1952

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

Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 - 1952 - 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957

See also:

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Year in topic
3 Births
4 Deaths
5 Nobel Prizes
6 Heads of state in 1952

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 6 - Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI.
February 6 - In Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill discloss that Britain has developed an atomic bomb, to be tested off the coast of Australia.
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 - The 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 26 - United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb
March 10 - General Fulgencio Batista takes power in Cuba - again
March 20 - The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
March 21 - The last two executions in the Netherlands take place.
March 27 - Failed assassination attempt against Konrad Adenauer
April 4 - In Hague tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth 3 billion dollars from Germany
April 18 - West Germany and Japan form diplomatic relations
April 23 - Nuclear test in Nevada desert.
April 28 - the Treaty of San Francisco went into effect : the occupation of Japan ended formally.
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 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 Mohammed.
May 13 - Pandit Nehru forms his first government
May 15 - Flash flood in Lymouth, Britain - 35 dead
June 1 - Catholic church bans books of AndrÃÂÃÂ© Gide
June 5 - Remains of a viking ship found near Boston
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 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 Faruk
August 2 - West Germany joins IMF
August 10 - Establishment of the European Coal and Steel community
August 11 - Jordanian army forces king Talal to resign - his successor is his son Hussein of Jordan
August 14 - West Germany joins World Bank
August 16 - Lynmouth in North Devon is devastated by floods, death toll of 31
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 D-marks.
August 29 - Premiere of John Cage's 4' 33" in Woodstock, New York
August 30 - Last Finnish war reparations to Soviet Union
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 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 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 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 fog" 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
National Security Agency founded
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
3,300 die of polio in USA, 57,000 children are paralyzed
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 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 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 1 - Rick James, musician
February 18 - Juice Newton, country music entertainer
February 19 - Amy Tan, novelist
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 29 - Teofilo Stevenson, boxer
April 22 - Marilyn Chambers, erotic actress
May 11 - Mike Lupica, sports journalist
May 11 - Frances Farmer, actress
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 footballerer
May 21 - Mr. T, American actor, is born Laurence Tureaud, in Chicago
May 23 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler, boxer
June 7 - Liam Neeson, actor
June 16 - Georgios Papandreou, Greek politician
August 3 - Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentinian footballerer
August 13 - Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer
August 14 - Carl Lumbly, actor
August 21 - Joe Strummer, musician
September 22 - Bob Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman from Virginia
October 7 - Vladimir Putin
November 25 - Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer
December 16 - Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer
December 28 - Arun Jaitley, politician, India

Deaths

January 18 - Curly Howard, actor, comedian, member of the Three Stooges
February 6 - King George VI of the United Kingdom
February 19 - Knut Hamsun, author
February 22 - Kaarlo Juho StÃÂÃÂ¥hlberg, first president of Finland
March 7 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru
March 22 - Uncle Dave Macon, country music performer
April 3 - Miina SillanpÃÂÃÂ¤ÃÂÃÂ¤, Finnish left-wing trade union activist
April 21 - Sir Stafford Cripps, British politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1947-1950
May 6 - Maria Montessori founder of the Montessori teaching method and schools; cerebral haemorraghae
May 8 - Walter Fox, US movie producer
May 21 - John Garfield, actor
June 17 - Krystyna Skarbek, SOE agent
July 26 - Eva Peron, "Evita", wife of Juan Peron
September 29 - George Santayana, writer
September 30 - Viscount Waldorf Astor, British businessman and politician
October 28 - Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia
November 2 - Chaim Weizmann, chemist, first President of Israel
November 23 - Aaro Hellaakoski, Finnish poet
December 12 - Bedrich Hrozny, 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 - FranÃÂÃÂ§ois Mauriac
Peace - Albert Schweitzer