1950
1950 (
MCML) was a
common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). It corresponds to 5710/5711 in the Hebrew Calendar.
January
*
January 1 - Sir
Adrian Boult is appointed principal conductor of the
London Philharmonic Orchestra*
January 5 -
U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a
resolution calling for examination of
organized crime in the U.S.
*
January 6 - The
United Kingdom recognizes the
People's Republic of China. The
Republic of China severs
diplomatic relations with Britain in response.
*
January 9 - The
Israeli government recognizes the
People's Republic of China.
*
January 11 -
Huk guerrillas attack the town of
Hermosa in
Bataan,
Philippines.
*
January 12 - Huk guerillas attack the town of
Tuyn, kill two and torch the city of
Staingnacan.
*
January 12 - British
submarine Truculent collides with a
Swedish oil tanker in
River Thames - 64 dead.
*
January 13 -
Finland forms
diplomatic relations to
People's Republic of China*
January 15 -
Volcanic cloud kills 5000 in
Mount Lamington,
New Guinea*
January 17 - The
Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an
armored car in
Boston, Massachusetts*
January 21 -
Alger Hiss is convicted of
perjury*
January 23 - The
Knesset passes a resolution that states
Jerusalem is the capital of
Israel.
*
January 24 -
Cold War:
Klaus Fuchs, a German émigré and physicist, walked into
London's
War Office and confessed to being a
Soviet spy. For seven years, he had passed
top secret information on U.S. and British
nuclear weapons research to the
Soviet Union["Year by Year 1950" -- History Channel International]. - formally charged
February 2*
January 26 -
India promulgates its
constitution forming a
republic and
Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first
president.
*
January 28 -
Somaliland is put under
Italian mandate
*
January 29 -
Lord Balfour criticizes the fact that
rationing is still in force in
Britain*
January 31 -
President Harry S. Truman orders the development of the
hydrogen bomb in response to the detonation the
Soviet Union's first
atomic bomb in
1949["Year by Year 1950" -- History Channel International]*
January 31 - Last
Kuomintang troops
surrender in continental
ChinaFebruary
*
February 1 -
Chiang Kai-shek re-elected as a president of the
Republic of China*
February 4 -
Ingrid Bergman's illegitimate child arouses ire in USA
*
February 9 -
Red scare: In his speech to the
Republican Women's Club at the
McClure Hotel in
Wheeling, West Virginia,
Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the
United States Department of State of being filled with 205
Communists.
*
February 11 - Two
Vietcong battalions attack a
French base in
Indochina*
February 11 -
Finland recognizes
Indonesia*
February 12 - Pro-communist riots in
Paris*
February 12 -
European Broadcasting Union founded
*
February 13 - In USA army begins to deploy anti-aircraft cannons to protect nuclear stations and military targets
*
February 14 - The
Soviet Union and the
People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty
*
February 15 -
Juho Kusti Paasikivi re-elected president of
Finland*
February 19 -
Konrad Adenauer tries unsuccessfully to negotiate with
East Germany to begin unification.
*
February 12 -
Albert Einstein warns that nuclear war could lead to mutual destruction
* February - British
Labour Party forms a new government.
March-April
*
March 1 - 7.25 p.m.
West South Baptist Church(negro) in
Bestridge, Nebraska blows up - all the
choir is late for rehearsals
*
March 1 -
Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the
Soviet Union by giving them
top secret atomic bomb data.
*
March 1 - Acting Chinese President
Li Tsung-jen ends his term in office
*
March 1 -
Chiang Kai-shek resumes his duties as Chinese president after moving his government to
Taipei,
Taiwan*
March 3 -
Poland states that it intends to exile all Germans.
*
March 8 - The
Soviet Union claims to have an
atomic bomb.
* March 8 - The first Volkswagen Type 2 van - also known as the
Volkswagen Microbus - rolls off the assembly line in
Wolfsburg,
Germany.
*
March 12-
March 13 - In Belgium, the
referendum over the monarchy shows 57.7% support the return of king
Léopold III, 42.3% against.
*
March 14 - Ship Cygnet hits mine off the
Dutch coast.
*
March 17 -
University of California, Berkeley researchers announce the creation of element 98 which they have named "
californium".
*
March 20 - Government of
Poland decides to confiscate the property of Polish church
*
March 22 -
Egypt demands that Britain remove all its troops in
Suez Canal*
April 15 - King
Léopold III of Belgium announces that he is ready to abdicate in favor of his son
Baudouin*
April 24 -
Jordan formally annexes
West Bank*
April 27 -
Apartheid: In
South Africa, the
Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.
*
April 27 - Britain formally recognizes
IsraelMay
*
May 6 1950- "Cazin uprising" in town of Cazin (
Bosnia)against Communist and their agrar reforms
*
May 6 -
Tollund Man found
*
May 9 -
Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the "
Schuman declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the
European Union.
*
May 9 -
L. Ron Hubbard publishes "Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health". The book quickly becomes a bestseller, selling out of its first two editions immediately.
*
May 11 -
Kefauver Committee hearings about US
organized crime begin
*
May 25 -
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is formally opened to traffic
*
May 29 -
St. Roch, first ship to
circumnavigate North America arrives in
Halifax,
Nova Scotia.
June
*
June 3 - First ascent of
Annapurna I, 10th highest mountain in the world.
*
June 6 -
Turkey: The
Adhan in
Arabic is legalized
*
June 8 - Sir
Thomas Blamey becomes the only
Field Marshal in
Australian history.
*
June 10 - French police capture escaped murderer
Emile Buisson in Paris restaurant
*
June 24 - 585 persons were killed when a commercial airliner crashed into Lake Michigan. The reason for the disaster is unknown. Only fragments of the plane and the bodies of passengers were ever found.
*
June 25 - Beginning of
Korean War. In the USA, people began to hoard supplies in case of
rationing and
shortages.
*
June 25 -
NSC-68 enacted by President Truman, setting US foreign policy for the next twenty years.
*
June 28 -
Korean War -
North Korean forces capture
Seoul*
June 29 -
United States defeats
England 1-0 in the
1950 FIFA World Cup. For more details, see
England v United States (1950).
July
*
July 16 -
Uruguay beat
Brazil 2-1 to win the
1950 World Cup.
August-September
*
August 5 -
Florence Chadwick swims across
English Channel in 13 hours, 22 minutes
*
August 5 - A bomb-laden
B-29 Superfortress crashes into a residential area in California. 17 dead, 68 injured.
*
August 6 - Riot in Brussels in monarchist demonstrations
*
August 8 -
Winston Churchill supports idea of pan-European army allied with Canada and USA
*
August 15 - Earthquake and floods in
Assam, India - 574 deaths, 5,000,000 believed homeless
*
September 1 - Hungarian major general
Laszlo Viragen defects to Austria and applies for
political asylum*
September 3 -
Beetle Bailey comic strip started.
*
September 4 -
Darlington Raceway is the site of the inaugural
Southern 500, the first 500-mile
NASCAR race.
*
September 7 -
Coal mine collapses in
New Cumnock, Scotland - 13 miners dead. 116 rescued.''
*
September 7 - The gameshow
Truth or Consequences debuts on television.
*
September 12 - Communist riots in Berlin
*
September 12 -
Dallas Christian College opened for classes
*
September 13 - First main-line diesel-electric locomotives run in Australia
*
September 15 - Allied troops land in
Inchon, occupied by
North Korea, to begin the
Battle of Inchon.
*
September 19 -
West Germany decides to fire all its communist officials
*
September 26 -
Indonesia admitted to the
United NationsOctober
*
October 1 - The
comic strip Peanuts by
Charles M. Schulz is first published in seven US newspapers.
*
October 3 -
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, elected
president of Brazil, for a five-year term.
*
October 5 -
Indonesian government quells riots in the
Moluccas.
*
October 7 - The
Chinese invasion of Tibet begins.
*
October 11 - The
Federal Communications Commission issues the first license to broadcast
television in color, to
CBS (
RCA will successfully dispute and block the license from taking effect, however).
*
October 15 - In
East Germany, communists win 99.7% of the vote
*
October 20 -
Australia passes the Communist Party Dissolution Act, later struck down by the High Court.
*
October 26 - Sister Mary Teresa begins her charity work in
Calcutta and becomes known as
Mother TeresaNovember
*
November 1 - Pope
Pius XII witnesses the "
Miracle of the Sun" at the Vatican"
[Joseph Pelletier "The Sun Danced at Fatima", Doubleday, New York (1983),pp150,151]*
November 1 -
Pope Pius XII defines a new
dogma of
Roman Catholicism: that
God assumed Mary's body into Heaven after her death.
*
November 1 - Puerto Rican nationalists
Griselio Torresola and
Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President
Harry S. Truman, who is staying at the
Blair-Lee House in Washington, D.C. during White House repairs.
*
November 4 -
United Nations ends the diplomatic isolation of
Spain*
November 8 -
Korean War: While in an
F-80,
United States Air Force Lt.
Russell J. Brown intercepts two
North Korean
MiG-15s near the
Yalu River and shoots them down in the first
jet-to-jet
dog fight in history.
*
November 11 - The
Mattachine Society founded in
Los Angeles as the first
Gay liberation organization
*
November 13 - Colonel
Carlos Delgado Chalbaud is kidnapped and murdered in
Caracas.
*
November 18 -
United Nations accepts the formation of
Libyan national council
*
November 20 -
T. S. Eliot speaks against television in the UK
*
November 22 - Anti-British riots in
Egypt*
November 22 -
Shirley Temple announces her retirement from show business
*
November 23 - George Robb was born in Aylth, Scotland
*
November 25 - Phenomenal
winter storm ravages the Northeast
United States, brings 30 to 50 inches of
snow, temperatures below zero, and kills 323 people.
*
November 26 -
Korean War: Troops from the
People's Republic of China move into
North Korea and launch a massive counterattack against
South Korean and
American forces, ending any thought of a quick end to the conflict.
*
November 28 -
Greece and
Yugoslavia reform diplomatic relations
*
November 29 - Korean War:
North Korean and
Chinese troops force a desperate retreat of
United Nations forces from North Korea.
*
November 29 -
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA founded.
*
November 30 - Truman threatens to use nuclear weapons in Korea
December
*
December 3 -
Etna volcano erupts in
Sicily*
December 12 -
Paula Ackerman becomes the first woman in the
United States to serve a congregation as a
Rabbi, a few weeks after the death of her husband.
*
December 24-
December 25 - Scottish nationalists take the
Stone of Scone from
Westminster Abbey*
December 28 - The
Peak District becomes Britain's first
National Park.
Unknown date
*Ralph Schneider founds
Diners Club - it initially only works in 27 restaurants in
New York City.
*
United Nations building finished.
*First
pagers developed.
*
Antihistamine discovered.
*First TV
remote control,
Zenith Radio's
Lazy Bones is marketed.
*
IBM Israel begins operating in
Tel Aviv*Japanese soldier
Yuichi Akitsu surrenders in the
Philippines*President
Harry Truman sends
United States military personnel to
Vietnam to aid
French forces.
*
France institutes a government guaranteed
minimum wageJanuary
*
January 5 -
John Manley, Canadian politician
*
January 5 -
Charlie Richmond, Canadian entrepreneur and inventor
*
January 12 -
Sheila Jackson Lee, American politician
*
January 16 -
Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
*
January 17 -
Cristina Galbo, Spanish actress
*
January 17 -
Luis López Nieves, Puerto Rican writer
*
January 18 -
Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
*
January 21 -
Billy Ocean, West Indian-born musician
*
January 23 -
Richard Dean Anderson, American actor
*
January 24 -
Benjamin Urrutia, Ecuadoran author and scholar
*
January 26 -
Janet Lupo, the biggest breasted
Playmate, Miss November 1975
*
January 27 -
Amos Grunebaum, Israeli-born obstetrician and gynecologist
*
January 29 -
Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver
February
*
February 3 -
Morgan Fairchild, American actress
*
February 4 -
Pamela Franklin, British actress
*
February 6 -
Natalie Cole, American singer
*
February 10 -
Mark Spitz, American swimmer
*
February 12 -
Michael Ironside, American actor
*
February 13 -
Peter Gabriel, British musician
*
February 16 -
Peter Hain, British politician
*
February 18 -
John Hughes, American film director, producer, and writer
*
February 19 -
Andy Powell, British Musician
*
February 20 -
Ken Shimura, Japanese television performer and actor
*
February 22 -
Julius Erving, American basketball player
*
February 22 -
Julie Walters, English actress
*
February 22 -
Miou-Miou, French actress
*
February 22 -
Ellen Greene, American actress
*
February 25 -
Neil Jordan, Irish film director, writer, and producer
*
February 25 -
Néstor Kirchner,
President of Argentina*
February 26 -
Helen Clark,
Prime Minister of New ZealandMarch
*
March 2 -
Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (d.
1983)
*
March 4 -
Rick Perry, Governor of Texas
*
March 9 -
Doug Ault, baseball player (d.
2004)
*
March 9 -
Danny Sullivan, American race car driver
*
March 11 -
Bobby McFerrin, American singer
*
March 11 -
Jerry Zucker, American film producer, director, and writer
*
March 13 -
William H. Macy, American actor
*
March 18 -
Brad Dourif, American actor
*
March 20 -
William Hurt, American actor
*
March 26 -
Teddy Pendergrass, American singer
*
March 29 -
Bud Cort, American actor
*
March 30 -
Robbie Coltrane, British actor and comedian
April
*
April 3 -
Sally Thomsett, British actress
*
April 4 -
Christine Lahti, American actress
*
April 5 -
Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer and songwriter (
ABBA)
*
April 10 -
Steven Seagal, American actor
*
April 10 -
Ken Griffey, Sr., baseball player
*
April 12 -
Kari Palaste, Finnish architect
*
April 20 -
Steve Erickson, American novelist
*
April 22 -
Peter Frampton, English musician
*
April 25 -
Lenora Branch Fulani, American Presidential candidate
*
April 28 -
Jay Leno, American comedian and talk show host
*
April 29 -
Paul Holmes, a
radio and
television broadcaster in
New ZealandMay
*
May 1 -
Danny McGrain, Scottish footballer
*
May 1 -
Dann Florek, American actor
*
May 3 -
Howard Ashman, American lyricist (d.
1991)
*
May 7 -
Randall 'Tex' Cobb, American boxer and actor
*
May 12 -
Bruce Boxleitner, American actor
*
May 12 -
Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor
*
May 13 -
Stevie Wonder, American singer and musician
*
May 16 -
Johannes Georg Bednorz, German physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
May 16 -
Ray Condo, Canadian rockabilly musician (d.
2004)
*
May 17 -
Janez Drnovšek, Slovene politician
*
May 17 -
Valeria Novodvorskaya, Russian politician and dissident
*
May 18 -
Thomas Gottschalk, German television host
*
May 18 -
Rodney Milburn, American athlete (d.
1997)
*
May 18 -
Mark Mothersbaugh, American composer and musician (
Devo)
*
May 22 -
Bernie Taupin, English songwriter
*
May 22 -
Mary Tamm, British actress
*
May 28 -
Jim Harris, Wrestler known as
Kamala*
May 30 -
Bertrand Delanoë, French politician
June
*
June 1 -
Tom Robinson, English singer and musician
*
June 3 -
Suzi Quatro, American singer and actress
*
June 6 -
John Byrne, American comic book creator
July
*
July 18 -
Sir Richard Branson, British entrepreneur
*
July 18 -
Glenn Hughes, American vocalist (d.
2001)
*
July 19 -
Per-Kristian Foss, Former Norwegian Minister of Finance
*
July 19 -
Simon Cadell, British actor
August
*
August 11 -
Gennidy Nikonov, Russian weapon designer
*
August 14 -
Bob Backlund, American professional wrestler
*
August 15 -
Anne, Princess Royal of England
*
August 16 -
Hasely Crawford, West Indian athlete
*
August 27 -
Charles Fleischer, American actor
September
*
September 2 -
Rosanna DeSoto, American actress
*
September 7 -
Julie Kavner,
Jewish-American actress *
September 14 -
Paul Kossoff, British guitarist (
Free) (d.
1976)
*
September 14 -
Masami Kuwashima, Japanese Formula One driver
*
September 16 -
Loyd Grossman,
American television presenter and chef
*
September 17 -
Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat
*
September 21 -
Charles Clarke, British politician
*
September 21 -
Bill Murray, American actor and comedian
*
September 22 -
Kirka, Finnish singer
*
September 28 -
John Sayles, American director and screenwriter
October
*
October 1 -
Randy Quaid, American actor
*
October 5 -
Jeff Conaway, American actor
*
October 8 - Ginny Henderson, American Actor
*
October 9 -
Jody Williams, American teacher and aid worker, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize*
October 12 -
Kaga Takeshi, Japanese actor
*
October 22 -
Bill Owens, Governor of Colorado
*
October 28 -
Sihem Bensedrine, Tunisian human rights activist
*
October 31 -
John Candy, Canadian comedian and actor (d.
1994)
*
October 31 -
Jane Pauley, American television broadcaster and journalist
November
*
November 1 -
Robert B. Laughlin, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
November 10 -
"Cowboy" Bob Orton, American retired professional wrestler
*
November 13 -
Mary Lou Metzger, American singer and dancer,
The Lawrence Welk Show*
November 21 -
Alberto Juantorena, Cuban athlete
*
November 22 -
Lyman Bostock, baseball player (d.
1978)
*
November 28 -
Russell Alan Hulse, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
December
*
December 1 -
Keith Thibodeaux, American actor and musician
*
December 5 -
Camarón de la Isla, Spanish singer (d.
1992)
*
December 15 -
Don Johnson, American actor
*
December 18 -
Leonard Maltin, American film critic
*
December 23 -
Michael C. Burgess, American politician
*
December 19 -
Manny Trillo, baseball player
*
Charles Lee Ray, American serial killer (d.
1988)
January-June
*
January 21 -
George Orwell, English author (b.
1903)
*
February 6 -
Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (b.
1884)
*
February 25 -
George Minot, American physician, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1885)
*
March 5 -
Sid Grauman, American restaurateur (b.
1895)
*
March 19 -
Walter Haworth, British chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1883)
*
March 19 -
Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (b.
1875)
*
March 24 -
James Rudolph Garfield, U.S. politician (b.
1865)
*
March 30 -
Joe Yule, Scottish-born comedian (b.
1894)
*
May 1 -
Lothrop Stoddard, American eugenicist (b.
1883)
*
May 9 -
Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist, and engineer (b.
1883)
*
May 10 -
Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian, bibliographer, and archivist (b.
1883)
July-December
*
July 12 -
Elsie de Wolfe, American socialite and interior decorator (b.
1865)
*
July 17 -
Evangeline Booth, the 4th General of
The Salvation Army (b.
1865)
*
July 22 -
William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian politician (b.
1874)
*
August 26 -
Ransom E. Olds, automotive pioneer (b.
1864)
*
September 10 -
Raymond Sommer, American race car driver (b.
1906)
*
September 11 -
Jan Christian Smuts,
Prime Minister of South Africa (b.
1870)
*
September 21 -
Arthur Milne, British space physicist (b.
1896)
*
October 13 -
Ernest Haycox, American writer (b.
1899)
*
October 23 -
Al Jolson, American musician (b.
1886)
*
October 29 - King
Gustaf V of Sweden (b.
1858)
*
November 2 -
George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1856)
*
November 3 -
Koiso Kuniaki,
Prime Minister of Japan (b.
1880)
*
November 25 -
Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1873)
*
December 2 -
Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (b.
1917)
*
December 5 -
Shri Aurobindo, Indian guru (b.
1872)
*
December 5 -
Osvaldo Golijov, Argentine-born composer
*
December 11 -
Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer and computing pioneer (b.
1893)
*
December 12 -
Peter Fraser, former
Prime Minister of New Zealand b.
1884)
*
December 15 -
Sardar Vallabhai Patel,
Iron Man of India (b.
1875)
*
December 27 -
Max Beckmann, German painter (b.
1884)
Date unknown
*
Ernest Cherrington, American
temperance movement leader (b.
1877)
*
William E. Johnson, American
Anti-Saloon League leader (b.
1862)
*
Physics -
Cecil Frank Powell*
Chemistry -
Otto Paul Hermann Diels,
Kurt Alder*
Medicine -
Edward Calvin Kendall,
Tadeus Reichstein,
Philip Showalter Hench*
Literature -
Earl (Bertrand Arthur William) Russell*
Peace -
Ralph Bunche*
Laurent Schwartz,
Atle Selberg
