Year retrospective · 1950s

1954

1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1954th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 954th year of the 2nd millennium, the 54th year of the 20th century, and the 5th year of the 1950s decade.

Recorded events

10

top entries

Notable births

30

Notable deaths

30

Decade

1950s

Timeline

Defining events of 1954

  1. 1954 United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

    World War II general, U.S. president from 1953 to 1961

    Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. A General of the Army, Eisenhower was the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. His successful leadership in Operation Torch (1942–1943) and Operation Overlord was pivotal to the Allied victory in World War II.

  2. 1954 Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.

    President of Egypt from 1956 to 1970

    Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year. Following a 1954 assassination attempt by a Muslim Brotherhood member, he cracked down on the organization, put President Mohamed Naguib under house arrest and assumed executive office.

  3. 1954 Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins.

    Phenomenon of US political rhetoric after WWII

    McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s, heavily associated with the Second Red Scare, also known as the McCarthy era. S. senator Joseph McCarthy, who had spearheaded the campaign, gradually lost his public popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false.

  4. 1954 The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.

    Device used to produce electricity from light

    A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by using the photovoltaic effect. It is a type of photoelectric cell, a device whose electrical characteristics vary when it is exposed to light. Individual solar cell devices are often the electrical building blocks of photovoltaic modules, known colloquially as "solar panels".

  5. 1954 The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.

    International conference on dismantling French Indochina

    The Geneva Conference was intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War and involved several nations. It took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 26 April to 21 July 1954. The part of the conference on the Korean question ended without adopting any declarations or proposals and so is generally considered less relevant.

  6. 1954 The first clinical trials of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine begin in Fairfax County, Virginia.

    American inventor of the polio vaccine (1914–1995)

    Jonas Edward Salk was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. He was born in New York City and attended the City College of New York and New York University School of Medicine.

  7. 1954 United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
  8. 1954 A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
  9. 1954 South African Airways Flight 201: A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.
  10. 1954 At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held.

Arrivals

Born in 1954

Robert Greenberg 1954– American composer (born 1954)
Trevor Francis 1954– English footballer and manager (1954–2023)
Ebiet G. Ade 1954– Indonesian singer-songwriter and guitarist
James Morrison 1954– American actor (born 1954)
Mike Wingfield 1954– South African professor of forestry
Wladyslaw Zmuda 1954– Topics referred to by the same term
Louise Erdrich 1954– American author (born 1954)
Kiril of Varna 1954– Bulgarian metropolitan (died 2013)
Sergei Storchak 1954– Russian politician
Ryan Cayabyab 1954– Filipino musician and composer (born 1954)
Robert Greenberg 1954– American composer (born 1954)
Trevor Francis 1954– English footballer and manager (1954–2023)

Farewells

Died in 1954

Emil Leon Post American mathematician and logician (1897 – 1954)
Alcide De Gasperi Prime Minister of Italy from 1945 to 1953
John Raymond Hubbell American writer, composer, & lyricist (1879–1954)
Joseph Beech American Methodist missionary and educator
Edwin Howard Armstrong American radio-frequency engineer and inventor (1890–1954)
Jacinto Benavente Spanish dramatist (1866–1954)
Machine Gun Kelly American gangster (1895–1954)
Alan Turing English computer scientist (1912–1954)
Marianne Weber German women's rights activist and legal historian
Otto Diels German chemist (1876–1954)
Vagn Walfrid Ekman Swedish oceanographer (1874–1954)
Chief Bender Native American baseball player (1884–1954)

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