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.
==Events==
===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.
==Births==
===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
==Deaths==
===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