Top News Stories from 1950
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade Nobel Peace Prize: Ralph J. Bunche (US)
More World Statistics... - Korean War begins when North Korean Communist forces invade South Korea.
- Sino-Soviet friendship treaty signed.
- Communist Chinese forces invade Tibet.
- British atomic physicist Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Background: The Cold War
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President: Harry S Truman
Vice President: Alben W. Barkley
Population: 152,271,417
Life expectancy: 68.2 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 5.3
More U.S. Statistics... - Truman orders development of hydrogen bomb (Jan. 31).
- Assassination attempt on President Truman by Puerto Rican nationalists (Nov. 1).
- Era of McCarthyism begins.
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $294.6 billion
Federal spending: $42.56 billion
Federal debt $256.9 billion
Consumer Price Index: $24.1
Unemployment: 5.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03
Sports
World Series
NY Yankees d. Philadelphia Phillies (4-0)NBA Championship
Minneapolis Lakers d. SyracuseStanley Cup
Detroit d. NY RangersWimbledon
Women: Louise Brough d. M. duPont (6-1 3-6 6-1)Men: Budge Patty d. F. Sedgman (6-1 8-10 6-2 6-3)
Kentucky Derby Champion
MiddlegroundNCAA Basketball Championship
CCNY d. BradleyNCAA Football Champions
Oklahoma (10-1-0)World Cup
Uruguay d. BrazilEntertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction:
The Way West, A. B. Guthrie, Jr.
Music: The Consul, Gian Carlo Menotti
Drama: South Pacific, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Joshua Logan
Academy Award, Best Picture: All the King's Men (Robert Rossen Productions; Columbia)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Bertrand Russell (UK)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- Saturday morning children's programming begins.
- Phonevision, the first pay-per-view service, becomes available.
- Broadway classic Guys and Dolls debuts at the 46th Street Theatre and becomes an instant hit. The show ran for three years and became one of the Great White Way's longest-running shows, with 1,200 performances.
- Charles Schulz introduces the Peanuts comic strip.
Movies
- Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, Born Yesterday, The Third Man
Books
- Paul Bowles, The Delicate Prey
- Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles
- Ernest Hemingway, Across the River and Into the Trees
- Mary McCarthy, Cast a Cold Eye
- Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Family Moskat
- Wallace Stevens, The Auroras of Autumn
- Lionel Trilling, The Liberal Imagination
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Otto Diels and Kurt Alder (both Germany), for discovery of diene synthesis enabling scientists to study structure of organic matter
Physics: Cecil Frank Powell (UK), for method of photographic study of atom nucleus, and for discoveries about mesons
Physiology or Medicine: Philip S. Hench, Edward C. Kendall (both US), and Tadeus Reichstein (Switzerland), for discoveries about hormones of adrenal cortex
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - Col. David C. Schilling (USAF) makes the first nonstop transatlantic jet flight in 10 hours and 1 minute (Sept. 22). Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
- The first Xerox machine is produced.
- The first self-service elevator is installed by Otis Elevator in Dallas.
- Richard Lawler (US) performs the first successful kidney transplant at Loyola University. Background: Health & Nutrition
