Years: 1949 1950 1951 - 1952 - 1953 1954 1955

Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s

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

1952 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar).

Contents

1 Events 1.1 January events 1.2 February events 1.3 March events 1.4 April events 1.5 May events 1.6 June events 1.7 July events 1.8 August events 1.9 September events 1.10 October events 1.11 November events 1.12 December events 1.13 Undated events 2 Year in topic 3 Births 3.1 January births 3.2 February births 3.3 March births 3.4 April births 3.5 May births 3.6 June births 3.7 July births 3.8 August births 3.9 September births 3.10 October births 3.11 November births 3.12 December births 4 Deaths 4.1 January deaths 4.2 February deaths 4.3 March deaths 4.4 April deaths 4.5 May deaths 4.6 June deaths 4.7 July deaths 4.8 September deaths 4.9 October deaths 4.10 November deaths 4.11 December deaths 5 Nobel Prizes

Events

January events

• 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 events

• 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 becomes Queen upon the death of her father 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 King George VI
• 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 Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.

March events

• March 10 - General Fulgencio Batista takes power in Cuba - again
• March 15 to 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 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 events

• 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 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 the Republic of China).
• April 29 - Japan regains official independence. This ends the period of Occupied Japan and marks the birth of Modern Japan.
• April 29 - Two Soviet fighters fire on French passenger plane over Germany
• April 29 - Australia, New Zealand, United States security treaty comes into force.

May events

• May 1 - East Germany threatens to form its own army.
• May 2 - First passenger jet flight route between London and Johannesburg
• 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 events

• June 1 - Catholic church bans books of André Gide.
• June 5 - Remains of a Viking ship found near Boston.
• June 14 - The keel is laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
• June 15 - The Diary of Anne Frank published.
• June 21 - USA launches the first nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
• June 29 - Finnish Armi Kuusela wins the title of Miss Universe.
• June 30 - Marshall Aid ends.

July events

• 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 events

• August 10 - Establishment of the European Coal and Steel community.
• August 11 - Jordanian army forces 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 is devastated by floods, death toll of 34.
• August 26 - British passenger jet flies twice over Atlantic 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 events

• September 2 - Dr. C Walton Lillehei and Dr. Lewis perform first open-heart surgery in Minnesota, USA.
• September 4 - September 9 - Thick smog in London causes 4,000 fatalities.
• September 18 - Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership of United Nations.

October events

• October 8 - Negotiations of ceasefire in Korea are postponed.
• October 8 - Three-train crash in Harrow railway station in England - 110 dead.
• October 14 - United Nations begins work in the new United Nations building in New York City
• October 20 - Martial law in Kenya due to Mau Mau uprising.

November events

• November 1 - Nuclear testing: Operation Ivy - The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike" ["m" for megaton], at Eniwetok island in the Bikini atoll located in the Pacific Ocean.
• November 4 - 8.25 Richter scale earthquake in Kamchatka
• November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1952: Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by 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 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 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a campaign promise by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.

December events

• 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 operation.
• December 4 - Great Smog of 1952: A "killer frog" 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 USA, 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 USA
• Traffic lights in New York City
• Wernher von Braun talks about a manned flight to Mars.

Year in topic

• 1952 in film
  • February 20 - The film The African Queen opens (Capitol Theatre in New York City).
  • Cinerama-system
• 1952 in literature
• 1952 in music
  • "Hound Dog" - Big Mama Thornton
• 1952 in rail transport
  • The City of San Francisco passenger train is marooned for three days in heavy snow on Donner Pass in California.
• 1952 in sports
• 1952 in television
  • January 14 - The Today show premieres on NBC.
  • September - The first UHF television station, KLOR begins broadcasting in Portland, Oregon.
  • The first political advertisements appear on U.S. television. Democrats buy a 30 minute slot for their candidate, Adlai Stevenson. Stevenson is bombarded with hate mail for interfering with a broadcast of I Love Lucy. Dwight Eisenhower buys 20 second commercial spots and wins the election.
  • The Ernie Kovacs Show premieres. Kovacs pushes the limits of television technology with his use of camera tricks and special effects.
  • The first telecast of an atomic bomb detonation (KTLA)
• 1952 in theater
  • October 31 - Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada becomes a legal entity.

Births

January births

• January 11 - Lee Ritenour , musician, composer
• January 11 - Ben Crenshaw, golfer
• January 12 - Ricky Van Shelton , country musician
• January 20 - Paul Stanley, musician, of the rock band KISS
• January 22 - Teddy Gentry , Alabama (band)

February births

• February 1 - Rick James, Musician

March births

• March 1 - Steven Barnes, science fiction writer
• March 2 - Laraine Newman, comedian
• March 11 - Douglas Adams, science fiction author
• March 13 - Wolfgang Rihm, composer
• March 22 - Bob Costas, sports announcer
• March 23 - Kim Stanley Robinson, science fiction author
• March 25 - Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician
• March 29 - Teofilo Stevenson, boxer

April births

• April 4 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German high jumper
• April 12 - Ralph Wiley, sports journalist (d. 2004)
• April 22 - Marilyn Chambers, erotic actress
• April 25 - Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist

May births

• May 3 - Allan Wells, British athlete
• May 11 - Renaud Séchan, French composer
• May 11 - Mike Lupica, sports journalist
• May 14 - David Byrne, singer, songwriter, guitarist
• May 14 - Robert Zemeckis, director
• May 18 - George Strait, country musician
• May 19 - Joey Ramone, singer (d. 2001)
• May 20 - Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer
• May 21 - Mr. T, American actor, is born Laurence Tureaud, in Chicago
• May 21 - Zuzana Hložníková , Slovak paintress
• May 23 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler, boxer

June births

• June 7 - Liam Neeson, actor
• June 16 - Georgios Papandreou, Greek politician
• June 28 - Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete

July births

• July 9 - John Tesh, composer, musician, television host

August births

• August 3 - Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentine footballer
• August 8 - Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author
• August 9 - Vicki Morgan, fashion model (d. 1983)
• August 13 - Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer
• August 14 - Carl Lumbly, actor (Cagney & Lacey, Alias)
• August 19 - Jonathan Frakes, actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
• August 21 - Joe Strummer, musician

September births

• September 22 - Bob Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman from Virginia
• September 29 - Max Sandlin, American politician

October births

• 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 births

• November 5 - Bill Walton, basketball star, commentator
• November 15 - Daniel Barenboim, Israeli pianist and conductor
• November 16 - Shigeru Miyamoto, video game legend
• November 25 - Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer

December births

• December 9 - Michael Dorn, actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine)
• December 16 - Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer
• December 28 - Arun Jaitley, politician, India

Deaths

January deaths

• January 18 - Curly Howard, actor, comedian, member of the Three Stooges

February deaths

• February 6 - King George VI of the United Kingdom
• February 19 - Knut Hamsun, author
• February 22 - Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, first president of Finland

March deaths

• March 7 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru
• March 22 - Uncle Dave Macon, country music performer
• March 31 - Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (b. 1877)

April deaths

• April 3 - Miina Sillanpää , Finnish left-wing trade union activist
• April 21 - Sir Stafford Cripps, British politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1947-1950

May deaths

• May 6 - Maria Montessori Italian educator and founder of the Montessori method (cerebral haemorrage) (b. 1870)
• May 8 - Walter Fox , American movie producer
• May 21 - John Garfield, actor

June deaths

• June 17 - Krystyna Skarbek, SOE agent

July deaths

• July 26 - Eva Peron, "Evita", wife of Juan Peron

September deaths

• September 29 - George Santayana, writer
• September 30 - Viscount Waldorf Astor, British businessman and politician

October deaths

• October 28 - Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia

November deaths

• November 2 - Chaim Weizmann, chemist, first President of Israel
• November 18 - Paul Eluard, French poet (b. 1895)
• November 23 - Aaro Hellaakoski , Finnish poet

December deaths

• December 12 - Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist
• December 28 - Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician (b. 1897)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Felix Bloch, Edward Mills Purcell
• Chemistry - Archer John Porter Martin, Richard Laurence Millington Synge
• Medicine - Selman Abraham Waksman
• Literature - François Mauriac
• Peace - Albert Schweitzer