The 1940s

1946 80 years ago

Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallin

Aili Jõgi was an Estonian schoolgirl who on the night of 8 May 1946, together with her school friend Ageeda Paavel, blew up a Soviet War reburial monument : the preceding monument …

Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallin

1946 80 years ago

The start of a two-day tornado outbreak across the Central United States that spawned at least 15 significant tornadoes

On May 23–24, 1946, a tornado outbreak occurred across the Central and Midwestern United States. Over two days at least 15 significant tornadoes struck parts of Kansas, Nebraska an…

The start of a two-day tornado outbreak across the Central United States that spawned at least 15 significant tornadoes

1946 80 years ago

Ion Antonescu, "Conducator" ("Leader") of Romania during World War II, is executed

Ion Antonescu was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II. Havin…

Ion Antonescu, "Conducator" ("Leader") of Romania during World War II, is executed

1946 80 years ago

The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands

The International Court of Justice, or colloquially the World Court, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It settles legal disputes submitted to it by states…

The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands

1946 80 years ago

Margot Adler, American journalist and author (died 2014)

Margot Susanna Adler was an American author, journalist, and lecturer. She worked as a correspondent for National Public Radio for 35 years, became bureau chief of the New York off…

Margot Adler, American journalist and author (died 2014)

1946 80 years ago

Ernst Bakker, Dutch politician (died 2014)

Ernst Carel Bakker was a Dutch politician, alderman and member of the Democrats 66 political party. He served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1981 to 1982. He join…

Ernst Bakker, Dutch politician (died 2014)

1946 80 years ago

Johnnie Lewis, Liberian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Justice of Liberia (died 2015)

Johnnie N. Lewis was a Liberian lawyer and politician who served as the 18th Chief Justice of Liberia from 2006 to 2012. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he served as a…

Johnnie Lewis, Liberian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Justice of Liberia (died 2015)

1946 80 years ago

Clare Francis, English sailor and author

Clare Mary Francis MBE is a British novelist who in her first career as a yachtswoman has twice sailed across the Atlantic on her own. She was the first woman to skipper a successf…

Clare Francis, English sailor and author

1946 80 years ago

Jackie Robinson makes his regular season debut for the Montreal Royals of the International League, to make them the fir

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was an American professional baseball player who was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the…

Jackie Robinson makes his regular season debut for the Montreal Royals of the International League, to make them the fir

1946 80 years ago

The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations

The League of Nations was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Pea…

The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations

1946 80 years ago

The U

The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other we…

The U

1946 80 years ago

Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines

Manuel Acuña Roxas was the fifth president of the Philippines, serving from 1946 until his death in 1948. He served briefly as the third and last President of the Commonwealth of t…

Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines

1946 80 years ago

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946, to t…

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and

1946 80 years ago

Hayley Mills, English actress

Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills is an English actress and singer. A daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, she began her act…

Hayley Mills, English actress

1946 80 years ago

Tim Curry, English actor and singer

Timothy James Curry is an Emmy Award-winning English actor and singer. He is famous for playing many villainous roles and rose to prominence as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the musical fi…

Tim Curry, English actor and singer

1946 80 years ago

Sandro Chia, Italian painter and sculptor

Sandro Chia is an Italian painter and sculptor. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he was, with Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Nicola De Maria, and Mimmo Paladino, a principal mem…

Sandro Chia, Italian painter and sculptor

1946 80 years ago

Steven L

Steven Logan Bennett was a United States Air Force pilot who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War.

Steven L

1946 80 years ago

Paul Davies, English physicist and author

Paul Charles William Davies is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Scie…

Paul Davies, English physicist and author

1946 80 years ago

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946, to t…

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government

1946 80 years ago

King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Umberto II

Victor Emmanuel III was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. A member of the House of Savoy, he also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941…

King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Umberto II

1946 80 years ago

First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground

The V-2 rocket, with the development name Aggregat-4 (A4), was the world's first practical, modern ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was…

First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground

1946 80 years ago

Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los A

Louis Alexander Slotin was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project. Born and raised in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Slotin earned both his B…

Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los A

1946 80 years ago

The Emirate of Transjordan becomes independent from the United Kingdom as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan after rat

The Emirate of Transjordan, officially the Amirate of Trans-Jordan, was a British protectorate under the League of Nations mandate established on 11 April 1921, which remained as s…

The Emirate of Transjordan becomes independent from the United Kingdom as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan after rat

1946 80 years ago

Archy Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, Scottish lawyer and politician

Archibald Johnstone Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope,, is a British Liberal Democrat politician.

Archy Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, Scottish lawyer and politician