1959 Calendar
What Happened In Year 1959?
- January 20, 1959 – The first flight of the Vickers Vanguard.
- February 3, 1959 – A plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson and the incident becomes known as The Day the Music Died.
- February 6, 1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.
- February 8, 1959 – New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Earth Pig in Chinese astrology.
- February 17, 1959 – Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2 – The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
- February 19, 1959 – The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is then formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.
- March 9, 1959 – The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
- April 1, 1959 – Iakovos is enthroned as Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America.
- May 30, 1959 – The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Lord Cobham.
- June 5, 1959 – The first government of the State of Singapore is sworn in.
- June 30, 1959 – A United States Air Force F-100 Super Sabre from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, crashes into a nearby elementary school, killing 11 students plus six residents from the local neighborhood.
- July 1, 1959 – Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
- July 7, 1959 – Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.
- July 29, 1959 – First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
- August 17, 1959 – Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
- September 12, 1959 – Premiere of Bonanza, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color.
- October 19, 1959 – The first discothèque opens, the Scotch-Club in Aachen, Germany.
- November 1, 1959 – In Rwanda, Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa is beaten up by Tutsi forces, leading to a period of violence known as the wind of destruction.
- December 20, 1959 – The Walker family murders are committed.
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