WHAT ALL HAPPENED JULY TO DECEMBER 1959
Find out what all happened July to December 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)

French President Charles de Gaulle declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals". (23. November 1959)

The Party of the African Federation holds its constitutive conference. (1. July 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)

Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries. (1. July 1959)

Unknown attackers murder the Walker family in Osprey, Florida. (20. December 1959)

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

Vanguard 3 is launched into Earth orbit. (18. September 1959)

At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate". (24. July 1959)

In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens to the public. (21. October 1959)

Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (7. August 1959)

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

Nikita Khrushchev is barred from visiting Disneyland due to security concerns. (19. September 1959)

The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the moon. (12. September 1959)

The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is established. (8. September 1959)

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jacques Plante wears a protective mask for the first time in an NHL game. (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)

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)

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)