WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1959
Find out what all happened January to December 1959

A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL. (8. April 1959)

Launch of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea. (18. May 1959)

The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia's first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across Bass Strait. (23. September 1959)

Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500. (22. February 1959)

Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States. (15. September 1959)

United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day (21. August 1959)

Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana. (17. August 1959)

Nearly 5000 people die on the main Japanese island of Honshū as the result of a typhoon. (27. September 1959)

Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2 – The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution. (17. February 1959)

Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent. (1. December 1959)

At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde. (12. October 1959)

The Lisbon Metro begins operation. (29. December 1959)

The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR. (9. February 1959)

The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail. (8. June 1959)

American disc jockey Alan Freed, who had popularized the term "rock and roll" and music of that style, is fired from WABC-AM radio for refusing to deny allegations that he had participated in the payola scandal. (21. November 1959)

Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless. (26. September 1959)

The steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history. (15. July 1959)

The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South, which will later become South Yemen, is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom. (11. February 1959)

Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, 300,000 Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal. (10. March 1959)

Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union. (2. January 1959)