Explore 3918 historical events from 1950–1959.
Jacqueline Cochran was an American pilot and business executive. She pioneered women's aviation and was the first woman to break the sound barrier on 18 May 1953. Cochran was the w…
Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is an Indian politician belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was the MLA of Moyna Assembly constituency in the West Bengal Legislative Asse…
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Sebastian Charles Faulks is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is most notable for his historical novels set in France – The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong and Cha…
Sebastian Faulks, English journalist and author
James Chance, also known as James White, was an American saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer.
James Chance, American musician (died 2024)
James Vincent Russo is an American film and television actor. He has appeared in over 150 films in three decades.
James Russo, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
Eric Michael Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian-American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massa…
Eric Bogosian, American actor and writer
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests have been car…
Nuclear weapons testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test
Public broadcasting is radio, television, and other electronic media whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Publi…
The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the U
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers con…
Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay
The coronation of Elizabeth II as queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. Elizabeth acceded to the t…
The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey becomes the first British coronation and one of the first majo
During the evening hours of Monday, June 8, 1953, a large and extremely violent tornado struck the north side of Flint, Michigan and the northern suburb of Beecher, causing catastr…
An F5 tornado hits Beecher, Michigan, United States, killing 116, injuring 844, and destroying 340 homes
Ronald Francis Clements is an American animator and filmmaker. He often collaborates with fellow director John Musker and is best known for writing and directing the Disney animate…
Ron Clements, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
Gary John Cosier is a former Australian international cricketer who played in 18 Test matches and nine One Day Internationals between 1975 and 1979. Cosier's star shone very briefl…
Gary Cosier, Australian cricketer
Anthony James Venables, CBE,, is a British economist and the BP Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford.
Anthony Venables, English economist, author, and academic
Roberto Bolaño Ávalos was a Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. In 1999, Bolaño won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel The Savage Detectives, and in 2008 …
Roberto Bolaño, Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist (died 2003)
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal cou…
The United States Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v
An extremely devastating and deadly tornado outbreak impacted the Midwestern and Northeastern United States at the beginning of June 1953. It included two tornadoes that caused at …
The Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence kills 94 people in Massachusetts
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc …
Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin
On 23 July 1952, a revolution began in Egypt with the toppling of King Farouk in a coup d'état by the Free Officers Movement, a group of army officers led by Mohamed Naguib and Gam…
The Egyptian revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the declaration of the Republic
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is a part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and is one of the six …
A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns near Tachikawa, Japan, killing 129
Brian Greenhoff was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Manchester United, Leeds United and Rochdale. He was capped 18 times for England.
Brian Greenhoff, English footballer and coach (died 2013)
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was a co-founder of the late-1980s avant-garde pop group the KLF and its 1990s media-manipul…
Bill Drummond, British musician
Merrill Davis Osmond is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and bassist of the family music group The Osmonds and The Osmond Brothers, as well as an …
Merrill Osmond, American singer and bass player
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is currently general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and of the Bolshoi The…
Valery Gergiev, Russian conductor and director