1958
Events
- January 1 - Treaty of Rome founding the EU is implemented.
- January 4 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4, 1957)
- January 8 - 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship
- January 28 - Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate begin their murder spree with the killings of her parents and infant sister
- January 29 - Police capture Charles Starkweather in Wyoming.
- January 31 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit.
- January 31 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt
- February 1 - Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic.
- February 5 - Gamel Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
- February 6 - Munich Air Disaster
- February 11 - Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.
- February 11 - Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African American woman hired as a flight attendant
- February 23 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
- March 17 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
- March 22 - Faisal becomes King of Saudi Arabia
- March 26 - The United States Army launches Explorer III.
- March 27 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union
- April 6 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari divorces Muhammad Reza Shah after she is unable to produce any children.
- May 12 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
- May 13 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
- May 15 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
- May 18 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph.
- May 23 - Explorer I ceased transmission
- May 30 - The bodies of unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
- June 1 - Charles De Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.
- July 5 - First ascent of Gasherbrum I, 11th highest
- July 7 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law.
- July 14 - Iraqi Revolution: In Iraq the monarchy is overthrown by Arab nationalists and Abdul Karim Qassim becomes the nation's new leader.
- July 15 - In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there.
- July 26 - Explorer program: Explorer IV is launched.
- July 29 - The United States Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
- August 23 - Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
- October 1 - Tunisia and Morocco join the Arab League
- October 1 - NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA
- October 2 - Guinea declares itself independent from France.
- October 11 - Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).
- October 28 - Angleo Giuseppe Roncalli becomes Pope and takes the name Pope John XXIII.
- November 23 - Have Gun, Will Travel debuts on radio.
- November 25 - French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
- November 28 - Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community.
- December 1 - Central African Republic becomes independent from France.
- BBC Radiophonic Workshop created
- During the International Geophysical Year, Earth's magnetosphere is discovered
- The United States conducts Operation Argus during August and September
Year in topic
- 1958 in film
- 1958 in literature
- August 18 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published.
- Rona Jaffe's The Best of Everything becomes a bestseller.
- 1958 in music
- January 20 - Elvis Presley receives his draft notice
- 1958 in sports
- 1958 in television
- Ampex demonstrates their design for a color Video Tape Recorder
Births
- January 20 - Lorenzo Lamas, actor
- January 24 - Jools Holland, musician
- January 26 - Ellen DeGeneres, actress, comedienne
- February 11 - Michael Jackson, controller of BBC2.
- February 11 - Regina Marsikova, Czechoslovakian tennis player.
- February 13 - Pernilla August, actress
- February 16 - Ice-T, singer, songwriter, actor (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)
- February 21 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, singer
- February 24 - Sammy Kershaw, musician
- March 3 - Miranda Richardson, actress
- March 4 - Patricia Heaton, actress (Everybody Loves Raymond)
- March 5 - Andy Gibb, singer (d. 1988)
- March 8 - Gary Numan, singer
- March 10 - Sharon Stone, actress
- March 14 - Prince Albert of Monaco
- March 20 - Holly Hunter, actress
- March 21 - Gary Oldman, actor
- April 3 - Alec Baldwin, actor
- April 10 - Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R&B producer and musician
- April 21 - Andie MacDowell, actress
- April 28 - Hal Sutton, American golfer
- April 29 - Michelle Pfeiffer, actress
- April 29 - Eve Plumb, actress (The Brady Bunch)
- May 16 - Amp Fiddler, musician (P Funk)
- May 20 - Ron Reagan, dancer, talk show host, son of former President Ronald Reagan
- May 23 - Drew Carey, comedian, actor (The Drew Carey Show, Whose Line is it Anyway?)
- May 26 - Wayne Hussey, British rocker The Mission
- May 27 - Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
- May 27 - Wayne Williams, murderer in Atlanta
- May 28 - Annette Bening, actress
- June 8 - Keenen Ivory Wayans, comedian, actor, director
- July 28 - Terry Fox, cancer activist (d. 1981)
- July 31 - Mark Cuban, technology entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner
- August 7 - Bruce Dickinson, English heavy metal musician
- August 16 - Madonna, musician, songwriter, actress
- August 29 - Michael Jackson, musician
- September 10 - Dan Castellaneta, voice actor (The Simpsons)
- September 16 - Orel Hershiser, baseball pitcher
- September 22 - Andrea Bocelli, singer
- October 5 - Bernie Mac, actor, comedian
- October 14 - Thomas Dolby, English rock musician
- October 16 - Tim Robbins, American actor
- November 18 - Laura Miller, mayor of Dallas, Texas
- November 28 - Dave Righetti, baseball pitcher
- December 6 - Nick Park, film-maker and animator
- December 25 - Rickey Henderson, baseball player
- December 31 - Bebe Neuwirth, actress
Deaths
- January 1 - Edward Weston, photographer
- January 11 - Edna Purviance, actress
- January 30 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist
- February 4 - Henry Kuttner, science fiction author
- February 13 - Christabel Pankhurst, suffragette
- March 21 - Cyril M. Kornbluth, science fiction writer
- March 22 - Michael Todd, Academy Award winning film producer
- March 25 - Tom Brown, jazz musician (b. 1888)
- March 28 - W.C. Handy, blues composer
- May 19 - Ronald Colman, actor
- June 26 - George Orton, Canadian athlete
- July 14 - King Faisal II of Iraq and most of his family
- August 14 - Frédéric Joliot, scientist
- October 9 - Pope Pius XII
- December 8 - Tris Speaker, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1888)
- December 15 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, physicist