1962

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

Years: 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 - 1962 - 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967

• Sino-Indian War border dispute involving two of the world's largest nations (between India and China).
• January 1 - Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand.
• January 3 - Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
• January 4 - New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board.
• January 8 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art[?] in Washington, DC).
• January 11 - Eruption of the volcano Huascaran[?] in Peru; 4000 deaths.
• January 22 - The Organization of American States (OAS) suspends Cuba's membership.
• January 26 - Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later missed the moon by 22,000 miles.
• January 30 - Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas[?]" are killed when their famous seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit, Michigan.
• February 7 - The United States Government bans all US-related Cuban imports and exports.
• February 14 - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
• February 2 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.
• February 5 - French President Charles De Gaulle calls for allowing Algeria to be an independent nation.
• February 10 - Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel[?].
• February 20 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7[?], John Glenn orbits the Earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes becoming the first American to orbit the Earth.
• March 1 - Uganda becomes self-governing.
• March 18 - France and Algeria sign an agreement ending the Algerian War.
• April 26 - The Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
• May 23 - Drilling for new Montreal, Quebec subway commences
• May 24 - Scott Carpenter[?] orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7[?] space capsule[?].
• June 3 - Algeria becomes independent from France.
• July 1 - Independence of Rwanda and Burundi.
• July 5 - Algeria becomes independent from France.
• July 23 - Telstar transmits the first trans-Atlantic television signal.
• September 12 - President John F. Kennedy declares the USA will get a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
• October - Cuban missile crisis.
• October 11 - Opening of Second Vatican Council.
• December 8 - Closing of first period of Second Vatican Council.
• Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring released, giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement.
• Completion of Coventry cathedral.

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1962 in film
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • The Longest Day
  • To Kill a Mockingbird, starring Gregory Peck
  • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance[?] starring Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne
  • How the West Was Won, starring Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, George Peppard, Debbie Reynolds
  • Hatari! starring John Wayne
• 1962 in literature
  • Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
  • Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
• 1962 in music
  • Release of first Beatles recording: the single "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You" on October 5 (in the United Kingdom only)
• 1962 in sports
• 1962 in television
  • March 16 - Walter Cronkite succeeds Douglas Edwards[?] as anchorman of the CBS Evening News.
  • Les Crane[?] and Regis Philbin host The Tonight Show for a short time, until Johnny Carson took over later in the year.

Births:

• January 17 - Jim Carrey, actor, comedian.
• February 7 - Eddie Izzard, British comedian.
• February 4 - Clint Black, country musician.
• February 6 - Axl Rose, musician ("Guns N'Roses").
• February 7 - Garth Brooks, country music star.
• February 7 - Eddie Izzard, actor, comic.
• February 10 - Bobby Czyz, boxer.
• February 11 - Sheryl Crow, American singer.
• February 11 - Scott Kolden[?], actor.
• February 17 - Lou Diamond Phillips[?], actor.
• February 21 - David Foster Wallace, American writer.
• February 24 - Michelle Shocked[?], musician.
• March 2 - Jon Bon Jovi, singer, songwriter, and actor.
• March 3 - Jackie Joyner-Kersey[?], athlete.
• March 15 - Terence Trent D'Arby, singer.
• March 21 - Rosie O'Donnell, comedian, actress, talk show host, publisher.
• March 21 - Matthew Broderick, actor.
• April 15 - Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan hurdler.
• May 12 - Emilio Estevez[?], actor
• May 26 - Bobcat Goldthwait[?], actor, comedian
• July 8 - Rob Burnett[?], former head writer for David Letterman.
• August 6 - Michelle Yeoh, actress
• September 24 - Christopher Zadow[?].
• September 24 - Roy Larke[?].
• September 26 - Melissa Sue Anderson, actress.
• October 1 - Esai Morales, actor.
• November 19 - Jodie Foster, actress and director.
• November 30 - Daniel Keys Moran[?], science fiction writer.
• December 20 - Janet Lynn McCurdy[?].

Deaths:

• January 13 - Ernie Kovacs, comedian.
• January 20 - Robinson Jeffers[?], poet.
• January 24 - André Lhote[?], french painter
• February 17 - Bruno Walter, conductor.
• March 24 - Auguste Piccard, physicist and explorer.
• May 31 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (executed).
• July 6 - William Faulkner, American novelist.
• August - Marylin Monroe, American actress
• August 9 - Hermann Hesse, author.
• September 3 - E. E. Cummings, poet.
• October 9 - Milan Vidmar, Slovene electrical engineer and chess player.
• November 18 - Niels Bohr, Danish physicist.
• December 28 - Michel Petrucianni[?], french jazzman

Nobel Prizes:

• Physics - Lev Davidovich Landau
• Chemistry - Max Ferdinand Perutz, John Cowdery Kendrew[?]
• Medicine - Francis Harry Compton Crick, James Dewey Watson, Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins[?]
• Literature - John Steinbeck
• Peace - Linus Carl Pauling