1955

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 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.
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 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 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 Pasa 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 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
Noam Chomsky completes his 752-page magnum opus The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory, laying the groundwork for modern Linguistics and Cognitive Science.

Year in topic

1955 in film
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

October-December

October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma, cellist
October 17 - Mae Jemison, astronaut
October 21 - Rich Mullins, American ccm musician (d. 1997)
October 26 - Mark Welch, inventor
October 28 - Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft
November 4 - Matti Vanhanen, prime minister of Finland
November 6 - Maria Shriver, journalist, first lady of California
November 7 - Detlef Ultsch, first German judo world champion
November 13 - Whoopi Goldberg, actress, comedienne, singer
November 23 - Steven Brust, fantasy author
November 24 - Ian Botham, English cricketer
- Elvis Ramone, American musician, drummer with The Ramones
December 3 - Steven Culp, actor
December 10 - Warren Gaebel, evangelist / Bible teacher
December 12 - Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and business woman.
December 15 - Paul Simonon, British musician, bassist with The Clash
December 17 - Brad Davis, basketball player
December 18 - Ray Liotta, actor
December 21 - Jane Kaczmarek, 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, British medical researcher (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
November 4 - Cy Young, baseball player (b. 1867)
November 5 - Maurice Utrillo, French artist (b. 1882)
November 12 - Alfr�d Haj�s, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
November 27 - Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1982)
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 - Halld�r Kiljan Laxness
Peace - not awarded

1955

Events

January-April

May-July

August-October

November-December

Unknown date

Year in topic

Births

January-February

March-April

May

June-September

October-December

Deaths

Nobel Prizes

See also: 1955, 1867, 1874, 1875, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882