1943
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Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
Decades: | 1910s 1920s 1930s – 1940s – 1950s 1960s 1970s |
Years: | 1940 1941 1942 – 1943 – 1944 1945 1946 |
1943 by topic: |
Subject |
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By country |
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Leaders |
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Birth and death categories |
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Establishments and disestablishments categories |
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Works and introductions categories |
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Gregorian calendar | 1943 MCMXLIII |
Ab urbe condita | 2696 |
Armenian calendar | 1392 ԹՎ ՌՅՂԲ |
Assyrian calendar | 6693 |
Bahá'í calendar | 99–100 |
Bengali calendar | 1350 |
Berber calendar | 2893 |
British Regnal year | 7 Geo. 6 – 8 Geo. 6 |
Buddhist calendar | 2487 |
Burmese calendar | 1305 |
Byzantine calendar | 7451–7452 |
Chinese calendar | 壬午年十一月廿五日 (4579/4639-11-25) — to — 癸未年十二月初五日(4580/4640-12-5) |
Coptic calendar | 1659–1660 |
Ethiopian calendar | 1935–1936 |
Hebrew calendar | 5703–5704 |
Hindu calendars | |
- Vikram Samvat | 1999–2000 |
- Shaka Samvat | 1865–1866 |
- Kali Yuga | 5044–5045 |
Holocene calendar | 11943 |
Igbo calendar | |
- Ǹrí Ìgbò | 943–944 |
Iranian calendar | 1321–1322 |
Islamic calendar | 1361–1363 |
Japanese calendar | Shōwa 18 (昭和18年) |
Juche calendar | 32 |
Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
Korean calendar | 4276 |
Minguo calendar | ROC 32 民國32年 |
Thai solar calendar | 2486 |
Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
- January 4 – Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California, is succeeded by Earl Warren.
- January 11 – The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
- January 13 – 36 people are executed and 200 arrested in anti-Nazi protests in Sofia.
- January 15
- WWII: Guadalcanal Campaign – Operation Ke: Japanese forces begin to withdraw from Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
- The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
- January 16 – Iraq declares war on the Axis powers.
- January 18
- WWII: Soviet officials announce that the Red Army has broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad as part of Operation Iskra, opening a narrow land corridor to the city. Georgy Zhukov is promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union.
- The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins.
- January 23
- WWII: British forces capture Tripoli from the Italians.
- Duke Ellington plays at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the first time.
- Critic and commentator Alexander Woollcott suffers an eventually fatal heart attack during a regular broadcast of the CBS Radio roundtable program People's Platform.
- January 27 – WWII: 50 bombers mount the first all American air raid against Germany; Wilhelmshaven is the target.
- January 29
- Nazi German police arrest alleged necrophiliac and serial killer Bruno Lüdke.
- United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve (MCWR) created.
- January 29– 30 – WWII: Battle of Rennell Island – The Imperial Japanese Navy resists the United States Navy's attempt to interrupt the withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal in the last major naval battle of the Guadalcanal Campaign.
- January 29– 31 – WWII: Battle of Wau – Australian forces with United States support resist a Japanese advance in the New Guinea campaign.
February
- February 2 – WWII: In Russia, the Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end with the surrender of the German 6th Army.
- February 3 – WWII: The Four Chaplains of the U.S. Army are among those drowned when their ship, United States Army Transport Dorchester, is struck by a German torpedo in the North Atlantic.
- February 5 – Lt. General Frank M. Andrews is selected to command the U.S. armies in Europe, while General Dwight D. Eisenhower is assigned command in North Africa; General Andrews will serve only three months before dying in an airplane crash.
- February 7 – WWII: In the United States, it is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in 2 days.
- February 9 – WWII: Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomon Islands ends with United States forces in command of Guadalcanal, the evacuation of Japanese forces in Operation Ke having been completed two days earlier.
- February 10– March 3 – Mohandas Gandhi (under arrest by the British Raj in Pune as a member of the Quit India Movement) keeps a hunger strike to protest at his imprisonment.
- February 14 – WWII: Rostov-on-Don in Russia is liberated.
- February 14– 17 – WWII: Battle of Sidi Bou Zid: In the Tunisia Campaign, German Panzer divisions commanded by Hans-Jürgen von Arnim are victorious over the United States Army.
- February 16 – WWII: The Soviet Union reconquers Kharkov, but is later driven out in the Third Battle of Kharkov.
- February 18
- In a Sportpalast speech in Berlin, German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels declares a " Total War" against the Allies, tacitly admitting that Nazi Germany faces serious dangers.
- The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose German Resistance movement.
- February 19– 25 – WWII: Battle of the Kasserine Pass: German General Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps and other Axis forces launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia; it is the United States' first major battle defeat of the war.
- February 20
- February 22 – Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
- February 23– 24 – Cavan Orphanage Fire: 35 girls and a cook from St Joseph's Orphanage, an industrial school at Cavan in the Republic of Ireland, are killed in a fire in their dormitories. A subsequent inquiry absolves the Poor Clares of blame.
- February 27 – Smith Mine disaster: an explosion at Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, United States kills 74 coal miners.
- February 28 – Operation Gunnerside: 6 Norwegians led by Joachim Ronneberg successfully attack the heavy water plant at Vemork.
March
- March – Publication in New York of exiled French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's self-illustrated children's novella The Little Prince, the all-time best-selling book originated in French.
- March–December – History of computing hardware: Construction of British prototype Mark I Colossus computer, the world's first totally electronic programmable computing device, to assist in cryptanalysis of German signals at Bletchley Park.
- March 1 – Heinz Guderian becomes the Inspector-General of the Armoured Troops for the German Army.
- March 1– 2 – WWII: Koriukivka massacre – Mass murder of the inhabitants of Koriukivka in the Ukraine by German SS troops.
- March 2 – WWII: Battle of the Bismarck Sea – United States and Australian forces sink Japanese convoy ships.
- March 3 – 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station in London.
- March 4 – The 15th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Mrs. Miniver wins the Best Picture award.
- March 9 – Şükrü Saracoğlu forms the new government of Turkey (14th government; Şükrü Saracoğlu had served twice as a prime minister).
- March 10 – Banco Bradesco is founded by Amador Aguiar in Marília, São Paulo, Brazil.
- March 13 – Holocaust: Nazi German forces liquidate the Jews of the Kraków Ghetto in Occupied Poland.
- March 14 – WWII: British submarine HMS Thunderbolt is sunk off Sicily by an Italian corvette, the second time this vessel has been lost with all hands.
- March 15 – WWII: The Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci sinks the Canadian Pacific liner RMS Empress of Canada off Sierra Leone. Nearly half of the 392 fatalities are Italian prisoners of war.
- March 16– 19 – WWII: 22 ships from Convoys HX 229/SC 122 and one U-boat are sunk in the largest North Atlantic U-boat " wolfpack" attack of the war.
- March 17 ( Saint Patrick's Day) – Éamon de Valera, Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, makes the speech " The Ireland That We Dreamed Of", commonly called the "comely maidens" speech, in Dublin Castle.
- March 22 – WWII: Khatyn massacre – The entire population of Khatyn in Belarus is burnt alive by the German occupation forces.
- March 23 – The drugs Vicodin and Lortab are first produced in Germany.
- March 26 – WWII – Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands, the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese troops attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
- March 27 – WWII – British Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Dasher (D37) is destroyed by an accidental explosion in the Firth of Clyde, killing 379 of the crew of 528.
- March 28 – In Italy a ship full of weapons and ammunition explodes in the port of Naples, killing 600.
- March 31 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! opens on Broadway, heralds a new era in "integrated" stage musicals, becomes an instantaneous stage classic, and goes on to be Broadway's longest-running musical up to that time (1948).
April
- April 3 – Shipwrecked steward Poon Lim is rescued by Brazilian fishermen after being adrift for 130 days.
- April 13 – WWII: Radio Berlin announces the discovery by Wehrmacht of mass graves of Poles killed by Soviets in the Katyn massacre.
- April 16 – Albert Hofmann self-administers the hallucinogenic drug LSD (which he first synthesized in 1938) for the first time in history, and records the details of his experience ( April 22).
- April 21 – WWII: Worst bombing of Aberdeen in Scotland.
- April 25 – Easter occurs on the latest possible date (last time 1886; next time 2038) in the Western Christian Church.
- April 27 – The U.S. Federal Writers' Project ceases operation.
May
- May 6 – WWII: Six U-boats are sunk after sinking 12 ships from Convoy ONS 5 in the last major North Atlantic U-boat " wolfpack" attack of the war.
- May 9– 12 – Japanese troops carry out the Changjiao massacre in Changjiao, Hunan, China.
- May 11 – WWII: American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands, in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
- May 12 – The Trident Conference begins in Washington, D.C., with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill taking part.
- May 13 – WWII: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
- May 14
- The Australian Hospital Ship Centaur is sunk off the coast of Queensland by a Japanese submarine.
- 358th Bombardment Squadron, 303d Bombardment Group B-17F Hell's Angels is the first USAAF bomber to complete 25 missions.
- May 15 – The Comintern is dissolved in Moscow.
- May 16– 17 – WWII: Operation Chastise (the 'Dambuster Raid') takes place: No. 617 Squadron RAF use bouncing bombs to breach German dams in the Ruhr Valley.
- May 16 – Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
- May 17 – WWII:
- The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the computer ENIAC.
- The Memphis Belle's crew becomes the first aircrew in the 8th Air Force to complete its 25-mission tour of duty. The aircraft and crew are the first to return to the U.S. intact for a War Bond drive.
- May 19 – Winston Churchill addresses a joint session of the United States Congress.
- May 29 – Norman Rockwell's illustration of Rosie the Riveter first appears on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.
- May 30 – Holocaust: Dr. Josef Mengele begins his service as a medical officer in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
June
- June 1 – British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777, a DC-3 with registration G-AGBB (formerly KLM PH-ALI, Ibis), on a scheduled passenger flight, is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s; all 17 persons aboard perish, including the actor Leslie Howard. There is speculation that the downing was an attempt to kill the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, as the Germans may have had wrong information he was aboard.
- June 3 – The Zoot Suit Riots erupt between military personnel and Mexican American youths in East Los Angeles.
- June 4 – A military coup d'état in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo.
- June 8 – WWII: Japanese battleship Mutsu is destroyed by an accidental magazine explosion in Hashirajima anchorage, killing 1,121.
- June 22 – The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division lands in North Africa, prior to training at Arzew, French Morocco.
- June 30 – United States Civilian Conservation Corps abolished.
- June (late) – Holocaust: The last trainload of Jewish prisoners is moved from Belzec extermination camp in Occupied Poland (for gassing at Sobibor) and for the remainder of the year the Nazis make efforts to obliterate the site.
July
- July 1 – United States Women's Army Corps (WAC) converted to full status.
- July 5 – WWII:
- Battle of Kursk – The largest tank battle in history begins.
- A fleet sets sail for the Allied invasion of Sicily.
- Conclusion of the National Bands Agreement in Greece.
- July 6 – WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara.
- July 10 – WWII – Allied invasion of Sicily: The allied invasion of Axis-controlled Europe begins with landings on the island of Sicily off mainland Italy by the Seventh United States Army and the British Eighth Army including the 1st Canadian Infantry Division.
- July 11 – WWII: United States Army forces assault the village of Piano Lupo, just outside of Gela in Sicily.
- July 12 – WWII: Battle of Prokhorovka – The Wehrmacht and the Red Army fight to a draw.
- July 19 – WWII: Rome is bombed by the Allies for the first time in the war.
- July 24 – WWII: Operation Gomorrha begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night; the American planes bomb the city by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 42,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
- July 25 – Benito Mussolini, the Fascist Prime Minister of Italy since 1925, is arrested after the Grand Council of Fascism withdraws its support. "Il Duce" is replaced by General Pietro Badoglio.
August
- August 1 – Operation Tidal Wave: 177 B-24 Liberator bombers from the U.S. Army Air Force bomb oil refineries at Ploieşti, Romania.
- August 2 – WWII: John F. Kennedy's Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by a destroyer.
- August 4 – WWII: The aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11) is launched at Newport News, Virginia.
- August 5 – WWII:
- United States Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) formed, consolidating the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WFTD).
- John F. Kennedy and crew are found by Solomon Islands coastwatchers Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana with their dugout canoe.
- August 6 – WWII – Battle of Vella Gulf: Americans defeat a Japanese convoy off Kolombangara, as the U.S. Army drives the Japanese out of Munda airfield on New Georgia.
- August 14 – WWII: Rome is declared an open city by the Italian government, with Italy offering to demilitarize the capital in return for an Allied agreement not to bomb the city further.
- August 14 – The Quadrant Conference begins in Quebec City; Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King meets with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- August 17 – WWII: The US 7th Army under General George S. Patton meets the British 8th Army under General Bernard Montgomery in Messina, Sicily, completing the Allied invasion of Sicily.
- August 23 – WWII: The Battle of Kursk ends with a serious strategic defeat for the German forces.
- August 24 – WWII: – Heinrich Himmler is named Reichminister of the Interior in Germany .
- August 26 – WWII: Lord Louis Mountbatten is named Supreme Allied Commander for Southeast Asia.
- August 28 – WWII: King Boris III of Bulgaria dies under suspicious circumstances; his 6-year-old son, Simeon II (who would later be elected in 2001 as Prime Minister Simeon Sakskoburggotski), ascends to the throne.
- August 29 – WWII: Occupation of Denmark – Germany dissolves the Danish government after it refuses to deal with a wave of strikes and disturbances to the satisfaction of the German authorities.
September
- September 3 – WWII: Allied invasion of Italy: Mainland Italy is invaded by Allied forces under General Sir Bernard Montgomery, for the first time in the war.
- September 5 – WWII: The 503rd Parachute Regiment under American General Douglas MacArthur lands and occupies Nadzab, just east of the port city of Lae in northeastern Papua New Guinea.
- September 7 – Gulf Hotel fire: A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas, kills 55.
- September 8 –
- WWII: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies.
- WWII: Frascati bombing raid: The USAAF bombs the German General Headquarters for the Mediterranean zone.
- The first classes commence at Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska.
- September 9 – Bertolt Brecht's play Life of Galileo (German: Leben des Galilei) receives its first theatrical production at the Schauspielhaus Zürich.
- September 12 – WWII: Gran Sasso raid – German paratroopers rescue Mussolini from imprisonment, in Unternehmen Eiche ("Operation Oak").
- September 16 – WWII: The Salerno Mutiny occurs when soldiers of the British Army's X Corps refuse postings to new units.
- September 17 – WWII: Villefranche-de-Rouergue Mutiny – a group of pro- Partisan soldiers led by Ferid Džanić and others within the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) training in Occupied France rise against Nazi German troops in the Division; the revolt is rapidly suppressed.
- September 23 – WWII: The Italian Social Republic ("Republic of Salò") is founded in northern Italy as a puppet state of Nazi Germany.
- September 27 – WWII: Four days of Naples begins: a popular uprising drives German occupying forces from the city.
October
- October 1 – WWII: United States forces enter liberated Naples.
- October 6 – WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Vella Lavella.
- October 7 – WWII: The Naples post office explosion kills 100.
- October 10 – The Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky is instituted in the Soviet Union.
- October 13 – WWII: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
- October 14 – WWII: José P. Laurel takes the oath of office as President of the Philippines ( Second Philippine Republic).
- October 17 – WWII: The last commerce raider hilfskreuzer Michel, is sunk off Japan by United States submarine Tarpon.
- October 18 – Chiang Kai-shek takes the oath of office as Chairman of the National Government of China.
- October 21 – Lucie Aubrac and others in her French Resistance cell liberate Raymond Aubrac from Gestapo imprisonment.
- October 22 – WWII: The British Royal Air Force delivers a highly destructive airstrike on the German industrial and population centre of Kassel.
- October 24 – WWII: British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Eclipse (H08) is sunk by a mine in the Aegean Sea with the loss of 119 of the ship's company and 134 troops.
- October 28 – Alleged date of the Philadelphia Experiment, in which the destroyer escort USS Eldridge (DE-173) was supposed to be rendered invisible to human observers for a brief period.
- October 30 – The Merrie Melodies animated cartoon Falling Hare, one of the only shorts with Bugs Bunny getting out-smarted, is released in the United States.
November
- November 1 – WWII – Operation Goodtime: United States Marines land on Bougainville Island in the Solomon Islands.
- November 2 – WWII: In the early morning hours, American and Japanese ships fight the inconclusive Battle of Empress Augusta Bay off Bougainville Island.
- November 2 – WWII: British troops in Italy reach the Garigliano River.
- November 9 – Agreement for foundation of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration signed by 44 countries in the White House, Washington, D.C.
- November 14 – Leonard Bernstein, substituting at the last minute for ailing principal conductor Bruno Walter, directs the New York Philharmonic in its regular Sunday afternoon broadcast concert over CBS Radio. The event receives front page coverage in the New York Times the following day.
- November 15 – Porajmos: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies and "part-Gypsies" be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps."
- November 16
- November 18 – WWII: Battle of Berlin (air) – The British Royal Air Force opens its bombing campaign against Berlin with 440 planes causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses 9 aircraft and 53 aviators.
- November 20 – WWII: Battle of Tarawa: United States Marines land on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands and take heavy fire from Japanese shore guns.
- November 22– 26 – WWII: Cairo Conference ("Sextant") – President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Chairman of the National Government of China Chiang Kai-shek meet at Cairo in Egypt to discuss ways to defeat Japan in the Pacific War.
- November 22 – Lebanon gains independence on ending of the French Mandate.
- November 23 – The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg is destroyed in an air raid (It is reopened in 1961 as the Deutsche Oper Berlin).
- November 25 – WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Cape St. George between Buka and New Ireland.
- November 28 – WWII – Tehran Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran to discuss war strategy. On November 30 they establish an agreement concerning a planned June 1944 invasion of Europe codenamed Operation Overlord.
- November 29 – The second session of AVNOJ, the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia, is held in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to determine the post-war ordering of the country.
December
- December 2 – A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks an American ship with a mustard gas stockpile, causing numerous fatalities (though the exact death toll is unresolved, as the bombing raid itself causes hundreds of deaths too).
- December 3
- In reprisal for an act of sabotage, the SS and Gestapo execute 100 Warsaw Tramway workers.
- Edward R. Murrow delivers his classic "Orchestrated Hell" broadcast over CBS Radio, describing a Royal Air Force nighttime bombing raid on Berlin.
- December 4
- World War II: In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Josip Broz Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile.
- The Great Depression officially ends in the United States: With unemployment figures falling fast due to WWII-related employment, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration
- December 4 – WWII: Bolivia declares war on Romania and Hungary.
- December 7 – Chiara Lubich starts the humanitarian Focolare Movement in Trento, northern Italy.
- December 13 – Massacre of Kalavryta: The occupying 117th Jäger Division (Wehrmacht) machine-gun all adult males from Kalavryta in Greece, subsequently burning the town.
- December 20 – A military coup is staged in Bolivia.
- December 24 – World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
- December 30 – Subhas Chandra Bose sets up a pro-Japanese Indian government at Port Blair, India.
- December – Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force is established in London by General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Date unknown
- Bengal Famine.
- History of the cooperative movement: Father José María Arizmendiarrieta sets up a polytechnic school at Mondragón in the Spanish Basque Country (predecessor of the University of Mondragón) which inspires creation of the Mondragon Corporation.
- Arana Hall, a residential college of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, is founded.
- Jacques-Yves Cousteau co-invents, with Emile Gagnan, the first commercially successful open circuit type of scuba diving equipment, the Aqua-lung.
- Publication of Martin Noth's groundbreaking work of Old Testament scholarship Uberlieferungsgeschischtliche Studien: Die sammelnden und bearbeitenden Geschichtswerke im Alten Testament.
Births
January
- January 1 – Don Novello, American actor
- January 2 – Barış Manço, Turkish singer and television personality (d. 1999)
- January 4 – Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer
- January 6 – Terry Venables, English football manager
- January 7 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese atomic bomb sickness victim (d. 1955)
- January 9 – Freddie Starr, English comedian and singer
- January 10 – Jim Croce, American singer-songwriter (d. 1973)
- January 11 – Jim Hightower, American radio host and author
- January 13 – Richard Moll, American television actor
- January 14
- Ralph M. Steinman, Canadian immunologist and cell biologist; Nobel laureate (d. 2011)
- Holland Taylor, American stage, film and television actress
- January 15 – Margaret Beckett, British politician
- January 18 – Kay Granger, American politician
- January 19
- Janis Joplin, American rock singer (d. 1970)
- Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
- January 20 – Mel Hague, English singer and author
- January 24
- Janice Raymond, American second-wave feminist activist
- Sharon Tate, American actress and model murdered by the "Manson Family" (d. 1969)
- January 25 – Tobe Hooper, American film director
- January 26 – César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)
- January 28 – John Beck, American actor
- January 29
- Tony Blackburn, British radio disc jockey
- Rudy Regalado, Venezuelan musician (d. 2010)
February
- February 2 – Erkan Genis, Turkish artist
- February 3 – Blythe Danner, American actress
- February 4 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese politician
- February 5
- Nolan Bushnell, American video game pioneer
- Michael Mann, American film director, writer, and producer
- Craig Morton, American football player
- February 6 – Fabian, American singer
- February 7 – Gareth Hunt, English actor (d. 2007)
- February 8 – Creed Bratton, American actor and musician
- February 9
- Joe Pesci, American actor
- Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 14 – Maceo Parker, American musician ( James Brown, P-Funk)
- February 18 – Graeme Garden, Scottish writer, comedian, and actor
- February 19
- Homer Hickam, American author and retired NASA engineer
- Tim Hunt, British biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- February 20
- Antonio Inoki, Japanese professional wrestler
- Mike Leigh, British film director
- Jacqueline Pearce, English actress
- February 21 – David Geffen, American record executive and film producer
- February 23 – Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach
- February 24 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer
- February 25 – George Harrison, British musician (The Beatles) (d. 2001)
- February 26 – Bill Duke, American actor and director
- February 27
- Moshe Cotel, American composer and pianist (d. 2008)
- Morten Lauridsen, American composer
March
- March – John Leeson, British actor (voice of K-9)
- March 1
- Richard H. Price, American physicist
- Gil Amelio, American entrepreneur
- March 2
- March 3 – Trond Mohn, Norwegian billionaire
- March 4
- Lucio Dalla, Italian singer and songwriter (d. 2012)
- Zoltan Jeney, Hungarian composer*
- March 5 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer and songwriter (d. 1998)
- March 8 – Lynn Redgrave, English actress (d. 2010)
- March 9
- Bobby Fischer, American chess player (d. 2008)
- Charles Gibson, American television journalist
- March 12 – Ratko Mladic, former Bosnian Serb military leader
- March 13 – André Téchiné, French film director
- March 15
- Sly Stone, American singer
- David Cronenberg, Canadian film director
- March 16
- March 18 – Kevin Dobson, American actor
- March 19
- Mario J. Molina, Mexican chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Mario Monti, Prime Minister of Italy since 2011
- March 20
- Gerard Malanga, American poet and photographer
- Naima Neidre, Estonian graphic artist
- March 21
- March 22
- Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor
- Keith Relf, British rock musician ( The Yardbirds) (d. 1976)
- March 25 – Paul Michael Glaser, American actor (Starsky And Hutch)
- March 26 – Bob Woodward, American journalist
- March 29
- Eric Idle, English actor, writer, and composer
- John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Vangelis, Greek musician and composer
- March 31 – Christopher Walken, American actor
April
- April 2 – Caterina Bueno, Italian singer
- April 5 – Max Gail, American actor
- April 8 – Miller Farr, American football player
- April 10
- Andrzej Badeński, Polish athlete
- Margaret Pemberton, née Hudson, English writer
- April 11 – Harley Race, American professional wrestler
- April 20 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
- April 22 – Louise Glück, American poet and 12th US Poet Laureate
- April 23
- Hervé Villechaize, French-born actor (d. 1993)
- Dominik Duka, Czech Roman Catholic bishop and theologian
- Frans Koppelaar, Dutch painter
- Fighting Harada, Japanese boxer
- April 25 – James G. Mitchell, Canadian computer scientist
- April 28 – John O. Creighton, American astronaut
- April 30 – Frederick Chiluba, former President of Zambia (d. 2011)
May
- May 1 – Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan politician (d. 2004)
- May 5 – Michael Palin, British comedian
- May 6 – Grange Calveley, British writer and artist
- May 10 – Richard (Dick) Darman, American federal government official and businessman
- May 13 – Kurt Trampedach, Danish artist
- May 14
- Jack Bruce, British musician and songwriter
- Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland
- May 17 – Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, King of Malaysia
- May 22 – Betty Williams, Northern Irish political activist, co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- May 25 – Jessi Colter, American singer and composer
- May 26 – Erica Terpstra, Dutch swimmer, politician and president of the Dutch Olympic Committee
- May 27 – Bruce Weitz, American actor
- May 30 – James Chaney, American civil rights worker (d. 1964)
- May 31
- Joe Namath, American football player
- Sharon Gless, American actress
June
- June 1 – Lorrie Wilmot, South African cricketer (d. 2004)
- June 1 – Kuki Gallmann, Kenyan writer and poet
- June 2 – Ilayaraaja, Indian composer
- June 3 – John Burgess, Australian game show host and actor
- June 4 – Joyce Meyer, Christian author and speaker
- June 6 – Richard Smalley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
- June 7
- Chan Hung Lit, Hong Kong actor (d. 2009)
- Nikki Giovanni, American poet
- June 8 – Colin Baker, British actor
- June 13 – Malcolm McDowell, British actor
- June 14 – Jim Sensenbrenner, American politician
- June 15
- Johnny Hallyday, French singer and actor
- Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
- June 16 – Joan Van Ark, American actress
- June 17
- Newt Gingrich, American politician
- Barry Manilow, American pop musician
- June 21 – Marika Green French-Swedish actress
- June 23 – James Levine, American conductor
- June 26
- John Beasley, American actor
- Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 27 – Rico Petrocelli, baseball player
- June 28 – Jens Birkemose, Danish painter
- June 29
- Maureen O'Brien, British actress
- Soon-Tek Oh, Japanese actor
- June 30 – Ahmed Sofa, Bangladeshi writer (d. 2001)
July
- July 1 – Jeff Wayne, American musician
- July 3
- Judith Durham, Australian singer
- Kurtwood Smith, American actor
- July 4
- Konrad "Conny" Bauer, German trombonist
- Geraldo Rivera, American reporter and talk show host
- July 5 – Curt Blefary, American baseball player (d. 2001)
- July 7 – Joel Siegel, American film critic (d. 2007)
- July 8 – Guido Marzulli, Italian painter
- July 9 – Soledad Miranda, Spanish actress (d. 1970)
- July 10 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (d. 1993)
- July 12
- Christine McVie, British rock keyboardist and singer ( Fleetwood Mac)
- Walter Murch, American film editor and sound designer
- July 15 – Jocelyn Bell Burnell, British astrophysicist
- July 16
- Jimmy Johnson, American football coach and television analyst
- Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban writer (d. 1990)
- July 19
- David Griffin, British actor
- Han Sai Por, Singaporean sculptor
- July 20
- Wendy Richard, British actress (d. 2009)
- Christopher Murney, American actor and vocal artist
- July 21
- Bob Shrum, political consultant
- Edward Herrmann, American actor
- July 23
- Bob Hilton, American game show announcer and host
- Dr. Randall Forsberg, American nuclear freeze advocate (d. 2007)
- July 25 – Erika Steinbach, German politician
- July 26 – Mick Jagger, English rock singer (The Rolling Stones)
- July 28 – Richard Wright, British musician (Pink Floyd) (d. 2008)
August
- August 2 – Max Wright, American actor
- August 3 – Clarence Wijewardena, Sri Lankan musician (d. 1996)
- August 4 – Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
- August 5 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player (d. 2005)
- August 6 – Jim Hardin, former Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves pitcher (d. 1991)
- August 11
- Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and leader
- Abigail Folger, American heiress and murder victim (d. 1969)
- August 17
- Robert De Niro, American actor
- Yukio Kasaya, Japanese ski jumper
- August 18 – Gianni Rivera, former Italian footballer
- August 20 – Sylvester McCoy, British actor
- August 23
- Bobby Diamond, American actor
- Pino Presti, Italian bassist, arranger, composer, conductor, record producer
- August 27 – Tuesday Weld, American actress
- August 28
- Lou Piniella, American baseball player and manager
- Surayud Chulanont, Thailand's 24th Prime Minister
- August 30
- Tal Brody, American-born Israeli basketball player
- R. Crumb, American artist and illustrator
- Altovise Davis, American entertainer (d. 2009)
- Jean-Claude Killy, French skier
- August 31 – Leonid Ivashov, Russian general
September
- September 1 – Don Stroud, American actor and surfer
- September 3 – Valerie Perrine, American actress and model
- September 5 – Dulce Saguisag, Filipino politician and former DSWD Secretary (d. 2007)
- September 6
- Richard J. Roberts, English biochemist and molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- Roger Waters, English musician (Pink Floyd)
- September 9 – Art LaFleur, American actor
- September 10
- Daniel Truhitte, American actor
- Neale Donald Walsch, American author of the popular books Conversations with God
- September 11
- Gilbert Proesch, Italian-born artist ( Gilbert and George)
- Raymond Villeneuve, Canadian terrorist
- September 13 – Mildred D. Taylor, American writer
- September 14 – Irwin Goodman, Finnish singer (d. 1991)
- September 19 – Joe Morgan, American Hall of Fame baseball player
- September 22 – Toni Basil, American musician and video artist
- September 28 – J. T. Walsh, American actor (d. 1998)
- September 29 – Lech Wałęsa, President of Poland, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- September 30
- Johann Deisenhofer, German biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Ian Ogilvy, English actor
October
- October 1 – Jean Jacques Annaud, French film director
- October 2 – Franklin Rosemont, American poet
- October 6 – Michael Durrell, American actor
- October 7 – Oliver North, American military officer, military historian, political commentator, author and television host
- October 8 – Chevy Chase, American comedian and actor
- October 14
- Lois Hamilton, American model, actress and artist (d. 1999)
- Mohammad Khatami, former President of Iran
- October 15 – Penny Marshall, American actress, director and producer
- October 16 – Paul Rose, Canadian terrorist
- October 18 – Birthe Rønn Hornbech, Danish politician
- October 20 – Noreen Corcoran, American former child actress and director
- October 27 – Carmen Argenziano, American actor
- October 31 – Paul Frampton, English physicist
November
- November 1 – Jacques Attali, French economist
- November 4 – Chuck Scarborough, American news anchor
- November 5
- Friedman Paul Erhardt, German-American pioneering television chef (d. 2007)
- Sam Shepard, American playwright and actor
- November 7
- Stephen Greenblatt, American literary critic
- Joni Mitchell, Canadian musician
- Michael Spence, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 11 – Doug Frost, Australian swimming coach
- November 12 – Wallace Shawn, American actor
- November 13
- Roberto Boninsegna, Italian footballer
- Jay Sigel, American golfer
- November 14 – Peter Norton, American software engineer and businessman
- November 17 – Lauren Hutton, American actress and model
- November 19 – Aurelio Monteagudo, Cuban Major League Baseball player (d. 1990)
- November 20 – Mie Hama, Japanese actress
- November 21 – Larry Mahan, American rodeo cowboy
- November 22
- Peter Adair, American filmmaker
- Yvan Cournoyer, Canadian ice hockey player
- Billie Jean King, American tennis player
- November 23 – Denis Sassou-Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo
- November 24 – Dave Bing, American mayor and longtime NBA player
- November 26 – Marilynne Robinson, American writer
- November 28 – Randy Newman, American musician
December
- December 2 – Wayne Allard, U.S Senator from Colorado
- December 5 – Eva Joly, Norwegian-born French magistrate
- December 8
- December 11 – John Kerry, American politician
- December 12
- Gianni Russo, American actor
- Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (d. 1999)
- December 13 – Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player
- December 15 – Lucien den Arend, Dutch sculptor
- December 17 – Ron Geesin, British musician and songwriter (Pink Floyd)
- December 18 – Keith Richards, English rock guitarist and songwriter (The Rolling Stones)
- December 19 – Ross M. Lence, American political scientist (d. 2006)
- December 23
- Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (d. 1987)
- Harry Shearer, American actor, comedian and screenwriter
- December 24
- Tarja Halonen, President of Finland
- James A. Johnson (businessman), American business leader and philanthropist
- December 28
- December 31
- John Denver, American musician (d. 1997)
- Ben Kingsley, British actor
Date unknown
- Kim Tai Chung, Korean martial artist and former actor and Bruce Lee double
- Tang Da Wu, Singaporean artist
- James Goldstein, LA businessman and NBA basketball aficionado
Deaths
January
- January 5 – George Washington Carver, African-American botanist (b. 1864)
- January 7 – Nikola Tesla, born in Croatia American scientist (b. 1856)
- January 8 – Richard Hillary, Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot, author of The Last Enemy (b. 1919)
- January 12 – Jan Campert, Dutch journalist and writer (in Neuengamme concentration camp) (b. 1902)
- January 15 – Eric Knight, American author of Lassie
- January 21 – Robert Henry English, American admiral (b. 1888)
- January 23 – Alexander Woollcott, American critic (b. 1887)
February
- February 4 – Frank Calder, the first NHL President (b. 1877)
- February 5 – W.S. Van Dyke, American director (b. 1889)
- February 11 – Bess Houdini, American wife of Harry Houdini
- February 14 – David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)
- February 22
- February 26 – Theodor Eicke, German Nazi official (b. 1892)
March
- March 10 – Tully Marshall, American actor (b. 1864)
- March 19 – Frank Nitti, Italian-American gangster (suicide) (b. 1888)
- March 28 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer (b. 1873)
April
- April 3 – Conrad Veidt, German actor (b. 1893)
- April 7 – Alexandre Millerand, French president (b. 1859)
- April 8
- April 9 – Philip Slier, Dutch Jewish typesetter (in Sobibor extermination camp) (b. 1923)
- April 18 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
- April 24 – Kenneth Whiting, United States Navy officer and submarine and naval aviation pioneer (b. 1881)
May
- May 7 – Fethi Okyar, ex prime minister of Turkey (b.1880)
- May 17 – Montague Love, British actor (b. 1877)
- May 19 – Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter and drawer (b. 1865)
- May 22 – Helen Taft, Wife of President William Howard Taft (b. 1861)
- May 26 – Edsel Ford, American President of Ford Motor Company (b. 1893)
- May 31 – Helmut Kapp, German Gestapo official
June
- June 1 – Leslie Howard, British actor (b. 1893)
- June 2 – Nile Kinnick, American athlete and Heisman Trophy winner (b. 1918)
- June 4 – Kermit Roosevelt, American explorer and author (b. 1889)
- June 26 – Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician (b. 1868)
July
- July 4 – Wladyslaw Sikorski, Polish politician (b. 1881)
- July 8
- July 12 – Cecilia Loftus, stage actress (b. 1876)
- July 13 – Luz Long, German long jump athlete (b. 1913)
- July 21 – Charlie Paddock, American athlete (b. 1900)
August
- August 9 – Chaim Soutine, Russian painter (born 1893)
- August 12 – Bobby Peel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
- August 14 – Joe Kelley, American baseball player (b. 1871)
- August 17 – Hans Jeschonnek, German general (b. 1899)
- August 21 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
- August 24 – Simone Weil, French philosopher (b. 1909)
- August 26 – Ted Ray, British golfer (b. 1877)
- August 28 – King Boris III of Bulgaria (b. 1894)
September
- September 1 – Charles Atangana, Cameroonian chief (b. ca. 1880)
- September 6 – Reginald McKenna, British Chancellor of the Exchequer 1915–1916 (b. 1863)
- September 8 – Julius Fučík, Czech resistance fighter (executed) (b. 1903)
- September 9 – Carlo Bergamini, Italian admiral (b. 1888)
- September 19 – Germaine Cernay, French mezzo soprano (b. 1900)
- September 23 – Elinor Glyn, British wrtier (b. 1864)
- September 24 – John Stone Stone, American physicist and inventor (b. 1869)
October
- October 5 – Leon Roppolo, American musician (b. 1902)
- October 9 – Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- October 19 – Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864)
- October 21 – Dudley Pound, British admiral (b. 1877)
- October 23 – Ben Bernie, American jazz pianist (b. 1891)
- October 30 – Max Reinhardt, Austrian director (b. 1873)
November
- November 7 – Dwight Frye, American actor (b. 1899)
- November 22 – Lorenz Hart, American lyricist (b. 1895)
- November 23 – Charles Ray, American actor (b. 1891)
- November 24
- November 26 – Edward "Butch" O'Hare, American fighter pilot (b. 1914)
December
- December 1 – Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince and historian (b. 1862)
- December 9 – Georges Dufrénoy, French post-impressionnist painter (b. 1870)
- December 14 – John Harvey Kellogg, American doctor (b. 1852)
- December 15 – Fats Waller, African-American jazz pianist (Ain't Misbehavin') (b. 1904)
- December 22 – Beatrix Potter, British children's author and illustrator (Peter Rabbit & Jemima Puddle-duck) (b. 1866)
- December 25 – William Irving, German-born American film actor (b. 1893)
- December 26 – Erich Bey, German admiral (b. 1898)
- December 30 – Hobart Bosworth, American film actor, director, writer, and producer (b. 1867)
- December 27 – Rupert Julian, New Zealand-born film director (b. 1879)
Nobel Prizes
- Physics – Otto Stern
- Chemistry – George de Hevesy
- Physiology or Medicine – Carl Peter Henrik Dam, Edward Adelbert Doisy
- Literature – not awarded
- Peace – not awarded