Directory

1957 CE

The Sputnik launch begins the Space Race; Sputnik 2 sends Laika into orbit; the Treaty of Rome creates the European Economic Community; the 1957–1958 influenza pandemic kills over a million worldwide; the Little Rock Nine integrate Little Rock Central High School; The Bridge on the River Kwai premieres to major acclaim; the Syrian Crisis of 1957 heightens Middle East tensions; the Lewisham rail crash kills 90 in London; and Hurricane Audrey devastates the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany.source
  • January 10 – Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
  • January 11 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar.source
  • January 20 – Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956).source
  • January 26 – The Ibirapuera Planetarium (the first in the Southern Hemisphere) is inaugurated in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.source
  • February 15 – Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of the Soviet Union.source
  • February 23 – The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc opens in Dakar.source
  • March 1 – U Nu becomes Prime Minister of Burma.source
  • March 6 – United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent nation of Ghana.source
  • March 25 – The Treaty of Rome (Patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC; predecessor of the European Union) between Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.source
  • April 5 – The Communist Party of India wins the elections in Kerala, making E. M. S. Namboodiripad its first chief minister.source
  • April 12 – The United Kingdom announces that Singapore will gain self-rule on January 1, 1958.source
  • April 15 – White Rock secedes from Surrey, British Columbia, following a referendum.source
  • May 16 – Paul-Henri Spaak becomes the new Secretary General of NATO.source
  • June 21 – John Diefenbaker becomes the 13th Prime Minister of Canada.source
  • July 14 – Rawya Ateya takes her seat in the National Assembly of Egypt, thereby becoming the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world.source
  • July 25 – Tunisia becomes a republic, with Habib Bourguiba as its first president.source
  • August 31 – The Federation of Malaya gains independence from the United Kingdom, subsequently celebrated as Malaysia's National Day. Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, becomes the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya. The country's new Constitution had come into force on August 27. The Alliance Party and its successor are the ruling coalition until 2018.source
  • September 9 – The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is enacted, establishing the United States Commission on Civil Rights.source
  • October 27 – Celâl Bayar is re-elected president of Turkey.source
  • November 15 – Yugoslavia announces the end of an economic boycott of Francoist Spain (although it does not reinstitute diplomatic relations).source
  • November 16 – Adnan Menderes of the Democrat Party forms the new government of Turkey (23rd government, last government formed by DP and Menderes).source
  • November 30 – 1957 New Zealand general election: The Labour Party defeats the governing National Party, with Walter Nash succeeding Keith Holyoake as Prime Minister.source
  • December 10 – Canadian diplomat Lester B. Pearson receives the Nobel Peace Prize, for his peacekeeping efforts in the United Nations.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 4 – France prohibits U.N. involvement in Algeria.source
  • February 18 – Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.source
  • April 13 – The 1957 alleged Jordanian military coup attempt against Hussein Bin Talal is made by Ali Abu Nuwar.source
  • May 8 – South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem begins a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor.source
  • May 15 – Operation Grapple: At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb, which fails to detonate properly.source
  • May 24 – May 24 incident: Anti-American riots erupt in Taipei, Taiwan.source
  • September 5 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista’s forces bomb anti-government riots in Cienfuegos.source
  • November 30 – Indonesian president Sukarno survives a grenade attack at the Cikini School in Jakarta, but several children are killed.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • June 9 – Broad Peak, on the China-Pakistan border, is first ascended.source
  • The so-called 'mound of Midas', the Great Tumulus near Gordium, is excavated.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 14 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher), after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.source
  • February 4 – A coal gas explosion at the giant Bishop Coal Mine in Bishop, Virginia, United States, kills 37 men.source
  • March 1 – Arturo Lezama becomes President of the National Council of Government of Uruguay.source
  • May 2 – "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika", written by Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, becomes the South African national anthem, replacing "God Save the Queen", which is retained as a royal anthem.source
  • July 11 – His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV becomes the 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims at age 20. His grandfather Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan III appoints Prince Karim in his will.source

Economy & Finance

  • March 1 – Sud Aviation forms, from a merger between SNCASE (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Est) and SNCASO (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest).source
  • December 1 – In Indonesia, Sukarno announces the nationalization of 246 Dutch businesses.source
  • Raja Fashions, a tailoring business, is founded in Hong Kong.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.source
  • January 16 – Global hotel brand Marriott opens its first hotel, the Marriott Motor Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.source
  • February 2 – President Iskander Mirza of Pakistan lays the foundation-stone of the Guddu Barrage across the Indus River, near Sukkur.source
  • March 8 – Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.source
  • April 1 – The first new conscripts join the Bundeswehr.source
  • April 9 – Egypt reopens the Suez Canal to all shipping.source
  • April 15 – The Distant Early Warning Line is handed over by contractors to the U.S. and Canadian military.source
  • June 1 – Launch of the first Ayanami-class destroyer warship by the JMSDF.source
  • July 1 – Production of the Citroën Traction Avant automobile, begun in 1934, ceases.source
  • October 4 – The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow delta wing interceptor aircraft is unveiled.source
  • November 1 – The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at this time, opens in the United States, to connect Michigan's two peninsulas.source
  • December 20 – The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 16 – Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal opens at cinemas in Sweden.source
  • April 30 – The solar eclipse of April 30, 1957, a non-central annular solar eclipse that does not have a northern path limit, takes place. This is the last of 57 umbral solar eclipses of Solar Saros 118.source
  • April – IBM sells the first compiler for the Fortran scientific programming language.source
  • May 15 – Stanley Matthews plays his final international game, ending an English record international career of almost 23 years.source
  • July 1 – The International Geophysical Year begins.source
  • July 1 – Hugh Everett III publishes the first scientifically founded many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.source
  • July 16 – United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.source
  • July 23 – Asghar Khan becomes the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force and the world's youngest Air Vice Marshal at 36 years old.source
  • July 29 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.source
  • October 1 – The Africanized bee is accidentally released in Brazil.source
  • October 4 – Space Age – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.source
  • October 9 – The Jodrell Bank radio telescope in Cheshire, England, is controlled from its control room for the first time.source
  • October 11 – The orbit of the last stage of the R-7 Semyorka rocket (carrying Sputnik I) is first successfully calculated on an IBM 704 computer at the MIT Computation Center as part of Operation Moonwatch, Cambridge, Massachusetts.source
  • November 3 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2, with the first animal to orbit the Earth, a dog named Laika, on board. There is no technology available to return her to Earth.source
  • November 13 – Gordon Gould invents the laser.source
  • December 6 – The first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite fails, when the Vanguard rocket blows up on the launch pad.source
  • Three new neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces are released: Folio (designed by Konrad Bauer and Walter Baum), Neue Haas Grotesk (designed by Max Miedinger) and Univers (designed by Adrian Frutiger); all will be influential in the International Typographic Style of graphic design.source

Health & Medicine

  • January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed for having handled the ball in Test cricket.source
  • January 9 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigns on health grounds.source
  • March 14 – President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 18 – The last person to be executed in New Zealand, Walter James Bolton, is hanged at Mount Eden Prison for poisoning his wife.source
  • April 17 – Suspected English serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams is found not guilty of murder, at the Old Bailey.source
  • Albeit the practice was in decline since the late 19th Century, and illegal since 1912, the very last new case of Chinese foot binding was reported this year.source
  • Mao Zedong admits that 800,000 "class enemies" had been summarily liquidated in China between 1949 and 1954.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • February 17 – A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri, United States, kills 72 people.source
  • March 17 – 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash: Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others are killed in a plane crash.source
  • March 22 – A United States Air Force Boeing C-97 disappears somewhere over the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Japan. All 67 people and the aircraft remain missing to this day.source
  • July 28 – Heavy rains and mudslides at Isahaya, western Kyūshū, Japan, kill 992.source
  • September 21 – The sailing ship Pamir sinks off the Azores in a hurricane.source
  • September 29 – The Kyshtym disaster occurs at the Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant in Russia.source
  • October 20 – Two trains collide at Yarımburgaz in Turkey; 95 die.source
  • November 15 – 1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash: A flying boat crash on the Isle of Wight leaves 45 dead.source
  • December 4 – The Lewisham rail crash in London, UK, leaves 92 people dead.source
  • December 5 – All 326,000 Dutch nationals are expelled from Indonesia.source

Climate & Environment

  • April 24–25 – The 1957 Fethiye earthquakes occur on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.source
  • June 27 – Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, U.S., killing 400 people.source
  • October 10 – Windscale fire: Fire at the Windscale nuclear reactor on the north-west coast of England releases radioactive material into the surrounding environment, including iodine-131.source
  • November 13 – Flooding in the Po Valley of Italy leads to flooding also in Venice.source
  • December 4 – 1957 Bayankhongor Earthquake in Mongolia kills 30+ peoplesource
  • December 18 – A violent F5 tornado wipes out the entire community of Sunfield, Illinois.source

Culture & Society

  • January 15 – The film Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa's reworking of Macbeth, is released in Japan.source
  • February 4 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, , logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. It is decommissioned on March 3, 1980.source
  • February 10 – The Confederation of African Football is founded, at a meeting in Khartoum.source
  • March 3 – Net als toen, sung by Corry Brokken (music by Guus Jansen, lyrics by Willy van Hemert), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 (held at Frankfurt), for the Netherlands.source
  • March 6 – Zodi Ikhia founds the Nigerien Democratic Front (FDN) in Niger.source
  • March 27 – The 29th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in Hollywood. Around the World in 80 Days wins Best Picture.source
  • May 30 – Real Madrid beats Fiorentina 2–0 at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, to win the 1956–57 European Cup (football).source
  • July 1 – The University of Waterloo is founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.source
  • July 6 – At the age of fifteen, Paul McCartney meets John Lennon and his band, the Quarrymen, at the St Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton.source
  • July 28 – The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students, a high point of the Khrushchev Thaw, opens in Moscow.source
  • August 4 – Juan Manuel Fangio, driving for Maserati, wins the Formula One German Grand Prix, clinching (with 4 wins this season) his record 5th world drivers championship, including his 4th consecutive championship (also a record); these 2 records endure for nearly half a century.source
  • September 26 – West Side Story, a new musical by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, opens on Broadway in New York City.source
  • Gruppe SPUR, an artistic collaboration, is founded in Germany.source

Births

  • February 18 – Vanna White, American game show presenter (Wheel of Fortune)source
  • April 22 – Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Polandsource
  • May 10 – Sid Vicious (John Beverley), English punk rock bassist (Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)source
  • May 24 – John G. Rowland, American Republican politician, Governor of Connecticut and felonsource
  • May 27 – Siouxsie Sioux, born Susan Ballion, English post-punk singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)source
  • June 5 – Kim Tai-chung, Korean martial artist and former actor and Bruce Lee double (d. 2011)source
  • June 29 – Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Turkmen politician, 2nd President of Turkmenistansource
  • September 13 – Bongbong Marcos, 17th President of the Philippinessource
  • September 22 – Nick Cave, Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter and actorsource
  • October 23 – Paul Kagame, 4th President of Rwandasource
  • October 25 – Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress (Bart Simpson from The Simpsons)source
  • October 29 – Dan Castellaneta, American voice actor (Homer Simpson from The Simpsons)source
  • November 12 – Cécilia Attias, wife of French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozysource
  • December 16 – Nikolaos Michaloliakos, Greek politician, founder and leader of Golden Dawn, a neo-nazi partysource

Deaths

  • January 10 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)source
  • February 6 – The Soviet Union announces that Swedish envoy Raoul Wallenberg had died in a Soviet prison ("possibly of a heart attack"), on July 17, 1947source
  • February 8 – John von Neumann, Hungarian-born American mathematician (b. 1903)source
  • February 8 – Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)source
  • February 9 – Miklós Horthy, Austro-Hungarian admiral and regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (b. 1868)source
  • March 17 – Ramon Magsaysay, 7th President of the Philippines (b. 1907)source
  • March 28 – Gheorghe Tătărescu, Romanian politician, 36th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1886)source
  • July 8 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (b. 1879)source
  • July 15 – James M. Cox, Democratic candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1920 (b. 1870)source
  • July 26 – Carlos Castillo Armas, Guatemalan military officer and politician, 28th President of Guatemala (b. 1914)source
  • August 16 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)source
  • October 26 – Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)source
  • October 29 – Louis B. Mayer, American film studio mogul, former head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (b. 1885)source
  • December 17 – Dorothy L. Sayers, British crime writer, poet, playwright and essayist (b. 1893)source