Explore 3918 historical events from 1950–1959.
Rose Amy Fyleman was an English writer and poet, noted for her works on fairies for children. Her 1917 poem "There are fairies at the bottom of our garden" was set to music by En…
Rose Fyleman, English writer and poet (born 1877)
John Cain was an Australian politician who served as the 34th Premier of Victoria. He was the first Labor Party leader to win a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, and …
John Cain Sr., Australian politician, 34th Premier of Victoria (born 1882)
Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa was a Brazilian politician who served as the 13th president of Brazil. Elected governor of São Paulo state in 1920 and president of Brazil in 1926,…
Washington Luís, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 13th President of Brazil (born 1869)
Heinrich Otto Wieland was a German chemist. He won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the bile acids.
Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1877)
Edith Abbott was an American economist, statistician, social worker, educator, and author. Abbott was born in Grand Island, Nebraska. Abbott was a pioneer in the profession of soci…
Edith Abbott, American economist, social worker, and educator (born 1876)
Oliver Norvell Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared wi…
Oliver Hardy, American actor, singer, and director (born 1892)
Carl Clauberg was a German gynecologist who conducted medical experiments on Jewish and Romani women at Auschwitz concentration camp. He worked with Horst Schumann in X-ray sterili…
Carl Clauberg, German Nazi physician (born 1898)
Irving Langmuir was an American chemist, physicist, and metallurgical engineer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1932 for his work in surface chemistry.
Irving Langmuir, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1881)
David Garshen Bomberg was a British painter, and one of the Whitechapel Boys.
David Bomberg, English soldier and painter (born 1890)
Mait Metsanurk was an Estonian writer who led the neo-realist school of Estonian literature.
Mait Metsanurk, Estonian author and playwright (born 1879)
Robert Nelson "Old Poison" Stewart was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Maroons, New York Americans and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey Le…
Nels Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1902)
Harald Ulrik Sverdrup was a Norwegian oceanographer and meteorologist. He served as director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Norwegian Polar Institute.
Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian meteorologist and oceanographer (born 1888)
Ronald Arbuthnott Knox was an English Catholic priest, theologian, author, and radio broadcaster. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned a high reputation as…
Ronald Knox, English Catholic priest (born 1888)
Mary Proctor was a British-American popularizer of astronomy. While not a professional astronomer, Proctor became well known for her books and articles written for the public – par…
Mary Proctor, American astronomer (born 1862)
Heino Wilhelm Daniel Kaski was a Finnish composer, teacher and pianist.
Heino Kaski, Finnish pianist and composer (born 1885)
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with h…
Jean Sibelius, Finnish violinist and composer (born 1865)
Ellen Louks Fairclough was a Canadian politician. A Progressive Conservative member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1950 to 1963, she was the first woman ever to serve in th…
Ellen Fairclough (pictured) became the first woman to be appointed to the cabinet of Canada
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam, was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered recognition in 1949 as the associated State of …
South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm began a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon, using nuclear fusion. The most destructive weapons ever created, their yields…
The United Kingdom tested its first hydrogen bomb over Malden Island in Operation Grapple
John George Diefenbaker was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1935 and 1979 to lead the pa…
Led by John Diefenbaker (pictured), the Progressive Conservative Party won a plurality of House of Commons seats in the
Hurricane Audrey was a catastrophic and very deadly hurricane that devastated the southwestern Louisiana coast in 1957. Along with Hurricane Alex in 2010, it was also the strongest…
Hurricane Audrey made landfall near the Texas–Louisiana border, killing over 400 people, mainly in and around Cameron, L
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. In his previous military career, he led the Allied Expeditionary Force during …
U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights bill since…
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold is a novel by the British writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in July 1957. It is Waugh's penultimate full-length work of fiction, which the author c…
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, a largely autobiographical novel by Evelyn Waugh, was published.
The Republic of Vietnam, commonly known as South Vietnam, was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered recognition in 1949 as the associated St…
South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm began an official visit to Australia, the first by a foreign incumbent head…