WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO SEPTEMBER 1960
Find out what all happened May to September 1960

Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) becomes independent from France. (15. August 1960)

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded. (14. September 1960)

Jane Goodall arrives at the Gombe Stream Reserve in present-day Tanzania to begin her famous study of chimpanzees in the wild. (14. July 1960)

Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. (16. May 1960)

Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded. (12. July 1960)

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents capture fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who is living under the alias of Ricardo Klement. (11. May 1960)

Islamabad is declared the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan. (1. August 1960)

France legislates for the independence of Dahomey (later Benin), Upper Volta (later Burkina) and Niger. (11. July 1960)

USS George Washington a modified Skipjack class submarine successfully test fires the first ballistic missile while submerged. (16. July 1960)

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Abebe Bikila becomes the first sub-Saharan African to win a gold medal, winning the marathon in bare feet. (10. September 1960)

The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time. (20. July 1960)

Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2 – the Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants. (19. August 1960)

Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Also known as "Maharashtra Day" (1. May 1960)

In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1). (8. September 1960)

Cold War: U-2 incident – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis. (1. May 1960)

The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km2) of land undervalued at 4 cents/acre in the 1863 treaty. (17. June 1960)

The boxer Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) is awarded the gold medal for his first place in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome. (5. September 1960)

Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union. (25. June 1960)

The Mali Federation gains independence from France (it later splits into Mali and Senegal). (20. June 1960)

Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government. (20. July 1960)