Centuries:  19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades:  1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years:  1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 - 1951 - 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956
Events
-  January 4 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
 -  January 9 - United Nations headquarters officially opens (New York City).
 -  January 15 - Ilse Koch[?], The "Witch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment in a court in West Germany .
 -  January 27 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flats.
 -  February 27 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
 -  March 6 - The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.
 -  March 7 - Korean War: Operation Ripper[?] - In Korea, United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgeway[?] begin an assault against Chinese forces. 
 -  March 12 - The Dennis the Menace comic strip appears in newspapers across the country for the first time. 
 -  March 14 - Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.  
 -  March 29 - Red Scare: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.  On April 5 they are sentenced to receive the death penalty.
 -  March 30 - Remington Rand[?] delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau. 
 -  April 1 - Australia, New Zealand, United States security treaty signed in San Francisco.
 -  April 18 - Treaty of Paris (1951) adopted, establishing European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); see EU.
 -  July 5 -  William Shockley invents the junction transistor. 
 -  September 8 - Signing of the Treaty of San Francisco.
 -  September 10 - Great Britain begins an economic boycott of Iran
 -  December 24 - Libya becomes independent from Italy
 -  A fourth, and final, forest fire starts in the Tillamook Burn[?]; but unlike earlier fires this one only burns 32,700 acres, and within acreage already affected by the earlier fires.
 
Art, Culture & Fashion
Births
-  January 6 - Kim Wilson[?], rock musician
 -  January 12 - Rush Limbaugh, radio personality
 -  January 30 - Phil Collins, musician
 -  February 6 - Princess Daphné of Belgium[?]
 -  February 15 - Melissa Manchester, singer
 -    February 15   - Jane Seymour, actress
 -  February 20 - Gordon Brown, British politician
 -  March 4 - Kenny Dalglish footballer and football manager
 -    March 4   - Chris Rea[?], British singer and musician
 -  March 17 - Kurt Russell, actor
 -  March 24 - Tommy Hilfiger[?], fashion designer
 -  April 7 - Janis Ian, singer and songwriter
 -  April 29 - Dale Earnhardt, stock car racer (NASCAR)
 -  May 15 -  Jonathan Richman, musician
 -  May 23 -  Anatoly Karpov, chess world champion
 -  May 26 -  Sally Ride, astronaut
 -  May 30 -  Stephen Tobolowsky[?], actor
 -  August 20 - Greg Bear, science fiction author
 -  August 24 - Orson Scott Card, science fiction author
 -  October 6 - Manfred Winkelhock, auto racing driver
 -  November 19 - Lord Falconer, British lawyer and politician
 
Deaths
-  January 10 - Sinclair Lewis, writer
 -  February 9 - Eddy Duchin, musician
 -  February 13 - Lloyd C. Douglas[?], author
 -  February 19 - André Gide, author
 -  March 6 - Ivor Novello, actor, musician, composer
 -  March 25 - Oscar Micheaux, pioneer African-American, filmmaker/author
 -  April 4 - Al Christie, early Hollywood director/producer
 -  May 7 -  Warner Baxter, actor
 -  June 13 - Ben Chifley, Australian Prime Minister
 -  July 13 - Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer
 -  July 29 - Hozumi Shigeto, Japanese author
 -  August 15 - Artur Schnabel, pianist
 -  Robert Broom, paleontologist
 
Nobel Prizes
 
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