1955
1955 is a common year starting on Saturday .
Events
January-April
- Bandung Conference
May-July
August-October
August 19 - In the Northeast United States , severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane claims 200 lives.
August 20 - Eight World Scout Jamboree opens in Niagara-on-the-Lake , Ontario , Canada .
August 20 - In Morocco , a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
August 27 - The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records
August 28 - Emmett Till , a black teenager from Chicago , is murdered in Money, Mississippi , by white men angered because he whistled at a white woman while buying groceries.
September 11 - Dedication of the first Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe, the Bern Switzerland Temple .
September 14 - Konrad Adenauer travels to Moscow to establish diplomatic relations and to negotiate for the release of the remaining German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union
September 16 - A military coup in Argentina deposes Juan Peron .
September 30 - James Dean is killed in an automobile accident near Pasa Robles, California
October 2 - The ENIAC computer is deactivated.
October 3 - Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira , elected president of Brazil , for a five year term.
October 7 - The last German prisoners of war are released from the Soviet Union
October 23 - The Saarland is once again part of West Germany , following a referendum
October 26 - Following the Austrian Independence Treaty of May 15, the last allied troops leave the country. The parliament declaras Austria's everlasting neutrality .
October 29 - The Soviet battleship Novorossiisk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol .
November-December
Unknown date
Year in topic
Births
January-February
January 6 - Rowan Atkinson , comedian, actor
January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon , writer, producer
January 13 - Jay McInerney , writer
January 17 - Steve Earle , musician
January 18 - Kevin Costner , actor
January 19 - Simon Rattle , English conductor
January 26 - Eddie Van Halen , musician
February 8 - John Grisham , novelist
February 10 - Greg Norman , golfer
February 12 - Arsenio Hall , actor, talk show host
February 19 - Jeff Daniels , actor
February 20 - Kelsey Grammer , actor
February 23 - Howard Jones , musician
February 24 - Alain Prost , Formula One driver
February 24 - Steve Jobs , computer pioneer
March-April
March 5 - Penn Jillette , magician, comedian
March 7 - Tommy Kramer , American football player
March 15 - Dee Snider , singer
March 16 - Jiro Watanabe , Japanese boxing world champion
March 16 - Bruno Barreto , Brazilian film director
March 17 - Gary Sinise , actor
March 19 - Bruce Willis , actor
March 22 - Pete Sessions , U.S. politician
March 23 - Moses Malone , basketball player
March 28 - Reba McEntire , country music singer, actress
March 29 - Earl Campbell , American football star
March 31 - Angus Young , musician
April 1 - Ronnie Burk , surrealist and AIDS activist
April 6 - Michael Rooker , actor
April 11 - Kevin Brady , American politician
April 16 - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
April 23 - Tony Miles , chess player
April 29 - Kate Mulgrew , actress
May
May 3 - David Hookes , cricketer (d. 2004 )
May 6 - Tom Bergeron , television host
May 9 - Anne-Sofie von Otter , Swedish mezzo-soprano
May 10 - Chris Berman , sports anchor
May 10 - Mark David Chapman , assassin
May 10 - Ashoka Prasad ,scientist
May 11 - Mark Herndon , Alabama (band)
May 16 - Olga Korbut , gymnast
May 16 - Jack Morris , baseball pitcher
May 16 - Hazel O'Connor , British singer
May 16 - Debra Winger , actress
May 17 - Bill Paxton , actor
May 18 - Chow Yun-Fat , actor
May 20 - Zbigniew Preisner , film composer
May 26 - Morimoto Masaharu , Japanese chef (Iron Chef May 26 - Doris Dörrie , actor and screenplay writer
May 28 - John McGeoch , musician, (d. 2004 )
May 30 - Topper Headon , musician
June-September
June 2 - Dana Carvey , actor, comedian
June 7 - Tim Richmond , NASCAR race car driver (d. 1989 )
June 8 - Tim Berners-Lee , inventor of the World Wide Web
June 20 - Tor Norretranders , science author
June 21 - Tim Bray , computer programmer
June 25 - Terry Chimes , musician
June 26 - Mick Jones , musician
June 27 - Isabelle Adjani , actress
July 1 - Akashiya Sanma , Japanese TV actor
August 4 - Billy Bob Thornton , actor
August 19 - Peter Gallagher , actor
September 10 - Pat Mastelotto , musician
September 16 - Robin Yount , baseball player
September 29 - Jon Backstrom , Internet engineer
October-December
October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma , cellist
October 17 - Mae Jemison , astronaut
October 26 - Mark Welch , inventor
October 28 - Bill Gates , CEO of Microsoft
November 4 - Matti Vanhanen , prime minister of Finland
November 6 - Maria Shriver , journalist, first lady of California
November 7 - Detlef Ultsch , first German judo world champion
November 13 - Whoopi Goldberg , actress, comedienne, singer
November 23 - Steven Brust , fantasy author
November 24 - Ian Botham , English cricketer
December 3 - Steven Culp , actor
December 10 - Warren Gaebel , evangelist / Bible teacher
December 12 - Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki , Greek politician and business woman.
December 15 - Paul Simonon , musician
December 17 - Brad Davis , basketball player
December 18 - Ray Liotta , actor
December 21 - Jane Kaczmarek , actress
Deaths
January 15 - Yves Tanguy , French surrealist painter (b. 1900 )
January 21 - Archie Hahn , American athlete (b. 1880 )
March 11 - Sir Alexander Fleming , British discoverer of penicillin (b. 1881 )
March 12 - Charlie Parker , jazz saxophonist (b. 1920 )
April 7 - Theda Bara , silent film actress (b. 1885 )
April 18 - Albert Einstein , German physicist (b. 1879 )
May 10 - Tommy Burns , American boxer (b. 1881 )
May 11 - Gilbert Jessop ; English cricketer, known as fastest-scoring batsman of all time (b. 1874 ).
May 16 - James Agee , American writer (b. 1909 )
May 26 - Alberto Ascari , Italian F1 race car driver (b. 1918 )
August 2 - Wallace Stevens , American poet (b. 1879 )
August 5 - Carmen Miranda , Portuguese singer, actress (b. 1909 )
August 28 - Emmett Till , teenage victim of anti-black murder
September 30 - James Dean , American actor (b. 1931 )
October 1 - Charles Christie , pioneer film studio owner in Hollywood (b. 1880 )
October 9 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer , Archbishop of Vienna 1932 -1955
November 4 - Cy Young , American baseball player (b. 1867 )
November 5 - Maurice Utrillo , French artist (b. 1882 )
November 12 - Alfréd Hajós , Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878 )
November 27 - Arthur Honegger , Swiss composer (b. 1982 )
December 6 - Honus Wagner , Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1874 )
