1955

1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January-April

• January 2 - Panama president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated.
• January 19 - The Scrabble board game debuts.
• 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 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 15- Fedral ALP (Australian Labor Party) split (a)
• 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-July

• May 2 - Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
• May 5 - Cold War: 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 - The Austrian Independence Treaty is signed.
• 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.
• Assassination of Florida judge Curtis Chillingworth
• June - Noam Chomsky completes his 752-page magnum opus The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory, laying the groundwork for modern Linguistics and Cognitive Science.
• June 11 - During the 24 hours of Le Mans, Pierre Levegh's car crashed into the spectator's grandstand - 80 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.
• June 26 - William Carlson and Marilynn Young wed in southern California. The country cheers.
• 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-October

• August 7 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to Sony, begins selling its first transistor radios in Japan.
• August 19 - In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane claims 200 lives.
• August 20 - Eighth 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 raids 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, Illinois, is murdered in Money, Mississippi, by white men angered because he whistled at a white woman while buying groceries.
• September 11 - Dedication of the first Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe, the Bern Switzerland Temple.
• 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.
• September 30 - James Dean is killed in an automobile accident near Paso Robles, California
• October 2 - The ENIAC computer is deactivated.
• October 3 - Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, elected president of Brazil, for a five year term.
• 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 - Following the Austrian Independence Treaty of May 15, the last allied troops leave the country. The parliament declaras Austria's everlasting neutrality.
• October 29 - The Soviet battleship Novorossiisk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol.

November-December

• 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 13 - Pedro Eugenio Aramburu takes over as President of Argentina.
• 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 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 10 - Menzies Govt Re-elected for 4th Term (a)
• 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.
• Antoine van Bilsen presents a 30-year plan for an independent Congo

Births

January-February

• January 2 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor
• January 6 - Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
• January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon, writer and producer
• January 13 - Jay McInerney, writer
• January 17 - Steve Earle, American musician
• January 18 - Kevin Costner, American actor
• January 19 - Simon Rattle, English conductor
• January 26 - Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-born musician
• February 3 - Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist
• February 8 - John Grisham, American novelist
• February 10 - Chris Adams, 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 19 - Jeff Daniels, American actor
• February 20 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
• February 23 - Howard Jones, English musician
• February 24 - Alain Prost, French race car driver
• February 24 - Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer

March-April

• March 5 - Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
• 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 - Reba McEntire, American singer and actress
• March 29 - Earl Campbell, American football star
• March 31 - Angus Young, Scottish musician
• April 1 - Ronnie Burk, AIDS activist
• April 6 - Michael Rooker, American actor
• April 7 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993
• April 11 - Kevin Brady, American politician
• April 15 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
• April 16 - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
• April 23 - Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
• April 29 - Kate Mulgrew, American actress

May

• May 1 - Ray Buttigieg, Maltese electronic music pioneer, poet
• May 2 - Dave Winer, American software pioneer
• May 3 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
• May 6 - Tom Bergeron, American television host
• 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 10 - Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad, scientist
• May 11 - Mark Herndon, musician (Alabama)
• 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 20 - Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
• 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-September

• 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 13 - Larry Mike Garmon, American author
• June 20 - Tor Norretranders, Danish science author
• June 21 - Tim Bray, Canadian co-author of XML specification
• June 25 - Terry Chimes, British drummer (The Clash)
• June 26 - Mick Jones, British guitarist (The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite)
• June 27 - Isabelle Adjani, French actress
• July 1 - Akashiya Sanma, Japanese actor
• July 9 - Fred Norris, radio personality (Howard Stern show)
• August 4 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor
• August 7 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
• August 19 - Peter Gallagher, American actor
• August 19 - Kevin Bertken, American actor(Dirty Harry Movie)
• September 1 - Bruce Foxton, musician
• September 10 - Pat Mastelotto, American musician
• September 16 - Robin Yount, baseball player
• September 23 - Don Graham, Canadian
• September 29 - Jon Backstrom, Internet engineer

October-December

• October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese cellist
• October 17 - Mae Jemison, astronaut
• October 21 - Rich Mullins, American musician (d. 1997)
• October 26 - Mark Welch, inventor
• October 28 - Bill Gates, American co-founder of Microsoft
• November 4 - Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
• November 6 - Maria Shriver, American journalist and first lady of California
• November 7 - Detlef Ultsch, German judo champion
• November 13 - Whoopi Goldberg, American actress, comedienne, and singer
• November 14 - Leslie Shapiro, Canadian wonder woman
• November 23 - Steven Brust, author
• November 24 - Ian Botham, British cricketer
• November 24 - Elvis Ramone, American drummer The Ramones
• November 24 - Takashi Yuasa, Japanese international lawyer
• December 3 - Steven Culp, American actor
• December 10 - Warren Gaebel, evangelist
• December 11 - Rev. Jim Sutter, Baptist pastor, USN, Counterterrorism expert
• 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)

Deaths

• January 15 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
• January 21 - Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
• March 11 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1881)
• March 12 - Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
• April 7 - Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
• April 18 - Albert Einstein, German physicist (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 26 - Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)
• 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 (b. 1931)
• October 1 - Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)
• October 9 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, 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 27 - Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1982)
• December 6 - Honus Wagner, baseball player (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