1947
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| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1910s 1920s 1930s – 1940s – 1950s 1960s 1970s |
| Years: | 1944 1945 1946 – 1947 – 1948 1949 1950 |
| 1947 by topic: |
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| Gregorian calendar | 1947 MCMXLVII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2700 |
| Armenian calendar | 1396 ԹՎ ՌՅՂԶ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6697 |
| Bahá'í calendar | 103–104 |
| Bengali calendar | 1354 |
| Berber calendar | 2897 |
| British Regnal year | 11 Geo. 6 – 12 Geo. 6 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2491 |
| Burmese calendar | 1309 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7455–7456 |
| Chinese calendar | 丙戌年十二月初十日 (4583/4643-12-10) — to — 丁亥年十一月二十日(4584/4644-11-20) |
| Coptic calendar | 1663–1664 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1939–1940 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5707–5708 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2003–2004 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1869–1870 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5048–5049 |
| Holocene calendar | 11947 |
| Igbo calendar | |
| - Ǹrí Ìgbò | 947–948 |
| Iranian calendar | 1325–1326 |
| Islamic calendar | 1366–1367 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 22 (昭和22年) |
| Juche calendar | 36 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4280 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 36 民國36年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2490 |
Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January and February 1947 are remembered for the worst snowfalls in the UK in the 20th century, with extensive disruption of travel. Given the low ratio of private vehicle ownership at the time this is mainly remembered in terms of the effects on the railway networks.
January
- January 1
- British coal mines are nationalized.
- Nigeria gains limited autonomy.
- The Canadian Citizenship Act comes into effect.
- January 3 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
- January 10 – The United Nations takes control of the free city of Trieste.
- January 15 – Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress nicknamed the " Black Dahlia", is found brutally murdered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles. The case remains unsolved to this day.
- January 16 – Vincent Auriol is inaugurated as president of France.
- January 19 – A shipwreck near Athens, Greece kills 392.
- January 24 – Dimitrios Maximos founds a monarchist government in Athens.
- January 25 – A Philippine plane crashes in Hong Kong, with $5 million worth of gold and money.
- January 30– February 8 – A heavy blizzard in Canada buries towns from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Calgary, Alberta.
- January 31 – The Communists take power in Poland.
February
- February 3
- The lowest air temperature in North America (-63 degrees Celsius) is recorded in Snag, Yukon Territory.
- Percival Prattis becomes the first African-American news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press galleries.
- February 5
- Bolesław Bierut becomes the President of Poland.
- The Government of the United Kingdom announces the £25 million Tanganyika groundnut scheme for cultivation of peanuts in the Tanganyika Territory.
- February 6 – South Pacific Commission (SPC) founded.
- February 8 – A dance hall fire in Berlin, Germany, kills over 80 people.
- February 10 – In Paris, France, peace treaties are signed between the World War II Allies and Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Finland. Italy cedes most of Istria to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
- February 12
- A meteor creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
- Christian Dior introduces The "New Look" in women's fashion, in Paris.
- The Panglong Agreement was reached between the Burmese government under Aung San and the Shan, Kachin, and Chin peoples on 12 February 1947.U Aung Zan Wai, Pe Khin, Major Aung, Sir Maung Gyi and Dr. Sein Mya Maung and Myoma U Than Kywe were among the negotiators of the historical Panglong Conference negotiated with Burmese leader General Aung San and other ethnic leaders in 1947 in Burma .
- February 17 – Cold War: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
- February 20
- An explosion at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Company in Los Angeles, California, leaves 17 dead, 100 buildings damaged, and a 22-foot-deep (6.7 m) crater in the ground.
- U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Hermes program V-2 rocket Blossom I launched into space carrying plant material and fruitflies, the first animals to enter space.
- February 21 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", his Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
- February 22 – Tom and Jerry cartoon Cat Fishin', is released.
- February 23 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
- February 25
- John C. Hennessy, Jr., brings the first Volkswagen Beetle to the United States. He purchased the 1946 VW from the U.S. Army Post Exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, while serving in the U.S. Army. The Beetle was shipped from Bremerhaven, arriving in New York this day.
- The state of Prussia officially ceases to exist.
- The worst-ever train crash in Japan kills 184 people.
- February 28
- The United States grants France a military base in Casablanca.
- In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with large loss of civilian lives.
March
- March 1
- The International Monetary Fund begins to operate.
- Wernher von Braun marries his first cousin, the 18-year-old Maria von Quirstorp.
- March 4 – Treaty of Dunkirk (coming into effect 8 September) signed between the United Kingdom and France providing for mutual assistance in the event of attack.
- March 6 – USS Newport News, the first completely air-conditioned warship, is launched in Newport News, Virginia.
- March 9 – Carrie Chapman Catt dies in New Rochelle.
- March 12 – The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
- March 14 – Thames flood and other widespread flooding as the exceptionally harsh British winter of 1946–1947 ends in a thaw.
- March 15 – Hindus and Muslims clash in Punjab.
- March 19 – The 19th Academy Awards ceremony is held. The movie Best Years of Our Lives wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, along with several other Academy Awards.
- March 25 – A coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois, kills 111 miners.
- March 28 – A World War II Japanese booby trap explodes on Corregidor island, killing 28 people.
- March 29 – A rebellion against French rule erupts in Madagascar.
- March 31 – The leaders of the Kurdish People's Republic of Mahabad, the second Kurdish state in the history of Iran, are hanged at the Chuwarchira Square in Mahabad after that country had been overrun by the Iranian army.
April
- April 1
- Jackie Robinson, the first African American in modern Major League Baseball, signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
- King George II of Greece is succeeded by his brother King Paul I.
- April 4 – International Civil Aviation Organization
- April 9 – Multiple tornadoes strike Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas killing 181 people and injuring 970.
- April 15 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play modern Major League Baseball.
- April 16 – Texas City Disaster: the ammonium nitrate cargo of former Liberty ship SS Grandcamp explodes in Texas City, Texas, killing 552, injuring 3,000, causing 200 lost, and destroying 20 city blocks.
- April 18 – Royal Navy detonates 6,800 tons of explosives in an attempt to demolish the fortified island of Heligoland, Germany, thus creating one of the largest man-made non-nuclear explosions in history.
- April 26 – Academy-Award winning Tom and Jerry cartoon, The Cat Concerto, is released to theatres.
May
- May 1 – The Salvatore Giuliano gang opens fire on a labour day parade at Portella della Ginestra, Sicily, killing 11 people and wounding 27.
- May 2 – The movie Miracle on 34th Street, a Christmastime classic, is first shown in theaters.
- May 3 – The new post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
- May 12 – The animated cartoon film Rabbit Transit, directed by Friz Freleng, is released.
- May 22
- The Cold War begins: In an effort to fight the spread of Communism, President Harry S. Truman signs an Act of Congress that implements the Truman Doctrine. This Act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.
- David Lean's film Great Expectations, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, opens in the United States. Critics call it the finest film ever made from a Charles Dickens novel.
- May 25 – An airliner of the Flugfelag Íslands crashes into a mountainside, killing 25 people.
June
- June 5 – U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan for American reconstruction and relief aid to Europe.
- June 7 – The Royal Romanian Army founded, the-now most successful Romanian football club, Steaua București, as A.S.A. București.
- June 10 – SAAB produces its first automobile.
- June 11– 15 – First Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod is held in Wales.
- June 15 – The Portuguese government orders 11 military officers and 19 university professors who were accused of revolutionary activity to resign.
- June 21
- Seaman Harold Dahl claims to have seen six UFOs near Maury Island in Puget Sound, Washington. On the next morning, Dahl reports the first modern so-called " Men in Black" encounter.
- The Canadian Parliament votes unanimously to pass several laws regarding displaced foreign refugees.
- June 23 – The United States Senate follows the House of Representatives in overriding President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.
- June 24 – Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington.
July
- July 7 – A supposedly downed extraterrestrial spacecraft is reportedly found in the Roswell UFO incident, near Roswell, New Mexico, which was written about by Stanton T. Friedman.
- July 10 – Princess Elizabeth announces her engagement to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.
- July 11 – The Exodus leaves France for Palestine, with 4,500 Jewish Holocaust survivor refugees on board.
- July 17 – The Indian passenger ship Ramdas is capsized by a cyclone at Mumbai, India, with 625 people killed.
- July 18
- Following wide media and UNSCOP coverage, The Exodus is captured by British troops and refused entry into Palestine at the port of Haifa.
- President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law, which places the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate next in the line of succession after the Vice President.
- July 26 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into law, creating the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
- July 29 – After being shut down on November 9, 1946, for a refurbishment, the ENIAC computer, the world's first electronic digital computer, is turned back on again. It next remains in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.
August
- August 5 – The Netherlands stops all political actions in Indonesia.
- August 7
- Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101 day, 4,300 mile, voyage across the Eastern Pacific Ocean, proving that pre-historic peoples could hypothetically have traveled to the Central Pacific islands from South America.
- The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
- August 14
- The Muslim majority region formed by the Partition of India gain independence from the British Empire and adopts the name Pakistan. While the transition is officially at midnight on this day, Pakistan celebrates its independence on August 14, compared with India on the 15th, because the Pakistan Standard Time is 30 minutes behind the standard time of India.
- Muhammad Ali Jinnah becomes the first Governor General of Pakistan. Liaqat Ali Khan takes office as the first Prime Minister of Pakistan
- August 15
- The greater Indian subcontinent with a mixed population of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, etc. formed by the Partition of India gain independence from the British Empire and retains the name India.
- Louis Mountbatten becomes the first Governor General of India. Jawaharlal Nehru takes office as the first Prime Minister of India.
- August 16 – In Greece, General Markos Vafiadis takes over the government.
- August 23 – The Prime Minister of Greece, Dimitrios Maximos, resigns.
- August 27 – The French government lowers the daily bread ration to 200 grams, causing riots in Verdun and in Le Mans.
- August 30 – A fire at a movie theatre in Rueil, a suburb of Paris, France kills 87 people.
- August 31 – The communists seize power in Hungary.
September
- September 9 – A moth lodged in a relay is found to be the cause of a malfunction in the Harvard Mark II electromechanical computer, logged as "First actual case of bug being found."
- September 10 – Hasan Saka forms the new government of Turkey. (16 th government)
- September 13 – Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru suggests the exchange of four million Hindus and Muslims between India and Pakistan.
- September 17– September 21 – The 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane in southeastern Florida, and also in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, causes widespread damage and kills 51 people.
- September 18
- National Security Act of 1947 becomes effective on this day creating the United States Air Force, National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.
- War Department becomes the Department of the Army, a branch of the new Department of Defense.
- September 22 – Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties ( Communist Information Bureau) ("Cominform") is founded.
- September 30 – Pakistan and Yemen join the United Nations.
October
- October – First recorded use of the word computer in its modern sense, referring to an electronic digital machine.
- October 5 – President Harry S. Truman delivers the first televised White House address speaking on the world food crises.
- October 14 – The United States Air Force test pilot, Captain Chuck Yeager, flies a Bell X-1 rocket plane faster than the speed of sound, the first time it has been accomplished
- October 20 – A war begins in Kashmir, along the border between India and Pakistan, leading to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 in the following year. Also, Pakistan established diplomatic relations with the United States of America.
- October 24 – The first Azad Kashmir Government is established by the Freedom Fighters within Pakistan, headed by Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan as its first President supported by the government of Pakistan.
- October 30 – The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is established.
November
- November 2
- November 6 – The program Meet the Press makes its television debut on the NBC-TV network in the United States.
- November 9 – Junagadh is invaded by the Indian army.
- November 10 – The arrest of four steel workers in Marseille begins a French communist riot that also spreads to Paris.
- November 15
- International Telecommunication Union becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.
- Universal Postal Union (UPU) becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations (effective 1 July 1948).
- November 16
- November 18 – The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41 people.
- November 20
- The Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II), the daughter of George VI, marries The Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom.
- Paul Ramadier resigns as the Prime Minister of France. He is succeeded by Robert Schuman, who calls 80,000 army reservists to quell rioting miners in France.
- November 21 – The United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment begins in Havana, Cuba. This conference ends in 1948, when its members finish the Havana Charter.
- November 24 – Red Scare: The U.S. House of Representatives votes 346 – 17 to approve citations of Contempt of Congress against the so-called Hollywood 10, after the ten men refuse to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee concerning allegations of communist influences in the movie business. (The ten men are blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios on the following day.)
- November 25 – The Parliament of New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster, and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
- November 27 – In Paris, France, police occupy the editorial offices of the communist newspapers.
- November 29 – The United Nations General Assembly votes to partition Palestine between Arab and Jewish regions, which results in the creation of the State of Israel.
December
- December 3
- French communist strikers derail the Paris-Tourcoing express train because of false rumors that it was transporting soldiers. 21 people are killed.
- The Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Marlon Brando in his first great role, opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway. Jessica Tandy also stars as Blanche Du Bois.
- December 4 – The French Interior Minister, Jules S. Moch, takes emergency measures against his country's rioters after six days of violent arguments in the National Assembly.
- December 6 – Arturo Toscanini conducts a concert performance of the first half of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello, which was based on William Shakespeare's play Othello, for a broadcast on NBC Radio. The second half of the opera is broadcast a week later.
- December 9 – French labor unions call off the general strike and re-commence negotiations with the French government.
- December 12 – The Iranian Royal Army takes back power in the Azerbaijan province.
- December 21 - 400,000 slaughtered during mass migration of Hindus and Muslims into the new states India and Pakistan.
- December 22
- The Italian Constituent Assembly votes to accept the new Constitution of Italy.
- The first practical electronic transistor is demonstrated by Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley of the United States.
- December 30 – King Michael of Romania abdicates.
Date unknown
- The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is introduced.
- The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigations into communism in Hollywood.
- Cambridge University begins to admit women as full students.
- Mikhail Kalashnikov's AK-47 assault rifle is accepted as the standard small arm of the Soviet military.
- Raytheon produces the first commercial microwave oven.
- Women's suffrage is granted in Argentina.
- In a cave in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea), several tall pottery jars containing leather scrolls are discovered, which later become known as the Dead Sea scrolls.
- By the discovery of promethium in the products of nuclear fission, the last remaining gap of the periodic table is closed.
In fiction
The song Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band mentions Sgt. Pepper teaching the band to play "20 years ago today". This would place the event somewhere between February 1 and June 1 of 1947.
Births
January
- January 1
- Frances Yip, Hong Kong singer
- Vladimir Titov, Russian cosmonaut
- Leon Patillo, American Christian musician
- January 2 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist
- January 4 – Chris Cutler, English percussionist
- January 5 – Mercury Morris, American football player
- January 6 – Sandy Denny, British singer (d. 1978)
- January 7 – Shobha De, Indian writer
- January 8
- David Bowie, English rock musician
- Samuel Schmid, Swiss Federal Councilor
- Terry Sylvester, English singer and musician
- Laurie Walters, American actress (Eight Is Enough)
- January 9 – Ronnie Landfield, American artist
- January 11 – Mart Smeets, Dutch sports journalist
- January 14 – Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (d. 2003)
- January 16
- Laura Schlessinger, American radio and TV talk show hostess
- Apasra Hongsakula, Miss Universe 1965
- January 18 – Takeshi Kitano, Japanese film director and actor
- January 19 – Paula Dean, Food Channel star
- January 21 – Jill Eikenberry, American actress
- January 23
- Thomas R. Carper, U.S. Senator from Delaware
- Megawati Sukarnoputri, former President of Indonesia
- January 24
- Michio Kaku, American theoretical physicist
- Warren Zevon, American rock musician (Werewolves of London) (d. 2003)
- Masashi Ozaki, Japanese golfer
- January 25 – Eduardo Goncalves de Andrade, Brazilian football player
- January 29 – Linda B. Buck, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- January 30 – Steve Marriott, British rock musician ( Small Faces, Humble Pie) (d. 1991)
- January 31 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
February
- February 1 – Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
- February 2 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress (Charlie's Angels) (d. 2009)
- February 3
- Melanie Safka, American rock singer
- Paul Auster, American novelist
- February 4
- Dan Quayle, Vice President of the United States 1989–1993
- Dennis C. Blair, American admiral and Director of National Intelligence
- February 5 – Darrell Waltrip, American race car driver and broadcaster
- February 7 – Wayne Allwine, American voice actor (Mickey Mouse) (d. 2009)
- February 10
- Louise Arbour, Canadian jurist
- Nicholas Owen, English newsreader (ITN)
- February 11
- Yukio Hatoyama, Prime Minister of Japan 2009-2010
- Derek Shulman, Lead Singer of Gentle Giant
- February 12 – Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Punjabi saint, Sikh theologian, military leader (d. 1984)
- February 13 – Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball coach
- February 15 – John Coolidge Adams, American composer
- February 18
- Princess Christina of the Netherlands
- Dennis DeYoung, American rock musician ( Styx)
- February 20
- Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
- Peter Strauss, American actor
- February 21 – Victor Sokolov, Russian dissident journalist and priest (d. 2006)
- February 24 – Edward James Olmos, American actor (Stand and Deliver)
- February 25 – Doug Yule, American rock singer and musician ( The Velvet Underground)
- February 26 – Sandie Shaw, British singer
- February 27 – Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist
- February 28 – Stephanie Beacham, English actress
March
- March 4
- David Franzoni, American screenwriter
- Jan Garbarek, Norwegian musician
- Gunnar Hansen, Icelandic actor (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre)
- Gwen Welles, American actress (d. 1993)
- March 6
- Kiki Dee, English pop singer
- Dick Fosbury, American athlete
- Teru Miyamoto, Japanese author
- Rob Reiner, American actor, comedian producer and director (All in the Family)
- March 7 – Walter Röhrl, German race car driver
- March 8 – Carole Bayer Sager, American singer and songwriter
- March 10
- Kim Campbell, a Prime Minister of Canada
- Tom Scholz, American musician, songwriter and inventor
- March 11 – David Ferguson, American music producer and activist
- March 12
- Kalervo Palsa, a Finnish artist
- Mitt Romney, a former Governor of Massachusetts
- March 13 – Beat Richner, Swiss pediatrician and cellist
- March 14 – Pam Ayres, British poet
- March 15 – Ry Cooder, American guitarist
- March 16
- Baek Yoon-sik, a South Korean actor
- Ramzan Paskayev, Chechen accordionist
- March 17 – Yury Chernavsky, Russian-born composer and producer
- March 19 – Glenn Close, American actress
- March 20 – John Boswell, American historian (d. 1994)
- March 22 – James Patterson, American author
- March 24
- Louise Lanctôt, Canadian terrorist and writer
- Alan Sugar, English entrepreneur
- March 25 – Elton John, English rock singer, pianist and songwriter
- March 27 – Walt Mossberg, American newspaper columnist
April
- April 1 – Alain Connes, French mathematician
- April 2
- Emmylou Harris, American singer-songwriter
- Camille Paglia, American literary critic
- April 4 – Eliseo Soriano, Philippine preacher
- April 5 – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, incumbent Philippine president and daughter of former president Diosdado Macapagal
- April 6 – John Ratzenberger, American actor (Cheers)
- April 8
- Tom DeLay, American politician
- Robert Kiyosaki, American investor, businessman, self-help author, motivational speaker, game inventor, financial literacy activist, and occasional financial commentator
- April 12
- Tom Clancy, American author
- David Letterman, American talk show host
- April 15
- Lois Chiles, American actress (Moonraker)
- Mike Chapman, Australian-born record producer and songwriter
- April 16
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American pro basketball player
- Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer and songwriter (d. 2011)
- April 17 – Jerzy Stuhr, Polish actor and director
- April 18
- Kathy Acker, American author (d. 1997)
- James Woods, American actor
- April 19 – Murray Perahia, American pianist
- April 20 – Hector, Finnish rock musician
- April 21 – Iggy Pop, American rock musician
- April 25 – Johan Cruijff, Dutch footballer and coach
- April 28 – Ken St. Andre, American game designer and author
- April 29 – Tommy James, American rock singer and producer (Mony Mony)
- April 30 – Leslie Grantham, English actor
May
- May 4 – Theda Skocpol, American sociologist
- May 6 – Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher
- May 8 – H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- May 11 – Walter Selke, German physicist
- May 12 – Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politician, philosopher and historian
- May 13 – Stephen R. Donaldson, American novelist
- May 19 – Paul Brady, Northern Irish singer/songwriter
- May 24 – Maude Barlow, Canadian author, activist and National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians
- May 26 – Glenn Turner, New Zealand cricket captain
- May 27
- Branko Oblak, Slovenian football player and coach
- Peter DeFazio, American politician
- May 29 – Stan Zemanek, Australian radio broadcaster (d. 2007)
June
- June 1
- Ronnie Wood, English rock musician ( The Faces, The Rolling Stones)
- Jonathan Pryce, Welsh actor
- June 4 – Viktor Klima, Chancellor of Austria
- June 5 – Laurie Anderson, American experimental performance artist, composer and musician
- June 6
- David Blunkett, British politician
- Ada Kok, Dutch swimmer
- Robert Englund, American actor (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
- June 7 – Thurman Munson, American baseball catcher (d. 1979)
- June 8 – Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- June 14 – Barry Melton, American rock musician ( Country Joe and the Fish)
- June 15 – John Hoagland, American war photographer (d. 1984)
- June 16 – -minu, Swiss columnist and writer
- June 19
- Paula Koivuniemi, Finnish singer
- Salman Rushdie, Indian-born British author (The Satanic Verses)
- June 20 – Candy Clark, American actress
- June 21
- Meredith Baxter, American actress ( Family Ties)
- Shirin Ebadi, Iranian activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- Michael Gross, American actor ( Family Ties)
- Fernando Savater, Spanish philosopher and author
- June 22
- June 25 – Jimmie Walker, American actor ( Good Times)
- June 28 – Mark Helprin, American writer
- June 29 – David Chiang, Hong Kong actor
July
- July 2 – Larry David, American actor, writer, producer and director
- July 3
- Dave Barry, American writer
- Betty Buckley, American actress and singer
- July 6 – Larnelle Harris, American Christian musician
- July 7
- Felix Standaert, Belgian diplomat
- Richard Beckinsale, English actor (d. 1979)
- July 8 – Bobby Sowell, American pianist and composer
- July 9
- Haruomi Hosono, Japanese musician ( Yellow Magic Orchestra)
- Mitch Mitchell, English rock drummer ( The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (d. 2008)
- O. J. Simpson, American football player and actor (The Naked Gun)
- July 10 – Arlo Guthrie, American folk singer (The City of New Orleans)
- July 12 – Loren Coleman, American cryptozoologist and author
- July 17 – Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, British Princess and second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales
- July 18 – Steven W. Mahoney, Canadian politician
- July 19
- Bernie Leadon, American musician and songwriter ( Eagles)
- Brian May, English rock guitarist (Queen)
- July 20
- Gerd Binnig, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Carlos Santana, Mexican-born rock guitarist
- July 21 – Co Adriaanse, Dutch football manager
- July 22
- Albert Brooks, American actor, comedian and director
- Don Henley, American singer-songwriter and musician ( Eagles)
- July 23
- Larry Manetti, American actor (Magnum, P.I.)
- Spencer Christian, American television weather reporter
- July 24 – Peter Serkin, American pianist
- July 27 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman (d. 2008)
- July 30
- William Atherton, American actor
- Al Dubois, Canadian television personality and game show host (Bumper Stumpers)
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born American actor, bodybuilder, and 38th Governor of California
- July 31
- Richard Griffiths, English actor
- Joe Wilson, American Republican U.S. House of Representative for South Carolina's 2nd congressional district
August
- August 3 – Colleen Corby, American fashion model
- August 6 – Mohammad Najibullah, former President of Afghanistan (d. 1996)
- August 7 – Franciscus Henri, Dutch-born Australian children's entertainer, composer and artist
- August 8 – Terangi Adam, Nauruan politician
- August 9 – John Varley, American science-fiction author
- August 10
- Ian Anderson, British rock musician ( Jethro Tull)
- Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian politician
- August 12 – William Hartston, British chess player
- August 14
- Danielle Steel, American romance novelist
- Maddy Prior, English folk singer
- August 15 – Raakhee, Indian actress
- August 16 – Marc Messier, Canadian actor
- August 19
- Gerard Schwarz, American conductor
- Terry Hoeppner, American football coach (d. 2007)
- August 22 – Cindy Williams, American actress
- August 23 – Willy Russell, British playwright
- August 24 – Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist
- August 26 – Emiliano Díez, Cuban actor
- August 27 – Barbara Bach, American actress (The Spy Who Loved Me)
- August 28 – Liza Wang, Hong Kong actress, Otis Surratt
- August 29 – Temple Grandin, American animal welfare and autism expert
- August 30 – Allan Rock, Canadian politician and diplomat
- August 31
- Ramon Castellano de Torres, Spanish painter
- Somchai Wongsawat, Thai 26th Prime Minister
September
- September 1 – Al Green, an American politician
- September 3 – Kjell Magne Bondevik, the Prime Minister of Norway
- September 5 – Kiyoshi Takayama, Japanese yakuza boss
- September 6
- Bruce Rioch, a Scottish footballer and coach
- Jane Curtin, an American actress and comedienne
- September 8 – Benjamin Orr, American singer and songwriter, a guitarist, and a singer for the band The Cars (d. 2000)
- September 9 – Freddy Weller, American singer-songwriter, guitarist for the band Paul Revere & The Raiders.
- September 14 – Sam Neill, an actor from New Zealand (A Cry in the Dark)
- September 16 – Russ Abbot, a British comedian and actor
- September 17 – Tessa Jowell, a British politician
- September 19 – Steve Bartlett, a U.S. Congressman and the former mayor of Dallas, Tex.
- September 21
- Don Felder, American musician and songwriter (the Eagles)
- Stephen King, American horror author
- September 22
- Norma McCorvey, American abortion plaintiff (Roe v. Wade)
- Jo Beverley, English-Canadian writer
- September 23 – Mary Kay Place, an American actress and singer
- September 25 – Ali Parvin, an Iranian footballer and coach
- September 26 – Lynn Anderson, an American country-music singer
- September 27
- Dick Advocaat, a Dutch football manager
- Meat Loaf (Marvin Lee Aday), an American rock singer and actor.
- September 28 – Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh (1996–2001 and 2009–present)
- September 30
- Marc Bolan, English rock musician ( T. Rex) (d. 1977)
- Rula Lenska, English actress
October
- October 1
- Aaron Ciechanover, an Israeli biologist, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- Stephen Collins, an American actor (7th Heaven)
- October 2 – Ward Churchill, American author and activist
- October 4 – Ann Widdecombe, British politician
- October 5 – Brian Johnson, English rock singer ( AC/DC)
- October 6 – Gail Farrell, American singer
- October 7 – Pip Williams, British record producer
- October 8 – Stephen Shore, American photographer
- October 9 – France Gall, a French singer
- October 10 – Larry Lamb, British Actor
- October 13 – Sammy Hagar, an American rock singer
- October 14 – Lukas Resetarits, an Austrian singer and actor
- October 16 – Bob Weir, an American rock guitarist (the Grateful Dead)
- October 17
- Gene Green, an American politician
- Michael McKean, an American actor and comedian (Laverne and Shirley)
- October 18 – James H. Fallon, an American neuroscientist
- October 19 – Giorgio Cavazzano, an Italian comics artist and illustrator
- October 22 – Ed Welch, an English TV-music composer
- October 24 – Kevin Kline, an American actor
- October 25 – Glenn Tipton, an English rock guitarist ( Judas Priest)
- October 26
- Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former First Lady of the United States, a former senator from New York State, and the current American Secretary of State
- Trevor Joyce, an Irish poet
- Jaclyn Smith, an American actress (Charlie's Angels)
- October 29 – Richard Dreyfuss, an American actor (Mr. Holland's Opus)
- October 30 – Timothy B. Schmit, an American musician (the Eagles)
- October 31 – Herman Van Rompuy, a noted Belgian politician
November
- November 5 – Rubén Juárez, Argentine bandoneonist and singer-songwriter of tango (d. 2010)
- November 6
- E. Lee Spence, pioneer underwater archaeologist and treasure hunter
- Jim Rosenthal, ITV sport presenter
- November 7
- Yutaka Fukumoto, Japanese professional baseball player
- Sondhi Limthongkul, Thai journalist, writer and founder of Manager Daily, also leader of PAD
- November 8
- Minnie Riperton, American R&B singer (Lovin' You) (d. 1979)
- Cassandra B. Whyte, American educator and higher education administrator
- November 9 – Phil Driscoll, American Christian musician and trumpet player
- November 10 – Glen Buxton, American rock guitarist ( Alice Cooper) (d. 1997)
- November 13 – Joe Mantegna, American actor
- November 14 – P. J. O'Rourke, American journalist and satirist
- November 15 – Steven G. Kellman, American author and critic
- November 17 – Inky Mark, Canadian politician
- November 19
- Bob Boone, American baseball player and manager
- Anfinn Kallsberg, former Faroese Prime Minister
- Lamar S. Smith, American politician
- November 20 – Joe Walsh, American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist ( Eagles)
- November 21
- Chua Ek Kay, Singaporean painter (d. 2008)
- Nickolas Grace, British actor
- November 23 – Alphons Orie, Dutch criminal lawyer and judge
- November 24
- Mike Gorman, American sports announcer ( Boston Celtics)
- Dwight Schultz, American actor (The A-Team)
- November 25 – John Larroquette, American actor (Night Court)
- November 27 – Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti
- November 29 – Mirza Khazar, an eminent Azerbaijani author, political analyst, legendary anchorman, translator of the Bible into Azerbaijani language.
- November 30
- Véronique Le Flaguais, Canadian actress
- Sergio Badilla Castillo, Chilean poet
- David Mamet, American playwright
- Stuart Baird, English film editor, producer and director
- Jude Ciccolella, American actor
December
- December 1 – Bob Fulton, English-born Australian rugby league player
- December 2 – Isaac Bitton, French rock band drummer ( Les Variations)
- December 7 – Wendy Padbury, British actress
- December 8
- Thomas R. Cech, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Gérard Blanc, French singer
- December 9 – Tom Daschle, U.S. Senator
- December 10 – Rainer Seifert, German field hockey player
- December 12 – Will Alsop, English architect
- December 14
- Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
- Dilma Rousseff, 36th President of Brazil
- December 16
- Ben Cross, English actor
- Vincent Matthews, American athlete
- December 18 – Leonid Yuzefovich, Russian crime fiction writer
- December 21
- Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist
- Bryan Hamilton, Irish footballer and football manager
- December 22 – Mitsuo Tsukahara, Japanese gymnast
- December 26 – Carlton Fisk, American baseball player
- December 28 – Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican Major League Baseball player (d. 2000)
- December 29 – Ted Danson, American actor (Cheers)
- December 30 – Jeff Lynne, British musician ( Electric Light Orchestra)
- December 31
- Burton Cummings, Canadian rock musician (The Guess Who)
- Tim Matheson, American actor, film director and producer (Animal House)
Date unknown
- Jean-François Batellier, French political cartoonist
- Peter Irniq, Commissioner of Nunavut
- Stephen LaBerge, Lucid dream researcher
- Jamie Donnelly, an American film and stage actress
Deaths
January–June
- January 3 – Al Herpin (The Man Who Never Slept), notable insomniac (b. 1853)
- January 9 – Herman Bing, German actor (b. 1889)
- January 15 – Elizabeth Short (The Black Dahlia), famous murder victim (b. 1924)
- January 20
- Andrew Volstead, American politician (b. 1860)
- Josh Gibson, African-American baseball player (b. 1911)
- January 23 – Pierre Bonnard, French painter (b. 1867)
- January 25 – Al Capone, American gangster (b. 1899)
- January 26
- January 27 – Vasily Balabanov, administrator and Provincial Governor of Imperial Russia (b.1873)
- February 6 – O. Max Gardner, Governor of North Carolina
- February 11 – Martin Klein, Estonian wrestler (b.1884)
- February 12
- February 27 – Heinrich Häberlin, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1868)
- March 5 – Alfredo Casella, Italian composer (b. 1883)
- March 11 – Victor Lustig, Austrian-born con artist (b. 1890)
- March 12 – Walter Samuel Goodland, Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1862)
- March 18 – William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (b. 1861)
- March 19 – Prudence Heward, Canadian painter (b. 1896)
- March 20 – Victor Goldschmidt, Swiss geochemist (b. 1888)
- March 21 – Homer Lusk Collyer, American hermit brother ( Collyer brothers) (b. 1881)
- March 23 – Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany (b. 1870)
- March 25 – Chen Cheng-po, Taiwanese painter (b. 1895)
- March 28 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish military leader (b. 1897)
- March 30 – Arthur Machen, Welsh-born author (b. 1863)
- April 1 – King George II of Greece (b. 1890)
- April 7 – Henry Ford, American automobile manufacturer (b. 1863)
- April 8 – Langley Collyer, American hermit brother ( Collyer brothers) (b. 1885)
- April 10 – John Ince, American actor (b. 1878)
- April 16 – Rudolf Höss, German commandant of Auschwitz (b. 1900)
- April 20 – King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
- April 24 – Willa Siebert Cather, American novelist (b. 1873)
- May 8 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American department store magnate (b. 1858)
- May 13 – Sukanta Bhattacharya, Bengali poet (b. 1926)
- May 16 – Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (b. 1861)
- May 17 – George Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1869)
- May 18 – Lucile Gleason, American actress (b. 1888)
- May 20 – Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- May 24 – C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (b. 1878)
- May 28 – August Eigruber, Nazi war criminal (executed) (b. 1907)
- May 29 – Martin Gottfried Weiss, Nazi war criminal (executed) (b. 1905)
- May 30 – Georg Ludwig von Trapp, Austrian sailor, patriarch of the Von Trapp Family of The Sound of Music fame (b. 1880)
- May 31 – Adrienne Ames, American actress (b. 1907)
- June 6 – Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz, former President of Poland (b. 1885)
- June 9 – J. Warren Kerrigan, American actor (b. 1879)
- June 11 – Richard Hönigswald, Hungarian-born American philosopher (b. 1875)
- June 17 – Maxwell Perkins, American literary editor (b. 1884)
- June 18 – Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese rear admiral and convicted war criminal (executed) (b. 1898)
- June 19 – Kōsō Abe, Japanese admiral (b. 1892)
- June 20 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (b. 1906)
- June 22 – Jim Tully, vagabond, pugilist, noted American writer (b. 1891)
- June 26 – Richard Bedford Bennett, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1870)
July–December
- July 12 – Jimmie Lunceford, American jazz musician (b. 1902)
- July 15 – Brandon Hurst, Anglo American stage and screen veteran (b. 1866)
- July 15 – Walter Donaldson, American songwriter (b. 1893)
- July 17 – Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat and humanitarian (presumed dead on this date) (b. 1912)
- July 19 – Aung San, Burmese nationalist (assassinated) (b. 1915)
- July 27 – Ivan Regen, Slovenian biologist (b. 1868)
- July 30 – Joseph Cook, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1860)
- August 8 – Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Russian military leader (b. 1872)
- August 25 – Franz Cumont, Belgian archaeologist and historian (b. 1868)
- August 29 – Kōtarō Nakamura, General of the Imperial Japanese Army (b. 1881)
- September 1 – Frederick Russell Burnham, American Scout, father of the international Scouting movement (b. 1861)
- September 9 – Ananda Coomaraswamy, philosopher (b. 1877)
- September 20 – Fiorello H. La Guardia, Mayor of New York (b. 1882)
- September 21 – Harry Carey, American actor (b. 1878)
- September 26 – Hugh Lofting, British writer (b. 1886)
- October 1 – Olive Borden, American actress (b. 1906)
- October 4 – Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
- October 6 – Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer (b. 1887)
- October 17 – John Halliday, American actor (b. 1880)
- October 24 – Dudley Digges, Irish actor (b. 1879)
- October 28 – Earl Snell, Governor of Oregon (plane crash) (b. 1895)
- October 29 – Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland (b. 1864)
- November 1 – Man o' War, champion thoroughbred racehorse (b. 1917)
- November 25 – Léon-Paul Fargue, French writer (b. 1876)
- November 28
- November 30 – Ernst Lubitsch, German film director (b. 1892)
- December 1
- December 7
- Nicholas M. Butler, American president of Columbia University, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1862)
- Tristan Bernard, French writer and lawyer (b. 1866)
- December 14
- Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
- Edward Higgins, General of The Salvation Army (b. 1864)
- December 17 – J. N. Brønsted, Danish chemist (b. 1879)
- December 25 – Gaspar G. Bacon, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1886)
- December 27 – Johannes Winkler, German rocket pioneer (b. 1897)
- December 28 – Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (b. 1869)
Nobel Prizes
- Physics – Edward Victor Appleton
- Chemistry – Sir Robert Robinson
- Medicine – Carl Ferdinand Cori, Gerty Cori, Bernardo Houssay
- Literature – André Gide
- Peace – The Friends Service Council (UK) and The American Friends Service Committee (USA), on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends
