Top News Stories from 1959
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade
Nobel Peace Prize:
Philip John Noel-Baker (UK)
More World Statistics...
- Cuban President Batista resigns and flees (Jan. 1). Fidel Castro assumes power (Feb. 16).
- Tibet's Dalai Lama escapes to India (Mar. 31).
- Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev tours the United States, meeting with Eisenhower at Camp David.
- Britain recognizes the independence of Cyprus.
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President:
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vice President:
Richard M. Nixon
Population:
177,829,628
Life expectancy:
69.9 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000):
4.6
More U.S. Statistics...
- Alaska (Jan. 3) and Hawaii (Aug. 21) become the 49th and 50th states.
- St. Lawrence Seaway opens, allowing ocean ships to reach Midwest (April 25).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars):
$507.2 billion
Federal spending:
$92.10 billion
Federal debt
$287.5 billion
Consumer Price Index:
$29.1
Unemployment:
6.8%
Cost of a first-class stamp:
$0.04
Sports
World Series
LA Dodgers d. Chicago White Sox (4-2)NBA Championship
Boston d. Minneapolis LakersStanley Cup
Montreal d. TorontoWimbledon
Women: Maria Bueno d. D. Hard (6-4 6-3)Men: Alex Olmedo d. R. Laver (6-4 6-3 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Tomy LeeNCAA Basketball Championship
California d. West VirginiaNCAA Football Champions
Syracuse (11-0-0)Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction:
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Robert Lewis Taylor
Music:
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, John La Montaine
Drama:
J. B. Archibald MacLeish
Academy Award, Best Picture:
Gigi, Arthur Freed, producer (MGM)
Nobel Prize for Literature:
Salvatore Quasimodo (Italy)
Record of the Year:
"Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu" (Volare), Domenico Modugno
Album of the Year:
The Music From Peter Gunn, Henry Mancini (RCA)
Song of the Year:
"Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu," Domenico Modugno, songwriter
Miss America:
Mary Ann Mobley (MS)
More Entertainment Awards...
Events
- The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences sponsors the first Grammy Award ceremony for music recorded in 1958.
- Frank Sinatra wins his first Grammy Award -- Best Album for Come Dance with Me.
- Rumors of cheating on quiz shows erupt into a national scandal.
Movies
- Some Like It Hot, North by Northwest, Ben-Hur, Anatomy of a Murder, Room at the Top
Books
- William Burroughs, Naked Lunch
- D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover
- Robert Lowell, Life Studies
- Norman Mailer, Advertisements for Myself
- James A. Michener, Hawaii
- Grace Paley, The Little Disturbances of Man
- Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago
- Philip Roth, Goodbye Columbus and Five Short Stories
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry:
Jaroslav Heyrovsky (Czechoslovakia), for development of polarography, an electrochemical method of analysis
Physics:
Emilio Segre and Owen Chamberlain (both US), for demonstrating the existence of the anti-proton
Physiology or Medicine:
Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg (both US), for discoveries related to compounds within chromosomes that play a vital role in heredity
More Nobel Prizes in 1998...
- Jack S. Kilby of Texas Instruments (US) supervises the development of the first integrated circuit. Background: Computers and Internet
- The US Navy launches the Vanguard satellite.
- The Lunik II probe (USSR) reaches the moon; Lunik III photographs the dark side of the moon for the first time. Background: Space Exploration
Death
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