1952
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'''1952''' '''(MCMLII)''' was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January
January 8 - West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders.
January 24 - Sudden heavy snowfall in Algeria.
January 24 - Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada.
February 2 - A tropical storm forms just north of Cuba moving northeast. The storm makes landfall in southern Florida the next day. It is the earliest reported landfall from a tropical storm, and the earliest formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.
February 6 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Elizabeth II becomes Queen regnant|Queen upon the death of her father George VI of the United Kingdom|George VI.
February 6 - In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.
February 14 to February 25 - Winter Olympics in Oslo
February 15 - Funeral of George VI of the United Kingdom|King George VI takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
February 16 - Roman Catholic Diocese of Baker formed in Eastern Oregon.
February 20 - Emmett L. Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
February 21 - Winston Churchill scraps UK compulsory national Identity Cards
February 26 - United Kingdom Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom|Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.
March
May 7-May 12|12 - Marcel Bardiauc sails through Kap Horn
March 10 - General Fulgencio Batista takes power in Cuba - again
March 15 to March 16|16 - 73 inches (1,870mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall ever in one day
March 20 - The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
March 21 - The last two Capital punishment|executions in the Netherlands take place.
March 21 - Dr Kwame Nkrumah elected the Prime Minister of the Gold Coast
March 27 - Failed assassination attempt against Konrad Adenauer
April
April 4 - In Hague tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth 3 billion dollars from Germany.
April 18 - Bolivia National Revolution: universal vote enables indigenous and women to vote, nationalisation of mines and agrarian reform.
April 18 - West Germany and Japan form diplomacy|diplomatic relations.
April 23 - Nuclear test in Nevada desert.
April 28 - The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the occupation of Japan.
April 28 - Treaty of Taipei (Treaty of Peace between Japan and t
May
May 1 - East Germany threatens to form its own army.
May 2 - First passenger jet flight route between London and Johannesburg
May 3 - U.S. lieutenant colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the geographic North Pole.
May 6 - Farouk of Egypt had himself announced as a descendant of prophet Muhammad.
May 13 - Pandit Nehru forms his first government
May 15 - Diplomatic relations established between the governments of Israel and Japan at the level of Legations.
June
June 1 - Catholic church bans books of André Gide.
June 5 - Remains of a Viking ship found near Boston, Massachusetts.
June 14 - The keel is laid for the U.S. nuclear submarine USS Nautilus (SSN-571)|USS ''Nautilus''.
June 15 - The Diary of Anne Frank published.
June 21 - U.S. launches the first nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
June 29 - Finnish Armi Kuusela wins the title of Miss Universe.
June 30 - Marshall Aid ends.
July
July 13 - East Germany announces formation of its people's army.
July 19 to August 3 - The Summer Olympic Games are held in Helsinki.
July 23 - General Mohammed Naguib leads The Free Officers (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser - the real power behind the coup) in the overthrow of King Farouk of Egypt.
July 25 - Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
July 26 - Military coup in Egypt ousts King Farouk.
August 10 - Establishment of the European Coal and Steel community.
August 11 - Jordanian army forces King_Talal|king Talal to resign due to mental illness - his successor is his son Hussein of Jordan.
August 13 - Japan joins IMF.
August 14 - West Germany joins IMF.
August 14 - West Germany joins World Bank.
August 16 - Lynmouth in North Devon England is devastated by floods, death toll of 34.
August 26 - United Kingdom|British passenger jet flies twice over Atlantic Ocean in the same day.
August 27 - Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg - Germany will pay 3 billion Deutsche Marks.
August 29 - Premiere of John Cage's ''4' 33"'' in Woodstock, New York.
August 30 - Last Finnish war reparations to Soviet Union.
September
September 2 - Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and Dr. F. John Lewis perform first open-heart surgery at the University of Minnesota.
September 4 - September 9 - Thick smog in London, England causes 4,000 fatalities.
September 18 - Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.
October
October 8 - Negotiations of ceasefire in Korea are postponed.
October 8 - Three-train crash in Harrow, London|Harrow railway station in England - 110 dead.
October 14 - United Nations begins work in the new United Nations building in New York City
October 19 - Alain Bombard begins to sail from Canary Islands to Barbados in 65 days; he reaches them December 23
October 20 - Martial law in Kenya due to Mau Mau uprising.
November
November 1 - Nuclear testing: Operation Ivy - The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike" at Eniwetok island in the Bikini atoll located in the Pacific Ocean.
November 4 - 8.25 Richter scale earthquake in Kamchatka Peninsula|Kamchatka
November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1952: United States Republican Party|Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats United States Democrat Party|Democrat Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by UNIVAC I|UNIVAC computer).
November 18 - Jomo Kenyatta is arrested in Kenya for alleged connection to Mau Mau uprising
November 20 - Fireball crashes in a backyard in Havelock North, New Zealand
November 20 - First official passenger flight over the North Pole from Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles to Copenhagen
November 21 - Show trial in Czechoslovakia sentences 11 ex-communist officials to death - all of them Jews.
November 25 - Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play ''The Mousetrap'' opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London; as of 2004, it continues, next door at the St. Martin's Theatre, and remains the longest continuously running production of a play in history.
November 29 - Korean War: Newly-elected U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a political campaign promise by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.
December
December 1 - The New York Daily News carries a front page story announcing that Christine Jorgensen, a transsexual woman in Denmark became the recipient of the first successful sexual reassignment surgery|sexual reassignment operation.
December 4 - Great Smog of 1952: A "killer fog" descends on London ("Smog" for "smoke" and "fog" becomes a word).
December 14 - First successful surgical separation of Siamese twins in Mount Sinai Hospital, Ohio.
December 25 - Shooting incident in West Berlin - one West German soldier is killed
December 26 - Joseph Ivor Linton, first Israeli Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, presents his credentials to the Japanese Emperor.
Undated events
3300 die of polio in U.S.; 57,000 children are paralyzed
National Security Agency founded
Winston Churchill scraps UK compulsory national Identity Cards
Cold War over Germany's frontiers intensify
Sister Theresa becomes Mother Theresa and begins her charity work in Calcutta
Charles Chaplin expelled from U.S.
Cheez Whiz introduced
Traffic lights in New York, New York|New York City
Wernher von Braun talks about a manned flight to Mars (planet)|Mars.
Nordic Council agrees free transport of people, goods and services throughout the Nordic Countries.
National Prohibition Foundation incorporated.
Births
January-March
January 11 - Ben Crenshaw, American golfer
January 11 - Lee Ritenour, jazz guitarist and composer
January 20 - Paul Stanley, American musician (KISS (band)|KISS}
January 29 - Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-born drummer (The Ramones)
February 1 - Rick James, American musician
February 3 - Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)
February 22 - William Frist, heart surgeon and U.S. Senator
March 1 - Steven Barnes, American author
March 2 - Laraine Newman, American comedian
March 11 - Douglas Adams, English author (d. 2001)
March 13 - Wolfgang Rihm, German composer
March 22 - Bob Costas, American sports announcer
March 23 - Kim Stanley Robinson, American author
March 25 - Jung Chang, Chinese-born author and historian
March 25 - Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician
March 29 - Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer
March 30 - Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach
April-June
April 4 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete
April 12 - Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)
April 22 - Marilyn Chambers, American actress
April 25 - Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist
May 2 - Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster
May 3 - Allan Wells, Scottish athlete
May 3 - Leonid Khachiyan, Russian-born mathematician
May 6 - Michael O'Hare, American actor
May 11 - Renaud Séchan, French composer
May 11 - Mike Lupica, American sports journalist
May 14 - David Byrne (musician)|David Byrne, Scottish-born singer, songwriter, and guitarist (Talking Heads)
May 14 - Robert Zemeckis, American director
May 18 - George Strait, American musician
May 19 - Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager
May 20 - Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer
May 21 - Mr. T, American actor
June 7 - Liam Neeson, Irish actor
June 16 - George Andreas Papandreou|Georgios Papandreou, Greek politician
June 20 - John Goodman, American actor
June 21 - Jeremy Coney, New Zealand cricket captains
June 20 - Vikram Seth, Indian novelist
June 24 - Stephen Pusey, British-born artist
June 28 - Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete
July-September
July 9 - John Tesh, American composer, musician, and television host
July 31 - João Barreiros, Portuguese author
August 1 - Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2003)
August 3 - Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentine footballer
August 8 - Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author
August 9 - Vicki Morgan, American model (d. 1983)
August 10 - Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor
August 13 - Herb Ritts, American photographer
August 14 - Carl Lumbly, American actor
August 16 - Reginald VelJohnson, American actor
August 19 - Jonathan Frakes, American actor
August 21 - Joe Strummer, British musician (The Clash) (d. 2002)
August 24 - Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican-born musician
September 4 - Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, son of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy and nephew of U.S president John F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
September 18 - Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones) (d. 2002)
September 22 - Bob Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman from Virginia
September 25 - Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (d. 2004)
September 29 - Max Sandlin, American politician
October-December
October 5 - Duncan Regehr, Canadian actor
October 7 - Vladimir Putin, Russian president
October 9 - Sharon Osbourne, wife and manager of Ozzy Osbourne
October 16 - Ron Taylor, American actor (died 2002)
October 26 - Andrew Motion, English poet
November 5 - Bill Walton, American basketball player and commentator
November 8 - Jan Raas, Dutch professional cyclist
November 15 - Daniel Barenboim, Israeli pianist and conductor
November 16 - Shigeru Miyamoto, Japanese game designer
November 17 - Ties Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
November 25 - Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer
November 28 - S. Epatha Merkerson, American actress
December 6 - Rick Charlesworth, Australian cricketer, politician, hockey player and coach
December 9 - Michael Dorn, American actor
December 10 - Michael S. Corthell, American writer
December 14 - Vicki Michelle, English actress
December 16 - Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer
December 28 - Arun Jaitley, Indian politician
December 30 - June Anderson, American soprano
Deaths
January 18 - Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1903)
February 6 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
February 19 - Knut Hamsun, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
February 22 - Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, first President of Finland (b. 1863)
March 5 - Charles Scott Sherrington, English physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
March 7 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (b. 1893)
March 22 - Uncle Dave Macon, American musician (b. 1870)
March 31 - Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (b. 1877)
April 21 - Sir Stafford Cripps, British Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1889)
April 23 - Julius Freed, American inventor and banker (b. 1887)
May 6 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (cerebral hemorrhage) (b. 1870)
May 21 - John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)
June 17 - Krystyna Skarbek, Polish-born Britsh agent in World War II (b. 1915)
July 26 - Eva Peron, Argentine wife of Juan Peron (b. 1919)
September 29 - George Santayana, Spanish-born writer (b. 1863)
September 30 - Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor|Viscount Waldorf Astor, American-born businessman and politician (b. 1879)
October 28 - Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)
November 9 - Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel (b. 1874)
November 18 - Paul Eluard, French poet (b. 1895)
November 21 - William D. Upshaw, American temperance movement leader (b. 1866)
December 12 - Bedrich Hrozny|Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (b. 1879)
December 28 - Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)
Unknown date
Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (b. 1874)
Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics - Felix Bloch, Edward Mills Purcell
Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry - Archer John Porter Martin, Richard Laurence Millington Synge
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine - Selman Abraham Waksman
Nobel Prize in Literature|Literature - François Mauriac
Nobel Peace Prize|Peace - Albert Schweitzer
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