1959

1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It is also a very crappy song by The Sisters of Mercy on the album Floodland.

January-February

 * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when forces of Fidel Castro advance.
 * January 2 - Castro's troops approach Havana.
 * January 3 - Island of Addu in the Maldives declares independence.
 * January 3 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
 * January 4 - In Cuba rebel troops lead by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter Havana.
 * January 4 - In Léopoldville 42 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the Abako party.
 * January 6 - Fidel Castro arrives in Havana.
 * January 7 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
 * January 8 - Charles De Gulple inaugurated as the first president of French Fifth Republic.
 * January 13 - Cuban communists execute 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista.
 * February 16 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.

March-April

 * March 1 – Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
 * March 8 - Last television appearance of The Marx Brothers, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery.
 * March 9 - The Barbie doll debuts.
 * March 12 - Production of the first solid gold "Glaussen Pennies".
 * March 31 - Llamas leaves Tibet.
 * April 9 - NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first US astronauts (see Mercury Seven).

May-June

 * May 24 - British Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day.
 * June 5 - A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former Ministers were re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
 * June 8 - The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
 * June 9 - The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
 * June 14 - A three-front revolutionary invasion by air and sea takes place in the Dominican Republic consisting of exiles aided by Fidel Castro whose purpose was to overthrow dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Within a few days all but four are captured and executed. Trujillo is killed less than two years later by men partly inspired by the deaths of the 1959 martyrs.

July-August

 * July 7 - 14:28 UT Venus occulted the star Regulus. The rare event which will next occur on October 1, 2044 was used for determining the diameter of Venus and the structure of Venus' atmosphere.
 * July 15 - Steel industry strike in USA.
 * July 26 - The Cascade Battle of 1959.
 * August 4 - Martial law declared in Laos.
 * August 15 - Cyprus gains independence.
 * August 21 - Hawaii admitted that they are gay.
 * August 24 - Cyprus joins United Nations.

September-October

 * October 2 - Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS.
 * October 12 - Large scale diamond robbery in London.
 * October 13 - USA launches Explorer VII.
 * October 21 - Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi is arrested in Nyeri, Kenya.
 * October 31 - Riots in the Belgian Congo.
 * October 31 - Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow he won't ever return to U.S. cuz they are noobs.

November-December

 * December 1 - Cold War: Antarctic Treaty signed - 12 countries, including the United States and Soviet Russia, sign a landmark treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent (this was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War).
 * December 2 - Malpasset dam in southern France collapses and water flows over the town of Frejus - 412 dead.
 * December 14 - Makarios selected first president of Cyprus.

Unknown date

 * The neutrino is first experimentally detected, by Cowan and Reines.
 * TAT-2 cable goes into operation(February 13).
 * Pantyhose is invented!!!!!!11
 * Workers World Party is founded by Sam Marcy.
 * The first skull of Australopithecus is discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
 * Serengeti becomes a nature preserve.
 * The first known human with AIDS dies in Congo.
 * "Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry opens on Broadway in New York.

Unknown date

 * Willie Doherty, Irish artist

January-February

 * January 1 - Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros
 * January 6 - Kathy Sledge, American singer
 * January 9 - Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
 * January 10 - Simon Sunatori, Canadian inventor
 * January 16 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
 * January 17 - Susanna Hoffs, American singer (The Bangles)
 * January 24 - Nastassja Kinski, German actress
 * January 27 - Keith Olbermann, American news correspondent and sportscaster
 * February 4 - Lawrence Taylor, American football player
 * February 10 - Dennis Gentry, American football player
 * February 14 - Renee Fleming, American soprano
 * February 16 - John McEnroe, American tennis player
 * February 22 - Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
 * February 23 - Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
 * February 26 - Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player

March-April

 * March 6 - Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
 * March 8 - Aidan Quinn, American actor
 * March 9 - Rodney A. Grant, American actor
 * March 10 - Mike Wallace, American race car driver
 * March 15 - Harold Baines, baseball player
 * March 16 - Flavor Flav, American rapper
 * March 16 - Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
 * March 17 - Danny Ainge, American basketball player, coach, and baseball player
 * March 18 - Luc Besson, French film producer, writer, and director
 * March 21 - Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
 * March 22 - Matthew Modine, American actor
 * March 29 - Barry Blanchard, Canadian mountaineer
 * March 29 - Perry Farrell, American musician
 * April 3 - David Hyde Pierce, American actor
 * April 10 - Brian Setzer, American guitarist (Stray Cats)
 * April 11 - Ana María Polo, Cuban-born judge and television personality
 * April 16 - Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
 * April 21 - Robert Smith, British musician (The Cure)
 * April 22 - Catherine Mary Stewart, Canadian actress
 * April 22 - Ryan Stiles, American actor
 * April 27 - Sheena Easton, Scottish Singer
 * April 30 - Stephen Harper, Canadian politician

May-June

 * May 3 - Uma Bharati, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
 * May 3 - Ben Elton, British comedian and writer
 * May 5 - Steve Stevens, American guitarist
 * May 14 - Patrick Bruel, French singer
 * May 15 - Andrew Eldritch, British musician (The Sisters of Mercy)
 * May 20 - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, American singer (d. 1997)
 * May 20 - Bronson Pinchot, American actor
 * May 22 - Steven Morrissey, British singer
 * May 24 - Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish-born NHL goaltender (d. 1985)
 * May 29 - Adrian Paul, British actor
 * June 11- Hugh Laurie, British actor and comedian
 * June 12 - John Linnell, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
 * June 15 - Yevgeni Shchukin, Russian painter
 * June 26 - Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and comedian
 * June 27 - Clint Boon, British musician (Inspiral Carpets)
 * June 30 - Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor

July-August

 * July 3 - Julie Burchill, British journalist
 * July 6 - Richard Dacoury, French basketball player
 * July 7 - Ben Linder, American engineer (d. 1987)
 * July 9 - Kevin Nash Former WWE,WCW, and TNA wrestler
 * July 10 - Janet Julian, American actress
 * July 11 - Richie Sambora, American musician
 * July 11 - Suzanne Vega, American singer
 * July 13 - Richard Leman, British field hockey player
 * July 16 - Gary Anderson, American football player
 * July 18 - Steven L Johnson, American Corporate Executive and Chief of the Ashburn Fire & Rescue Department
 * July 26 - Rick Bragg, American writer
 * July 26 - Kevin Spacey, American actor
 * July 27 - Hugh Green, American Football linebacker
 * July 29 - Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
 * July 29 - Ruud Janssen, Dutch artist
 * August 1 - Joe Elliott, British singer Def Leppard)
 * August 2 - Apollonia Kotero, American actress and singer
 * August 3 - Koichi Tanaka, Japanese scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
 * August 9 - Steven Felker, American Entrepreneur
 * August 10 - Rosanna Arquette, American actress
 * August 14 - Magic Johnson, American basketball player
 * August 21 - Jim McMahon, American football player
 * August 27 - Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian artist
 * August 29 - Stephen Wolfram, British scientist
 * August 30 - Mark 'Jacko' Jackson, Australian footballer and actor

September-October

 * September 4 - Kevin Harrington, Australian actor
 * September 8 - Daler Nazarov, Tajik composer, singer, and actor
 * September 14 - Morten Harket, Norwegian singer (a-ha)
 * September 17 - Charles Lawson, Northern Irish actor
 * September 21 - Dave Coulier, American actor
 * September 29 - Benjamin Sehene, Rwandan writer
 * October 3 - Fred Couples, American golfer
 * October 3 - Greg Proops, American comedian
 * October 3 - Jack Wagner, American actor
 * October 7 - Lourdes Flores, Peruvian politician.
 * October 9 - Michael Pare, American actor
 * October 10 - Kirsty MacColl, British singer-songwriter
 * October 15 - Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
 * October 15 - Emeril Lagasse, famous chef and restaurant owner
 * October 17 - Ron Drummond, American writer, editor, and music historian
 * October 21 - Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
 * October 23 - "Weird Al" Yankovic, American singer and parodist
 * October 25 - Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress
 * October 26 - Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
 * October 27 - Rick Carlisle, American basketball coach

November-December

 * November 10 - Linda Cohn, American sports reporter
 * November 14 - Paul McGann, British actor
 * November 18 - Jimmy Quinn, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
 * November 23 - Dominique Dunne, American actress (d. 1982)
 * November 25 - Charles Kennedy, Scottish politician
 * November 28 - Judd Nelson, American actor
 * November 30 - Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
 * December 13 - Nadia Russ, Ukrainian-born artist
 * December 14 - Dana Childs, American radio personality and basketball coach
 * December 21 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American athelete (d. 1998)
 * December 27 - Gerina Dunwich, American author
 * December 31 - Val Kilmer, American actor

January-April

 * January 21 - Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (b. 1881)
 * January 22 - Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (b. 1929)
 * February 3 - Killed in a private plane crash:
 * The Big Bopper, American singer (b. 1930)
 * Buddy Holly, American singer (b. 1936)
 * Richie Valens, American singer (b. 1941)
 * February 3 - Vincent Astor, American philanthropist (b. 1891)
 * February 4 - Una O'Connor, Irish actress (b. 1880)
 * February 11 - Marshall Teague, American race car driver (b. 1922)
 * February 14 - Baby Dodds, American jazz musician (b. 1898)
 * February 15 - Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
 * February 28 - Maxwell Anderson, American screenwriter (b. 1888)
 * March 3 - Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)
 * March 4 - Maxey Long, American athlete (b. 1878)
 * March 16 - John B. Salling, disputed last-surviving American Civil War veteran (b. 1846?)
 * March 26 - Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888)
 * March 29 - Barthélemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1910)
 * April 9 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)

May-October

 * May 5 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)
 * May 14 - Sidney Bechet, American musician (b. 1897)
 * May 16 - Elisha Scott, footballer (b. 1894)
 * May 24 - John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
 * June 9 - Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
 * June 23 - Boris Vian, French writer, poet, singer, and musician (b. 1920)
 * July 11 - Charlie Parker, English cricketer (b. 1882)
 * July 15 - Ernest Bloch, Swiss composer (b. 1880)
 * July 17 - Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
 * August 5 - Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
 * August 6 - Preston Sturges, American film director and writer (b. 1898)
 * August 15 - Blind Willie McTell, American singer (b. 1901)
 * August 16 - Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)
 * August 19 - Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (b. 1880)
 * August 28 - Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (b. 1890)
 * October 6 - Bernard Berenson, American art historian (b. 1865)
 * October 7 - Mario Lanza, American tenor (b. 1921)
 * October 14 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor (b. 1909)
 * October 16 - George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b.1880)
 * October 18 - Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (b. 1898)

November-December

 * November 15 - Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
 * November 17 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (b. 1887)
 * December 22 - Gilda Gray, Polish-born dancer and actress (b. 1901)

Nobel prizes

 * Physics - Emilio Gino Segrè, Owen Chamberlain
 * Chemistry - Jaroslav Heyrovský
 * Physiology or Medicine - Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg
 * Literature - Salvatore Quasimodo
 * Peace - Philip John Noel-Baker