WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO DECEMBER 1956
Find out what all happened April to December 1956

Irish-born physician John Bodkin Adams is arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 patients. Eventually he is convicted only of minor charges. (19. December 1956)

TAT-1, the first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system, is inaugurated. (25. September 1956)

SS Ideal X, the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas. (26. April 1956)

A violent water polo match between Hungary and the USSR takes place during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, against the backdrop of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. (6. December 1956)

Fritz Moravec and two other Austrian mountaineers make the first ascent of Gasherbrum II (8,035 m). (7. July 1956)

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System. (29. June 1956)

Thousands of Hungarians protest against the government and Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4). (23. October 1956)

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Indian Untouchable caste leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 of his followers (see Neo-Buddhism). (14. October 1956)

The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield,in Cumbria, England. (17. October 1956)

A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God we trust as the U.S. national motto. (30. July 1956)

The Soviet Union and Japan sign a Joint Declaration, officially ending the state of war between the two countries that had existed since August 1945. (19. October 1956)

The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage. (13. September 1956)

The Indian states Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Mysore state are formally created under the States Reorganisation Act. (1. November 1956)

Jim Laker becomes the first man to take all 10 wickets in a Test match innings as he returns figures of 10/53 in the Australian 2nd innings. This combined with his 9/37 in the first innings gave him match figures of 19/90 in the 4th Test at Old Trafford. (31. July 1956)

In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna win the general elections in a landslide and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is sworn in as the Prime Minister. (5. April 1956)

Hudsonville-Standale Tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado. (3. April 1956)

In Chicago, Illinois, videotape is first demonstrated. (14. April 1956)

Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time. (15. October 1956)

In Operation Redwing (shot Cherokee), the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. (20. May 1956)

Former Vice President and Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia. He collapses after proclaiming "I would rather be a servant in the house of the lord than sit in the seats of the mighty." (30. April 1956)