1959

http://www.infoplease.com/year/1959.html
 * News and Events of 1959 **


 * World Events **
 * World Statistics **
 * Population: **2.997 billion [|**population by decade**]

 ** [|Nobel Peace Prize] ** Philip John Noel-Baker (UK)

 [|**More World Statistics...**]
 *  [|Cuban] President Batista resigns and flees (Jan. 1). [|Fidel Castro] assumes power (Feb. 16).
 *  [|Tibet's] Dalai Lama escapes to [|India] (Mar. 31).
 * Soviet Premier [|Nikita Khrushchev] tours the United States, meeting with [|Eisenhower] at Camp David.
 *  [|Britain] recognizes the independence of [|Cyprus].
 * [|More History...] **

 **Vice President:** [|Richard M. Nixon]  **Population:** 177,829,628  **Life expectancy:** 69.9 years  **Homicide Rate (per 100,000):** 4.6
 * U.S. Events **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 18px;">U.S. Statistics **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">President: ** [|Dwight D. Eisenhower]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> ** [|More U.S. Statistics...] **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|Alaska] (Jan. 3) and [|Hawaii] (Aug. 21) become the 49th and 50th states.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|St. Lawrence Seaway] opens, allowing ocean ships to reach Midwest (April 25).
 * [|More History...] **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Federal spending:** $92.10 billion <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Federal debt:** $287.5 billion <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Consumer Price Index:** 29.1 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Unemployment:** 6.8% <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Cost of a first-class stamp:** $0.04
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Economics **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">US GDP (1998 dollars): **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> $507.2 billion
 * [|More Economics...] **

[|Pro Football Summary] [|Pro Basketball Summary] [|Pro Baseball Summary]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Sports **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 18px;">Sports Links **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">World Series **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">LA Dodgers d. Chicago White Sox (4-2)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">NBA Championship ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Boston d. Minneapolis Lakers (4-0)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Stanley Cup ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Montreal d. Toronto (4-1)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Wimbledon Women: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Maria Bueno d. D. Hard (6-4 6-3) **Men:** Alex Olmedo d. R. Laver (6-4 6-3 6-4)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Kentucky Derby Champion ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Tomy Lee
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">NCAA Basketball Championship ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">California d. West Virginia (71-70)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">NCAA Football Champions ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Syracuse (11-0-0)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Fiction:** //The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters,// Robert Lewis Taylor <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Music:** //Concerto for Piano and Orchestra,// John La Montaine <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Drama:** //J. B. Archibald MacLeish// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Academy Award, Best Picture:** //Gigi//, Arthur Freed, producer (MGM) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Record of the Year:** "Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu" (Volare), Domenico Modugno <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Album of the Year:** //The Music From Peter Gunn//, Henry Mancini (RCA) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Song of the Year:** "Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu," Domenico Modugno, songwriter
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Entertainment **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 18px;">Entertainment Awards **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Pulitzer Prizes **
 * [|Oscars awarded in 1959] **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Nobel Prize for Literature: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Salvatore Quasimodo (Italy)
 * [|1959 Emmy Awards] **
 * [|1959 Tony Awards] **
 * [|Grammys awarded in 1959] **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Miss America: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Mary Ann Mobley (MS)
 * [|More Entertainment Awards...] **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Events **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences sponsors the first [|Grammy Award] ceremony for music recorded in 1958.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|Frank Sinatra] wins his first [|Grammy Award] -- Best Album for //Come Dance with Me.//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Rumors of cheating on quiz shows erupt into a national scandal.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Movies **
 * //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Some Like It Hot, North by Northwest, Ben-Hur, Anatomy of a Murder, Room at the Top //


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Books **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|William Burroughs], //Naked Lunch//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|D. H. Lawrence], //Lady Chatterley's Lover//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|Robert Lowell], //Life Studies//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|Norman Mailer], //Advertisements for Myself//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|James A. Michener], //Hawaii//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Grace Paley, //The Little Disturbances of Man//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|Boris Pasternak], //Doctor Zhivago//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> [|Philip Roth], //Goodbye Columbus and Five Short Stories//


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Science **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 18px;">Nobel Prizes in Science **
 * [|Chemistry:] **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Jaroslav Heyrovsky (Czechoslovakia), for development of polarography, an electrochemical method of analysis
 * [|Physics:] **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Emilio Segre and Owen Chamberlain (both US), for demonstrating the existence of the anti-proton
 * [|Physiology or Medicine:] **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg (both US), for discoveries related to compounds within chromosomes that play a vital role in heredity
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Jack S. Kilby of Texas Instruments (US) supervises the development of the first [|integrated circuit] . Background: [|Computers and Internet]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The US Navy launches the //Vanguard// [|satellite].
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The //Lunik II// [|probe] (USSR) reaches the [|moon] ; Lunik III photographs the dark side of the moon for the first time. Background: [|Space Exploration]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Deaths **
 * [|Lou Costello]
 * [|Cecil B. De Mille]
 * [|Mel Ott]
 * [|Frank Lloyd Wright]

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Read more: [|Top News Stories from 1959 | Infoplease.com] [|http://www.infoplease.com/year/1959.html#ixzz3I0nMbwmy]