1950

1845–1958	Germany [earth sciences]	German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt lays the basis of modern geography with the publication of Kosmos/Cosmos, in which he arranges geographic knowledge in a systematic fashion.
1950	England [fiction]	The English writer Doris Lessing publishes her novel The Grass is Singing.
1950	USA [banking and finance]	Diners Club cards, introduced in the USA, become the first credit cards. Initially issued by lawyer Frank X McNamara to around 200 members for use in 27 restaurants in the New York City area, the scheme gains popularity and quickly spreads.
1950	Italy, Japan [cinema and film]	The intricately structured film Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa, is released in Japan, starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, and Masayuki Mori. It wins the Grand Prix at the Venice International Film Festival the following year, helping to create a market for Japanese cinema in the West.
1950	USA, Cuba [communications]	A coaxial telephone cable with submerged repeaters is laid between Miami, Florida, and Havana, Cuba; its success paves the way for transatlantic cables.
1950	England, USSR [historical study]	The English historian E H Carr publishes the first volume of his 14-volume History of Soviet Russia. The last volume will be published in 1978.
1950	Mexico [historical study]	The Mexican writer Octavio Paz publishes El laberinto de la soledad/The Labyrinth of Solitude, an influential study of Mexican history and culture.
1950–1959	USA [everyday life]	The number of people in the USA who live in the suburbs increases by 44% in the 1950s.
1950	world [everyday life]	The population of the world is estimated at 2,516 million.
1950	India, USA [everyday life]	Life expectancy for men and women in India is 32 compared to 66 and 71 in the USA.
1950	UK [everyday life]	Population figures for the United Kingdom (in millions): England 41.1; Wales 2.5; Scotland 5.2; Ireland/Northern Ireland 1.4.
1950	USA [media and communication]	Millionaire US industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes becomes a recluse.
1950	USA [musicals]	The musical Guys and Dolls, by Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows, is first performed, in New York City. It is taken from the collection of stories by the US writer Damon Runyon.
1950	USA [painting]	The US artist Jackson Pollock paints Autumn Rhythm: No. 30.
1950	USA [sculpture]	The US artist David Smith sculpts Blackburn, Song on an Irish Blacksmith.
1950	USA [statistics and demography]	The average family income in the USA is $3,319; $3,455 for whites and $1,869 for blacks and other minorities.
1950	USA [statistics and demography]	US businesses spend $5.7 billion on advertising: $2.1 billion in newspapers; $605 million on radio; $515 in magazines; and $171 million on television.
1950	USA [statistics and demography]	The US population reaches 150,697,361 and the centre of the nation's population moves westward into Illinois.
1950	Japan [technology]	Dr Yoshiro Nakamata of the Imperial University, Tokyo, Japan, develops the floppy disk and licenses it to International Business Machines (IBM).
1950–1980	UK [television]	Watch With Mother, a series for young children featuring favourite characters such as Andy Pandy, the Flowerpot Men, Rag, Tag, and Bobtail, and the Woodentops, is shown on British television.
1950	USA [telephone services]	There are 43 million telephones in the USA and 60% of homes have telephones.
1950	Chile, South America [poetry]	The Chilean writer Pablo Neruda publishes his Canto General/General Song, a series of poems that give an epic account of the history of South America.
1950	USA [tools]	The first Xerox photocopying machine is produced by the Haloid Company (later to become the Xerox Corporation) in Rochester, New York.
1950	India [women's rights]	Women in India gain the right to vote on the same basis as men.
21 January 1950	England [births and deaths]	George Orwell, English novelist who wrote Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, dies in London, England (46).
18 February 1950	USA [telephone services]	In the USA, telephone direct-dialing becomes possible between New York and New Jersey.
23 February 1950	UK [television]	For the first time, British election returns are televised.
1 March 1950	West Germany [food and drink]	The rationing of all foods except sugar ends in West Germany.
1 April 1950	Italian Somaliland, British Somaliland, UK, Italy [colonies and mandate]	Italian Somaliland, occupied by British troops from 1941 to 1949, becomes a United Nations (UN) trust territory under Italian administration, but most of modern Somalia (British Somaliland) continues as a British protectorate until 1960.
May 1950	UK [radio]	The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio starts broadcasting The Archers – an everyday story of country people – in the Midland region of England.
9 May 1950	France, West Germany [diplomacy]	The Schuman Plan is announced in France for the creation of a single authority to control the production of steel and coal in France and West Germany, with membership then opened to other countries.
25 June 1950	North Korea, South Korea [Korean War (1950–53)]	Communist North Korean forces invade South Korea, with several armies advancing southwards.
31 July 1950	England [everyday life]	J Sainsbury's, the British supermarket chain, opens its first self-service shop in Croydon, South London, England.
1 August 1950	Belgium [legislation]	King Leopold III of Belgium abdicates in favour of his son, Prince Baudouin, who acts as head of state from 11 August to 17 July 1951, when he is crowned king.
4 August 1950	USA [Korean War (1950–53)]	After the start of fighting in Korea, the US Army calls up 21,000 enlisted reservists for 21 months' duty.
1 October 1950	South Korea, North Korea, USA [Korean War (1950–53)]	South Korean and United Nations (UN) forces, moving north, cross the 38th parallel, the border line between North and South Korea.
2 October 1950	USA [births and deaths]	Al Jolson, US popular singer and comedian, star of The Jazz Singer (1927), the first feature film with synchronized speech and music, dies in San Francisco, California (64).
2 October 1950	USA [newspapers]	In the USA, Charles Schulz's comic strip Peanuts, starring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and friends, appears in newspapers for the first time.
2 November 1950	Ireland [births and deaths]	George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist propagandist, dies in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England (94).
26 November 1950	North Korea, South Korea, China [Korean War (1950–53)]	Chinese troops enter the Korean War, obliging United Nations (UN) forces to retreat south from the Manchurian border.
28 November 1950	Poland, East Germany [diplomacy]	Poland and East Germany proclaim the Oder–Neisse line as the frontier between the two countries, giving Poland territorial gains in the west to compensate for territory lost to the USSR at the end of World War II.