- May 10
- French Government sends 50,000 reservists to Algeria. [1]
- May 12
- East Pakistan is struck by cyclone and tidal waves. [1]
- May 16
- Egypt recognizes People's Republic of China. [1]
- Great Britain performs nuclear test at Monte Bello Island, Australia. [1]
- May 18
- Queen Juliana opens Rembrandt fairs in Amsterdam, Netherlands. [1]
- May 20
- Atomic fusion (thermonuclear) bomb dropped from plane-Bikini Atoll. [1]
- Jordan government of Samir resigns. [1]
- May 21
- Jordan government of Said el-Mufti forms. [1]
- US explodes first airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll. [1]
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- May 23
- Presbyterian Church begins accepting women ministers. [1]
- May 25
- Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Haurietis aquas. [1]
- May 26
- US Navy aircraft carrier Bennington burns off Rhode Island, killing 103. [1]
- May 27
- US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests). [1]
- May 30
- US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests). [1]
- June 4
- Speech by USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev blasting Josef Stalin made public. [1]
- June 18
- Last of foreign troops leave Egypt. [1]
- June 23
- Gamal Abdel Nasser elected president of Egypt. [1]
- June 28
- First atomic reactor built for private research operates in Chicago, Illinois, USA. [1]
- Riots break out in Poznan, Poland; 38 die. [1]
- June 29
- Charles Dumas makes first high jump over 7 feet (2.13 metres) - Los Angeles, California. [1]
- July 7
- Seven Army trucks loaded with dynamite explode in the middle of California, killing 1,100-1,200, destroying 2,000 buildings. [1]
- July 16
- Karelo-Finnish SSR becomes part of Russian SFSR. [1]
- July 20
- France recognizes Tunisia's independence. [1]
- July 23
- Bell X-2 rocket plane sets world aircraft speed record of 3,050 kph. [1]
- July 25
- (11:20 PM) Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria (29,000 tons) collides with Swedish-American Line steamship M.S. Stockholm (12,600 tons) in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Nantucket, USA. The Andrea Doria is struck midship; the Stockholm loses a portion of its bow, with the loss of five lives. (The Andrea Doria sinks the next day, with the loss of 49 lives.) [7] [260.103]
- Jordanians attack United Nations' Palestine truce. [1]
- July 26
- Egyptian leader Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser announces immediate nationalization of the Suez Canal Company. [1842.269]
- August 4
- First motorcycle rode over 200 mph (Wilhelm Herz-210 mph/338 kph). [1]
- August 8
- Fire and explosion kill 263 miners at Marcinelle, Belgium. [1]
- August 9
- South African women demonstrate against pass laws. [1]
- August 20
- The Calder Hall atomic power station begins operation in Cumberland, Great Britain, generating up to 90,000 kilowatts of power and manufacturing plutonium. [55.20]
- August 25
- Anders Franzén locates the sunken (in 1628) Swedish warship Vasa at the bottom of Stockholm harbor, off Beckholmen island, in 110 feet of water. (In 1961, the ship will be brought to the surface.) [7]
- September 1
- Indian state of Tripura becomes a territory. [1]
- September 2
- Collapse of a railroad bridge under a train kills 120 in India. [1]
- September 5
- 20 die in a train crash in Springer, New Mexico, USA. [1]
- September 7
- Bell X-2 sets unofficial manned aircraft altitude record 126,000+ feet. [1]
- September 13
- In the USA, IBM introduces the IBM 350 Disk File, the first hard drive, as part of the IBM RAMAC 305 computer. The drive features fifty double-sided 24-inch diameter platters, served by one arm and one read/write head. Capacity is about 5MB, and transfer rate is 8800 characters per second. [4]
- September 14
- First prefrontal lobotomy performed, Washington DC. [1]
- September 17
- Television is first broadcast in Australia. [5]
- September 19
- First international conference of black writers and artists meets (Sorbonne). [1]
- September 21
- Anastasio Somoza, Nicaraguan dictator, assassinated by Roliberto Lopez. [1]
- September 25
- TAT-1, the first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system, is inaugurated. [1] [5]
- October 2
- First atomic power clock exhibited-New York City. [1]
- October 17
- The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Cumbria, England. [1] [5]
- October 20
- 58 degrees F (15 degrees C), Esperanza Station, Antarctica (Antarctic record high). [1]
- October 23
- Revolt against Stalinist policies begins in Hungary. [1]
- October 24
- Soviet troops invade Hungary. [1]
- October 26
- United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency statute approved. [1]
- Vietnam promulgates its constitution. [1]
- October 29
- Israeli Defense Force crosses Egyptian territory in the Sinai. [1]
- International zone of Tangier returned to Morocco. [1]
- Israeli paratroopers drop into the Sinai to open Straits of Tiran. [1]
- October 30
- Israel captures Egyptian militay post at El-Thamad. [1]
- October 31
- Rear Admiral G. J. Dufek becomes the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole. [1] [5]
- Britain and France begin to bomb Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal. [1]
- November 1
- Delhi becomes a territory of the Indian union. [1]
- Indian state of Madhya Pradesh formed. [1]
- Indian states of Punjab, Patiala and PEPSU merge as Punjab protection. [1]
- Nagy government of Hungary withdraws from Warsaw Pact. [1]
- November 2
- Hungary appeals for United Nations assistance against Soviet invasion. [1]
- Israel captures Gaza and Sheham. [1]
- November 4
- Soviet tanks and troops enter Budapest, Hungary, to put down a revolution against Soviet influence. An estimated 2,500 Hungarians are killed and 200,000 more flee as refugees. [1] [129] [916.105]
- Israel captures Straits of Tiran from Egypt. [1]
- Israeli troops reach Suez Canal. [1]
- November 5
- Britain and France land forces in Egypt. [1]
- November 6
- US President Dwight Eisenhower (Republican) re-elected defeating Adlai E Stevenson (Democrat). [1]
- November 8
- United Nations demands USSR leave Hungary. [1]
- November 12
- Largest observed iceberg, 208 by 60 miles, first sighted. [1]
- December 1
- Indonesian Vice-President Mohammed Hatta resigns. [1]
- December 2
- Fidel Castro lands with "Granma" on coast of Cuba. [1]
- December 3
- England and France pull troops out of Egypt. [1]
- December 6
- Nelson Mandela and 156 others arrested for political activities in South Africa. [1]
- December 10
- Establishment of MPLA in Angola. [1]
- December 11
- Anti-Russian demonstrations in Stettin and Wroclaw, Poland. [1]
- December 14
- Paul-Henri Spaak is appointed Secretary-General of NATO. [1]
- December 15
- Emergency crisis in North Ireland proclaimed after Irish Republican Army strikes. [1]
- December 18
- Israeli flag hoisted on Mount Sinai. [1]
- Japan admitted to the United Nations. [1]
- December 20
- Military coup under colonel Simbolon in Sumatra. [1]
- December 22
- Birth of Cojo in Columbus, Ohio, USA; first gorilla born in captivity. [1] [129]
- Last British/French troops leave Egypt. [1]
- December 24
- Ferdinand de Lesseps statue blown up in Port Said, Egypt. [1]
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