WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO DECEMBER 1959
Find out what all happened May to December 1959

Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career. (23. June 1959)

Premiere of Bonanza, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color. (12. September 1959)

The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration on live television from New York City. (16. September 1959)

The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles. (9. June 1959)

Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology. (29. December 1959)

Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people. (3. August 1959)

A fire in a resort hotel in Stalheim (Norway) kills 34 people. (23. June 1959)

The 1st Grammy Awards are held. (4. May 1959)

The Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel. (19. November 1959)

Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens. (11. August 1959)

The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it. (14. September 1959)

The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham. (30. May 1959)

A group of Dominican exiles depart from Cuba and land in the Dominican Republic with the intent of overthrowing the totalitarian government of Rafael Trujillo. All but four are killed or executed. (14. June 1959)

The first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, is opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway. (2. November 1959)

Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere. (7. July 1959)

Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox. (21. July 1959)

Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus. (13. December 1959)

In Rwanda, Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa is beaten up by Tutsi forces, leading to a period of violence known as the wind of destruction. (1. 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 Lisbon Metro begins operation. (29. December 1959)