1958.html



This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008)

Jan.4 Sputnik falls to Earth.

Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1958

January

• January 4 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4, 1957).
• January 8 - 14-year-old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.

• January 13 - 9235 scientists publish a plea to stop nuclear bomb tests.
• January 18 - Armed Lumbee Indians confront a handful of Klansmen at the town of Maxton, North Carolina.
• January 28 - Hall of Fame baseball player Roy Campanella is involved in an automobile accident that ends his career and leaves him paralyzed.
• January 31 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit.

February

• February 1 - Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic.
• February 2 - The word Aerospace is coined, from the words Aircraft (aero) and Spacecraft (space) taking into consideration that the Earth's atmosphere and outerspace is to be one, or a single realm.
• February 5
  • Gamel Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
  • Tybee Bomb a 7,600 pound (3,500 kg) Mark 15 hydrogen bomb was lost in the waters off Savannah, Georgia.
• February 6 - Munich air disaster - 23 dead, including 8 players for Manchester United.
• February 11
  • Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.
  • Ruth Carol Taylor is the first African American woman hired as a flight attendant.
• February 14 - The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan unites in the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan with the Iraqi King Faisal II as head of state.
• February 17 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare the patron saint of television
• February 20 - Test rocket explodes in Cape Canaveral.
• February 21 - Peace symbol designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.
• February 23
  • Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio. They release him 28 hours later.
  • Arturo Frondizi wins presidential elections in Argentina.
• February 24 - In Cuba, Radio Rebelde, radio of rebels of Fidel Castro, begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra.
• February 25 - Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
• February 28 - One of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history occurred at Prestonsburg, Kentucky, killing 27.

March

• March 1 - Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, ninth bishop (fourth archbishop) of the Roman Catholic diocese of Chicago, appointed Pro-Perfect of the Propagation of Faith and thus becomes the first American member of the Roman Curia.
  • Turkish passenger ship Uskudar capsized and sank at Izmit Bay, Kocaeli, Turkey, killing at least 300.
• March 2 - A British team led by Sir Vivian Fuchs completes the first crossing of the Antarctic in Snow-cat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams in 99 days.
• March 8 - USS Wisconsin is decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896 (recommissioned October 22, 1988).
• March 11 - U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Its conventional explosives destroy a house and injure several people, but no nuclear fission occurs.
• March 17 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
• March 24 - The U.S. Army inducts Elvis Presley, transforming The King Of Rock & Roll into U.S. private #53310761
• March 25 - Canada's Avro Arrow makes its debut flight.
• March 26
  • The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
  • 30th Academy Awards ceremony
• March 27 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.

April

• April 1 - BBC Radiophonic Workshop established.
• April 3 - Castro's revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana.
• April 4 - April 7 - The first protest march for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament from Hyde Park, London to Aldermaston, Berkshire. Demonstrators demand ban of nuclear weapons.
• April 4 - Cheryl Crane, the daughter of actress Lana Turner, fatally stabs her mother's gangster lover Johnny Stompanato (eventually ruled as self-defense).
• April 6 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari divorces the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after she is unable to produce any children.
• April 14 - Van Cliburn wins the Tchaikovsky International Competition for pianists in Moscow, breaking Cold War tensions.
• April 15 - The first Major League Baseball regular season game ever played in California as the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-0 at San Francisco's Seals Stadium.
• April 17 - King Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the World Fair in Brussels, also known as Expo '58.

May

• May 1
  • Arturo Frondizi becomes President of Argentina.
  • The Nordic Passport Union comes into force.
• May 9 - Actor-singer Paul Robeson, whose passport has been reinstated, sings in a sold-out one-man recital at Carnegie Hall. The recital is such a success that Robeson gives another one at Carnegie Hall a few days later. But after these two concerts, Robeson is seldom seen in public in the United States again. His Carnegie Hall concerts are later released on records and on CD.
• May 12 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
• May 13
  • French Algerian protesters seize government offices in Algiers, leading to a military coup.
  • During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
• May 15 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
• May 18 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph.
• May 20 - Fulgencio Batista's government launches counteroffensive against Castro's rebels.
• May 21 - United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area. [1]
• May 23 - Explorer 1 ceased transmission
• May 30 - The bodies of unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

June

• June 1
  • Charles de Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.
  • Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles (22.2 km).
• June 2 - San Simeon, California, USA; Hearst Castle opens to the public for guided tours.
• June 4 - Charles De Gaulle visits Algeria.
• June 16 - Imre Nagy is hanged for treason in Hungary.
• June 27 - Peronist party becomes legal again in Argentina.
• June 29 - Brazil beats Sweden 5-2 to win the 1958 World Cup.

July

• July 5 - First ascent of Gasherbrum I, 11th highest mountain in the world.
• July 7
  • President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law.
  • First International House of Pancakes (IHOP) opens in Toluca Lake, Calif.
• July 9
  • 7.5 Richter scale earthquake in Lituya Bay, Alaska, causes a landslide that produces a huge 520-meter high wave
• July 10
  • First parking meters installed in Britain
• July 14 - Iraqi Revolution: The Iraqi monarchy is overthrown by Arab nationalists, King Faisal II is murdered and Abdul Karim Qassim assumes power.
• July 15 - In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there.
• July 17 - British paratroopers arrive in Jordan; King Hussein has asked help against pressure from Iraq.
• July 20 - Various rebel groups in Cuba join forces but communists do not join the deal.
• July 24 - The first life peerage is created in Britain.
• July 26
  • Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched
  • Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom gives her son Charles the title of Prince of Wales.
  • July 28 - Terrance Stanley Fox is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
• July 29 - The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

August

• August 3 - The nuclear powered submarine USS Nautilus (SSN-571) became the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water.
• August 14 - A 4 engined Super Constellation aircraft belonging to KLM had crashed into the sea with 99 people on board. At the time, this was described as probably the worst crash in civil aviation history.
• August 17 - The first Thor space craft was launched carrying Pioneer 0 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17 and failed with a first stage malfunction.
• August 18 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
• August 23 - Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
• August 27 - The United States begins Operation Argus.
• August 30-September 1 - Riots between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London.

September

• September 1 - Beginning of the First Cod War between UK and Iceland.
• September 6 - Paul Robeson performs in concert at Young Pioneer camp Artek.
• September 12 - Jack St. Clair Kilby invents first integrated circuit.
• September 14 - Two rockets designed by German engineer Ernst Mohr (the first German post-war rockets) reach the upper atmosphere.
• September 27 - Typhoon Ida in Honshū, Japan at least 1,269 killed.
• September 28 - In France, a majority of 79% says yes to the constitution of the Fifth Republic.
• September 30 - U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.

October

• October 1
  • Tunisia and Morocco join the Arab League.
  • NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA.
• October 2 - Guinea declares itself independent from France.
• October 4 - BOAC uses new Comet jets to become the first airline to fly jet passenger services across the Atlantic.
• October 9 - Pope Pius XII dies.
• October 11 - Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of three project Able space probes, became the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.
• October 28 - Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII as the 261st pope.

November

• November 3 - New UNESCO building inaugurated in Paris.
• November 10 - Birth of the Bossa nova in Rio de Janeiro, Joao Gilberto records "Chega de Sudade".
• November 22 - Menzies Government (Australia) re-elected for a 5th Term.
• November 23 - Have Gun, Will Travel debuts on radio.
• November 25 - French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
• November 28 - Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community.
• November 30 - Gaullists win parliamentary elections in France.

December

• December 1
  • Central African Republic becomes independent from France.
  • At least 90 students and 3 nuns are killed in a fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago.

• December 5
  • Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the UK by the Queen when she dials a call from Bristol to Edinburgh and speaks to the Lord Provost. [2]
  • The Preston bypass, the United Kingdom's first motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. This stretch is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.
• December 6 - The third launch of a Thor space craft carrying Pioneer 2 was unsuccessful due to a 3rd stage ignition failure.
• December 9 - The John Birch Society is founded in the USA by Robert Welch, a retired candy manufacturer.
• December 14 - The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first ever to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility.
• December 21 - General Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France with 78.5% of the votes.
• December 24 - BOAC Bristol Britannia 312 G-AOVD Crashes near Winkton England during a test flight.
• December 25 - Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker (the George Balanchine version) is shown on prime-time television in color for the first time, as an episode of the CBS anthology series Playhouse 90.
• December 28 - The Baltimore Colts beat The New York Giants 23-17 in overtime to win The NFL Championship.
• December 29 - Rebel troops under Che Guevara begin to invade Santa Clara in Cuba.

Undated

• During the International Geophysical Year, Earth's magnetosphere is discovered.
• Foundation of Amirkabir University of Technology.
• Based on birth rates (per 1,000 population), the post-war baby boom ended in the United States as an eleven-year decline in the birth rate began - the longest on record in that country
• Last legal female genital cutting in the United States.
• Denatonium, the bitterest substance known is discovered. It is used as an aversive agent in products such as bleach to reduce the risk of children drinking them.
• The Jim Henson Company is founded.
• The Japanese 10 yen coin ceased having serrated edges after a five year period beginning in 1953. All 10 yen coins since and before had smooth edges.
• The largest solar maximum in recorded history of solar maxima occurs.
• Recession of 1958
• Instant noodles go on sale for the first time.
• First year of the British Rally Championship

Ongoing

• Cold War
• Cuban Revolution
• Mau Mau Uprising

Births

January-February

• January 1 - Grandmaster Flash, hip-hop/rap DJ
• January 2 - Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Russian pianist
• January 4 - Matt Frewer, Canadian/American actor
• January 9 - Mehmet Ali Ağca, Turkish militant
• January 11 - Vicki Peterson, Guitarist for The Bangles
• January 13 - Ricardo Acuña, Chilean tennis player
• January 15 - Boris Tadić, Serbian president
• January 20 - Lorenzo Lamas, American actor
• January 24 - Jools Holland, British musician
• January 26 - Ellen DeGeneres, American actress and comedian
• January 27 - Kadri Mälk, Estonian artist and jewelry designer
• January 29 - Judy Norton Taylor, American actress
• February 4 - Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer (d. 2005)
• February 8 - Sherri Martel, American professional wrestler (d. 2007)
• February 11
  • Michael Jackson, British broadcasting executive
  • Regina Maršíková, Czechoslovakian tennis player
• February 13
  • Pernilla August, Swedish actress
  • Tip Tipping, British actor and stuntman (d. 1993)
• February 14 - Grant Thomas, Australian rules footballer
• February 16 - Ice-T, American singer, songwriter, and actor
• February 21
  • Jake Burns, Irish singer (Stiff Little Fingers)
  • Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
• February 24
  • Sammy Kershaw, American musician
  • Mark Moses, American actor
• February 25 - Kurt Rambis, American basketball player
• February 26 - Susan Helms, American astronaut

March-April

• March 1 - Nik Kershaw, English singer
• March 3 - Miranda Richardson, English actress
• March 4
  • Patricia Heaton, American actress
  • Lennie Lee, British artist
• March 5 - Andy Gibb, English-born singer (d. 1988)
• March 7 - Rik Mayall, English comedian
• March 8 - Gary Numan, British singer
• March 10
  • Steve Howe, baseball player (d. 2006)
  • Sharon Stone, American actress
• March 13 - Linda Robson, English actress (Birds of a Feather)
• March 14 - Albert II, Prince of Monaco
• March 18 - Kayo Hatta, American film director (d. 2005)
• March 20 - Holly Hunter, American actress
• March 21 - Gary Oldman, English actor
• March 28 - Bart Conner, American gymnast
• April 1 - D. Boon, American singer and guiatrist (d. 1985)
• April 3 - Alec Baldwin, American actor
• April 4 - Cazuza, Brazilian poet, singer and composer (d. 1990)
• April 10
  • Yefim Bronfman, Russian-born pianist
  • Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, American musician and record producer
• April 11 - Luc Luycx, Belgian designer of the Euro coins common side
• April 12 - Will Sergeant, English guitarist (Echo & the Bunnymen)
• April 15
  • Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • Dolores Gordon-Smith, British Writer
  • Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and musician
• April 21 - Andie MacDowell, American actress
• April 22 - Ken Olandt, American actor
• April 24 - Brian Paddick, British former deputy assistant commissioner and most senior openly gay police officer
• April 25 - Fish, Scottish singer
• April 28 - Hal Sutton, American golfer
• April 29 - Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress

May-July

• May 3 - Kevin Kilner, American actor
• May 4 - Keith Haring, Artist
• May 10 - Rick Santorum, Former senator from PA
• May 11 - Christian Brando, American actor and eldest child of Marlon Brando (d. 2008)
• May 12 - Dries Van Noten, Belgian Designer.
• May 12 - Eric Singer, American drummer (Kiss)
• May 15 - Ron Simmons, American professional wrestler
• May 21 - Tom Feeney, American Republican politician from the state of Florida
• May 23
  • Mitch Albom, American author
  • Drew Carey, American comedian and actor
• May 27 - Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
• May 29 - Annette Bening, American actress
• June 7 - Prince, American musician
• June 8 - Keenen Ivory Wayans, American comedian, actor, and director
• June 12
  • Rebecca Holden, American actress, singer, and entertainer
• June 15 - Wade Boggs, American baseball player
• June 17 - Jello Biafra, American musician and activist
• June 20 - Chuck Wagner, American actor
• June 22 - Bruce Campbell, American actor, producer, writer and director.
• June 24 - Curt Fraser, American ice hockey coach
• June 27
  • Magnus Lindberg, Finnish composer
  • Jim Cartwright, English actor and playwright
• June 29 - Jeff Coopwood, American actor, broadcaster and singer
• June 30 - Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer
• July 2 - Thomas Bickerton, American Methodist bishop
• July 5 - William Watterson, American cartoonist of Calvin and Hobbes.
• July 6 - Jennifer Saunders, British comedian
• July 7 - Michala Petri, Danish recorder player
• July 8 - Kevin Bacon, American actor
• July 15
  • Mac Thornberry, American politician
  • Austin Hayes, Irish footballer (d. 1986)
• July 16 - Michael Flatley, Irish-born dancer
• July 20 - Billy Mays, American infomercial salesperson
• July 22 - Tatsunori Hara, Japanese professional-baseball coach and player
• July 28 - Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (d. 1981)
• July 30 - Kate Bush, British singer and songwriter
• July 31
  • Mark Cuban, American entrepreneur and basketball team owner
  • Bill Berry, American drummer (R.E.M.)

August-September

• August 1 - Adrian Dunbar, Irish
• August 4 - Allison Hedge Coke, Poet and writer
• August 7
  • Bruce Dickinson, English musician
  • Russell Baze, champion jockey
• August 15 - Victor Shenderovich, Russian writer
• August 16
  • Madonna, American-born singer, songwriter, and actress
  • Angela Bassett, American actress
• August 17 - Belinda Carlisle, American singer (The Go-Go's)
• August 19 - Anthony Muñoz, American football player
• August 20 - Nicholas Bell, English Actor based in Australia
• August 22 - Colm Feore, American-born actor
• August 24 - Steve Guttenberg, American actor
• August 25 - Tim Burton, American film director
• August 27 - Normand Brathwaite, Canadian comedian and television and radio host
• August 29 - Michael Jackson, American singer and dancer
• September 6
  • Jeff Foxworthy, American comedian, actor, author
  • Michael Winslow, American comedian, actor, voice actor
• September 8
  • Mitsuru Miyamoto, Japanese voice actor
  • Reiko Terashima, Japanese manga artist and illustrator
• September 14
  • Michael Bollner, German actor
  • Jeff Crowe, New Zealand cricketer
• September 10 - Chris Columbus (filmmaker), American film director/writer/producer
• September 16 - Orel Hershiser, baseball player
• September 19 - Azumah Nelson, Ghanaian boxer
• September 21 - Bruno Fitoussi, French poker player
• September 22 - Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor
• September 23
  • Danielle Dax, British musician
  • Marvin Lewis, American football coach
  • Scott Shaw, American author, actor, and filmmaker
• September 25 - Michael Madsen, American actor
• September 25 - Eamonn Healy, Irish chemist
• September 30 - Marty Stuart, American singer

October-December

• October 12 - Bryn Merrick, British musician, ex-The Damned
• October 13 - Derri Daugherty, American musician (The Choir and The Lost Dogs)
• October 14 - Thomas Dolby, English musician
• October 16 - Tim Robbins, American actor
• October 17 - Alan Jackson, American country singer and songwriter
• October 20
  • Dave Finlay, Northern Irish professional wrestler
  • Viggo Mortensen, American actor
  • Mark King, British musician (Level 42)
• October 25 - Phil Daniels , Actor
• October 27 - Simon Le Bon, English musician (Duran Duran)
• October 31 - Brian Stokes Mitchell, American actor and singer
• November 1 - Mark Austin, British newsreader (ITN)
• November 2 - Willie McGee, baseball player
• November 8 - Jeff Speakman, American actor and martial artst
• November 10 - Vicky Rosti, Finnish singer, former Eurovision contestant
• November 16
  • Marg Helgenberger, American actress
  • Boris Krivokapić, Serbian academic
• November 18 - Laura Miller, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
• November 19 - Michael Wilbon, American sportswriter
• November 22 - Jamie Lee Curtis, American actress
• November 28 - Dave Righetti, baseball player
• November 29 - Mario Petrucci, poet, ecologist and educator
• November 30 - Juliette Bergmann, Dutch bodybuilder
• December 1 - Charlene Tilton, American actress
• December 2 - George Saunders, American writer
• December 6 - Nick Park, English filmmaker and animator
• December 9 - Rikk Agnew, American punk rock musician
• December 10 - Cornelia Funke, German author
• December 11
  • Janko Ferk, Austrian lawyer and writer
  • Nikki Sixx, American musician (Mötley Crüe)
• December 13
  • Lynn-Holly Johnson, American ice skater and actress
  • Dana Strum, American bassist
• December 17 - Mike Mills, American bassist (R.E.M.)
• December 25
  • Hanford Dixon, American football player
  • Rickey Henderson, baseball player
• December 29 - Lakhdar Belloumi, Algerian football player
• December 31 - Bebe Neuwirth, American actress

Unknown

• Greg Roberts, drummer with Big Audio Dynamite

Deaths

January-June

• January 1
  • Edward Weston, American photographer (b. 1886)
  • Archibald Alphonso Alexander, American designer/governor (b.1888)
• January 8 - Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (b. 1883)
• January 11 - Edna Purviance, American actress (b. 1895)
• January 19 - Cândido Rondon, Brazilian military officer (b. 1865)
• January 30 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (b. 1878)
• February 1 - Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• February 4 - Henry Kuttner, American author (b. 1915)
• February 13 - Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (b. 1880)
• March 21 - Cyril M. Kornbluth, American writer (b. 1923)
• March 22 - Mike Todd, American film producer (b. 1909)
• March 25 - Tom Brown, American musician (b. 1888)
• March 26 - Phil Mead, English cricketer (b. 1887)
• March 28 - W.C. Handy, American composer (b. 1873)
• April 16 - Rosalind Franklin, British crystallographer (b. 1920)
• April 19 - Billy Meredith, Welsh footballer (b. 1874)
• May 3 - Frank Foster, English cricketer (b. 1889)
• May 19 - Ronald Colman, English actor (b. 1891)
• May 26 - Constantin Cantacuzino, Romanian aviator (b. 1905)
• May 29 - Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
• June 13 - Edwin Keppel Bennett, British writer (b. 1887)
• June 16 - Aleksandr Chervyakov, Prime Minister of Byelorussian SSR (suicide) (b. 1892)
• June 20 - Kurt Alder, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
• June 26 - George Orton, Canadian athlete (b. 1876)
• June 28 - Alfred Noyes, English poet (b. 1880)

July-December

• July 14 (killed during coup d'état)
  • King Faisal II of Iraq (b. 1935)
  • 'Abd al-Ilah, former regent of Iraq (b. 1913)
• July 15- Julia Lennon (mother of John Lennon) (b. 1914)
• August 14 - Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1900)
• August 14 - Gladys Presley, mother of Elvis Presley (b. 1912)
• August 22 - Roger Martin du Gard, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
• August 24 - Paul Henry, Northern Irish artist (b. 1876)
• August 26 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (b. 1872)
• August 27 - Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
• September 11
  • Hans Grundig, artist (b. 1901)
  • Robert W. Service, Scottish-born Canadian poet (b. 1874)
• September 23 - Alfred Piccaver, British-American operatic tenor (b. 1884)
• October 9 - Pope Pius XII (b. 1876)
• October 17
  • Charlie Townsend, English cricketer (b. 1876)
  • Paul Outerbridge American photographer (b. 1896)
• October 24 - G. E. Moore, British philosopher, author of Principia Ethica (b. 1873)
• November 15 - Tyrone Power, American actor (b. 1914)
• November 24 - Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, English politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)
• November 27 - Artur Rodziński, Polish conductor (b. 1892)
• December 8 - Tris Speaker, baseball player (b. 1888)
• December 15 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)

Ship events

• List of ship launches in 1958
• List of ship commissionings in 1958
• List of ship decommissionings in 1958

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm
• Chemistry - Frederick Sanger
• Physiology or Medicine - George Wells Beadle, Edward Lawrie Tatum, Joshua Lederberg
• Literature - Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
• Peace - Georges Pire

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Sam Spiegel
• Best Foreign Language Film: Nights of Cabiria,  Italy
• Best Documentary Feature: Albert Schweitzer, Jerome Hill
• Best Animated Feature: Birds Anonymous, Edward Selzer
• Best Director: David Lean, The Bridge on the River Kwai
• Best Actor: Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai
• Best Actress: Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve
• Best Supporting Actor: Red Buttons, Sayonara
• Best Supporting Actress: Miyoshi Umeki, Sayonara
• Best Original Screenplay: George Wells, Designing Woman
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Novel by Pierre Boulle; screenplay by Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman, The Bridge over the River Kwai