1956

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.
1950–1959	USA [everyday life]	The number of people in the USA who live in the suburbs increases by 44% in the 1950s.
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.
15 October 1951 - 24 June 1957	USA [television]	I Love Lucy, US television's first smash hit situation comedy, is shown, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley.
1956–1961	UK [television]	In addition to its successful run on radio, Hancock's Half-Hour, starring the comedian Tony Hancock, supported by Sid James, is shown on British television. It is scripted by Alan Simpson and Ray Galton.
1956	England [memoirs]	The English writer Laurie Lee publishes Cider with Rosie, recollections of his childhood in an English village.
1956	USA [motor vehicles]	US automobile companies manufacture about 6 million cars and 1 million trucks. About one in every eight cars is a station wagon.
1956	Russia [solo and chamber music]	The Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich completes his String Quartet No. 6.
1956	India [civic and commercial buildings]	The High Court Building in Chandigarh, the Punjab, India, designed by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier (pseudonym of Charles Edouard Jeanneret), is completed. A new city, Chandigarh gave Le Corbusier opportunities to develop many of his ideas during the 1960s. Others who work there include the English architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew.
1956	USA [popular music]	The US rock singer Elvis Presley releases the singles ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, ‘Don't Be Cruel’, ‘Love Me Tender’, ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, and ‘Hound Dog’ which, with sales of over 3 million, is the top-selling single of the 1950s in the USA.
1956	USA, UK [popular music]	Rock 'n' roll music dominates dance floors in the USA and Britain.
1956	UK [popular music]	The popularity of singer Lonnie Donegan's ‘Rock Island Line’ (recorded in 1954) triggers the skiffle craze in Britain. The sound is based on acoustic guitar and home-made percussion, including washboards. Its main significance is to make the British market more receptive to blues music.
1956	Europe [popular music]	The Eurovision Song Contest is launched. The first winner is Switzerland's Lys Assia with ‘Refrains’.
1956	France [orchestral music]	The French composer Olivier Messiaen completes his orchestral work Oiseaux exotiques/Exotic Birds.
1956	France [painting]	The French artist Yves Klein creates the first of his blue monochrome paintings. He patents the colour in 1960 as YKB (Yves Klein Blue).
1956	USA [philosophy]	Polish-born US philosopher Alfred Tarski publishes Logic, Semantics, and Metamathematics.
1956	USA [physics]	US physicists Clyde Cowan and Fred Reines detect the existence of the neutrino, a particle with no electric charge and no mass, at the Los Alamos Laboratory, New Mexico, USA.
1956	USA [plays]	The play A Long Day's Journey into Night, by the US dramatist Eugene O'Neill, is first performed, at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York City.
1956	Russia [poetry]	The Russian writer Yevgeny Yevtushenko publishes his long poem Stantsiya Zima/Zima Junction.
1956	USA [poetry]	The US writer Allen Ginsberg publishes Howl and Other Poems, which becomes a classic of ‘Beat’ literature.
1956	Japan [fiction]	The Japanese writer Yukio Mishima publishes his novel Kinkakuji/The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
1956	France [fiction]	The Algerian-born French writer Albert Camus publishes his novel La Chute/The Fall.
1956	USA [fiction]	The US writer Patricia Highsmith publishes her novel The Talented Mr Ripley.
1956	UK [art]	The English artist Richard Hamilton creates the collage What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?, one of the first works of British Pop Art.
1956	USA [biology]	US biologists Maklon Hoagland and Paul Zamecnik discover transfer RNA (ribonucleic acid), which transfers amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, to the correct site on the messenger RNA.
1956	USA [biology]	US biochemist and physician Arthur Kornberg discovers how DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules replicate, allowing him to synthesize DNA in a test tube.
1956	UK [computing]	Univac initiates the second generation of computers when it introduces the first commercially successful computer using transistors instead of vacuum tubes.
1956	USA [computing]	IBM introduces RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control), the first hard disk storage of data. Indexes are used to locate the data on the disk.
1956	USA [computing]	US computer programmer Jack Backus at IBM invents FORTRAN (formula translation), the first computer programming language. It is used primarily by scientists and mathematicians.
31 January 1956	England [births and deaths]	A(lan) A(lexander) Milne, English author who created Winnie-the-Pooh, dies in Hartfield, Sussex, England (74).
February 1956	USA [technology]	US engineers Charles Ginsburg and Raymond Dolby of Ampex Corporation demonstrate the first practical videotape recorder. It revolutionizes television broadcasting by permitting shows to be taped rather than shown live.
25 February 1956	USSR [political events]	The general secretary of the Communist Party in the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev, denounces former leader Joseph Stalin and his policies, at a closed session of the 20th Conference of the Communist Party. The speech is made public on 18 March.
29 February 1956	Pakistan [law and government]	The Pakistan parliament passes a bill containing a constitution for the new independent Islamic Republic of Pakistan. On 2 March it decides to stay in the British Commonwealth, and on 23 March it becomes independent, with Iskander Mirza, the governor general, as provisional president.
2 March 1956	Morocco, France, Spain [decolonization]	France recognizes the independence of its former colony of Morocco, and Spain grants recognition on 7 April.
19 April 1956	USA, Monaco [cinema and film]	The US film star Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco. The screening of her films in Monaco is subsequently banned.
2 May 1956	USA [civil rights]	The general conference of the Methodist Church, meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, orders the abolishment of racial segregation in its churches.
29 June 1956	USA [popular culture]	The US actor Marilyn Monroe marries the US playwright Arthur Miller; this is her third marriage. They divorce in 1961.
26 July 1956	France, Egypt, UK, USA [diplomacy]	The Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser announces the nationalization of the Suez Canal (owned partly by France and Britain) after the USA and Britain announce they will not help fund the Aswan Dam project. On 31 July Britain, France, and the USA retaliate with financial measures.
27 July - 31 July 1956	England [cricket]	In the fourth cricket Test between England and Australia at Old Trafford, Manchester, the England offspinner Jim Laker becomes the first bowler to take all ten wickets in a Test match innings. His match analysis of 19–90 beats the previous Test record of 17–159 set by S F Barnes in 1913–14.
1 August 1956	East Germany [births and deaths]	Bertolt Brecht, German poet and playwright, dies in East Berlin, East Germany (now Berlin, Germany) (58).
1 August 1956	USA [medicine]	Drug manufacturers in the USA begin to market the poliomyelitis vaccine developed by Dr Jonas E Salk.
19 October 1956	USSR, Japan [treaties]	A Soviet–Japanese treaty ends an 11-year state of war dating from 1945, but the status of the disputed Kurile Islands remains unresolved.
30 October 1956	Hungary, USSR [diplomacy]	The Hungarian prime minister Imre Nagy promises free elections in Hungary, and Cardinal Mindszenty is released following eight years of captivity. The USSR responds by sending Soviet and satellite state troops to invade Hungary.
4 November 1956	Hungary, USSR [wars]	Soviet forces attack Budapest, Hungary, and the Hungarian prime minister Imre Nagy takes refuge in the Yugoslavian embassy. János Kádár, the leader of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Workers' Party, cooperates with the USSR and forms a ‘revolutionary peasant-worker’ government.
7 November 1956	Egypt, UK, France [diplomacy]	Britain and France accept a ceasefire in the Suez Crisis in Egypt, but Britain declares it will evacuate its troops only on the arrival of the United Nations (UN) emergency force.
22 November 1956	Australia, Egypt, Lebanon, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, China [Olympic Games]	The 16th Olympic Games, opening in Melbourne, Australia, are affected by political boycotts: Egypt, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland refuse to take part following the French–British–Israeli action in Egypt and the Soviet invasion of Hungary. China also withdraws in protest at the participation of Formosa (Taiwan).
5 December 1956	Egypt, UK, France [wars]	British and French forces begin their withdrawal from Egypt and the Suez Crisis there, completing their evacuation on 22 December.