1952

January

January 8 – West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders.

January 12 – The University of Tennessee admits its first black student.

January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.

February

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

George VI (King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon) dies aged 56 after a long illness. He is succeeded by his daughter The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh (now Elizabeth II), who is on a visit to Kenya. She is proclaimed Queen of Canada at Rideau Hall, Ottawa.

In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.

February 7 – Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom at St James's Palace, London, England.

February 14 – February 25 – The Winter Olympics held in Oslo, Norway.

February 15 – The funeral of George VI takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

February 18 – Greece and Turkey join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The SS Pendleton, a T2 Tanker, breaks in half during a nor'easter off the east coast near Massachusetts. Bernard Webber and a crew of four volunteer to rescue the 32 survivors aboard. This was the one of the most courageous rescues in the history of the US Coast Guard.

February 20

Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball, by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

Winston Churchill scraps UK compulsory national identity cards.

February 21 – In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students, killing 4 people and starting a country-wide protest which leads to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day is later declared "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.

February 25 – The Parícutin active volcano in Michoacán, west central Mexico, ceases its discontinuous eruption after spewing forth a gigaton of lava and burying San Juan Parangaricutiro.

February 26

United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that the United Kingdom has an atomic bomb.

Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canada-born Governor General of Canada.

March

March 10 – General Fulgencio Batista re-takes power in Cuba.

March 15–16 – 73 inches (1,870 mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall in one day up to that time.

March 20 – The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.

March 21

The last two executions in the Netherlands take place.

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is elected Prime Minister of the Gold Coast.

Tornadoes ravage the lower Mississippi River Valley, leaving 208 dead, through March 22.

March 22 – Wernher von Braun publishes the first in his series of articles titled Man Will Conquer Space Soon!, including ideas for manned flights to Mars and the Moon.

March 27

Konrad Adenauer survives an assassination attempt.

Legislative Assembly election held in Coorg.

March 29 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces that he will not seek reelection.

April

April 4

In the Hague Tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth $3 billion from Germany.

West Ice accidents: During a severe storm in the West Ice, east of Greenland, 78 seal hunters on 5 Norwegian seal hunting vessels vanish without a trace.

April 7 – The American Research Bureau reports that the I Love Lucy episode, "The Marriage License" was the first TV show in history to be seen in around 10,000,000 homes the evening the episode aired.

April 8 – Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer: The U.S. Supreme Court limits the power of the President to seize private business, after President Harry S. Truman nationalizes all steel mills in the United States, just before the 1952 steel strike begins.

April 9 – Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, which starts a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines.

April 11 – Battle of Nanri Island: The Republic of China seizes the island from the Peoples' Republic of China.

April 15 – The United States B-52 Stratofortress flies for the first time.

April 18

Bolivia National Revolution: A universal vote enables indigenous peoples and women to vote, nationalizes mines and enacts agrarian reform.

West Germany and Japan form diplomatic relations.

April 26 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier Wasp collides with the destroyer Hobson while on exercises in the Atlantic Ocean, killing 175 men.

April 28 – The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the war between Japan and the Allies, and simultaneously ending the occupation of the four main Japanese islands by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.

April 29 – Lever House officially opens at 390 Park Avenue in New York City, heralding a new age of commercial architecture in the United States. Designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it is the first International Style skyscraper.

May

May 1 – East Germany threatens to form its own army.

May 2 – The first passenger jet flight route opens 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 has himself announced as a descendant of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.

May 13 – Pandit Nehru forms his first government in India.

May 15 – Diplomatic relations are established between Israel and Japan at the level of legations.

May 18 – Ann Davison becomes the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean.

June

June 1

The Roman Catholic Church bans the books of André Gide.

Navigation opens on the Volga–Don Canal, connecting the Caspian Sea basin with that of the Black Sea.

June 14

The keel is laid for the U.S. nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.

Myxomatosis is introduced to Europe on the French estate of Dr. Paul-Félix Armand-Delille.

June 15 – The Diary of a Young Girl is published.

June 19 – The Special Forces (United States Army) are created.

June 21 – The Philippine School of Commerce, through a government act, is converted to the Philippine College of Commerce (later the Polytechnic University of the Philippines).

June 26 – The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewise labour parties.

June 27 – Decree 900 in Guatemala orders redistribution of uncultivated land.

June 29 – Finnish contestant Armi Kuusela wins the title of Miss Universe.

July

July 3 – The ocean liner SS United States makes her maiden crossing of the Atlantic.

July 13 – East Germany announces the formation of its National People's Army.

July 19 – August 3 – The 1952 Summer Olympics are held in Helsinki, Finland.

July 21 – The 7.3 Mw Kern County earthquake strikes California's southern Central Valley with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.

July 23

The European Coal and Steel Community is established.

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.

August

August 5 – The Treaty of Taipei between Japan and the Republic of China goes into effect, to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.

August 11 – The Jordanian Parliament forces King Talal of Jordan to abdicate due to mental illness; he is succeeded by his son King Hussein.

August 12 – The Night of the Murdered Poets; the execution of 13 Soviet Jewish poets.

August 13 – Japan joins the IMF.

August 14 – West Germany joins the IMF and the World Bank.

August 16 – Lynmouth, North Devon, England is devastated by floods; 34 die.

August 22 – The most damaging shock of the 1952 Kern County earthquake sequence strikes with a moment magnitude of 5.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This shock damaged several hundred buildings in Bakersfield, California, with total additional losses of $10 million, with two associated deaths and some injuries.

August 23 – Kitty Wells is first woman to score number 1 hit with the song "It wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels".

August 26 – A British passenger jet makes a return crossing of the 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 – Composer John Cage's 4′33″, during which the performer does not play, premieres in Woodstock, New York.

August 30 – The last Finnish war reparations are sent to the Soviet Union.

August 31 – The Grenzlandring racetrack closes in Wegberg, Germany.

September

September 2 – Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and Dr. F. John Lewis perform the first open-heart surgery at the University of Minnesota.

September 6 – Television debuts in Canada as the CBC in Montreal, Quebec airs.

September 8 – CBC Toronto debuts.

September 10 – The European Parliamentary Assembly (from March 1962, European Parliament) opens.

September 18 – The Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.

September 30 – The Revised Standard Version of the Bible was published and released to the public.

October

October 3 – The first British nuclear weapon is detonated in Australia making the United Kingdom the third nuclear weapons state.

October 8

Negotiations for a ceasefire in Korea are postponed.

Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash in England kills 112 people.

October 12 – The Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority is founded in New York City at Panhellenic Tower.

October 14 – The United Nations begins work in the new United Nations building in New York City, designed by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer.

October 16 – Limelight opens in London; writer/actor/director/producer Charlie Chaplin arrives by ocean liner; in transit his re-entry permit to the USA is revoked by J. Edgar Hoover.

October 17 – Indonesian troops led by General Nasution surround the presidential palace, seeking the dismissal of the People's Representative Council; Sukarno avoids confrontation.

October 19

Alain Bombard begins to sail from the Canary Islands to Barbados in 65 days; he reaches them December 23.

John Bamford, aged 15, rescues victims of a house fire and becomes the youngest person to be awarded the George Cross.

October 20 – Martial law is declared in Kenya due to the Mau Mau uprising.

November

November 1 – Nuclear testing and Operation Ivy: The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, with a yield of 10.4 megatons.

November 4

The Mw 9.0 Severo-Kurilsk earthquake hits the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Soviet Union with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). A tsunami took the lives of more than 2,000 people.

United States presidential election, 1952: Republican General Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democratic Governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by the UNIVAC computer).

The U.S. National Security Agency is founded.

The Pace-Finletter MOU 1952: A Memorandum of understanding is signed between "...Air Force Secretary Finletter and Army Secretary Pace that established a fixed wing weight limit [for the Army] of five thousand pounds empty, but weight restrictions on helicopters were eliminated..."

November 18 – Jomo Kenyatta is arrested in Kenya for an alleged connection to the Mau Mau Uprising.

November 20

Slánský trials: A series of largely anti-Semitic show trials are held in Czechoslovakia.

The first official passenger flight over the North Pole is made from Los Angeles to Copenhagen.

The first successful sex reasignment surgery was performed in Copenhagen, making George Jorgensen Jr. become Christine Jorgensen.

November 25 – Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London; as of 2015, 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: U.S. President-elect 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

Adolfo Ruiz Cortines takes office as President of Mexico.

The New York Daily News carries a front page story announcing that Christine Jorgensen, a transsexual woman in Denmark, has become the recipient of the first successful sexual reassignment operation.

December 4 – the Great Smog: A "killer fog" descends on London.

December 14 – The first successful surgical separation of Siamese twins is conducted in Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.

December 20 – The crash of a U.S. Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, WA kills 86 servicemen.

December 25 – One West German soldier is killed in a shooting incident in West Berlin.

December 26 – Joseph Ivor Linton, the first Israeli Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, presents his credentials to the Emperor of Japan.

Date unknown

Nearly 58,000 cases of polio are reported in the U.S.; 3,145 die and 21,269 are left with mild to disabling paralysis.

The Nordic Council agrees to the unrestricted transport of people, goods and services throughout the Nordic Countries.

The National Prohibition Foundation is incorporated in Indiana.

Säynätsalo Town Hall in Finland, designed by Alvar Aalto, is completed.

The influential multistorey residential building, Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, France, designed by Le Corbusier, is completed.

The American Embassy School of New Delhi is founded.

Swedish paratrooper training school Fallskärmsjägarna (FJS) is established.

Twelve-year-old Jimmy Boyd's record of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is released, selling 3 million records

Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the professional wrestling promotion that would later evolve into the modern day WWE is founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt

During the Mau Mau Uprising, the poisonous latex of the African milk bush was used to kill cattle in an incident of Biological warfare.

January

January 1

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar

Jury Zacharanka, Belarusian politician

January 2

Makoto Nakajima, Japanese bureaucrat, Commissoner of the Japan Patent Office

Ng Man-tat, Hong Kong actor

Elvira Saadi, Soviet gymnast

January 3 – Jim Ross, American wrestling announcer

January 7 – Sammo Hung, Hong Kong martial arts superstar, producer and director

January 9 – Marek Belka, 11th Prime Minister of Poland

January 12

Charles Faulkner, American life coach, motivational speaker, trader and author

Walter Mosley, American author

January 14 – Maureen Dowd, American journalist

January 15 – Boris Blank, Swiss musician

January 15 – Skay Beilinson, Argentinian guitar player

January 16 – H.R.H. Prince Ahmed Fuad Farouk (Fuad II), the last King of Egypt & Sudan, Nubia, Kordofan and Darfur

January 17 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician, composer, producer, and actor (Yellow Magic Orchestra)

January 19

Beau Weaver, American male voice actor

Bruce Jay Nelson, American computer scientist (d. 1999)

Michel Plante, Canadian ice hockey left winger

Nadiuska, German television actress

January 21

Marco Camenisch, Swiss environmental activist

Louis Menand, American writer and critic

January 22 – Ace Vergel, Filipino actor (d. 2007)

January 24 – Raymond Domenech, French football player and manager

January 25

Edward Fialkowski, Polish political activist

Sara Mandiano, French singer and songwriter

Peter Tatchell, Australian-born British human rights activist

January 28 – Tomokazu Miura, Japanese actor

January 29 – Klaus-Peter Hanisch, German footballer (d. 2009)

January 31 – Jan Hofer, German journalist, broadcast news analyst and television presenter

February

February 1 – Stan Kasten, American baseball executive, President of the Washington Nationals

February 2 – Park Geun-hye, President of South Korea

February 4 – Jenny Shipley, 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand

February 7 – Tony Liu, Chinese actor

February 8

Daisuke Gōri, Japanese voice actor (d. 2010)

Nora Miao, Hong Kong actress

February 10 – Lee Hsien Loong, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore

February 12 – Simon MacCorkindale, English actor (d. 2010)

February 14 – Nancy Keenan, American president of NARAL

February 15

Nikolai Sorokin, Soviet and Russian actor, theatre director (d. 2013)

Tomislav Nikolić, 4th President of Serbia (since 2012)

February 17 – Garry Chalk, British voice actor

February 19 – Amy Tan, American novelist

February 21 – Vitaly Churkin, Russian diplomat (d. 2017)

February 22 – William Frist, U.S. Senator and heart surgeon

February 24 – Maxine Chernoff, American poet, novelist and editor

February 25 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (d. 2000)

February 29

Gary the Retard, American member of The Wack Pack (The Howard Stern Show)

Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American television's first female African-American primetime weather anchor

March

March 1 – Martin O'Neill, Northern Irish footballer and manager

March 2 – Laraine Newman, American comedian (Saturday Night Live)

March 4

Scott Hicks, Australian film director

Ronn Moss, American actor

Umberto Tozzi, Italian singer

March 7 – Viv Richards, West Indian cricketer

March 10 – Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwean politician

March 11

Ricardo Martinelli, President of Panama

Douglas Adams, English author (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) (d. 2001)

March 13

Ágnes Rapai, Hungarian writer

Wolfgang Rihm, German composer

March 16 – Philippe Kahn, French-American businessman and inventor

March 22 – Bob Costas, American sports announcer

March 23 – Kim Stanley Robinson, American author

March 25

Jung Chang, Chinese-born author and historian

Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician

March 27 – Maria Schneider, French actress (d. 2011)

March 29 – Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer (d. 2012)

March 30 – Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach

March 31

Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)

Vanessa del Rio, American actress

April

April 1

Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher

Annette O'Toole, American actress

April 2 – Lennart Fagerlund, Swedish cyclist

April 4

Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete

Gary Moore, Irish musician (d. 2011)

Karen Magnussen, Canadian figure skater

April 5 – Mitch Pileggi, American actor

April 6 – Marilu Henner, American actress and author

April 7 – Nichita Danilov, Romanian writer

April 10 – Steven Seagal, American actor

April 11

Peter Windsor, British sports reporter

Qamar Zaman, Pakistani squash player

April 12 – Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)

April 14 – Mickey O'Sullivan, Irish sportsman

April 15 – Glenn Shadix, American actor (d. 2010)

April 16

Chaz Jankel, English singer and multi-instrumentalist

Billy West, American voice actor.

April 17

Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (d. 2016)

Željko Ražnatović, Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader (d. 2000)

April 19 – Alexis Arguello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (d. 2009)

April 20 – Eric Pickles, British politician

April 21 – Cheryl Gillan, British politician

April 22 – Marilyn Chambers, American porn actress (d. 2009)

April 24 – Jean-Paul Gaultier, French Haute couture and Prêt-à-Porter fashion designer

April 25 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist

April 26 – Spice Williams-Crosby, American actress and stunt performer

April 27 – George Gervin, American basketball player

April 28 – Mary McDonnell, American actress

May

May 1 – Michael Thornton, British Member of Parliament for Eastleigh

May 2

Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster

Isla St Clair, Scottish singer

May 3

Leonid Khachiyan, Russian-born mathematician

Allan Wells, Scottish athlete

May 4 – Michael Barrymore, British comedian and TV presenter

May 6

Gregg Henry, American actor and musician

Michael O'Hare, American actor (d. 2012)

May 8 – Ronnie Dapo, American child actor

May 10

Roland Kaiser, German singer

Manuel Mora Morales, Spanish director and writer

May 11

Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian actress

Frances Fisher, British-born American actress

Mike Lupica, American sports journalist

Renaud, French composer

May 12 – Christopher Gaze, British voice actor

May 13

John Kasich, Governor of Ohio

May 14

Robert Zemeckis, American film director

David Byrne, Scottish singer-songwriter (Talking Heads)

May 15 – Chazz Palminteri, American actor

May 18

Diane Duane, American writer

Ryūzaburō Ōtomo, Japanese voice actor

George Strait, American country musician

May 19 – Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager

May 20 – Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer

May 21 – Mr. T, African-American actor (The A-Team)

May 23 – Anne-Marie David, French singer, Eurovision Song Contest 1973 winner

May 24 – Sybil Danning, Austrian actress

May 26 – David Meece, American Christian musician

May 28 – Victoria Cunningham, American actress and Playboy Playmate

June

June 4

Scott Wesley Brown, American Christian musician

Bronisław Komorowski, President of Poland

June 7

Hubert Auriol, French racing driver

Liam Neeson, Northern Irish actor

Orhan Pamuk, Turkish writer, Nobel Prize winner

June 9 – Yukihiro Takahashi, Japanese musician and singer (Yellow Magic Orchestra)

June 14 – Pat Summitt, American basketball coach (d. 2016)

June 16

George Papandreou, Greek politician

Gino Vannelli, Canadian singer and songwriter

June 17

Sarbjit Singh Chadha, Indian enka singer

Mike Milbury, American ice hockey player, coach and executive

June 18

Carol Kane, American actress

Isabella Rossellini, Italian model and actress

June 20

John Goodman, American actor

Kōichi Mashimo, Japanese anime director

Vikram Seth, Indian novelist

June 21

Jeremy Coney, New Zealand cricket captain

Marcella Detroit, American singer (Shakespears Sister)

Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui, Pakistani businessman, academician

June 22

Graham Greene, Canadian (First Nations) actor

Alastair Stewart, British newsreader

Santokh Singh, Malaysian footballer

June 24 – Stephen Pusey, British-born artist

June 25

Péter Erdő, Hungarian cardinal

Tim Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter

June 27

Madan Kumar Bhandari, Nepalese politician (d. 1993)

Douglas Unger, American novelist

June 28 – Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete (d. 2013)

June 29 – Joe Johnson, English snooker player

July

July 1 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor and comedian (Saturday Night Live)

July 3

Andy Fraser, English musician (d. 2015)

Rohinton Mistry, Indian writer

July 4

Álvaro Uribe, President of Colombia

John Waite, English singer and musician

July 6

Grant Goodeve, American male voice actor

Adi Shamir, Modern cryptographer

Jennifer Savidge, American actress

July 8

Ahmed Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt

Knud Arne Jürgensen, Danish music, theater and ballet historian

July 9 – John Tesh, American composer, musician, and television host (Entertainment Tonight)

July 11 – Stephen Lang, American actor

July 12

Voja Antonić, Serbian inventor and writer

Philip Taylor Kramer, American rock musician (d. 1995)

Liz Mitchell, Jamaican-born singer of Boney M.

July 14

Bob Casale, American keyboardist (Devo)

Franklin Graham, American evangelist and son of Billy Graham

July 15

Terry O'Quinn, American actor

Yuriko Koike, Japanese politician (Governor of Tokyo)

July 16 – Stewart Copeland, American rock musician (The Police)

July 17

David Hasselhoff, American actor

Billy Sprague, American Christian musician

Nicolette Larson, American pop singer (d. 1997)

July 19 – Allen Collins, American rock musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1990)

July 20 – Keiko Matsuzaka, Japanese actress

July 24 – Gus Van Sant, American film director

July 25 – Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portuguese Architect

July 27 – Hannu-Pekka Hänninen, Finnish sports commentator

July 28 – Vajiralongkorn, King of Thailand (Rama X)

July 31

Chris Ahrens, American ice hockey player

João Barreiros, Portuguese author

August

August 1 – Zoran Djindjic, Serbian politician (d. 2003)

August 3 – Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentine footballer

August 4 – Moya Brennan, Irish singer

August 5 – Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia

August 5 – Louis Walsh, Irish music producer and reality TV show judge

August 6 – Wojciech Fortuna, Polish ski jumper

August 7 – Alexei Sayle, English comedian

August 8

Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author

Robin Quivers, African-American radio personality (The Howard Stern Show)

August 9 – Vicki Morgan, American model (d. 1983)

August 10 – Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor

August 11 – Bob Mothersbaugh, American composer and guitarist (Devo)

August 13 – Herb Ritts, American photographer (d. 2002)

August 16 – Reginald VelJohnson, American actor

August 17 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentine tennis player

August 18 – Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (d. 2009)

August 19 – Jonathan Frakes, American actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

August 21 – Joe Strummer, British rock musician (The Clash) (d. 2002)

August 24 – Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican-born musician and poet

August 26

Bryon Baltimore, Canadian ice hockey player

Michael Jeter, American actor of film, stage, and television (d. 2003)

August 27 – Paul Reubens, American actor, writer and comedian (Pee-Wee Herman)

August 28 – Rita Dove, American poet (1987 Pulitzer Prize, United States Poet Laureate 1993-95)

August 28 – Wendelin Wiedeking, German businessman

August 31

Lee Hyla, American composer

Hilary Farr, British-Canadian actress and designer

September

September 2 – Jimmy Connors, American tennis player

September 8 – Patrick Prosser, Scottish computer scientist

September 9 – Angela Cartwright, British-American child actress, photographer and painter

September 12

Sergey Karaganov, Russian political scientist

Neil Peart, Canadian rock drummer (Rush)

September 16

Fatos Nano, Albanian prime minister

Mickey Rourke, American film actor, former boxer

September 18 – Nile Rodgers, American musician and guitarist

September 19 – George Warrington, president of Amtrak (1998-2002); executive director of NJ Transit (2002–07) (d. 2007)

September 20 – Manuel Zelaya, President of Honduras

September 21 – Anneliese Michel, German Roman Catholic believed possessed by demons (d. 1976)

September 22 – Bob Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman from Virginia

September 23

Jim Morrison, American baseball player

Peter Schrank, Political cartoonist

September 24

Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, politician

Mark Sandman, American rock musician and artist (d. 1999)

September 25

Jimmy Garvin, American professional wrestler

Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (d. 2004)

September 26 – Predrag Miletić, Serbian actor

September 27

Didier Dubois, French mathematician

Katie Fforde, British writer

September 28 – Sylvia Kristel, Dutch actress (d. 2012)

September 29 – Max Sandlin, American politician

September 30 – Jack Wild, English actor (H.R. Pufnstuf) (d. 2006)

October

October 2

Robin Riker, American Author and Actress

October 5

Clive Barker, British author

Harold Faltermeyer, German musician

Imran Khan, Pakistani politician

Emomali Rahmon, President of Tajikistan

Duncan Regehr, Canadian actor

October 7

Mary Badham, American actress

Vladimir Putin, 2-Time President of Russia

Ludmilla Tourischeva, Soviet gymnast

October 13

Beverly Johnson, African-American model, actress and businesswoman

John Lone, Hong Kong actor

October 14 – Kaija Saariaho, Finnish composer

October 14

Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet gymnast (d. 2011)

Rick Aviles, American actor (d. 1995)

October 16 – Ron Taylor, American actor (d. 2002)

October 18 – Chuck Lorre, American sitcom creator

October 22 – Jeff Goldblum, American actor

October 24 – David Weber, American science fiction and fantasy author

October 26 – Andrew Motion, English poet

October 27

Roberto Benigni, Italian actor, screenwriter, and film director

Francis Fukuyama, American political scientist

Topi Sorsakoski, Finnish singer

October 28 – Annie Potts, American actress

November

November 3

Roseanne Barr, American actress and comedian

Jim Cummings, American voice actor

David Ho, Taiwanese-American AIDS researcher

November 5

Oleh Blokhin, Ukrainian football player and manager

Brian Muehl, American puppeteer

Bill Walton, American basketball player and commentator

November 6 – Michael Cunningham, American writer

November 7 – David Petraeus, American general

November 8

Jan Raas, Dutch professional cyclist

Alfre Woodard, African-American actress

November 13 – Art Malik, Pakistani-born British actor

November 14 – Bill Farmer, American voice actor

November 15 – Randy Savage, American professional wrestler (d. 2011)

November 16

Roger Bisby, English journalist

Shigeru Miyamoto, Japanese game designer

November 17 – Ties Kruize, Dutch field hockey player

November 24 – Ilja Richter, German actor, voice actor, television presenter, singer and author

November 25 – Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer and politician

November 27 – Buddy Rose, American professional wrestler (d. 2009)

November 28 – S. Epatha Merkerson, African-American actress

November 30 – Keith Giffen, American comic book writer and artist

December

December 2 – Peter Kingsbery, American singer-songwriter (Cock Robin)

December 3 – Bruno Jonas, German Kabarett artist and actor

December 6

Chuck Baker, American Major League Baseball player

Nicolas Bréhal, French novelist and literary critic

Charles Bronson, English criminal (has been referred to as the "most violent prisoner in Britain")

Edward Etzel, American Olympic Champion

Joe Harris, American football linebacker

Christian Kulik, Polish football player

Craig Newmark, American businessman, founded Craigslist

Shio Satō, Japanese manga artist

Jeff Schneider, American Major League Baseball pitcher

David L. Spector, American cell and molecular biologist

December 8 – Richard Walsh, English actor

December 9 – Michael Dorn, African-American actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

December 12

Harbance Singh (Herb) Dhaliwal, Canadian politician

Sarah Douglas, English actress

December 13 – Karl Howman, English actor

December 15

Julie Taymor, American film, theater, and opera director and costume designer

Hwang Woo-suk, South Korean biomedical scientist

Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer and coach

December 16 – Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer

December 20 – Jenny Agutter, English actress

December 26

Jon Glover, British actor

Riki Sorsa, Finnish singer (d. 2016)

December 27

Jay Hill, Canadian politician

David Knopfler, British musician

December 28

Arun Jaitley, Indian politician

Hemant Shesh, Indian Hindi Writer

December 29 – Külliki Saldre, Estonian actress

December 30 – June Anderson, American soprano

Date unknown

Idriss Déby Itno, President of Chad

January

January 4 – Constant Permeke, Belgian painter (b. 1886)

January 5 – Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1869)

January 11 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general, posthumous Marshal of France (b. 1889)

January 18 – Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (The Three Stooges) (b. 1903)

January 25 – Polly Moran, American actress (b. 1883)

January 27 – Fannie Ward, American actress (b. 1872)

February

February 2 – Charles de Rochefort, French actor (b. 1879)

February 3 – Harold L. Ickes, United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1874)

February 6 – King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)

February 7

Philip G. Epstein, American screenwriter (b. 1909)

Pete Henry, American football player (Canton Bulldogs) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1897)

February 9 – Arthur Hayes-Sadler, British admiral (b. 1865)

February 19 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)

February 26 – Josef Thorak, Austrian-German sculptor. (b. 1889)

March

March 1 – Gregory La Cava, American film director (b. 1892)

March 5 – Charles Scott Sherrington, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)

March 7 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (b. 1893)

March 9 – Alexandra Kollontai, Russian revolutionary (b. 1872)

March 12 – Hugh Herbert, American actor and comedian (b. 1887)

March 19 – Robert Guérin, French administrator, 1st President of FIFA (b. 1876)

March 22

Uncle Dave Macon, American musician (b. 1870)

Don Stephen Senanayake, Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) Prime Minister (b. 1884)

March 26 – J.P. McGowan, Australian actor and director (b. 1880)

March 28 – Sir Fraser Russell, Governor of Southern Rhodesia (b. 1876)

March 30 – Sir Jigme Wangchuck, 2nd King of Bhutan (b. 1905)

March 31

Walter Schellenberg, German Nazi intelligence official (b. 1910)

Roland West, American film director (b. 1885)

Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (b. 1877)

April

April 1 – Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian novelist and dramatist (b. 1878)

April 3 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish politician (b. 1866)

April 5 – Charles Collett, British chief mechanical engineer (Great Western Railway) (b. 1871)

April 8 – Tadeusz Estreicher, cryogenics pioneer (b. 1871)

April 15 – Viktor Chernov, Russian revolutionary, leader of the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party (b. 1873)

April 21

Leslie Banks, English actor (b. 1890)

Sir Stafford Cripps, British Labour politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1889)

April 23 – Julius Freed, American inventor and banker (b. 1887)

May

May 6 – Maria Montessori, Italian educator (b. 1870)

May 8 – William Fox, Austro-Hungarian-born film producer (b. 1879)

May 9 – Canada Lee, American actor (b. 1907)

May 10 – Clark L. Hull, American psychologist (b. 1884)

May 15 – Albert Bassermann, German actor (b. 1867)

May 21 – John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)

June

June 1

John Dewey, American philosopher (b. 1859)

Malcolm St. Clair, American filmmaker (b. 1897)

June 2 – Naum Torbov, Bulgarian architect (b. 1880)

June 13 – Emma Eames, American soprano (b. 1865)

June 17

Krystyna Skarbek (aka Christine Granville), Polish-born British SOE operative during World War II (b. 1908)

Jack Parsons, American rocket engineer (b. 1914)

June 19 – Heinrich Schlusnus, German baritone (b. 1888)

June 27 – Elmo Lincoln, American actor (b. 1889)

July

July 4 – Walter Long, American character actor (b. 1879)

July 5 – Alison Skipworth, English actress (b. 1863)

July 10 – Rued Langgaard, Danish composer and organist (b. 1893)

July 21 – Pedro Lascuráin, 34th President of Mexico

July 26 – Eva Perón, Argentine political leader, and First Lady to and partner in power of President Juan Perón (b. 1919)

August

August 1 – Andrew Higgins, American boatbuilder and industrialist. (b. 1886)

August 2 – J. Farrell MacDonald, American actor and director (b. 1875)

August 5 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (b. 1917)

August 11 – Dave Sands, Australian boxer (b. 1926)

August 18 – Ralph Byrd, American actor (b. 1909)

August 22 – Hiranuma Kiichirō, 35th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1867)

August 29 – Anton Piëch, Austrian lawyer, son-in-law of Ferdinand Porsche (b. 1894)

August 30 – Arky Vaughan, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1912)

September

September 6 – Gertrude Lawrence, English actress (b. 1898)

September 9 – Jonas H. Ingram, American admiral (b. 1886)

September 16 – Hugo Raudsepp, Estonian playwright (b. 1883)

September 22 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, 1st President of Finland (b. 1865)

September 23 – Ray Mala, Native American actor (b. 1906)

September 26 – George Santayana, Spanish-born writer (b. 1863)

September 30 – Viscount Waldorf Astor, American-born businessman and politician (b. 1879)

October

October 8 – Arturo Rawson, Argentine military officer, 26th President of Argentina (b. 1885)

October 11 – Jack Conway, American film producer and director (b. 1887)

October 17 – Julia Dean, stage and screen actress (b. 1878)

October 19 – Ernst Streeruwitz, 7th Chancellor of Austria (b. 1874)

October 20 – Basil Radford, English actor (b. 1897)

October 22 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (b. 1874)

October 23 – Susan Peters, American actress (b. 1921)

October 26 – Hattie McDaniel, American actress (b. 1895)

October 28 – Billy Hughes, 7th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)

November

November 1 – Dixie Lee, American singer (b. 1911)

November 2 – Mehmet Esat Bülkat, Ottoman general (b. 1862)

November 3 – Louis Verneuil, French playwright, screenwriter (b. 1893)

November 8

Harold Innis, Canadian communications scholar (b. 1894)

Hugh Prosser, American actor (b. 1900)

November 9 – Chaim Weizmann, Jewish biochemist and first President of Israel (b. 1874)

November 18 – Paul Eluard, French poet (b. 1895)

November 20 – Benedetto Croce, Italian critic, philosopher, and politician (b. 1866)

November 21

Henriette Roland Holst, Dutch poet and socialist (b. 1869)

William D. Upshaw, American temperance movement leader (b. 1866)

November 26 – Sven Hedin, Swedish explorer, geographer and geopolitician (b. 1865)

November 28 – Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy, consort of Victor Emmanuel III (b. 1869)

December

December 1 – Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, 23rd Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1860)

December 4 – Karen Horney, German psychoanalyst (b. 1885)

December 8 – Charles Lightoller, British merchant marine officer, second officer of RMS Titanic (b. 1874)

December 12 – Bedrich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (b. 1879)

December 14 – Fartein Valen, Norwegian composer (b. 1887)

December 18 – Ernst Stromer, German paleontologist (b. 1871)

December 19 – Pehr G. Holmes, American politician (b. 1881)

December 27 – Henri Winkelman, Dutch general (b. 1876)

December 28

Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen consort of Christian X of Denmark (b. 1879)

Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)

December 30 – Luke McNamee, American admiral and Governor of Guam (b. 1871)

Date unknown

K. Kanagaratnam, Ceylon Tamil civil servant and politician (b. 1892)

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