1955 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday. Events January January 2 - Panama president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated. January 19 - The Scrabble board game debuts. February February 8 - Nikolai Bulganin ousts Georgi Malenkov February 13 - Israel obtains 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls. February 23 - First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). March March 2: King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates the throne in favor of his father, King Norodom Suramarit. Severe flooding in North and Western Australia - 200 humans and tens of thousands of sheep dead, 44.000 homeless March 25 - United States Customs seizes Allen Ginsberg's Howl as obscene. April April 5 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health April 7 - Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom - Bandung Conference May May 5 - West Germany becomes a sovereign nation May 9 - Cold War: West Germany joins NATO. May 14 - Cold War: Eight communist bloc countries including the Soviet Union sign a mutual-defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact. May 15 - First ascent of Makalu, fifth highest mountain. May 20 - Peace talks with Mau Mau in Kenya fail again May 25 - First ascent of Kanchenjunga, 3rd highest mountain. June Assassination of Florida judge Curtis Chillingworth June 11 - On the Le Mans racetrack, three cars crash into spectator's grandstand - 70 dead, more than 100 injured June 20 - Very long (7min 08sec) total solar eclipse visible in Southeast Asia. During the entire Second Millennium, only seven total solar eclipses exceeded seven minutes of totality. This was the next to last. July July 17 - Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California. July 27 - The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends (started on May 9, 1945). August August 19 - In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200 lives. August 20 - Eight World Scout Jamboree opens in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. August 20 - In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria, raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals. August 27 - The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records August 28 - Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, is murdered in Money, Mississippi, by white men angered because he whistled at a white woman while buying groceries. September September 14 - Konrad Adenauer travels to Moscow to establish diplomatic relations and to negotiate for the release of the remaining German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union September 16 - A military coup in Argentina deposes Juan Peron. October October 2 - The ENIAC computer is deactivated. October 7 - The last German prisoners of war are released from the Soviet Union October 23 - The Saarland is once again part of West Germany, following a referendum October 26 - Austrian independence is declared again forming the Second Republic with the declaration of everlasting neutrality and the state constitution. October 29 - The Soviet battleship Novorossiisk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol. November November 1 - The first international solar energy conference is held in Tucson, Arizona November 1 - DC-6B explodes in mid air after takeoff in Denver, Colorado - 44 dead (later proves to be a time bomb placed by John Gilbert Graham) November 2 - Entry into catacombs of Paris becomes illegal and punishable by a fine November 20 - Train crash near Didcot, Oxfordshire - 10 dead, 99 injured November 22 - Soviet Union nuclear test in Siberia. November 23 - The Cocos Islands are transferred from United Kingdom to Australian control. November 24 - Fokker F27 first flight. December December 1 - American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws (Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr. later led the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott as a result). December 7 - Clement Attlee resigns as leader of the Labour Party - his successor is Hugh Gaitskell. December 19 - Sudanese Parliament declares independence. December 31 - General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make sales of over one billion dollars in a year. Unknown date Dick Bruna draws Miffy for the first time. Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of Britain for the second time. Mattachine Society, one of the first gay rights organizations, is founded in the City of New York. Maurice Wilkes publishes a description of microprogramming in IEEE Spectrum. Year in topic 1955 in film Back to the Future Marty Love is a Many-Splendored Thing 1955 in literature 1955 in music 1955 in sports 1955 in television April 1 - The DuMont Network drastically cuts back its programming. September 28 - The First World Series game broadcast in color. The Honeymooners premieres, starring Jackie Gleason, Art Carney and Audrey Meadows. Lawrence Welk Show debuts, and will run until 1982. The Mickey Mouse Club debuts, featuring "Mouseketeer" Annette Funicello, and will run until 1959. Births January January 6 - Rowan Atkinson, comedian, actor January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon, writer, producer January 13 - Jay McInerney, writer January 17 - Steve Earle, musician January 18 - Kevin Costner, actor January 19 - Simon Rattle, English conductor January 26 - Eddie Van Halen, musician February February 8 - John Grisham, novelist February 10 - Greg Norman, golfer February 12 - Arsenio Hall, actor, talk show host February 19 - Jeff Daniels, actor February 20 - Kelsey Grammer, actor February 23 - Howard Jones, musician February 24 - Alain Prost, Formula One driver February 24 - Steve Jobs, computer pioneer March March 5 - Penn Jillette, magician, comedian March 7 - Tommy Kramer, American football player March 15 - Dee Snider, singer March 16 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxing world champion March 17 - Gary Sinise, actor March 19 - Bruce Willis, actor March 22 - Pete Sessions, U.S. politician March 28 - Reba McEntire, country music singer, actress March 29 - Earl Campbell, American football star March 31 - Angus Young, musician April April 1 - Ronnie Burk, surrealist and AIDS activist April 6 - Michael Rooker, actor April 11 - Kevin Brady, American politician April 16 - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg April 23 - Tony Miles, chess player April 29 - Kate Mulgrew, actress May May 3 - David Hookes, cricketer (d. 2004) May 9 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano May 10 - Chris Berman, sports anchor May 10 - Mark David Chapman, assassin May 11 - Mark Herndon, Alabama (band) May 16 - Olga Korbut, gymnast May 16 - Jack Morris, baseball pitcher May 16 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer May 16 - Debra Winger, actress May 17 - Bill Paxton, actor May 18 - Chow Yun-Fat, actor May 20 - Zbigniew Preisner, film composer May 26 - Morimoto Masaharu, Japanese chef (Iron Chef) May 26 - Doris Dörrie, actor and screenplay writer May 28 - John McGeoch, musician, (d. 2004) June June 2 - Dana Carvey, actor, comedian June 7 - Tim Richmond, NASCAR race car driver (d. 1989) June 8 - Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web June 20 - Tor Norretranders, science author June 27 - Isabelle Adjani, actress August August 4 - Billy Bob Thornton, actor August 19 - Peter Gallagher, actor September September 10 - Pat Mastelotto, musician September 16 - Robin Yount, baseball player October October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma, cellist October 17 - Mae Jemison, astronaut October 26 - Mark Welch, inventor October 28 - Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft November November 4 - Matti Vanhanen, prime minister of Finland November 6 - Maria Shriver, journalist, first lady of California November 13 - Whoopi Goldberg, actress, comedienne, singer November 23 - Steven Brust, fantasy author November 24 - Ian Botham, English cricketer December December 3 - Steven Culp, actor December 10 - Warren Gaebel, evangelist / Bible teacher December 12 - Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and business woman. December 17 - Brad Davis, basketball player December 18 - Ray Liotta, actor December 21 - Jane Kaczmarek, actress Deaths January January 15 - Yves Tanguy, Surrealist painter (b. 1900) January 21 - Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880) March March 11 - Sir Alexander Fleming, British discoverer of penicillin March 12 - Charlie Parker, jazz saxophonist (b. 1920) April April 7 - Theda Bara, silent film actress April 18 - Albert Einstein, scientist May May 10 - Tommy Burns, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion May 26 - Alberto Ascari, Italian F1 race car driver (b. 1918) August August 5 - Carmen Miranda, singer, actress August 28 - Emmett TIll, teenage victim of anti-black murder September September 30 - James Dean, actor October October 1 - Charles Christie, pioneer film studio owner in Hollywood October 9 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Archbishop of Vienna 1932-1955 November November 4 - Cy Young, American baseball player November 5 - Maurice Utrillo, a "Montmartre" artist November 12 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer November 27 - Arthur Honegger, composer December December 6 - Honus Wagner, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1874) Nobel Prizes Physics - Willis Eugene Lamb, - Polykarp Kusch Chemistry - Vincent du Vigneaud Medicine- Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell Literature - Halldór Kiljan Laxness Peace - not awarded ast:1955 FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955