1959

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

Years: 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 - 1959 - 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964

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Events

• January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista overthrown by Fidel Castro.
• January 2 - CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
• January 3 - Alaska is admitted to the United States as the 49th state.
• January 7 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro
• February 6 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
• February 16 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after President Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
• February 19 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence.
• February 22 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
• March 9 - The Barbie doll debuts
• March 17 - The Dalai Lama flees Tibet and travels to India.
• March 18 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
• March - China annexes Tibet.
• June 8 - the first (and only) delivery of Missile Mail
• September 15 - Russian probe Luna 2 sends back first photos of the far side of Earth's Moon.

• TAT-2 cable goes into operation.
• The Saint Lawrence Seaway is opened.

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1959 in film
  • Ben-Hur
  • The Diary of Anne Frank
  • Anatomy of a Murder
  • Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint
• 1959 in literature
  • Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein:
  • The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass:
• 1959 in music
  • February 3 - News of the February 2 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper becomes widely known. This date becomes known as "The Day The Music Died".
• 1959 in sports
  • March 3 - The San Francisco Giants officially name their new stadium Candlestick Park.
• 1959 in television
  • Fall – Scandals involving rigged network quiz shows create havoc within the television industry.
  • Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone debuts
  • Bonanza debuts, starring Lorne Greene.

Births

• January 6 - Kathy Sledge, singer
• January 16 - Sade, singer
• January 21 - Cecil B. DeMille, director
• January 22 - Linda Blair, actress
• February 4 - Lawrence Taylor, American football star
• February 11 - Corinne Shigemoto, US judo coach
• February 16 - John McEnroe, tennis player
• February 22 - Kyle MacLachlan, actor
• March 6 - Tom Arnold, actor, comedian
• March 8 - Aidan Quinn, actor
• March 16 - Flavor Flav, rap musician
• March 17 - Danny Ainge, basketball player, coach, baseball player
• March 18 - Luc Besson, producer, writer, director
• March 22 - Matthew Modine, actor
• May 3 - Ben Elton, British comedian and author
• July 11 - Suzanne Vega, US singer
• October 15 - Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
• November 14 - Paul McGann, British actor
• November 25 - Charles Kennedy, British politician

Deaths

• January 22 - Mike Hawthorn, racing champion
• February 2 - rock and roll performers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper, in a plane crash outside Mason City, Iowa. The news isn't widely know until the next day.
• February 28 - Maxwell Anderson, playwright, film writer
• March 3 - Lou Costello, actor, comedian
• March 26 - Raymond Chandler, American novelist.
• July 15 - Billie Holiday, jazz and blues singer
• August 15 - Blind Willie McTell, blues singer
• August 28 - Bohuslav Martinu, composer
• October 14 - Errol Flynn, American actor.
• November 17 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer.

Science

• The neutrino is first experimentally detected, by Cowan and Reines.

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Emilio Gino Segrè, - Owen Chamberlain
• Chemistry - Jaroslav Heyrovsky
• Medicine - Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg
• Literature - Salvatore Quasimodo
• Peace - Philip J. Noel-Baker