1955
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s |
| Years: | 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 |
| 1955 by topic: |
| Arts |
| Architecture - Art - Film - Literature Music (Country, UK) - Television - Home video |
| Science and technology |
| Archaeology - Aviation Meteorology - Rail transport - Radio - Science |
| By country |
| Australia - Canada - France - Germany - India Ireland - Malaysia - Mexico - New Zealand - Pakistan Singapore - South Africa - UK - Wales - Zimbabwe |
| Other topics |
| Awards - Sport - Law - State leaders - Sovereign states - Religious leaders |
| Birth and death categories |
| Births - Deaths |
| Establishments and disestablishments categories |
| Establishments - Disestablishments |
| Works category |
| Works |
| Gregorian calendar | 1955 MCMLV |
| Ab urbe condita | 2708 |
| Armenian calendar | 1404 ԹՎ ՌՆԴ |
| Chinese calendar | 4591/4651-12-8 (甲午年十二月初八日) — to — 4592/4652-11-18(乙未年十一月十八日) |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1947 – 1948 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5715 – 5716 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2010 – 2011 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1877 – 1878 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5056 – 5057 |
| Iranian calendar | 1333 – 1334 |
| Islamic calendar | 1375 – 1376 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2498 |
1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.
Contents |
Events
January
- January 2 - José Antonio Remón Cantera president of Panama is murdered at a racetrack in Panama City
- January 7 - Marian Anderson is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
- January 18 - Battle of Yijiangshan started. Fighting lasted until January 20 with a Communist victory.
- January 21 - The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941. Until then, despite the end of World War II, the USSR was formally at war with Germany.
- January 22 - Pentagon announces plan to develop ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons.
- January 28 - Congress authorizes President Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from Red China.
February
- February 12 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
- February 22 - In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, 364,839 to 264,775
March
- March 5 - WBBJ signs on the air in the United States as WDXI
- March 7 - The 1954 Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC. It also marks the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV exactly as performed onstage. The program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to that time, and becomes one of the first great television classics.
- March 17 - The Richard Riot occurs in Montreal.
- March 19 - KXTV signs on the air in the United States
- March 20 - Blackboard Jungle opens in theaters featuring the song Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and his Comets, thus propelling Rock and Roll as a musical genre. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.
April
- April 5 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 5 - Richard J. Daley defeats Robert Merrian to become mayor of Chicago by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
- April 6 - Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 11 - The KMT sabotaged the "Kashmir Princess", killing 16 but fails to assassinate Zhou Enlai.
- April 12 - The Salk polio vaccine is introduced.
- April 15 - Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain.
- April 18 - Imre Nagy, Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
- April 18 - Albert Einstein dies from ruptured aortic aneurysm at 1:15am[1]
May
- May 5 - West Germany becomes a sovereign state.
- May 9 - West Germany joins NATO.
- May 14 - The Warsaw Pact is formed by the communist states of Eastern Europe and the USSR.
- May 15 - The Austrian State Treaty is signed by the Allied Powers, restoring Austria as a sovereign, democratic state, to be neutral in the Cold War.
June
- June 11 - Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide in the 1955 Le Mans disaster.
- June 13 - Mir Mine, the first diamond mine of the USSR, is discovered.
- June 16 - Lady and the Tramp, Walt Disney's fifteenth animated feature film, debuts in theaters.
July
- July 17 - Disneyland opens.
- July 18 - The first atomic-generated electrical power is sold commercially.
- July 18 - Illinois's Govenor William Stratton signs Loyalty Oath Act that mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath or lose their jobs.
- July 18 - Beginning of Geneva Summit between US, USSR, UK, and France.
- July 23 - Geneva Summit between US, USSR, UK, and France ends.
August
- August 19 - Hurricane Diane hits the northeast United States, killing 200 and causing over $1 billion in damage.
- August 20 - Hundreds killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
- August 25 - The last Soviet forces leave Austria.
- August 28 - Emmett Till is killed in Money, Mississippi
September
- September 6 - Istanbul Pogrom: Istanbul's Greek minority is the target of a government-sponsored pogrom.
- September 10 - Gunsmoke debuts on CBS.
- September 15 - Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
- September 19 - President of Argentina Juan Peron is ousted in a military coup.
- September 19 - Hurricane Hilda kills 200 in Mexico.
- September 22 - The UK's first commercial television broadcaster, ITV, launches
- September 24 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver.
- September 30 - Actor James Dean killed in car accident near Cholame, California.
October
- October 4 - The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, Korea.
- October 20 - First film footage of Elvis Presley in a planned film short about Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle
- October 26 - After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares its permanent neutrality.
- October 26 - Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as president.
November
- November 1 - Time bomb explodes aboard a United Airlines DC-6 killing 44 above Longmont, Colorado.
- November 5 - Racial segregation is forbidden on trains and buses in interstate commerce.
- November 23 - The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.
December
- December 1 - Montgomery, Alabama seamstress, Rosa Parks, refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested.
- December 5 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the AFL-CIO.
- December 5 - The Montgomery Improvement Association is formed in Montgomery, Alabama by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Black ministers to coordinate a Black boycott of city buses.
- December 14 - Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.
December 31 - General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year.
- 70 mm film is introduced with Oklahoma!.
- Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach Airport (Flughafen Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach) was founded.
World population
- World population: 2,755,823,000
- Africa: 246,746,000
- Asia: 1,541,947,000
- Europe: 575,184,000
- Latin-America: 190,797,000
- Northern America: 186,884,000
- Oceania: 14,265,000
Births
January
- January 2 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor
- January 6 - Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
- January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon, American writer and television producer
- January 13 - Jay McInerney, American writer
- January 15 - Nigel Benson, British author and illustrator
- January 17 - Steve Earle, American musician
- January 18 - Kevin Costner, American actor
- January 19 - Simon Rattle, English conductor
- January 25 - Terry Chimes, British drummer (The Clash)
- January 26 - Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-born musician
- January 27 - John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
- January 27 - Alexander Stuart, British author
February
- February 3 - Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist
- February 8 - John Grisham, American novelist
- February 10 - Chris Adams, British professional wrestler (d. 2001)
- February 10 - Greg Norman, Australian golfer
- February 12 - Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
- February 15 - Christopher McDonald, American actor
- February 16 - Hunt Block, American actor
- February 19 - Jeff Daniels, American actor
- February 20 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
- February 23 - Tom Bodett, American voice actor, radio personality, and writer
- February 23 - Howard Jones, English musician
- February 24 - Alain Prost, French race car driver
- February 24 - Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer
March
- March 5 - Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
- March 6 - Alberta Watson, Canadian actress
- March 7 - Tommy Kramer, American football player
- March 15 - Dee Snider, American singer
- March 16 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
- March 16 - Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
- March 17 - Gary Sinise, American actor
- March 19 - Bruce Willis, American actor
- March 22 - Pete Sessions, American politician
- March 23 - Moses Malone, American basketball player
- March 28 - John Alderdice, Irish politician
- March 28 - Reba McEntire, American singer and actress
- March 29 - Earl Campbell, American football player
- March 31 - Angus Young, Scottish-born guitarist (AC/DC)
April
- April 5 - Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist
- April 5 - Janice Long, British radio disc jockey
- April 6 - Michael Rooker, American actor
- April 7 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
- April 8 - Kane Hodder, American actor
- April 11 - Kevin Brady, American politician
- April 15 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
- April 16 - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
- April 21 - Ebiet G Ade, Indonesian singer and songwriter
- April 23 - Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
- April 24 - John de Mol, Dutch media tycoon
- April 29 - Kate Mulgrew, American actress
May
- May 1 - Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet
- May 2 - Dave Winer, American software pioneer
- May 2 - Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
- May 3 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
- May 3 - Steve Jones, English guitarist (Sex Pistols)
- May 6 - Tom Bergeron, American television host
- May 7 - Kevin Reed, American Presbyterian author, theologian and publisher.
- May 9 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- May 10 - Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster
- May 10 - Mark David Chapman, American assassin of John Lennon
- May 16 - Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
- May 16 - Jack Morris, baseball player
- May 16 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer
- May 16 - Debra Winger, American actress
- May 17 - Bill Paxton, American actor
- May 18 - Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor
- May 19 - James Gosling, Canadian software engineer
- May 20 - Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
- May 21 - Paul Barber, British field hockey player
- May 21 - Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
- May 26 - Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
- May 26 - Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
- May 28 - John McGeoch, Scottish musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Ltd.) (d. 2004)
- May 30 - Topper Headon, British drummer (The Clash)
June
- June 2 - Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
- June 7 - Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
- June 8 - Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
- June 12 - Paul O'Grady, English talk show host and comedian
- June 13 - Larry Mike Garmon, American author
- June 14 - Gillian Bailey, British actor
- June 20 - Tor Norretranders, Danish author
- June 23 - Alan J. Gow Motorsport executive
- June 21 - Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
- June 26 - Mick Jones, British guitarist (The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite)
- June 27 - Isabelle Adjani, French actress
- June 30 - David Alan Grier, American actor and comedian
July
- July 1 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor
- July 9 - Fred Norris, American radio personality
- July 21 - Howie Epstein, American musician and producer (d. 2003)
- July 27 - Allan Border, Australian cricket player
August
- August 4 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor
- August 7 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
- August 19 - Peter Gallagher, American actor
September
- September 1 - Bruce Foxton, English musician
- September 2 - Robert Duncan, American astrophysicist
- September 9 - John Kricfalusi, Canadian cartoonist
- September 10 - Pat Mastelotto, American musician
- September 16 - Robin Yount, baseball player
- September 19 - Richard Burmer, American composer, sound designer, and musician (d. 2006)
- September 21 - Richard Hieb, American astronaut
- September 23 - Don Graham, American journalist
October
- October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese cellist
- October 10 - David Lee Roth, American singer
- October 15 - Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
- October 18 - Timmy Mallett, British television presenter
- October 21 - Rich Mullins, American musician (d. 1997)
- October 28 - Bill Gates, American software entrepreneur
November
- November 2 - Chris Burnett, American saxophone player, composer, veteran of US military jazz bands and band leader
- November 3 - Phil Simms, American football player
- November 4 - Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
- November 6 - Maria Shriver, American journalist
- November 7 - Detlef Ultsch, German judo athlete
- November 9 - Karen Dotrice, English actress
- November 11 - Jigme Singye Wangchuk, King of Bhutan
- November 13 - Whoopi Goldberg, American actress, comedienne, and singer
- November 21 - Kyle Gann, American composer and music critic
- November 23 - Steven Brust, American author
- November 24 - Ian Botham, British cricketer
- November 30 - Billy Idol, British singer
December
- December 3 - Steven Culp, American actor
- December 4 - Maurizio Bianchi, Italian musician
- December 7 - Priscilla Barnes, American actress
- December 12 - Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and businesswoman
- December 15 - Paul Simonon, British bassist (The Clash)
- December 17 - Brad Davis, American basketball player
- December 18 - Ray Liotta, American actor
- December 21 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
- December 27 - Barbara Olson, American television commentator (d. 2001)
- December 29 - Terry Lewis , One Hot Pilot
Deaths
January-June
- January 2 - Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama (assassinated) (b. 1908)
- January 15 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
- January 21 - Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
- January 24 - Ira Hayes, U.S. Marine (b. 1923)
- January 31 - John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
- March 11 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1881)
- March 12 - Charlie Parker, American saxophonist (b. 1920)
- April 7 - Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
- April 18 - Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- May 4 - Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
- May 10 - Tommy Burns, American boxer (b. 1881)
- May 11 - Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
- May 16 - James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
- May 18 - Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (b. 1875)
- May 26 - Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)
- June 5 - Pattillo Higgins, American oil pioneer and businessman (b. 1863)
- June 24 - Carlos Gardel, Argentine singer (b. 1890)
July-December
- July 23 - Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1871)
- August 2 - Wallace Stevens, American poet (b. 1879)
- August 5 - Carmen Miranda, Portuguese singer and actress (b. 1909)
- August 12 - Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1875)
- August 12 - James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- September 30 - James Dean, American actor (automobile accident) (b. 1931)
- October 1 - Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)
- October 9 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1875)
- November 4 - Cy Young, baseball player (b. 1867)
- November 5 - Maurice Utrillo, French artist (b. 1882)
- November 12 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
- November 22 - Shemp Howard, American actor (b. 1895)
- November 27 - Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1892)
- December 6 - Honus Wagner, baseball player (b. 1874)
- December 13 - Egas Moniz, Portuguese neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
- December 27 - Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (b. 1881)
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Willis Eugene Lamb, Polykarp Kusch
- Chemistry - Vincent du Vigneaud
- Physiology or Medicine- Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell
- Literature - Halldór Kiljan Laxness
- Peace - not awarded
Fictional references
- In the Back to the Future trilogy, the main character Marty McFly travels through time to this year from his own year, 1985.
- Also another Robert Zemeckis film, The Polar Express is set in 1955.
Categories
1955