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  • Lausanne, Switzerland
    1959
    Sepp Blatter

    Education

    Lausanne, Switzerland
    1959

    Blatter got a degree in business and economics from the University of Lausanne in 1959.




  • Oslo, Norway
    1959
    Harald V

    Graduation From The Norwegian Military Academy

    Oslo, Norway
    1959

    He graduated from Oslo katedral skole and in the autumn of that year, Harald began studies at the University of Oslo. He later attended the Cavalry Officers' Candidate School at Trandum, followed by enrollment at the Norwegian Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1959.




  • Liverpool, England
    Jan, 1959
    The Beatles

    Lennon at the Liverpool College of Art

    Liverpool, England
    Jan, 1959

    By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art. The three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs,were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer.




  • Oxford, England
    1959
    Stephen Hawking

    University

    Oxford, England
    1959

    Hawking began his university education at University College, Oxford, in October 1959 at the age of 17.




  • Cuba
    Thursday Jan 1, 1959
    Raúl Castro

    President Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba

    Cuba
    Thursday Jan 1, 1959

    In response to the victory by Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara, the U.S.-backed President Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba in the early morning of 1 January 1959. After Batista's fall, Raúl had the task of overseeing trials and execution of scores (between 30 and 70) of soldiers loyal to deposed president Batista convicted of war crimes.




  • Brunei
    1959
    Brunei revolt

    Establishing a Legislature

    Brunei
    1959

    In 1959, the Sultan, Sir Omar Ali Saifuddin III, established a legislature with half its members nominated and half elected.




  • Cuba
    Thursday Jan 1, 1959
    03:00:00 AM
    Che Guevara

    Batista to Dominican Rep.

    Cuba
    Thursday Jan 1, 1959
    03:00:00 AM

    At 3 am on January 1, 1959, upon learning that his generals were negotiating a separate peace with Guevara, Fulgencio Batista boarded a plane in Havana and fled for the Dominican Republic, along with an amassed "fortune of more than $300,000,000 through graft and payoffs".


  • Vietnam
    1959
    Ho Chi Minh

    Hồ Chí Minh Informally chose Lê Duẩn to become the Next Party Leader

    Vietnam
    1959

    At the end of 1959, conscious that the national election would never be held and that Diem intended to purge opposing forces (mostly ex Việt Minh) from the South Vietnamese government, Hồ Chí Minh informally chose Lê Duẩn to become the next party leader.


  • Algeria
    1959
    Algerian War

    General Maurice Challe appeared to have suppressed major rebel resistance

    Algeria
    1959

    In 1959, Salan's successor, General Maurice Challe, appeared to have suppressed major rebel resistance, but political developments had already overtaken the French Army's successes.


  • Copenhagen, Denmark
    1959
    Igor Stravinsky

    The Sonning Award

    Copenhagen, Denmark
    1959

    In 1959, he was awarded the Sonning Award, Denmark's highest musical honour.


  • Columbia University, New York, U.S.
    1959
    John Forbes Nash Jr.: A Beautiful Mind

    Lecture fail

    Columbia University, New York, U.S.
    1959

    Nash's psychological issues crossed into his professional life when he gave an American Mathematical Society lecture at Columbia University in 1959. Originally intended to present proof of the Riemann hypothesis, the lecture was incomprehensible. Colleagues in the audience immediately realized that something was wrong.


  • New Jersey, U.S.
    1959
    Cameras

    The discovery of digital Camera sensor Basis

    New Jersey, U.S.
    1959

    The basis for digital camera image sensors is metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology, which originates from the invention of the MOSFET (MOS field-effect transistor) by Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959. This led to the development of digital semiconductor image sensors, including the charge-coupled device (CCD) and later the CMOS sensor.


  • Havana, Cuba
    Friday Jan 2, 1959
    Che Guevara

    Control the Capital

    Havana, Cuba
    Friday Jan 2, 1959

    On January 2, Guevara entered Havana to take final control of the capital.


  • U.S.
    1959
    Laser

    The LASER, Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

    U.S.
    1959

    At a conference in 1959, Gordon Gould published the term LASER in the paper The LASER, Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.


  • Belmont, Massachusetts, U.S.
    1959
    John Forbes Nash Jr.: A Beautiful Mind

    Diagnostic

    Belmont, Massachusetts, U.S.
    1959

    He was admitted to McLean Hospital in April 1959, staying through May of the same year. There, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, a person suffering from the disorder is typically dominated by relatively stable, often paranoid, fixed beliefs that are either false, over-imaginative or unrealistic and usually accompanied by experiences of a seemingly real perception of something not actually present. Further signs are marked particularly by auditory and perceptional disturbances, a lack of motivation for life, and mild clinical depression.


  • Cuba
    Thursday Jan 8, 1959
    Che Guevara

    Rally support in several large cities on his way to rolling victoriously

    Cuba
    Thursday Jan 8, 1959

    Fidel Castro took six more days to arrive, as he stopped to rally support in several large cities on his way to rolling victoriously into Havana on January 8, 1959.


  • Havana, Cuba
    Friday Jan 9, 1959
    Fidel Castro

    Castro reached Havana

    Havana, Cuba
    Friday Jan 9, 1959

    Heading toward Havana, he greeted cheering crowds at every town, giving press conferences and interviews. Castro reached Havana on 9 January 1959.


  • France and Andorra
    Jan, 1959
    Charles de Gaulle

    Charles De Gaulle head of state

    France and Andorra
    Jan, 1959

    Charles was inaugurated in January 1959. As head of state, he also became ex officio the Co-Prince of Andorra.


  • Algeria
    1959
    Charles de Gaulle

    De Gaulle offered Algeria's self-determination

    Algeria
    1959

    Gaulle made more visits and sidestepped them. For the long term, he devised a plan to modernize Algeria's traditional economy, deescalated the war, and offered Algeria self-determination in 1959.


  • New York, U.S.
    1959
    Donald Trump

    New York Military Academy

    New York, U.S.
    1959

    At age 13, he was enrolled in the New York Military Academy, a private boarding school.


  • Cuba
    Monday Jan 26, 1959
    Raúl Castro

    Marriage

    Cuba
    Monday Jan 26, 1959

    Castro married Vilma Espín, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineering student and the daughter of a wealthy lawyer for the Bacardi rum company, on 26 January 1959.


  • Cuba
    Tuesday Jan 27, 1959
    Che Guevara

    Significant Speeches

    Cuba
    Tuesday Jan 27, 1959

    Along with ensuring "revolutionary justice", the other key early platform of Guevara was establishing agrarian land reform. Almost immediately after the success of the revolution, on January 27, 1959, Guevara made one of his most significant speeches where he talked about "the social ideas of the rebel army".


  • France
    Feb, 1959
    Algerian War

    De Gaulle was elected president

    France
    Feb, 1959

    In February 1959, De Gaulle was elected president of the new Fifth Republic.


  • Texas, U.S.
    Friday Feb 6, 1959
    Computer

    Kilby's patent application

    Texas, U.S.
    Friday Feb 6, 1959

    In Kilby's patent application of 6 February 1959, Kilby described his new device as "a body of semiconductor material ... wherein all the components of the electronic circuit are completely integrated".


  • England, United Kingdom
    Feb, 1959
    Internet

    A Patent application for time-sharing

    England, United Kingdom
    Feb, 1959

    Christopher Strachey, who became Oxford University's first professor of computation, filed a patent application for time-sharing in February 1959.


  • Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S.
    1959
    Internet

    MOSFET

    Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S.
    1959

    The development of transistor technology was fundamental to a new generation of electronic devices that later effected almost every aspect of the human experience. The long-sought realization of the field-effect transistor, in form of the MOS transistor (MOSFET), by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959, brought new opportunities for miniaturization and mass-production for a wide range of uses.


  • Havana, Cuba
    Monday Feb 16, 1959
    Raúl Castro

    The Minister of Defence

    Havana, Cuba
    Monday Feb 16, 1959

    He was appointed Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces when it was founded in October 1959 and served in that capacity until February 2008.


  • Havana, Cuba
    Monday Feb 16, 1959
    Bay of Pigs Invasion

    Castro took on the role of Prime Minister

    Havana, Cuba
    Monday Feb 16, 1959

    The presidency fell to Castro's chosen candidate, the lawyer Manuel Urrutia Lleó, while members of the MR-26-7 took control of most positions in the cabinet. On 16 February 1959, Castro himself took on the role of Prime Minister. Dismissing the need for elections, Castro proclaimed the new administration an example of direct democracy, in which the Cuban populace could assemble en masse at demonstrations and express their democratic will to him personally. Critics instead condemned the new regime as un-democratic.


  • Havana, Cuba
    Monday Feb 16, 1959
    Fidel Castro

    The Prime Minister of Cuba

    Havana, Cuba
    Monday Feb 16, 1959

    On 16 February 1959, Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba.


  • San Francisco, California, U.S.
    Mar, 1959
    Visa Inc.

    Drops began

    San Francisco, California, U.S.
    Mar, 1959

    By March 1959, drops began in San Francisco and Sacramento.


  • Vietnam
    1959
    Ho Chi Minh

    Confirming a "People's War" on the South

    Vietnam
    1959

    In 1959, Hồ Chí Minh began urging the Politburo to send aid to the Việt Cộng in South Vietnam and a "people's war" on the South was approved at a session in January 1959 and this decision was confirmed by the Politburo in March.


  • New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
    1959
    Ruby Bridges

    Bridges attended a segregated kindergarten

    New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
    1959

    Bridges attended a segregated kindergarten in 1959.


  • London, England, United Kingdom
    Monday Mar 23, 1959
    James Bond

    Goldfinger was published

    London, England, United Kingdom
    Monday Mar 23, 1959

    Goldfinger novel was published. Goldfinger is the seventh novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Written in January and February 1958, it was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 23 March 1959.


  • Shanghai, China
    Wednesday Mar 25, 1959
    Mao Zedong

    The Secret meeting

    Shanghai, China
    Wednesday Mar 25, 1959

    At a secret meeting in the Jinjiang Hotel in Shanghai dated March 25, 1959, Mao specifically ordered the party to procure up to one third of all the grain, much more than had ever been the case. At the meeting he announced that "To distribute resources evenly will only ruin the Great Leap Forward. When there is not enough to eat, people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill."


  • U.S.
    Apr, 1959
    Laser

    Gould continued developing the idea, and filed a patent application

    U.S.
    Apr, 1959

    Gould's notes included possible applications for a laser, such as spectrometry, interferometry, radar, and nuclear fusion. He continued developing the idea, and filed a patent application in April 1959.


  • New York, U.S.
    Saturday Apr 4, 1959
    Lucky Luciano

    Gambino became the most powerful

    New York, U.S.
    Saturday Apr 4, 1959

    On April 4, 1959, Genovese was convicted in New York of conspiracy to violate federal narcotics laws. Sent to prison for 15 years, Genovese tried to run his crime family from prison until his death in 1969. Meanwhile, Gambino now became the most powerful man in the Cosa Nostra.


  • Havana, Cuba
    May, 1959
    Fidel Castro

    The First Agrarian Reform

    Havana, Cuba
    May, 1959

    In May 1959, Castro signed into law the First Agrarian Reform, setting a cap for landholdings to 993 acres per owner and prohibiting foreigners from obtaining Cuban land ownership.


  • Geneva, Switzerland
    May, 1959
    World Trade Organization

    Dillon Round: 1960–62

    Geneva, Switzerland
    May, 1959

    The Dillon Round was a multi-year multilateral trade negotiation (MTN) between 26 nation-states that were parties to the GATT. The fifth round in the GATT occurred in Geneva and lasted from May 1959 through July 1962. The talks were named after U.S. Treasury Secretary and former Under Secretary of State, Douglas Dillon, who first proposed the talks. Along with reducing over $4.9 billion in tariffs with about 4,400 item-by-item cuts, it also yielded discussion relating to the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC).


  • Sarawak, Malaysia
    Jun, 1959
    Communist insurgency in Sarawak

    The predominantly-Chinese Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), the state's first political party which was founded in June 1959

    Sarawak, Malaysia
    Jun, 1959

    Besides the communist insurgency in Peninsular Malaysia, a second one was waged in Sarawak, one of Malaysia's Borneo states. As with their MCP counterparts, the Sarawak Communist Organisation (SCO) or the Communist Clandestine Organisation (CCO), was predominantly dominated by ethnic Chinese but also included Dayak supporters. However, the Sarawak Communist Organisation had little support from ethnic Malays and the indigenous Sarawak races. At its height, the SCO had 24,000 members. During the 1940s, Maoism had spread among Chinese vernacular schools in Sarawak. Following the Second World War, Communist influence also penetrated the labour movement, trade unions, the Chinese-language media, and the predominantly-Chinese Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), the state's first political party which was founded in June 1959.


  • Los Angeles, California, U.S.
    Jun, 1959
    Visa Inc.

    BofA was dropping cards in Los Angeles

    Los Angeles, California, U.S.
    Jun, 1959

    By June, BofA was dropping cards in Los Angeles.


  • Tarara, Havana, Cuba
    Tuesday Jun 2, 1959
    Che Guevara

    Second Marriage

    Tarara, Havana, Cuba
    Tuesday Jun 2, 1959

    On June 2, 1959, he married Aleida March, a Cuban-born member of the 26th of July movement with whom he had been living since late 1958. Guevara returned to the seaside village of Tarara in June for his honeymoon with Aleida.


  • New York, U.S.
    Jun, 1959
    Russell Bufalino

    Barbara's Death

    New York, U.S.
    Jun, 1959

    Following Barbara's death in June 1959, The Commission recognized Bufalino as the official family boss.


  • Paris, France
    1959
    Internet

    UNESCO-sponsored conference on Information Processing

    Paris, France
    1959

    Christopher Strachey passed the concept on to J. C. R. Licklider at a UNESCO-sponsored conference on Information Processing in Paris that year.


  • Cuba
    Friday Jun 12, 1959
    Che Guevara

    A three-month tour

    Cuba
    Friday Jun 12, 1959

    On June 12, 1959, Castro sent Guevara out on a three-month tour of 14 mostly Bandung Pact countries (Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Yugoslavia, Greece) and the cities of Singapore and Hong Kong.


  • Laos
    Jul, 1959
    Ho Chi Minh

    North Vietnam invaded Laos

    Laos
    Jul, 1959

    North Vietnam invaded Laos in July 1959 aided by the Pathet Lao and used 30,000 men to build a network of supply and reinforcement routes running through Laos and Cambodia that became known as the Hồ Chí Minh trail. It allowed the North to send manpower and materiel to the Việt Cộng with much less exposure to South Vietnamese forces, achieving a considerable advantage.


  • Lushan, Jiujiang, Jiangxi, China
    Thursday Jul 2, 1959
    Mao Zedong

    The Lushan Conference

    Lushan, Jiujiang, Jiangxi, China
    Thursday Jul 2, 1959

    At the Lushan Conference in July/August 1959, several ministers expressed concern that the Great Leap Forward had not proved as successful as planned. The most direct of these was Minister of Defence and Korean War veteran General Peng Dehuai. Following Peng's criticism of the Great Leap Forward, Mao orchestrated a purge of Peng and his supporters, stifling criticism of the Great Leap policies. Senior officials who reported the truth of the famine to Mao were branded as "right opportunists."


  • U.S.
    Saturday Jul 4, 1959
    Flag of the United States

    Alaska joined the U.S. flag

    U.S.
    Saturday Jul 4, 1959

    The flag was changed to have 49 stars. (for Alaska)


  • U.S.
    Tuesday Jul 14, 1959
    Nuclear Power

    USS Long Beach

    U.S.
    Tuesday Jul 14, 1959

    USS Long Beach was a nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser in the United States Navy and the world's first nuclear-powered surface combatant. She was the third Navy ship named after the city of Long Beach, California.


  • U.S.
    1959
    Audrey Hepburn

    The Nun's Story

    U.S.
    1959

    Hepburn played Sister Luke in The Nun's Story (1959), which focuses on the character's struggle to succeed as a nun, alongside co-star Peter Finch.


  • Moscow, Russia
    Friday Jul 24, 1959
    Richard Nixon

    The Opening of The American National Exhibition in Moscow

    Moscow, Russia
    Friday Jul 24, 1959

    In July 1959 President Eisenhower sent Nixon to the Soviet Union for the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow. On July 24, Nixon was touring the exhibits with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev when the two stopped at a model of an American kitchen and engaged in an impromptu exchange about the merits of capitalism versus communism that became known as the "Kitchen Debate".


  • U.S.
    Wednesday Aug 26, 1959
    Dwight D. Eisenhower

    Eisenhower was aboard the maiden flight of Air Force One

    U.S.
    Wednesday Aug 26, 1959

    On August 26, 1959, Eisenhower was aboard the maiden flight of Air Force One, which replaced the Columbine as the presidential aircraft.


  • England, United Kingdom
    Saturday Aug 29, 1959
    Dwight D. Eisenhower

    Complained of dizziness and had to have his blood pressure checked

    England, United Kingdom
    Saturday Aug 29, 1959

    Eisenhower's health issues forced him to give up smoking and make some changes to his dietary habits, but he still indulged in alcohol. During a visit to England, he complained of dizziness and had to have his blood pressure checked on August 29, 1959; however, before dinner at Chequers on the next day his doctor General Howard Snyder recalled Eisenhower "drank several gin-and-tonics and one or two gins on the rocks ... three or four wines with the dinner".


  • Cuba
    Sep, 1959
    Che Guevara

    Guevara's return

    Cuba
    Sep, 1959

    Upon Guevara's return to Cuba in September 1959, it became evident that Castro now had more political power


  • Stockholm, Sweden
    1959
    Severo Ochoa

    Receiving a Nobel Prize

    Stockholm, Sweden
    1959

    In 1959, Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid".


  • Colombia
    Oct, 1959
    Colombian conflict

    The Investigation of Colombia's Internal Security Situation

    Colombia
    Oct, 1959

    In October 1959, the United States sent a "Special Survey Team", composed of counterinsurgency experts, to investigate Colombia's internal security situation.


  • California, U.S.
    Oct, 1959
    Visa Inc.

    The entire state had been saturated with over 2 million credit cards

    California, U.S.
    Oct, 1959

    By October, the entire state had been saturated with over 2 million credit cards, and BankAmericard was being accepted by 20,000 merchants.


  • Finchley, London, England
    Thursday Oct 8, 1959
    Margaret Thatcher

    The 1959 Election

    Finchley, London, England
    Thursday Oct 8, 1959

    She was elected as MP for the seat after a hard campaign in the 1959 election.


  • England, United Kingdom
    Oct, 1959
    Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

    Margaret and Antony became engaged

    England, United Kingdom
    Oct, 1959

    Margaret and Antony became engaged in October 1959.


  • Rwanda
    Nov, 1959
    Rwandan genocide

    The Rwandan Revolution

    Rwanda
    Nov, 1959

    Hutu activists responded by killing Tutsi, both the elite and ordinary civilians, marking the beginning of the Rwandan Revolution.


  • Byimana, Rwanda
    Sunday Nov 1, 1959
    Rwandan genocide

    A Hutu sub-chief, was attacked close to his home

    Byimana, Rwanda
    Sunday Nov 1, 1959

    On 1 November 1959 Dominique Mbonyumutwa, a Hutu sub-chief, was attacked close to his home in Byimana, Gitarama prefecture, by supporters of the pro-Tutsi party. Mbonyumutwa survived, but rumours began spreading that he had been killed.


  • Israel
    Tuesday Nov 3, 1959
    Shimon Peres

    First elected to the Knesset

    Israel
    Tuesday Nov 3, 1959

    Peres was first elected to the Knesset in the 1959 elections, as a member of the Mapai party. He was given the role of Deputy Defense Minister, which he filled until 1965.


  • U.S.
    1959
    Xerox

    Xerox 914

    U.S.
    1959

    The company came to prominence in 1959 with the introduction of the Xerox 914, "the most successful single product of all time". The 914, the first plain paper photocopier, was developed by Carlson and John H. Dessauer; it was so popular that by the end of 1961 Xerox had almost $60 million in revenue. The product was sold by an innovative ad campaign showing that even monkeys could make copies at the touch of a button - simplicity would become the foundation of Xerox products and user interfaces. Revenues leaped to over $500 million by 1965.


  • California, U.S.
    Dec, 1959
    Visa Inc.

    Williams resigned

    California, U.S.
    Dec, 1959

    However, the program was riddled with problems, as Williams (who had never worked in a bank's loan department) had been too earnest and trusting in his belief in the basic goodness of the bank's customers, and he resigned in December 1959.


  • U.S.
    1959
    Audrey Hepburn

    Green Mansions

    U.S.
    1959

    Following The Nun's Story, Hepburn received a lukewarm reception for starring with Anthony Perkins in the romantic adventure Green Mansions (1959), in which she played Rima, a jungle girl who falls in love with a Venezuelan traveler.


  • Vietnam
    1959
    Vietnam War

    Military Deaths until 1959

    Vietnam
    1959

    Between 1956 and 1959, 4 Americans were killed.


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