1945
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'''1945''' '''(MCMXLV)''' was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January
January 5 - The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.
January 7 - United Kingdom|British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference at Zonhoven describing his contribution to the Battle of the Bulge.
January 12 - World War II: The Soviet Union begin a very large offensive in Eastern Europe against the Nazis.
January 13 - A Soviet patrol arrests Raoul Wallenberg in Hungary.
January 16 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called ''Führerbunker''
January 17 - World War II: Soviet Union|Soviets occupy Warsaw
January 17 - Holocaust: Nazis begin to evacuate from Auschwitz concentration camp
January 20 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated to an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States.
January 20 - Hungary drops out of the World War II|Second World War, agreeing to an armistice with the Allies.
January 24 - First successful launch of the German A4b-Rocket
January 27 - The Red Army arrives at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland and find the Nazi concentration camp where 1.3 million people were murdered.
January 28 - World War II: Supplies begin to reach China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
January 30 - The KdF Ship Wilhelm Gustloff|Wilhelm Gustloff with about 10,000 Nazi troops and refugees from Gdynia|Gotenhafen in the Gdansk Bay sunk with three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13. More 9,300 drowned in the Baltic Sea.
January 31 - Eddie Slovik is executed by firing squad for desertion, the first American soldier since the American Civil War and last to date to be executed for this offence.
February
February 2 - World War II: President of the United States|President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet Union|Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
February 3 - World War II: Russia agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan.
February 4 - World War II: President of the United States|President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Soviet Union|Soviet leader Joseph Stalin begin the Yalta Conference (ends February 11)
February 6 - Reggae musician Bob Marley (Robert Nesta) is born at Nine Miles, St. Ann, Jamaica.
February 6 - French writer Robert Brasillach executed for collaboration with the Germans
February 7 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila
February 9 - Walter Ulbricht becomes the leader of German communism|communists in Moscow
February 10 - World War II: The SS General von Steuben sunk by the Soviet submarine S-13.
February 13 - World War II: Soviet Union forces capture Budapest, Hungary from the Nazis.
February 13 - World War II: The British Air Force bombs Dresden, Germany.
February 14 - Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.
February 16 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.
February 16 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula
February 19 - World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima - about 30,000 United States Marines landed on Iwo Jima starting the battle.
February 21 - Last launch of an A4-rocket at Peenemünde
February 23 - World War II: Following the American victory at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Surabachi on the island and are photographed raising the flag of the United States|American flag. The photo will later win a Pulitzer Prize.
February 23 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by United States|American forces.
February 23 - World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznan|Poznań, city is liberated by Red Army and Polish forces.
February 24 - Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
March
March 1 - Jesse Holman Jones starts his term of office as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, serving under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt
March 2 - Launch of the Natter from Stetten am kalten Markt. The Natter was the first manned rocket and developed as anti-aircraft weapon. The launch failed and the pilot died.
March 3 - World War II: Previously neutral Finland declares war on the Axis powers.
March 3 - A possible experimental atomic test blast occurs at the Nazis' Ohrdruf military testing area http://www.recorder.ca/cp/World/050314/w031435A.html
March 6 - Communist-led government formed in Romania
March 7 - World War II: American troops seize the bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany and begin to cross.
March 8 - Josip Broz Tito forms a government in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia
March 9-March 10 - World War II: American B-29 Superfortress|B-29 bombers attack Japan with incendiary bombs. Tokyo is fire-bombed killing 100,000 citizens.
March 16 - World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
March 17 - World War II: Japan|Japanese city of Kobe is fire-bombed by 331 B-29 Superfortress|B-29 bombers, killing over 8,000.
March 18 - World War II: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin.
March 19 - World War II: Adolf Hitler orders that all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed.
March 19 - Off the coast of Japan, bombers hit the aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13)|USS ''Franklin'', killing 800 of her crew and crippling the ship.
March 21 - World War II: United Kingdom|British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma
March 22 - The Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.
March 30 - World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna. Alger Hiss congratulated in Moscow for his part in bringing about the Western betrayal at the Yalta Conference.
From February 14, 1936, to March 1, 1945, AG Weser launched a total of 162 U-boats.
April
April 1 - World War II: United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war. The Battle of Okinawa starts.
April 4 - World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
April 7 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato|Japanese battleship ''Yamato'' is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while in-route to a suicide mission.
April 9 - Abwehr conspirators Wilhelm Canaris, Hans Oster, and Hans Dohanyi are hanged at Flossenberg concentration camp along with pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
April 10 - The Allied Forces liberated their first Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald.
April 12 - United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945) dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) takes the Oath of Office.
April 15 - Bergen-Belsen concentration camp liberated.
April 16 - World War II: The Goya (ship)|Goya sunk by the Soviet submarine L-3.
April 25 - Founding negotiations of United Nations in San Francisco
April 25 - World War II: Elbe Day, United States and Russian troops link up at the Elbe River, cutting Germany in two
April 27 - U.S. Ordinance troops find the coffins of Frederick Wilhelm I, Frederick the Great, Paul Von Hindenburg,and his wife
April 28 - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are hanged upside down by Italian partisans as they attempt to flee the country.
April 29 - Start of Operation Manna.
April 30 - Adolf Hitler and his wife of one day, Eva Braun, Hitler's death|commit suicide as Red Army approaches Führerbunker in Berlin. Karl Dönitz succeeds Hitler as Reichspräsident|President of Germany. Joseph Goebbels succeeds Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.
May
May 1 - Joseph Goebbels and his wife commit suicide after killing their 6 children. Karl Dönitz appoints Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk as the new Chancellor of Germany.
May 1 - World War II: Troops of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslav 4th Army together with Slovenes|Slovene 9th Corpus NOV enter Trieste.
May 2 - World War II: The Soviet Union announces the Battle of Berlin|fall of Berlin. Soviet soldiers hoist the red flag over the Reichstag (building)|''Reichstag'' building.
May 2 - World War II: Troops of New Zealand Army 2nd Division enter Trieste a day after the Yugoslavs. German Army in Trieste surrenders to the New Zealand Army.
May 2 - The last postage stamp utilized by Manzhouguo is issued.
May 3 - World War II: Sinkings of the floating-jails Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland IV (liner)|Deutschland by the Royal Air Force|RAF in the Lübeck Bay.
May 3 - Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and 120 members of his team surrender to US forces. They later help start the US space program.
May 4 - World War II: Liberation of the concentration camp Neuengamme near Hamburg by the British army.
May 4 - World War II: Reddition of the North Germany army by Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
May 4 - World War II: Holland liberated by Canadians troops. http://www-lib.usc.edu/~anthonya/war/lib.htm May 5 - World War II: Prague uprising against the Nazis.
May 5 - Ezra Pound, poet and author, is arrested by American soldiers in Italy for treason.
May 5 - World War II: US armored unit liberates prisoners of Mauthausen concentration camp - including Simon Wiesenthal
May 5 - World War II: Canada|Canadian soldiers liberate the city of Amsterdam from Nazi occupation.
May 5 - World War II: Karl Dönitz|Admiral Karl Dönitz orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.
May 5 - World War II: A Japanese balloon bomb killed five children and a woman, Elsie Mitchell near Lakeview, Oregon, when it exploded as they dragged it from the woods. They were the only people killed by enemy attack on the United States mainland during World War II.
May 6 - World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allies|Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
May 7 - World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
May 8 - World War II: V-E Day (Victory in Europe, as Nazi Germany surrenders) commemorates the end of World War II in Europe.
May 8 - World War II: British 8th Army together with Slovene partisan troops and motorized detachment of Yugoslav 4th Army arrives to Carinthia (state)|Carinthia and Klagenfurt.
May 8-May 29 - In Algeria, French troops and released Italian POWs defeat rebellion of Algerians
May 9 - World War II: Hermann Göring is captured by the United States Army; Norway arrests Vidkun Quisling; Soviet Union marks V-E Day.
May 9 - World War II: Red Army enters Prague (capitulation of German occupation troops)
May 9 - World War II: General Alexander Löhr Commander of German Army Group E near Topolsica|Topolšica, Slovenia, signs capitulation of German occupation troops.
May 9 - World War II: Alderney, annex of the concentration camp Neuengamme liberated.
May 12 - World War II: Yugoslav Army capitulates to the New Zealand Army, in Trieste and hands over the city.
May 15 - World War II: the last WWII battle in Europe is fought at Poljana near Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia
May 23 - Reichspräsident|President of Germany Karl Dönitz and Chancellor of Germany Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk are arrested by United Kingdom | British forces at Flensburg. They would respectively be the last German Head of state and Prime Minister | Head of government until 1949.
May 23 - Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi Gestapo, commits suicide in British custody.
May 25 - In Atlantic, ships can finally keep their lights lit. Leo Szilard begs Harry S. Truman not to use the bomb. http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html May 28 - William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw" is captured. He is later charged with high treason in London for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio. He is hanged in January of 1946.
May 29 - Group of German communists, Ulbricht in the lead, arrive in Berlin
May 30 - Iranian government demands that Soviet and British troops leave the country
June
June 1 - British take over Lebanon and Syria
June 5 - Allied Control Council, military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power.
June 6 - King Haakon VII of Norway returns to Norway
June 11 - William Lyon Mackenzie King is reelected as Canadian prime minister. Franck Committee recommends against a surprise nuclear bombing of Japan. http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html June 12 - Yugoslav Army leaves Trieste, leaving the New Zealand Army in control.
June 21 - World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends.
June 24 - World War II: Victory parade in Red Square
June 25 - Seán T. O'Kelly is elected the second President of Ireland.
June 26 - United Nations charter signed.
June 29 - Czechoslovakia cedes Ruthenia to Soviet Union
July
July 1 - World War II: Germany is divided between Allied occupation forces
July 5 - World War II: Liberation of the Philippines declared.
July 8 - World War II: Harry S. Truman informed that Japan will talk peace if she can keep the Emperor. http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html July 9 - A forest fire breaks out in the Tillamook Burn, the third fire in that area since 1933.
July 16 - Nuclear testing: The Trinity site|Trinity Test, the first test of an nuclear weapon|atomic bomb, using 6 kilograms of plutonium, succeeds in detonating, unleashing an explosion equivalent to that of 19 kilotons of TNT.
July 17 - World War II: Potsdam Conference - At Potsdam, the three main Allies | Allied leaders begin their final summit of the war. The meeting will end on August 2.
July 21 - World War II: Harry S. Truman approves order for atomic bombs to be used. http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html July 23 - World War II: French marshall Philippe Pétain, who headed the Vichy government during World War II goes on trial, charged with treason.
July 26 - Winston Churchill resigns as United Kingdom|Britain's prime minister after his Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party is soundly defeated by the Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party in the United Kingdom general election, 1945|1945 general election. Clement Attlee becomes the new prime minister.
July 26 - Potsdam Declaration demands Japan's unconditional surrender; Article 12 permitting Japan to retain the Emperor had been deleted by Truman. http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html July 28 - An United States Army Air Forces|Army Air Forces B-25 bomber accidentally crashes into the Empire State Building, killing 14 people.
July 28 - World War II: Japan rejects Potsdam Declaration http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html
July 29 - The BBC Light Programme radio station was launched, aimed at mainstream light entertainment and music.
July 30 - World War II: The USS Indianapolis (CA-35) |USS ''Indianapolis'' is hit and sunk by the Japanese submarine ''I 58''. Some 900 survivors jump into the sea and are adrift for 4 days. Nearly 600 die before help arrives. Captain Charles Butler MacVey III is later court-martialed.
July 31 - World War II: Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allies|Allied soldiers in Austria.
August
August 6 - World War II: the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The United States detonates an nuclear weapon|atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan|Hiroshima, Japan at 8:16 AM (local time).
August 7 - President Harry Truman announces the successful bombing of Hiroshima with an nuclear weapon|atomic bomb while returning from the Potsdam Conference aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
August 8 - The United Nations Charter is ratified by the United States, and that nation becomes the third to join the new international organization. Soviets declare war on Japan.
August 9 - World War II: The United States detonates an atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" over the city of Nagasaki, Japan at 11:02 AM (local time). World War II: The Soviet Union begins its offensive against Japan in the then Japanese controlled Chinese region of Manchuria. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1986/RMF.htm August 10 - World War II: US drops warning leaflets on Nagasaki. http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html August 13 - Zionism|Zionist World Congress approaches British government to talk about founding of Israel.
August 14 - World War II: Emperor Hirohito accepts the terms of the Potsdam Declaration.
August 15 - World War II: Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender on the radio. The United States called this day V-J Day (Victory in Japan). This ends the period of Japanese expansionism and begins the period of Occupied Japan.
August 15 - Korea gains independence following Japan's surrender
August 17 - Indonesian nationalists Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta declare the independence of Republic of Indonesia, Sukarno as a president. Dutch colonial authorities do not approve
August 19 - Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
End of August - Chinese Civil War: Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek meet in Chongqing to discuss an end to hostilities between the Communist Party of China|Communists and the Kuomintang|Nationalists.
September
September 2 - World War II ends: The final official surrender of Japan was accepted by General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz from a delegation led by Mamoru Shigemitsu, aboard the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63)|Missouri in Tokyo Bay. But in Japan August 14 is well recognized as the day the Pacific War ended.
September 2 - Ho Chi Minh promulgates the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, and unity from the north to the south.
September 4 - World War II: Japanese forces surrender on Wake Island after hearing word of their nation's surrender.
September 5 - Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose," is arrested in Yokohama.
September 8 - US troops occupy southern Korea, Russians occupy the north. This arrangement proves to be the beginning of a divided Korea.
September 8 - Hideki Tojo, Japanese prime minister during most of World War II, attempts suicide to avoid facing a war crimes tribunal.
September 9 - "First actual case of bug being found" Moth found in Relay 70, Panel F Mark II Aiken Relay Computer
September 11 - http://www.rri-online.com/starts broadcasting.
September 12 - Japanese army formally surrendered in Singapore.
September 20 - Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru demand that British troops leave India
October
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October 1 - to October 15 - Launch of three V-2 rocket|A4 rockets near Cuxhaven in order to show Allied forces the rocket with liquid fuel (Operation Backfire)
October 10 - Russian code clerk Igor Gouzenko defects to Canada. He helps the West gain an understanding of Soviet Union|Soviet spy rings in North America.
October 15 - World War II: Former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, is executed by firing squad for treason.
October 17 - Colonel Juan Peron stages a coup d'état, becoming ruler of Argentina.
October 18 - The first German war crimes trial begins in Nuremberg.
October 18 - Isaías Medina Angarita, president of Venezuela, is overthrown by a military coup.
October 21 - Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.
October 23 - Jackie Robinson signs a contract with the Montreal Royals.
October 24 - United Nations founded.
October 24 - Norwegian Nazi leader, Vidkun Quisling, is shot by firing squad for treason.
October 27 - Indonesian separatists riot and fight Dutch and British security forces.
October 29 - Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.
October 29 - At Gimbels Department Store in New York City, the first ballpoint pens go on sale at $12.50 each.
November
November 1 - John H. Johnson publishes the first issue of the magazine ''Ebony (magazine)|Ebony''.
November 13 - Charles De Gaulle elected head of a French provisional government
November 15 - Harry S. Truman, Clement Attlee, and Mackenzie King call for a UN Atomic Energy Commission.http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1945.html November 16 - Cold War: The United States controversially imports 88 Germany | German scientists to help in the production of rocket technology.
November 16 - Yeshiva College founded
November 20 - Nuremberg Trials begin: Trials against 24 Nazi war crime|war criminals of World War II start at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.
November 29 - The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is declared (this day was celebrated as Republic Day until 1990s). Marshal Tito is named president.
November 29 - Assembly of the world's first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), is completed. It covers 1800 feet of floor space. The first set of calculations is run on the computer.
December
December 2 - General Eurico Gaspar Dutra elected president of Brazil
December 3 - Communist demonstrations in Athens - preliminary of the Greek Civil War
December 4 - By a vote of 65 to 7, the United States Senate approves the entry of the United States into the United Nations.
December 21 - General George S. Patton dies from injuries sustained in a car accident on December 9.
December 27 - Twenty-eight nations sign an agreement creating the World Bank.
December 27 - Terror strikes against British military bases in British mandate of Palestine|Palestine.
Unknown date
Foundation of the Food and Agriculture Organization|Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Poland has two rival governments
Discovery of Nag Hammadi library|Nag Hammadi scriptures
Dutch painter Han van Meegeren is arrested for collaboration with Nazis but the paintings he had sold to Hermann Göring are found to be his fakes.
Female suffrage in Guatemala and Japan
Saskatchewan Government Insurance, the first state-owned automobile insurance company in North America, is created.
Denmark recognizes independent Iceland
US house of representatives calls for unrestricted Jewish immigration to Palestine (region)|Palestine in order to establish a Jewish commonwealth there
Roben Hollis Fleet pays $11.550.000 alimony to his second wife Dorothy
Ongoing events
Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)|Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)
Science and Technology
Arthur C. Clarke puts forward the idea of a communications satellite in a ''Wireless World'' magazine article.
At the Mayo Clinic, streptomycin is first used to treat tuberculosis.
Percy Spencer accidentally discovers that microwaves can heat food. Invention of the microwave oven follows.
Grand Rapids, Michigan and Newburgh, New York become the first cities to Water fluoridation|add fluoride to drinking water.
The first nuclear reactor outside of the U.S. is built in Chalk River, Ontario, Canada.
High-altitude, west-to-east winds across the Pacific Ocean — discovered by the Japan|Japanese in 1942 and by United States|Americans in 1944 — are dubbed the ''jet stream''.
Salvador Edward Luria and Alfred Day Hershey independently recognize that viruses undergo mutations.
The herbicide 2,4-D is introduced; it is later used as a component of Agent Orange.
A team led by Charles DuBois Coryell discovers chemical element 61, the only one still missing between 1 and 96 on the periodic table. The new element is called promethium.
Raymond Libby develops oral penicillin.
American Canamid discovers folic acid, a vitamin abundent in green leafy vegetables, liver, kidney, and yeast.
Births
January-February
January 3 - Victoria Principal, American actress
January 3 - Stephen Stills, American singer and songwriter (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)
January 4 - Richard R. Schrock, American chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate
January 10 - Rod Stewart, English singer
January 26 - Jacqueline Du Pre|Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
January 29 - Tom Selleck, American actor
January 30 - Michael Dorris, American author (d. 1997)
February 3 - Bob Griese, American football player
February 5 - Charlotte Rampling, English actress
February 6 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (d. 1981)
February 7 - Gerald Davies, Welsh rugby player
February 7 - Pete Postlethwaite, English actor
February 9 - Mia Farrow, American actress
February 14 - Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
February 17 - Brenda Fricker, Irish actress
February 24 - Barry Bostwick, American actor
February 27 - Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (d. 2004)
February 28 - Bubba Smith, American football player and actor
March-April
March 1 - Dirk Benedict, American actor
March 7 - John Heard, American actor
March 8 - Jim Chapman, American politician
March 8 - Micky Dolenz, American actor, director, and musician (The Monkees)
March 8 - Anselm Kiefer, German painter
March 9 - Dennis Rader, American serial killer
March 19 - Cem Karaca, Turkish musician
March 26 - Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (d. 2004)
March 29 - Walt Frazier, American basketball player
March 30 - Eric Clapton, English guitarist
April 2 - Linda Hunt, American actress
April 4 - Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French activist
April 9 - Peter Gammons, baseball sportswriter
April 13 - Tony Dow, American actor, producer, and director
April 13 - Lowell George, American musician (Little Feat)
April 13 - Bob Kalsu, American football player (d. 1970)
April 18 - Margaret Hassan, Irish-born aid worker (d. 2004)
April 25 - Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish songwriter (ABBA)
April 27 - August Wilson, American playwright
May-June
May 2 - Sarah Weddington, American attorney
May 4 - Narasinham Ram, Indian journalist
May 6 - Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American musician
May 6 - Bob Seger, American singer
May 8 - Keith Jarrett, American musician
May 15 - Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, heir to the Portuguese crown
May 17 - Tony Roche, Australian tennis player
May 19 - Pete Townshend, English guitarist and lyricist
May 21 - Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist and astronaut
May 23 - Doris Mae Oulton, Canadian community developer
May 24 - Priscilla Presley, American actress
May 28 - John Fogerty, American singer
May 28 - Gary Stewart (singer)|Gary Stewart, American singer (d. 2003)
May 31 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German film director
June 1 - Frederica von Stade, American mezzo-soprano
June 12 - Pat Jennings, Irish footballer
June 15 - Princess Michael of Kent
June 17 - Frank Ashmore, American actor
June 17 - Art Bell, American radio talk show host
June 17 - Anupam Kher, Indian actor
June 17 - Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist
June 19 - Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar poet, politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
June 25 - Carly Simon, American singer and songwriter
June 26 - Dwight York, American musician, fashion consultant, cult leader, and child molester
July-October
July 1 - Debbie Harry, American singer (Blondie (band)|Blondie)
July 7 - Michael Ancram, British politician
July 8 - Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss Federal Councilor
July 9 - Dean R. Koontz, American writer
July 15 - Jürgen Möllemann, German politician (d. 2003)
July 16 - Victor Sloan, Irish artist
July 24 - Azim Premji, Indian businessman
July 28 - Jim Davis (cartoonist)|Jim Davis, American cartoonist
July 28 - Richard Wright (musician)|Richard Wright, English keyboardist (Pink Floyd)
August 1 - Douglas D. Osheroff, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate
August 7 - Alan Page, American football player
August 9 - Posy Simmonds, English cartoonist
August 14 - Steve Martin, American actor and comedian
August 15 - Mahamandaleshwar Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, Indian guru
August 19 - Ian Gillan, English singer (Deep Purple)
August 31 - Van Morrison, Irish musician
August 31 - Itzhak Perlman, Israeli violinist
September 8 - Jose Feliciano, Puerto Rican singer
September 15 - Jessye Norman, American soprano
October 12 - Aurore Clément, French actress
October 15 - Jim Palmer, baseball player
October 25 - David Schramm, American astrophysicist
October 27 - Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil
October 30 - Henry Winkler, American actor
November-December
November 5 - Jacques Lanctôt, Canadian terrorist
November 12 - Neil Young, Canadian singer and songwriter (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)
November 15 - Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Norwegian singer (ABBA)
November 26 - Daniel Davis, American actor
November 26 - John McVie, English musician (Fleetwood Mac)
December 6 - Larry Bowa, baseball player
December 24 - Lemmy Kilmister|Ian "Lemmy" Kilminster, British bassist and singer (Motörhead)
December 28 - King Birendra of Nepal (d. 2001)
Deaths
January-March
January 3 - Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)
January 22 - Else Lasker-Schuler, German poet (b. 1869)
January 31 - Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
February 5 - Denise Bloch, French World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1915)
February 5 - Lilian Rolfe, French World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1914)
February 5 - Violette Szabo, French World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1921)
February 11 - Al Dubin, Swiss songwriter (b. 1891)
February 17 - Gabrielle Weidner, Belgian World War II heroine (b. 1914)
February 21 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (b. 1902)
February 25 - Mário de Andrade, Brazilian writer and photographer (b. 1893)
March - Anne Frank, German-born diarist (typhus) (b. 1929)
March 2 - Emily Carr, Canadian artist (b. 1871)
March 16 - Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b. 1874
March 18 - William Grover-Williams, French race car driver and war hero (b. 1903)
March 19 - Friedrich Fromm, Nazi official (b. 1888)
March 22 - Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet-Zuri (executed)
March 23 - Elisabeth de Rothschild, French World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1902)
March 26 - David Lloyd George, Welsh Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1863)
March 30 - Élise Rivet, French nun and war heroine (b. 1890)
March 31 - Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
April-August
April 9 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (hanged) (b. 1906)
April 9 - Wilhelm Canaris, head of the German Abwehr (hanged) (b. 1887)
April 12 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States (massive stroke) (b. 1882)
April 18 - Ernie Pyle, American journalist (sniper fire) (b. 1900)
April 22 - Käthe Kollwitz, German artist (b. 1867)
April 28 - Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator (hanged) (b. 1883)
April 30 - Adolf Hitler, German dictator (suicide) (b. 1889)
May 1 - Cecily Lefort English World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1900)
May 1 - Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propagandist (suicide) (b. 1897)
May 14 - Heber J. Grant, president of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1856)
May 15 - Charles Williams, British author (b. 1886)
May 23 - Heinrich Himmler, head of the Nazi Gestapo (suicide) (b. 1900)
June 15 - Nikola Avramov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1897)
July 5 - John Curtin, fourteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1885)
July 20 - Paul Valéry, French poet (b. 1871)
August 2 - Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863)
August 9 - Harry Hillman, American athlete (b. 1881)
August 10 - Robert Goddard (scientist)|Robert Goddard, American rocket scientist (b. 1882)
August 31 - Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician (b. 1892)
September-December
September 15 - Anton Webern, Austrian composer (b. 1883)
September 24 - Johannes Hans Geiger, German physicist and inventor (b. 1882)
September 26 - Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (b. 1881)
October 13 - Milton Hershey, American chocolate tycoon (b. 1857)
October 15 - Pierre Laval, Prime Minister of France (executed) (b. 1883)
October 19 - N.C. Wyeth, American illustrator (b. 1882)
October 24 - Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian traitor (executed) (b. 1887)
October 26 - Paul Pelliot, French explorer (b. 1878)
November 8 - August von Mackensen, German field marshal (b. 1849)
November 11 - Jerome Kern, American composer (b. 1885)
November 20 - Francis William Aston, English chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
November 21 - Robert Benchley, American humorist, theater critic, and actor (b. 1889)
December 4 - Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1866)
December 16 - Fumimaro Konoe, Prime Minister of Japan (suicide) (b. 1891)
December 21 - George S. Patton, U.S. general (car accident) (b. 1885)
December 28 - Theodore Dreiser, American author (b. 1871)
Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1864)
Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics - Wolfgang Pauli
Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Physiology or Medicine - Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst Boris Chain, Sir Howard Walter Florey
Nobel Prize in Literature|Literature - Gabriela Mistral
Nobel Peace Prize|Peace - Cordell Hull
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