1953

1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year beginning on a Thursday according to the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January

• January 6: In Rangún, Burma, the conference of the socialist parties of Asia was opened.
• January 7: Bolivia fails a coup on the right.
• 11 January: The Soviet Union breaks diplomatic relations with Israel.
• January 20: In Washington DC, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower takes office as President of the United States.
• 23 January: in the Théâtre of Babylone of Paris the work is premiered Waiting for GodotSamuel Beckett, with Roger Blin's stage.
• 31 January-1 February: In the southwest of the Netherlands (especially Zealand), the North Sea flood kills 1528 people. In the UK kills 307 and several hundred at sea, including 133 on the ferry Princess in the sea of Ireland.

February

• 1 February: In the North Sea the grave flood continues.
• February 2nd: In the United States, President Eisenhower announced the end of the neutralization of Formosa (Taiwan).
• 6 February:
  • In the Alcázar theatre (of Madrid) the comedy is released The case of the wonderful ladyMiguel Mihura.
  • In Spain, the reform of baccalaureate leads to a separation between sciences and letters.
• 7 February: In Bilbao the football field of San Mamés is extended.
• 10 February:
  • A three-year Constitution was adopted in Egypt.
  • In Spain, the provisions of the 1930 regulations concerning the weight, age and defence of lidia bulls are restored.
  • The rupture of the economic negotiations between Egypt and the RFA, due to the contacts established by Egypt with the GDR, occurs.
• 11 February: Argentinian mountaineers reach the peak of Valentine, the top of the Patagonian Andes.
• February 12: In Iran, an earthquake of 6.6 leaves a balance of 800 dead.
• 13 February:
  • In Yugoslavia, the National Assembly adopted a new Constitution.
  • In Spain, the Ministry of Information and Tourism decrees the creation of the National Film Library.
• February 16: President Juan Domingo Perón advocates a union between Argentina and Chile to form the core of a United States of Hispanic America.
• 18 February:
  • In the U.S., he's in the air. Bwana DevilThe first 3D film.
  • In the United States, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz sign a contract of $8 million to continue the television series I love Lucy. during 1955.
• 20 February: in London, the table Lady with fan (from Francisco de Goya) is sold for 1400 pounds sterling.
• February 21: Francis Crick and James Dewey Watson discover the helical structure of the DNA molecule.
• February 22: In Peru, the 22nd edition of the American Cup begins.
• February 28: Francis Crick and James Dewey Watson announce their discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule.

March

• March 1st: the 3-day trip to Spain begins and a 2140 km tour.
• March 5: In Moscow Iosif Stalin (74), Dictator of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Communist Party of that State died.
• March 17: On the Nevada Test Site, the United States detonates the atomic bomb Annie.16 kiloton. This atomic explosion was televised for the whole nation. Eight shelters were tested for residential bombs, fifty cars at various distances from the hypocentre, and two wooden houses. It was the bomb number 35 of the 1132 that that country detonated between 1945 and 1992.
• 18 March: In the region of Marmara there is an earthquake of 7.5 that leaves more than 1,000 dead.
• March 24: On the Nevada Test Site, United States detonates the atomic bomb Nancy24 kiloton.
• March 31: On the Nevada Test Site, United States detonates the atomic bomb Ruth0.2 kiloton. It was the first bomb in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (UCRL); it was a uranium-hydrated bomb, but it was a failed bomb (fizzle, a bomb that generates much less expected power).

April

• April 1st: in Lima (Peru) finishes the Copa América and Paraguay wins for the first time the Copa América after winning 3-2 to Brazil.
• 2 April: Austria is a new Government chaired by Federal Chancellor Julius Raab.
• April 3: Peruvian singer Yma Súmac achieves public recognition and international criticism.
• April 6: On the Nevada Test Site, United States detonates the atomic bomb Dixie11 kiloton. It was detonated at 2000 metres altitude, the highest explosion to date.
• April 11: On the Nevada Test Site, United States detonates the atomic bomb Ray.0.2 kiloton. Another failed bomb turned out. (fizzle).
• April 15: in Buenos Aires, Argentina, opponents of the constitutional government of Juan Domingo Perón explode several bombs in the midst of a huge demonstration of Peronists (terrorist attack in Plaza de Mayo), who leave 90 wounded and 5 killed. In revenge, a crowd fires several opponents' premises.
• April 18: On the Nevada Test Site, United States detonates the atomic bomb Badger23 kiloton.
• 25 April:
  • On the Nevada Test Site, on a 90 m tower, at 4:30 (local time) or 12:30 (world time), the United States detonates the atomic bomb Simon43 kiloton.
  • In the United States, the magazine Nature publishes the solution of James D. Watson and Francis Crick to the mystery of the DNA structure.

May

• 1 May:
  • In Paris, it's coming. Waiting for GodotSamuel Beckett.
  • In Buenos Aires, Argentina, hundreds of thousands of workers come together – despite the threats of bombs – to the speech of constitutional president Juan Domingo Perón on the Day of the Worker. They explode seven bombs, no casualties.
• 6 May:
  • In Chile the so-called Earthquake of San Carlos or Earthquake of Ñuble takes place
  • In the United States, the foreign minister, John Foster Dulles, formulates for the first time the theory of dominoes, according to which a victory of the Communists in Indochina, would provoke a chain reaction favorable to communism throughout Asia.
• 8 May:
  • In Costa Rica, José Figueres Ferrer takes over the second time (first democratically, this time, until 1958).
  • On the Nevada Test Site, United States detonates the atomic bomb Encore27 kiloton.
• May 17: In the United States, the world champion of boxing, Rocky Marciano, defeats for nocaut in the first assault on Joe Walcott.
• May 18: In the United States, the Jacqueline Cochran pilot – in an F-86 Sabre of the Armed Forces – becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
• 19 May:
  • In Medellín, Colombia, the National Atletic Club is founded.
  • On the Nevada Test Site, United States detonates the atomic bomb Harry.32 kiloton. The bomb was called "Harry el Sucio", because it deposited a lot of radioactive material in the area of St. George (Utah), 220 km away. The population reported on a "extraño metallic taste in the air". Three years later, the film was filmed in the same place. The conqueror of Mongoliaproduced by Howard Hughes and starred at John Wayne and Susan Hayward. In the following years, a high percentage of the team died of different types of cancer.

Mushroom of the atomic projectile Grablefired with the M65 atomic cannon.

• May 25: at 8:30 (local time) or 15:30 (world time): in Area 5 of the Nevada Test Site, the United States shoots the atomic bomb Grable15 kiloton, the first nuclear artillery bomb (disbanded from the M65 cannon). More than 21 000 soldiers participated in the Desert Rock V exercise, with the presence of a number of senior military officers.
• May 29: In Nepal the Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Percival Hillary climbers become the first humans to reach the top of Everest.

June

• 2 June: Queen Elizabeth II is crowned in the abbey of Westminster (United Kingdom).
• June 4: On the Nevada Test Site, United States detonates the atomic bomb Climax61 kiloton. It was the bomb number 45 of the 1132 that detonated that country between 1945 and 1992.
• June 5: in Avellaneda (Buenos Aires), the democratic president Juan Domingo Perón opens the Sarandí viaduct, considered at the time one of the most important in the world.
• June 13: In Colombia, General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla deposes President Laureano Gómez Castro, who had resumed the command (from which he had gone sick and left in the hands of the designated Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez).
• June 15: in Havana, Cuban singer Celia Cruz and Sonora Matancera recorded the baby Burundanga (Oscar Muñoz Bouffartique). This recording will receive the Golden Disc in 1957.
• June 17: In East Berlin a major popular uprising against the communist regime is being carried out, which will be repressed by the police.
• 26 June: In Costa Rica, presidential democratic elections are held since the 1948 civil war and following the promulgation of the 1949 Constitution.

July

• July 15: in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Peronist groups set fire to the House of the People, institution of the socialist workers' movement illustrated), with the library on the largest social issues in South America.
• 23 July: in Egypt, following the abdication of King Faruk, a group of army officers proclaim the Republic.
• July 26: in Santiago de Cuba, a group of young Cubans—under Fidel Castro's command—are assaulting the Moncada barracks against the dictator Fulgencio Batista (which was supported by the United States Government).
• July 27: In Korea, the United States, China, North Korea and South Korea, they signed a Armistice, with which the Korean War ended.

August

• August 4th: the Peruvian expedition Cordillera Blanca, makes measurements after conquering the summit of the Huascarán nevado (of 6768 m. n. m.), the highest in the country.
• 11 August: the Italian atonement Tazio Nuvolari dies.
• August 12: On the site of atomic testing in Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan) the Soviet Union detonated its fourth atomic bomb on a 30 m high tower, Usilennaya (that the American CIA baptized as Joe-4400 kiloton. It is the first hydrogen bomb of the Soviet Union (the United States had detonated itss on November 1, 1952).
• August 19: Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq is deposed in a coup orchestrated by U.S. intelligence.
• August 23: In Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan) the Soviet Union detonated its fifth atomic bomb, which the CIA would baptize as a free fall to 600 m high. Joe-528 kiloton. It is the first test of a RDS-4, the first "tactic" nuclear bomb.
• August 23: in Switzerland, the victory of the Grand Prix of Switzerland guarantees the Italian driver of Formula 1, Alberto Ascari the title of world champion.
• 27 August:
  • In the United States, the film Holidays in Rome throw the starto at actress Audrey Hepburn.
  • The concordat between Spain and the Holy See is produced.
• August 29: In Peru, footballer Teodoro Fernandez retired from professional football, after playing his last match against Alianza Lima, which he scored 3 goals with which he defeated his rival for 4 to 1.
• August 31: Santander Airport is opened.

September

• 3 September:
  • In the Soviet Union, Nikita Jrushchov is appointed as the new secretary general of the Communist Party.
  • At the atomic testing site in Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan) the Soviet Union detonated its sixth atomic bomb at 255 m high, which the CIA would baptize as Joe-65.8 kiloton.
• September 8: In Semipalatinsk, the Soviet Union detonated at 220 m high its seventh atomic bomb of 1.6 kilotons.
• September 10: In Semipalatinsk, the Soviet Union detonated its eighth 4.9 kiloton atomic bomb at 220 m high.
• 14 September: in the United States, the second Kinsey report, Sexual behaviour of womenIt becomes best-seller in a short time. In 1948 he had described male sexuality scandalously.
• September 21st: The 1st International Film Week of San Sebastian, which will become the first edition of the future San Sebastian International Film Festival.
• September 27: Rede Record (now RecordTV) is created in Brazil
• September 30: In the Mediterranean Sea Auguste Piccard and his son Jacques set a new record of submarinism in the submersible sphere Trieste, developed by them: reach 3150 meters deep.

October

• October 9: In West Germany, Konrad Adenauer is elected Chancellor for the second time.
• 12 October:
  • In Sweden, German Hermann Staudinger received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for his work on the manufacture of plastic.
  • In Sweden, British politician Winston Churchill received the Nobel Prize in Literature, for his historical-political writings.
• October 13: In Venezuela, Lola de Fuenmayor founded the Santa Maria University.
• October 17: Article 34 of the Constitution is amended in Mexico to allow the female vote.
• October 24: In Venezuela the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello was founded.
• October 29: The singer Frank Sinatra and the actress Ava Gardner announce their separation.

November

• 9 November: Cambodia is independent of France (although the first free elections will be held only in 1993).
• 13 November: by legislative decree it is officially recognized as the National Anthem of El Salvador, which was solemnly premiered on 15 September 1879 in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador, whose authors of his lyrics and music were Juan José Cañas and Juan Aberle, respectively.
• 15 November: In Venezuela, the TV channel RCTV was founded, which operated until 27 May 2007 when it won its concession.

December

• 1 December: in Peru, Pan American Radio is created
• 7 December:
  • The Convention on Slavery is being expanded in the United States.
  • In Iran, a visit by U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon provokes several days of protests and riots. Three students die from police shots in Tehran.
• December 9: In the United States, General Electric announced the dismissal of all workers suspected of being affiliated with the Communist Party or of having leftist ideologies.
• December 12: An earthquake of 7.5 is recorded in Tumbes (Peru).

Births

January

• January 4: Norberto Alonso, Argentine soccer player.
• January 5: Pamela Sue Martin, American actress.
• January 6: Malcolm Young, British guitarist, AC/DC band (f. 2017).
• January 8: Damián Alcázar, Mexican actor.
• January 10: Pat Benatar (Patricia Mae Andrzejewski), American rock singer.
• January 10: Blanca Guerra, Mexican actress.
• January 10: William Millerson, karateca and politician curazole.
• January 15: Hugo Soto, Argentine actor and artist (f. 1994).
• January 18: Laszló Simion, politician and Romanian writer of Hungarian nationality.
• January 23: Alister McGrath, Northern Irish theologian.
• January 24: Matthew Wilder, American musician.
• January 24: Silvio Brito, Colombian singer of Vallenata music.
• January 25: The Honky Tonk Man, American professional fighter.
• January 26: Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish politician.
• January 27: Enrique Martínez Heredia, Spanish cyclist.
• January 30: Salvador Nasralla, a Honduran journalist.

February

• February 3: Manfred Albert von Richthofen, German-Brazilian engineer (f. 2002).
• February 8: Mary Steenburgen, American actress.
• February 9: Juan José Novaira, Argentine composer of pop music.
• February 12: Joanna Kerns, American actress.
• February 15: Tony Adams, theatrical and cinematographic producer (f. 2005).
• February 15: Rafael Bielsa, Argentine politician.
• February 16: Baby Etchecopar, Argentine actor and journalist.
• February 19: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentine policy, president from 2007 to 2015 and vice president of Argentina from 2019.
• February 19: Victoria Vera, Spanish actress.
• February 21st: William Petersen, American actor.
• February 22: René Morales, a Guatemalan footballer.
• February 22: Paloma Woolrich, Mexican actress.
• February 23: Satoru Nakajima, Japanese Formula 1 pilot.
• February 23: Luis Alberto Beto Quevedo, sociologist, professor and Uruguayan-Argentine journalist.
• 25 February: José María Aznar, Spanish politician, president between 1996 and 2004.
• February 26: Michael Bolton, American singer and composer.
• February 26: Egidio Cuadrado, Colombian musician and accordioner of vallenata music.
• 27 February: Ian Khama, former President of Botswana.
• February 28: Paul Krugman, American journalist, prize in Economics in memory of Alfred Nobel in 2008.

March

• March 1: Carlos Queiroz, footballer and Portuguese coach.
• March 2: Josema Yuste, Spanish comic actor.
• March 3: Zico, footballer and Brazilian coach.
• March 4: Ramón Soto Vargas, novillero and Spanish banderillero.
• March 10: Paul Haggis, writer and Canadian filmmaker.
• March 12: Margarita Belandria, a Venezuelan writer.
• March 16: Isabelle Huppert, French actress.
• March 16: Richard Stallman, American programmer.
• 17 March: Romualdo Brito, Colombian musician and composer of vallenata music (f. 2020).
• March 19: Lenin Moreno, Ecuadorian politician, President of Ecuador from 2017 to 2021.
• March 20: Luisa Kuliok, Argentine film and television actress.
• March 22: Isadora, Colombian singer.
• March 23: Baudilio Díaz, Venezuelan baseball player (f. 1990).
• March 23: Chaka Khan, American pop musician.
• March 24: Louie Anderson, actor, comedian and American TV presenter (f. 2022).

April

• April 1: Barry Sonnenfeld, American filmmaker.
• April 6: Christopher Franke, German-American drummer, Tangerine Dream.
• April 9: Stephen Paddock, mass murderer responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas massacre.
• April 11: Andrew Wiles, British mathematician.
• April 11: Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian politician.
• April 12: Álex Angulo, Spanish actor (f. 2014).
• April 16: Errol Emmanuelson, a Surinamese footballer.
• April 18: Rick Moranis, actor, comedian and American musician.
• April 19: Sara Simeoni, Italian athlete.
• April 19: Ramón Núñez Armas, Cuban footballer.
• April 23: Kim Gordon, American rock musician, Sonic Youth.
• April 24: Eric Bogosian, American actor.
• April 27: Arielle Dombasle, French actress and singer.
• April 28: Roberto Bolaño, a Chilean writer and poet (f. 2003).

May

• 2 May: Valeri Gérgiev, director of Russian orchestra.
• May 3: Luis Alberto Moreno, Colombian diplomat, journalist and businessman.
• May 5: Fructuoso Fortu Sánchez, Spanish singer, from the heavy metal band Obus.
• May 6: Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister.
• May 6: Graeme Souness, British footballer and coach.
• May 8: Alex Van Halen, American drummer, Van Halen.
• May 10: Tito Santana, American professional fighter.
• May 14: Wim Mertens, Belgian composer.
• May 15: Mike Oldfield, British musician and composer.
• May 16: Pierce Brosnan, an Irish actor.
• May 20: Carmina Barrios, Spanish actress.
• May 21: Alberto Marcos Martín, Spanish historian.
• May 24: Jorge Castañeda Gutman, Mexican politician.
• May 24: Alfred Molina, British actor.
• May 25: Daniel Passarella, footballer and Argentine coach.
• May 26: Michael Portillo, presenter and British politician.
• May 27: Susana Olaondo, Uruguayan child writer
• May 29: Danny Elfman, American musician and composer.
• May 29: Hiroshi Iwasaki, Japanese voice actor.

June

• June 1st: David Berkowitz, American serial killer.
• June 3: Loalwa Braz, Brazilian singer (f. 2017).
• June 5: Nicko McBrain, British musician, from the Iron Maiden band.
• June 13: Tim Allen, American actor.
• June 16: Juan Muñoz, Spanish sculptor (f. 2001).
• June 16: María Graña, Argentinean singer.
• 21 June: Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani policy, first minister between 1988 and 1990 and 1993 and 1996 (f. 2007).
• June 22: Cyndi Lauper, American singer.
• June 22: Phil Goff, a New Zealand politician.
• June 22: Dolores Solomon "Bodokito", Mexican actress (f. 2016).
• June 23: Russell Mulcahy, Australian filmmaker.

July

• 1 July: Jesús María Sanz Iparraguirre, Spanish singer.
• July 1st: Catherine Ferry, French singer.
• July 1st: Víctor Barrueto, Chilean politician.
• 2 July: Giuseppe Piccioni, Italian filmmaker.
• 2 July: Antonio Armas, Venezuelan baseball player.
• July 3: Pep Munné, Spanish actor.
• July 4: Yiyi, Spanish footballer.
• 7 July: Julio Miranda, Venezuelan singer of plain music (f. 1993).
• July 10: Édouard Guillaud, French admiral.
• July 11: Piyasvasti Amranand, a Thai economist and politician.
• July 11: Angélica Aragón, Mexican actress.
• July 11: Patricia Reyes Spíndola, actress, director and Mexican producer.
• July 15: Haminah Hamidun, Queen of Malaysia.
• July 15: Michaël Dudok de Wit, director, screenwriter, animator and Dutch illustrator.
• July 17: Thomas Carter, American Film Director.
• July 19: Zitto Segovia, cantautor chamamecero argentina (f. 1989).
• July 23: María Pazos Morán, Spanish mathematics.

August

• August 2: Butch Patrick, American actor.
• August 3: Bruno Díaz, Colombian actor.
• August 4: Reynaldo Armas, Venezuelan singer and songwriter of plain music.
• August 6: Gloria Gómez, Colombian actress.
• August 7: Vera Holtz, Brazilian actress.
• August 8: Nigel Mansell, British Formula 1 pilot.
• August 10: Yolanda Liévana, Mexican actress and vedette.
• August 11: Hulk Hogan, American professional fighter.
• August 13: Carmen Posadas, Spanish writer.
• August 14: James Horner, musician, composer and director of American orchestra (f. 2015).
• August 15: Rigoberto Cisneros, Mexican footballer.
• August 15: Paulo Laserna Phillips, a Colombian journalist.
• August 15: Mark Thatcher, British businessman, Margaret Thatcher's son.
• August 15: Laura García, Colombian actress.
• August 16: José Augusto, singer and Brazilian musician.
• 17 August: Herta Müller, novelist, poetess and essayist from Romanian-German, Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009.

Nanni Moretti

• August 19: Nanni Moretti, filmmaker, actor, producer and Italian screenwriter.
• August 30: María Luisa Carcedo, Spanish politics.

September

• September 1: Memín Hernández, Venezuelan singer.
• September 2: Keith Allen, British actor.
• September 2: Dumar Aljure Rivas, Colombian singer of plain music.
• September 3: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, French filmmaker.
• 8 September: Elena Reynaga, former protistuta and defender of Argentine human rights.
• September 10: Wolf Maya, Brazilian actor and television director.
• September 10: Amy Irving, American actress.
• September 19: Diana Maffía, politician and Argentine philosopher.
• September 22: Zezé Polessa, Brazilian actress.
• September 22: Ségolène Royal, French policy.
• September 22: Francisco de Narváez, an Argentine businessman and politician.
• September 26: Xabier Azkargorta, Spanish football coach.
• September 26: Guillermo Yunge, former student and Chilean deputy, Ambassador of Costa Rica during the attack on the embassy.
• September 27: Greg Ham, an Australian musician, from the Men at Work band (f. 2012).
• September 27: María Emma Mejía, politician, journalist and Colombian diplomat.

October

• October 3: Edgar Artunduaga, journalist, writer and Colombian politician (f. 2019).
• October 7: Tico Torres, American drummer, from the Bon Jovi band.
• October 8: Julia Navarro, Spanish journalist and writer.
• October 9: Tony Shalhoub, American actor.
• October 10: Midge Ure, British musician, Slik bands, The Rich Kids, Ultravox, Visage and Thin Lizzy.
• October 15: Cilia Flores, Venezuelan lawyer and politician, wife of President Nicolás Maduro.
• October 15: Tito Jackson, American musician, from the band The Jackson Five.
• October 15: Larry Miller, American actor.
• October 15: Enrique Morán, Spanish footballer.
• October 18: Silvia Navarrete, Mexican pianist.
• October 25: Gonzalo Mayor Crespo, writer, researcher, photographer and Spanish illustrator.
• October 27: Peter Firth, British actor.
• October 30: Álvaro Morales Rodríguez, poet, theatre director and Spanish actor (f. 2011).
• October 30: Carlos Antonio Vélez, Colombian sports journalist.

November

• 5 November: Aurelio Andreazzoli, Italian football coach.
• 11 November: Pecos Kanvas, Venezuelan singer and composer (f. 2008).
• 13 November: Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico since 2018.
• November 15: Eduardo Darnauchans, Uruguayan musician (f. 2007).
• November 16: Jesús Caudevilla Pastor, Spanish writer.
• November 18: Alan Moore, British writer.
• November 18: César Rondón, writer, journalist, locutor, executive producer of television and Venezuelan publicist.
• November 18: Kevin Nealon, American actor and comedian.
• November 18: Kath Soucie, a vocal actress, theater, cinema and American television.
• November 19: Francisco Mujika Garmendia, a Spanish terrorist, member of the ETA band.
• November 23: Francis Cabrel, French singer and musician.
• November 27: Pamela Hayden, American actress.
• November 28: Alistair Darling, British politician.
• November 28: Helena Mallarino, Colombian actress.

December

• December 2: Álex Lora (Alejandro Lora), Mexican singer of the group El Tri.
• December 3: Ágata Lys, a Spanish actress (f. 2021).
• December 6: Tom Hulce, American actor.
• December 8: Kim Basinger, American actress.
• December 8: Manuel Gómez Pereira, Spanish filmmaker.
• December 8: Sento, Spanish hysterist.
• December 9: Guillermo García González, a Cuban chessman, a national tricampeón (f. 1990).
• December 9: John Malkovich, actor, film producer and American filmmaker.
• December 13: Ben Bernanke, an American economist.
• 13 December: Thomas Kurzhals, German musician (f. 2014).
• December 17: Sally Menke, American Film Rider (f. 2010).
• December 24: Gerardo Solano, a Costa Rican footballer (f. 2000).
• December 25: Mario Santiago Papasquiaro, Mexican poet.
• December 26: Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna, Dominican politician.
• December 26: Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonian president.
• December 26: Gloria Gómez, Colombian actress.
• December 29: Richard Clayderman, French pianist.
• December 31: Richard Páez, a former soccer player and Venezuelan coach.

Unknown dates

• Rafael Araujo, Venezuelan protester.
• Luisito Domínguez, Argentine actor and humorist with enanism (f. 2008).
• Pilar López Sancho, PhD in Physical Sciences and research professor at the Spanish CSIC.
• Jorge Emilio Salazar, Colombian actor (f. 1992).
• Zahra Shahid Hussain, political activist and Pakistani teacher; murdered (f. 2013).

Deaths

• January 1st: Hank Williams, American country music singer and songwriter.
• January 7: Osa Johnson, American adventurer, naturalist and photographer (n. 1894).
• January 10: Andrés Castro, a peasant and a Nicaraguan soldier.
• February 24: Gerd von Rundstedt, German military.
• March 5: Iosif Stalin, Soviet dictator between 1924 and 1953 (n. 1878).
• March 24: Felix-Maria Abel, Dominican religious, historian, biblical scholar and French geographer.
• March 24: Maria de Teck, British aristocrat.
• 4 April: Charles II, Romanian king.
• April 9: Juan Duarte, an Argentine politician (n. 1914).
• May 13: Hermann Jadlowker, tenor leton (n. 1877).
• July 20: Jan Struther, British writer, creator of the character Mrs. Miniver. (n. 1901).
• September 24: Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart and Falcó, a Spanish politician (n. 1878).
• September 24: Berthold Viertel, Austrian filmmaker.
• September 27: Hans Fritzsche, journalist and German Nazi leader
• September 28: Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (n. 1889).
• October 8: Chōjun Miyagi, Japanese martial artist.
• November 8: Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, Russian writer, nobel prize of literature in 1933.
• 15 November: Jorge de Lima, writer, translator, painter, politician and Brazilian physician (n. 1893).
• November 27: Eugene O'Neill, American playwright, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936.
• December 5: Jorge Negrete, Mexican actor and singer.
• December 5: Maria Pascoli, Italian writer (n. 1865).
• December 19: Robert Andrews Millikan, U.S. physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923.
• December 23: Lavrenti Beria, Soviet Marshal (n. 1899).
• December 31: Cristóbal de Castro, a Spanish writer (n. 1874).

Art and literature

• January 6: In Spain, Lluïsa Forrellad gets the Nadal award for his novel Always in chapel.
• Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for his work The old and the sea
• Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451, The golden apples of the sun.
• Arthur Miller: Salem witches.
• Juan Rulfo: first edition (editorial Fund for Economic Culture, Mexico) of the book of stories The plain on fire.
• Isaac Asimov: Second Foundation.
• Saul Bellow: The Adventures of Augie March.
• Heinrich Böll: And he didn't say a word.
• William Burroughs: Yonqui.
• Raymond Chandler: The long goodbye.
• Agatha Christie: After the funeral, A handful of rye, Prosecution.
• Arthur C. Clarke: The end of childhood.
• Ian Fleming: Casino Royale.
• J. D. Salinger: Nine stories.
• Boris Vian: The heartbeat..
• C. S. Lewis: The silver chair.

Music

• On March 13, singer and actor Frank Sinatra met the vice president of the Capitol Records label, Alan Livingston. Who offered him a seven-year contract for the record label. His first session for Capitol took place at the KHJ studio C at the 5515 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Recording the simple "I'm Walking Behind You" under the direction of Axel Stordahl.
• On April 30, Frank Sinatra returns to KHJ studios for the recording session with the simple "I've Got the World on a String" under Nelson Riddle's arrangement and direction.
• On October 4, Frank Sinatra makes his first show at the Sands Hotel and Casino, after an invitation from the manager Jack Entratter. This allowed Sinatra to take part in the hotel.

Cinema

• 1 January: Titanic Jean Negulesco.
• 5 February: Peter Pan Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske.
• Shane (Deep roots)George Stevens.
• ReportEmilio Fernández.
• The Rapture
• Tales from Tokyo, Yasujirō Ozu.
• From Here to Eternity, written by: James Jones and Daniel Taradash. Directed by: Fred Zinnemann.

All dates belong to the official premieres of their countries of origin, unless otherwise indicated.

Sports

• Alberto Ascari is the world champion of Formula 1.
• The Paraguayan football team is dedicated for the first time in its history as champion of America.
• FC Barcelona, champion of the Spanish Football League.
• League of Professional Baseball of the Dominican Republic: the Tigers of Licey win their second title by defeating the Cibais Eagles.
• The New York Yankees win the World Series of the Great Baseball Leagues, defending the Brooklyn Dodgers four games to two, for an unprecedented fifth consecutive year.

Television

Science and technology

• James Dewey Watson (American biologist) and Francis Crick (British biochemist) unravel the double helix structure of the DNA molecule (Desoxyribonucleic acid).
• In the United States, Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey publishes Sexual conduct of women.
• November 20: The American rider Scott Crossfield for the first time reaches twice the speed of sound.

Nobel laureates

• Physics: Frits Zernike.
• Chemistry: Hermann Staudinger.
• Medicine: Hans Adolf Krebs and Fritz Albert Lipmann.
• Literature: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill.
• Peace: George Catlett Marshall.