winning writer
* August 18 – Louie Gohmert, American politician
* August 19 – Benoît Régent, French actor (d. 1994)
* August 20
** Peter Horton, American actor and director
** Mike Jackson (Texas politician), Mike Jackson, member of the Texas Senate
* August 21 – Géza Szőcs, Hungarian poet and politician
* August 24 – Ron Holloway, American tenor saxophonist
* August 26
** Edward Lowassa, 8th Prime Minister of Tanzania
** Pat Sharkey, Irish footballer
* August 27 – Alex Lifeson, Canadian rock musician (Rush (band), Rush)
* August 29 – James Quesada, Nicaraguan-born anthropologist
* August 30 – Robert Parish, American basketball player
* August 31 – György Károly, Hungarian author (d. 2018)
September
* September 2 – John Zorn, American musician
* September 4 – Fatih Terim, Turkish footballer and manager
* September 8 – Stu Ungar, American poker player (d. 1998)
* September 10 – Amy Irving, American actress
* September 12
** Nan Goldin, American photographer
** Stephen Sprouse, American fashion designer, artist and photographer (d. 2004)
* September 13 – Ann Dusenberry, American film actress
* September 19 – Probal Dasgupta, Indian linguist and Esperantist
* September 22 – Ségolène Royal, French politician
* September 23 – Alexey Maslov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Forces
* September 27 – Greg Ham, Australian rock musician (Men at Work) (d. 2012)
* September 29 – Denis Potvin, Canadian Hall of Fame hockey player
October
* October 1
** Grete Waitz, Norwegian athlete (d. 2011)
** Klaus Wowereit, German politician
* October 2 – Brandon Wilson (writer), Brandon Wilson, American author and explorer
* October 4 – Kerry Sherman, American actress
* October 7 – Tico Torres, American Drummer (Bon Jovi)
* October 9 – Tony Shalhoub, American actor
* October 10 – Midge Ure, Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and producer
* October 12
** Les Dennis, British comedian and television presenter
** Serge Lepeltier, French politician
* October 14
** Greg Evigan, American actor
** Shelley Ackerman, American astrologer, actress, writer
* October 15
** Tito Jackson, African-American singer and guitarist (The Jackson 5)
** Larry Miller (comedian), Larry Miller, American actor and comedian
* October 16 – Martha Smith, American model and actress
* October 21
** Keith Green, American-born Christian piano player (d. 1982)
** Peter Mandelson, British politician and member of the United Kingdom Labour Party, Labour Party
** Hugh Wolff, American orchestral conductor
* October 22 – Loyiso Nongxa, South African mathematician
* October 24
** Christoph Daum, German footballer and manager
** Steven Hatfill, American physician, virologist and bio-weapons expert
** David Wright (British musician), David Wright, British composer and producer, co-founder of AD Music
* October 26 – Keith Strickland, American musician (The B-52's)
* October 27
** Paul Alcock, English football referee (d. 2018)
** Peter Firth, British actor
** Robert Picardo, American actor
* October 29 – Lorelei King, American-born actress
* October 31 – Michael J. Anderson, American actor
November
* November 1
**Darrell Issa, American businessman and Congressman
** Susan Tse, Hong Kong actress and opera singer
** Bruce Poliquin, American politician
* November 2 – Tom Lyle, American comics artist (d. 2019)
* November 3
**Koji Horaguchi, Japanese rugby union player (d. 1999)
** Dennis Miller, American comedian and radio host
** Kate Capshaw, American actress
* November 4
** Carlos Gutierrez, American politician
** Peter Lord, British film producer and director
** Van Stephenson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
* November 5 – Florentino V. Floro, Filipino dwarf judge
* November 7 – Ottfried Fischer, German actor and Kabarett artist
* November 8 – John Musker, American animation director
* November 11
** Andy Partridge, British musician and frontman of the band XTC
* November 13
** Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico (2018—present)
** Waswo X. Waswo, American photographer
** Diana Weston, Canadian-born English screen actress
** Mokhtar Dahari, Malaysian footballer (d. 1991)
* November 14 – Dominique de Villepin, Prime Minister of France
* November 15 – Alexander O'Neal, American singer
* November 16 – Griff Rhys Jones, Welsh comedian, writer, actor and television presenter
* November 18
** Alan Moore, English writer and magician
** Kevin Nealon, American actor and comedian
** Kath Soucie, American actress and voice actress
* November 19
** Robert Beltran, American actor
** Tom Villard, American actor (d. 1994)
* November 23 – Francis Cabrel, French singer
* November 24
** Glenn Withrow, American actress
** Tod Machover, American composer
* November 25 – Graham Eadie, Australian rugby league player
* November 27
** Steve Bannon, American political figure
** Boris Grebenshchikov, Soviet and Russian rock musician
** Curtis Armstrong, American actor
* November 28 – Pamela Hayden, American voice actress
* November 29
**Alex Grey, American artist
** Vlado Kreslin, Slovenian singer
** Christine Pascal, French actress, director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
** Rosemary West, British serial killer
* November 30 – June Pointer, American singer (The Pointer Sisters) (d. 2006)
December
* December 2 – Joel Fuhrman, American certified family physician
* December 6
**Geoff Hoon, British Labour Party politician
**Tom Hulce, American actor and theater producer
**Gary Ward (outfielder), Gary Ward, American baseball player
* December 8
** Kim Basinger, American actress and fashion model
** Norman G. Finkelstein, American political scientist
** Sam Kinison, American comedian (d. 1992)
* December 9 – John Malkovich, American actor and film director
* December 13
** Ben Bernanke, American economist, Federal Reserve System chairman
** Bob Gainey, Canadian hockey player
* December 14 – Vangelis Meimarakis, Greek lawyer and politician, 4th Minister for National Defence (Greece), Greek Minister for National Defence
* December 17
** Ikue Mori, Japanese drummer, composer and graphic designer
** Bill Pullman, American actor
* December 18
** Kevin Beattie, English footballer (d. 2018)
** Khas-Magomed Hadjimuradov, Chechen bard
* December 21 – András Schiff, Hungarian concert pianist and conductor
* December 23
** Nuria Bages, Mexican stage and television actress
** Marián Geišberg, Slovak actor (d. 2018)
** Martha Wash, American singer-songwriter, actress and producer
* December 24 – Timothy Carhart, American actor
* December 26
** Leonel Fernández, President of the Dominican Republic
** Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonian politician, 4th President of Estonia
* December 27 – Gina Lopez, Filipino environmentalist and philanthropist (d. 2019)
* December 28
** Richard Clayderman, French pianist
** Tatsumi Fujinami, Japanese professional wrestler
* December 29
** Thomas Bach, 9th President of the International Olympic Committee
** Stanley Williams, American reformed murderer (d. 2005)
* December 31 – James Remar, American actor
Date unknown
* Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, 6th President of Mauritania (d. 2017)
* Dan Petrescu (businessman), Dan Petrescu, Romanian businessman and billionaire
Deaths
January
* January 1
** Maksim Purkayev, Soviet general (b. 1894)
** Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1923)
* January 2 – Guccio Gucci, founder of Gucci (b. 1881)
* January 4
** Arthur Hoyt, American actor (b. 1874)
** Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu, Japanese prince (b. 1902)
* January 5 – Mitchell Hepburn, Canadian politician, 11th Premier of Ontario (b. 1896)
* January 7
**Henry Diesen, Norwegian admiral (b. 1883)
**Martin and Osa Johnson, Osa Johnson, American adventurer and documentary filmmaker (b. 1894)
* January 8 – Charles Edward Merriam, American political scientist (b. 1874)
* January 9 – Madame le Corbeau (Marguerite Pitre), Canadian murderer (b. 1909) (hanged)
* January 13 – Edward Marsh (polymath), Sir Edward Marsh, English polymath and civil servant (b. 1872)
* January 16 – Israel Goldstine, New Zealand lawyer and politician (b. 1898)
* January 21 – Mary Mannering, early 20th-century English stage actress (b. 1876)
* January 28 – James Scullin, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876)
* January 29 – Reginald Wingate, Sir Reginald Wingate, British army general and colonial administrator (b. 1861)
* January 30 – Lionel Belmore, English actor (b. 1867)
February–March
*
February 1
Events Pre-1600
* 1327 – The teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
* 1411 – The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Toruń), Mon ...
– William Sydney Marchant, British colonial official (b. 1894)
* February 2 – Alan Curtis (American actor), Alan Curtis, American actor (b. 1909)
*
February 3
Events Pre-1600
* 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
*1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
*1488 – ...
– Richard Rushall, British businessman (b. 1865)
*
February 5
Events Pre-1600
* 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
* 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
* 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians ar ...
– Iuliu Maniu, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1873)
* February 9 – Cecil Hepworth, English director (b. 1874)
*
February 12
Events Pre-1600
*1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna.
*1429 – English forces under ...
– Hal Colebatch, Australian politician (b. 1872)
* February 16 – James L. Kraft, Canadian-American entrepreneur, inventor (b. 1874)
*
February 19
Events Pre-1600
* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...
– Nobutake Kondō, Japanese admiral (b. 1886)
* February 20 – Francesco Saverio Nitti, Italian economist and political figure, 24th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1868)
* February 21 – Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen, Bavarian general (b. 1862)
* February 24 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (b. 1875)
*
February 25
Events Pre-1600
* 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.
* 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
...
– Sergei Winogradsky, Russian scientist (b. 1856)
* February 27 – Paul Hurst (actor), Paul Hurst, American actor (b. 1888)
* March 2 – Jim Lightbody, American middle-distance runner (b. 1882)
* March 3 – James J. Jeffries, American boxing champion (b. 1875)
*
March 5
Events Pre-1600
* 363 – Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
* 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern ...
** Herman J. Mankiewicz, American writer and producer (b. 1897)
** Sergei Prokofiev, Soviet and Russian composer (b. 1891)
**
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, Soviet leader (b. 1878)
* March 7 – Edward Sedgwick, American director (b. 1892)
*
March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
– Johan Laidoner, Commander-in-chief of the Estonian Army (b. 1884)
*
March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
– Klement Gottwald, 5th List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1896)
* March 15 – Carl Stockdale, American actor (b. 1874)
* March 20 – Graciliano Ramos, Brazilian writer (b. 1892)
* March 21 – Toni Wolff, Swiss psychoanalyst (b. 1888)
* March 22 – Gustav Herglotz, German mathematician (b. 1881)
* March 23
** Raoul Dufy, French painter (b. 1875)
** Oskar Luts, Estonian writer and playwright (b. 1887)
* March 24
** Mary of Teck, consort of George V, George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
** Paul Couturier, French priest (b. 1881)
* March 28 – Jim Thorpe, Native-American athlete and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1887)
* March 31 – Ivan Lebedeff, Russian actor (b. 1895)
April
* April 2
** Jean Epstein, French film director (b. 1897)
** Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (b. 1885)
* April 4
** King Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)
** Rachilde, French author (b. 1860)
* April 9
** Eddie Cochems, American father of the forward pass in football (b. 1877)
** Hans Reichenbach, German philosopher (b. 1891)
** Stanisław Wojciechowski, 2nd President of the Republic of Poland (b. 1869)
* April 11
** Boris Kidrič, 1st Prime Minister of Slovenia (b. 1912)
** Kid Nichols, American baseball player (Boston Braves (baseball), Boston Braves) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1869)
* April 12 – Lionel Logue, Australian speech and language therapist (b. 1880)
* April 13 – Eduard C. Lindeman, American social worker and author (b. 1885)
*April 20 – Erich Weinert, German writer, member of the Communist Party of Germany (b. 1890)
* April 27 – Maud Gonne, English-born Irish republican revolutionary, memoirist; spouse of John MacBride (b. 1866)
* April 29 – Alice Prin, French artists' model (b. 1901)
May–June
* May 1 – Everett Shinn, American painter (b. 1876)
* May 8 – Anna Rüling, German journalist, "the first known lesbian activist" (b. 1880)
* May 16
** Nicolae Rădescu, Romanian military officer and statesman, 45th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1874)
** Django Reinhardt, Belgian jazz musician (b. 1910)
* May 19 – Dámaso Berenguer, Spanish soldier and Prime Minister (b. 1873)
* May 21 – Ernst Zermelo, German logician and mathematician (b. 1871)
* May 27 – Jesse Burkett, American baseball player (Cleveland Spiders) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1868)
* May 29 – Man Mountain Dean, American professional wrestler (b. 1891)
* May 30 – Dooley Wilson, American actor (b. 1886)
* May 31 – Vladimir Tatlin, Soviet and Russian painter and architect (b. 1885)
* June 1 – Alex James (footballer), Alex James, Scottish football (soccer) player (b. 1901)
* June 5
** William Farnum, American actor (b. 1876)
** Bill Tilden, American tennis champion (b. 1893)
** Roland Young, English actor (b. 1887)
* June 9 – Godfrey Tearle, American actor (b. 1884)
* June 15 – Henry Scattergood, American cricketer (b. 1877)
* June 18 – René Fonck, French aviator, top Allied World War I Flying Ace (b. 1894)
* June 19
** Harold Cazneaux, Australian photographer (b. 1878)
** Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, American communist spies (b. 1918 and 1915, respectively) (executed on same day)
** Norman Ross, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1896)
* June 22 – Bill Lange (coach), Bill Lange, American sports coach (b. 1897)
* June 23 – Albert Gleizes, French artist and theoretician (b. 1881)
* June 30 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator of children's books (b. 1874)
July
* July 1 – Totius (poet), Totius, Afrikaans poet (b. 1877)
* July 9 – Annie Kenney, British working-class suffragette (b. 1879)
* July 11 – Oliver Campbell, American tennis player (b. 1871)
* July 12 – Herbert Rawlinson, English actor (b. 1885)
* July 15 – John Christie (murderer), John Christie, English serial killer (b. 1899) (hanged)
* July 16 – Hilaire Belloc, French-born British writer and historian (b. 1870)
* July 17 – Maude Adams, American actress (b. 1872)
* July 20 – Dumarsais Estimé, 30th President of Haiti (b. 1900)
* July 26 – Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and Prime Minister of Greece, Prime Minister (b. 1883)
* July 29 – Richard Pearse, New Zealand airplane pioneer (b. 1877)
* July 31 – Robert A. Taft, American politician, United States Senate Majority Leader (b. 1889)
August
* August 1 – Jānis Mendriks, Soviet Roman Catholic priest (b. 1907)
* August 11 – Tazio Nuvolari, Italian racing driver (b. 1892)
* August 15 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (b. 1875)
* August 22 – Jim Tabor, American baseball player (b. 1916)
* August 30
** Gaetano Merola, Italian conductor (b. 1881)
** Maurice Nicoll, British psychiatrist (b. 1884)
September
* September 2 – Jonathan M. Wainwright (general), Jonathan M. Wainwright, American general and Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1883)
* September 5
** Richard Walther Darré, Nazi SS General (b. 1895)
** Francis Ford (actor), Francis Ford, American actor and director (b. 1881)
** Constantin Levaditi, Romanian physician and microbiologist (b. 1874)
* September 7 – Nobuyuki Abe, Japanese Prime Minister and military leader (b. 1875)
* September 8 – Fred M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1890)
* September 12
** Hugo Schmeisser, German weapons designer (b. 1884)
** Lewis Stone, American actor (b. 1879)
* September 13 – Mary Brewster Hazelton, American painter (b. 1868)
* September 15 – Erich Mendelsohn, German architect (b. 1887)
* September 24 – Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba, Spanish aristocrat (born 1878)
* September 26 – Xu Beihong, Chinese painter (b. 1895)
* September 27 – Hans Fritzsche, German Nazi senior official, one of only three acquitted at the Nuremberg trials (b. 1900)
* September 28 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (b. 1889)
* September 30
** Robert Mawdesley, British stage and radio actor (b. 1900)
** Lewis Fry Richardson, English mathematician, physicist, meteorologist, psychologist and pacifist (b. 1881)
October
* October 3 – Arnold Bax, Sir Arnold Bax, English composer (b. 1887)
* October 6 – Porter Hall, American actor (b. 1888)
* October 8
** Nigel Bruce, British character actor (b. 1895)
** Kathleen Ferrier, British contralto (b. 1912)
* October 12 – Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Swedish politician, 13th Prime Minister of Sweden, one of the leaders of World War I (b. 1862)
* October 13 – Millard Mitchell, American actor (b. 1903)
* October 14 – Arthur Wimperis, English illustrator and playwright (b. 1874)
* October 20 – Robert Brooke-Popham, Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, British air chief marshal (b. 1878)
* October 25 – Holger Pedersen (linguist), Holger Pedersen, Dutch linguist (b. 1867)
* October 27 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)
November
* November 5 – Harry A. Marmer, Ukrainian-born American mathematician and oceanographer (b. 1885)
* November 8
** Ivan Bunin, Russian writer, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
** John van Melle, Dutch-born author (b. 1883)
* November 9
** Louise DeKoven Bowen, American philanthropist and activist (b. 1859)
** King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia (b. 1875)
** Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author (b. 1914)
* November 16 – T. F. O'Rahilly, Irish academic (b. 1882)
* November 18 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, American composer (b. 1901)
* November 21
** António Cabreira, Portuguese polygraph (b. 1868)
** Larry Shields, American musician (b. 1893)
* November 22 – Sulaiman Nadvi, Indian/Pakistani historian, biographer, littérateur and scholar of Islam (b. 1884)
* November 27 – Eugene O'Neill, American writer, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
* November 28 – Rudolf Bauer (artist), Rudolf Bauer, German-born painter (b. 1889)
* November 29
** Ernest Barnes, English mathematician, scientist and theologian (b. 1874)
** Sam De Grasse, Canadian actor (b. 1875)
** Milt Gross, American comic book illustrator and animator (b. 1895)
* November 30 – Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (b. 1879)
December
* December – Seth Weeks, African-American jazz mandolinist, composer, arranger and bandleader (b. 1868)
* December 2
** Radu Băldescu, Romanian general (b. 1888)
** Trần Trọng Kim, Vietnamese historian and Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam (b. 1883)
* December 5
** Jorge Negrete, Mexican singer and actor (b. 1911)
** Ray Paddock, American farmer and politician (b. 1877)
* December 10 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born Islamic scholar and translator (b. 1872)
* December 14 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American writer (b. 1896)
* December 19 – Robert Andrews Millikan, American physicist Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
* December 21 – Nicholas H. Heck, American geophysicist, oceanographer and surveyor (b. 1882)
* December 23 –
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...
, Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union), Minister of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union (b. 1899)
* December 25 – Lee Shubert, Polish-born theater owner and operator (b. 1871)
* December 27
** Şükrü Saracoğlu, 9th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1887)
** Julian Tuwim, Polish poet (b. 1894)
* December 31 – Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889)
Nobel Prizes
* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Frits Zernike
* Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Hermann Staudinger
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Medicine – Hans Adolf Krebs, Fritz Albert Lipmann
* Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Winston Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
* Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – George Marshall