Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

Years: 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 - 1958 - 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963

Events

• January 4 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4, 1957)
• January 8 - 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship
• January 28 - Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate begin their murder spree with the killings of her parents and infant sister
• January 29 - Police capture Charles Starkweather in Wyoming.
• January 31 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit.
• January 31 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt
• February 1 - Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic.
• February 5 - Gamel Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
• February 6 - Munich Air Disaster
• February 11 - Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.
• February 11 - Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African American woman hired as a flight attendant
• February 23 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
• March 17 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
• March 22 - Faisal becomes King of Saudi Arabia
• March 26 - The United States Army launches Explorer III.
• March 27 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union
• May 12 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
• May 13 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
• May 15 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
• May 18 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph.
• May 23 - Explorer I ceased transmission
• May 30 - The bodies of unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
• July 7 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law.
• July 14 - Iraqi Revolution: In Iraq the monarchy is overthrown by Arab nationalists and Abdul Karim Qassim becomes the nation's new leader.
• July 15 - In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there.
• July 26 - Explorer program: Explorer IV is launched.
• July 29 - The United States Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
• October 1 - NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA
• October 2 - Guinea declares itself independent from France.
• October 11 - Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).
• October 28 - Angleo Giuseppe Roncalli becomes Pope and takes the name Pope John XXIII.
• November 23 - Have Gun, Will Travel debuts on radio.
• November 25 - French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
• November 28 - Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community.
• December 1 - Central African Republic becomes independent from France.

• BBC Radiophonic Workshop created
• During the International Geophysical Year, Earth's magnetosphere is discovered
• The United States conducts Operation Argus during August and September

Year in topic

• 1958 in film
  • Gigi
  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • The Defiant Ones
  • Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, starring Jimmy Stewart
• 1958 in literature
  • August 18 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published.
• 1958 in music
  • January 20 - Elvis Presley receives his draft notice
• 1958 in sports
• 1958 in television
  • Ampex demonstrates their design for a color Video Tape Recorder

Births

• January 20 - Lorenzo Lamas, actor
• January 24 - Jools Holland, musician
• January 26 - Ellen DeGeneres, actress, comedienne
• February 11 - Michael Jackson, controller of BBC2.
• February 11 - Regina Marsikova, Czechoslovakian tennis player.
• February 13 - Pernilla August, actress
• February 16 - Ice-T, singer, songwriter, actor
• February 21 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, singer
• February 24 - Sammy Kershaw, musician
• February 26 - Michel Houellebecq, French author
• March 3 - Miranda Richardson, actress
• March 5 - Andy Gibb, singer (d. 1988)
• March 10 - Sharon Stone, actress
• March 14 - Prince Albert of Monaco
• March 20 - Holly Hunter, actress
• March 21 - Gary Oldman, actor
• April 3 - Alec Baldwin, actor
• April 21 - Andie MacDowell, actress
• May 16 - Amp Fiddler, musician (P Funk)
• May 20 - Ron Reagan, dancer, talk show host, son of former President Ronald Reagan
• May 23 - Drew Carey comedian, actor
• May 27 - Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
• May 27 - Wayne Williams, murderer in Atlanta
• July 28 - Terry Fox, cancer activist
• August 7 - Bruce Dickinson, English heavy metal musician
• September 22 - Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor
• October 5 - Bernie Mac. Actor, comedian.
• October 14 - Thomas Dolby, English rock musician
• October 16 - Tim Robbins, American actor
• December 6 - Nick Park, film-maker and animator

Deaths

• January 11 - Edna Purviance, actress
• January 30 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist
• February 4 - Henry Kuttner, science fiction author
• February 13 - Christabel Pankhurst, suffragette
• March 21 - Cyril M. Kornbluth, science fiction writer
• March 22 - Michael Todd, producer
• March 28 - W.C. Handy - Blues composer
• May 19 - Ronald Colman, actor
• August 14 - Frédéric Joliot, scientist
• September 20 - Yvonne Arnaud, actress
• December 8 - Tris Speaker, American baseball player
• December 15 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, physicist

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm
• Chemistry - Frederick Sanger
• Medicine - George Wells Beadle, Edward Lawrie Tatum, Joshua Lederberg
• Literature - Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
• Peace - George Henri Pire

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "1958" December 10,