1958
| Years: 1955 1956 1957 - 1958 - 1959 1960 1961 | |
| Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s | |
| Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1958 in art | |
Events
January
- January 1 - Treaty of Rome founding the EU is implemented
- 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 18 - Armed Lumbee Native Americans chased off an estimated 5,000 Klansmen and supporters at the town of Maxton, North Carolina.
- January 28 - Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate begin their murder spree with the killings of her parents and infant sister
- January 29 - Police capture Charles Starkweather in Wyoming
- January 31 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit
- January 31 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt
February
- February 1 - Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic
- February 1 - US satellite Explorer I launched
- February 5 - Gamel Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic
- February 6 - Munich Air Disaster - 21 dead, including 7 players for Manchester United
- February 11 - Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.
- February 11 - Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African American woman hired as a flight attendant
- February 17 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare the patron saint of television
- February 23 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio
- February 25 - Bertrand Russell launches a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
March-April
- March 1 - Arturo Frondizi becomes President of Argentina
- March 1 - Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, ninth bishop (fourth archbishop) of the Roman Catholic diocese of Chicago, appointed Pro-Perfect of the Propagaion of Faith and thus becomes the first American member of the Roman Curia
- March 2 – A British team lead by Sir Vivian Fuchs completes the first crossing of the Antarctic in Snow-cat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams in 99 days
- March 17 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite
- March 22 - Faisal becomes King of Saudi Arabia
- March 26 - The United States Army launches Explorer III
- March 27 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union
- April 3 - Castro's revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana
- April 4 - The first protest march by CND begins from Hyde Park, London, for Aldermaston, Berkshire
- April 4 - The daughter of the actress Lana Turner stabs her mother's gangster lover to death (eventually ruled self defence)
- April 6 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari divorces Muhammad Reza Shah after she is unable to produce any children.
May-June
- May 2 - A State of Emergency is declared in Aden
- May 12 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada
- May 13 - 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 16 - Short-lived outburst of friendship between Arabs and Europeans in Algiers
- May 18 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph
- May 23 - Explorer I 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 1 - Charles De Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months
- June 1 - Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles
- June 16 - Imre Nagy is hanged for treason in Hungary
July-August
- July 5 - First ascent of Gasherbrum I, 11th highest
- July 7 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law
- July 10 - First parking meters installed in Britain
- July 14 - Iraqi Revolution: In Iraq the monarchy is overthrown by Arab nationalists and Abdul Karim Qassim becomes the nation's new leader
- July 14 - A left wing military coup in Iraq leads to the murder of King Feisal I
- July 15 - In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there
- July 24 - The first life peerage is created in Britain
- July 26 - Explorer program: Explorer IV is launched
- July 29 - The United States Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- August 3 - The nuclear powered submarine USS Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water
- August 23 - Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
- August 30 - September 1 - Riots between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London
October-December
- October 1 - Tunisia and Morocco join the Arab League
- October 1 - NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA
- October 2 - Guinea declares itself independent from France
- October 11 - Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up)
- October 28 - Angleo Giuseppe Roncalli becomes Pope and takes the name Pope John XXIII.
- 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
- December 1 - Central African Republic becomes independent from France
- December 9 - John Birch Society formed in the USA
unknown date
- The First Cod War between UK and Iceland
- BBC Radiophonic Workshop created
- During the International Geophysical Year, Earth's magnetosphere is discovered
- The United States conducts Operation Argus during August and September
- 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 Female circumcision in the United States.
Year in topic
- 1958 in film
- 1958 in literature
- August 18 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published.
- Rona Jaffe's The Best of Everything becomes a bestseller.
- 1958 in music
- January 20 - Elvis Presley receives his draft notice
- 1958 in sports
- 1958 in television
- Ampex demonstrates their design for a color Video Tape Recorder
Births
January-March
- January 20 - Lorenzo Lamas, actor
- January 24 - Jools Holland, musician
- January 26 - Ellen DeGeneres, actress, comedienne
- February 11 - Michael Jackson, controller of BBC2.
- February 11 - Regina Marsikova, Czechoslovakian tennis player.
- February 13 - Pernilla August, actress
- February 16 - Ice-T, singer, songwriter, actor (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)
- February 21 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, singer
- February 24 - Sammy Kershaw, musician
- March 3 - Miranda Richardson, actress
- March 4 - Patricia Heaton, actress (Everybody Loves Raymond)
- March 5 - Andy Gibb, singer (d. 1988)
- March 8 - Gary Numan, singer
- March 10 - Sharon Stone, actress
- March 14 - Prince Albert of Monaco
- March 20 - Holly Hunter, actress
- March 21 - Gary Oldman, actor
April-August
- April 3 - Alec Baldwin, actor
- April 10 - Yefim Bronfman, Russian pianist
- April 10 - Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R&B producer and musician
- April 21 - Andie MacDowell, actress
- April 28 - Hal Sutton, American golfer
- April 29 - Michelle Pfeiffer, actress
- April 29 - Eve Plumb, actress (The Brady Bunch)
- May 11 - Christian Brando, Marlon Brando's son
- May 16 - Amp Fiddler, musician (P Funk)
- May 20 - Ron Reagan, dancer, talk show host, son of former President Ronald Reagan
- May 23 - Mitch Albom, author (Tuesdays With Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven)
- May 23 - Drew Carey, comedian, actor (The Drew Carey Show, Whose Line is it Anyway?)
- May 26 - Wayne Hussey, British rocker The Mission
- May 27 - Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
- May 27 - Wayne Williams, murderer in Atlanta
- May 28 - Annette Bening, actress
- June 7 - Prince (artist), musician
- June 8 - Keenen Ivory Wayans, comedian, actor, director
- July 15 - Mac Thornberry, American politician
- July 28 - Terry Fox, cancer activist (d. 1981)
- July 31 - Mark Cuban, technology entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner
- August 7 - Bruce Dickinson, English heavy metal musician
- August 16 - Madonna, musician, songwriter, actress
- August 29 - Michael Jackson, composer, songwriter, singer, dancer, actor, musician, musical icon & genius
September-December
- September 10 - Dan Castellaneta, voice actor (The Simpsons)
- September 16 - Orel Hershiser, baseball pitcher
- September 22 - Andrea Bocelli, singer
- September 27 - Abramo Russo, christian
- October 5 - Bernie Mac, actor, comedian
- October 14 - Thomas Dolby, English rock musician
- October 16 - Tim Robbins, American actor
- November 18 - Laura Miller, mayor of Dallas, Texas
- November 25 - Kim Ashfield, British model
- November 28 - Dave Righetti, baseball pitcher
- December 6 - Nick Park, film-maker and animator
- December 25 - Rickey Henderson, baseball player
- December 31 - Bebe Neuwirth, actress
Deaths
- January 1 - Edward Weston, photographer
- January 8 - Paul Pilgrim, American athlete
- January 11 - Edna Purviance, actress
- January 30 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist
- February 4 - Henry Kuttner, science fiction author
- February 13 - Christabel Pankhurst, suffragette
- March 21 - Cyril M. Kornbluth, science fiction writer
- March 22 - Michael Todd, Academy Award winning film producer
- March 25 - Tom Brown, jazz musician (b. 1888)
- March 28 - W.C. Handy, blues composer
- May 19 - Ronald Colman, actor
- June 26 - George Orton, Canadian athlete
- July 14 - King Faisal II of Iraq and most of his family
- August 14 - Gladys Presley, Elvis Presley's mom
- August 14 - Frédéric Joliot, scientist
- October 9 - Pope Pius XII
- December 8 - Tris Speaker, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1888)
- December 15 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, physicist
Nobel Prizes
- Physics - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm
- Chemistry - Frederick Sanger
- Medicine - George Wells Beadle, Edward Lawrie Tatum, Joshua Lederberg
- Literature - Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
- Peace - Georges Pire
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