1958

January

• January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
• January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
• January 4
  • Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third overland journey to the South Pole, the first to use powered vehicles.
  • Sputnik 1 (launched on October 4, 1957) falls to Earth from its orbit, and burns up.
• January 13 – Battle of Edchera: The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol.
• January 27 – A Soviet-American executive agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges, also known as the "Lacy–Zarubin Agreement", is signed in Washington, D.C.

February

• February 1 – Egypt and Syria unite, to form the United Arab Republic.
• February 6 – Seven Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster in West Germany, on the return flight from a European Cup game in Yugoslavia. 23 people survive, manager Matt Busby and players Johnny Berry and Duncan Edwards are in a serious condition. Berry will never play again and Edwards dies a fortnight later.
• February 11 – Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs.
• February 14 – The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan unite in the Arab Federation, with King Faisal II of Iraq as head of state.
• February 17 – Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the UK.
• February 21 – A peace symbol is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.
• February 23
  • Cuban rebels kidnap five-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio, releasing him 28 hours later.
  • Arturo Frondizi is elected president of Argentina.
• February 24 – In Cuba, Fidel Castro's Radio Rebelde begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra.
• February 28 – Prestonsburg bus disaster: One of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history occurs when a school bus hits a truck and falls into a river, resulting in 27 deaths, 26 of them schoolchildren. Twenty-two others are rescued.

March

• March 1 – Turkish passenger ship Üsküdar capsizes and sinks in a sudden gale while crossing the Gulf of İzmit, Turkey; many of the 272 who died were teenage students.
• March 2 – A British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition team, led by Sir Vivian Fuchs, completes the first overland crossing of the Antarctic, using snowcat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams, in 99 days, via the South Pole.
• March 8 – The USS Wisconsin is decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896 (she is recommissioned October 22, 1988).
• March 11 – A U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Without a fissile warhead, its conventional explosives destroy a house and injure six people.
• March 17 – The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
• March 19 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire occurs in New York, United States, killing 24 people.
• March 26 – The 30th Academy Awards Ceremony takes place; The Bridge on the River Kwai wins 7 awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture.
• March 27 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.

April

• April 3 – In Cuba, Castro's revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana.
• April 13 – The satellite Sputnik 2 (launched November 3, 1957) disintegrates during reentry from orbit.
• April 14 – Van Cliburn wins the International Tchaikovsky Competition for pianists in Moscow, breaking Cold War tensions.
• April 17 – King Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the world's fair in Brussels, also known as Expo 58. The Atomium forms the centrepiece.
• April 20 – The Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey, after defeating the US team the Boston Bruins in 6 games.
• April 21 – United Airlines Flight 736 is involved in a mid-air collision with a U.S. Air Force F-100F jet fighter in what is now Enterprise, Nevada; all 49 persons in both aircraft are killed.

May

• May 1
  • Arturo Frondizi becomes President of Argentina.
  • U.S. space scientist James van Allen announces the discovery of Earth's magnetosphere.
  • The Nordic Passport Union comes into force.
• May 10 – Interviewed in the Chave d'Ouro café, when asked about his rival António de Oliveira Salazar, Humberto Delgado utters one of the most famous comments in Portuguese political history: "Obviamente, demito-o! (Obviously, I'll sack him!)".
• May 12 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
• May 13
  • Crisis in France: French Algerian protesters seize government offices in Algiers, leading to a military coup.
  • During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
• May 15 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
• May 18 – An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h).
• May 20 – The Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista launches a counteroffensive against Castro's rebels.
• May 22 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the first American elected official to appear on color television.
• May 28 – Real Madrid beats A.C. Milan 3–2 at Heysel Stadium, Brussels and wins the 1957–58 European Cup.
• May 30 – The bodies of unidentified United States 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

• June 1
  • Charles de Gaulle is brought out of retirement at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises to lead France by decree for 6 months.
  • Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles (22.2 km).
• June 4 – French Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle visits Algeria.
• June 16 – Imre Nagy and other leaders of the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956 are hanged for treason, following secret trials.
• June 20 – The iron barque Omega of Callao, Peru (built in Liverpool, 1887), the world's last full-rigged ship trading under sail alone, sinks on passage carrying guano from the Pachacamac Islands for Huacho.
• June 29 – Brazil beats Sweden 5–2 in the final game, to win the football World Cup in Sweden.
• June 30 – The Ifni War ends in Spanish Sahara.^{[citation needed]}

July

• July 9 – 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami: A 7.8 M_w  strike-slip earthquake in Southeast Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reaches 525 m (1,722 ft) on the rim of Lituya Bay.
• July 12 – Henri Cornelis becomes Governor-General of the Belgian Congo, the last Belgian governor prior to independence.
• July 14 – July 14 Revolution in Iraq: King Faisal II and several family members are executed. Abd al-Karim Qasim assumes power.
• July 15 – In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in support of the pro-Western government.
• July 24 – Fourteen life peerages, the first under the Life Peerages Act 1958, are created in the United Kingdom.
• July 26
  • Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched in the United States.
  • Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom announces that she is giving her son and heir apparent Prince Charles, the customary title of Prince of Wales. The announcement is made at the end of the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, held in Cardiff.
• July 29 – The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

August

• August 3 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus becomes the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water.
• August 6
  • Australian athlete Herb Elliott clips almost 3 seconds off the world record for the mile run at Santry Stadium, Dublin, recording a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds.
  • The Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, which outlawed the Communist Party of Chile and banned 26,650 persons from the electoral lists, is repealed.
• August 7 – 1958 East Pakistan-India border skirmishes, a skirmish between East Pakistan and the Indian Army in Laxmipur.
• August 14 – KLM Flight 607-E, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, crashes into the sea with 99 people aboard, all of whom are killed.
• August 17 – The first Thor-Able rocket is launched, carrying Pioneer 0, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17. The launch fails due to a first stage malfunction.
• August 18 – Brojen Das from East Pakistan swims across the English Channel in a competition, the first Bangali as well as the first Asian to ever do it. He is first among 39 competitors.
• August 21–October 15 – Illinois observes the centennial of the Lincoln–Douglas debates.
• August 23 – The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins, with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
• August 26 – A general strike is called in Paraguay.
• August 30 – September 1 – Notting Hill race riots: Riots occur between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London.

September

• September 1 – The first Cod War begins between the United Kingdom and Iceland.
• September 2
  • Hendrik Verwoerd becomes the 6th Prime Minister of South Africa.
  • China's first television broadcasts start at Beijing Television Station, a predecessor of China Central Television.　
• September 4 – Jorge Alessandri is the winner of Chile's presidential election.
• September 12 – Jack Kilby invents the first integrated circuit, while working at Texas Instruments.
• September 14 – Two rockets designed by German engineer Ernst Mohr (the first German post-war rockets) reach the upper atmosphere.
• September 18 – BankAmericard, the first credit card to be widely offered, is launched in Fresno, California in what becomes known as the "Fresno Drop".
• September 27
  • Typhoon Ida kills at least 1,269 people in Honshū, Japan.
  • Hurricane Helene, the worst storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, reaches category 4 status.
• September 28 – In the 1958 French constitutional referendum, a majority of 79% says yes to the constitution of the Fifth Republic.
• September 30 – The U.S.S.R. performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya.

October

• October – GoldStar, as predecessor for LG Electronics, founded in South Korea.
• October 1
  • Tunisia and Morocco join the Arab League.
  • NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA in the United States.
• October 2 – Guinea declares itself independent from France, rejecting that nation's new constitution.
• October 4
  • The new Constitution of France is signed into law, establishing the French Fifth Republic.
  • British Overseas Airways Corporation uses the new De Havilland Comet jets, to become the first airline to fly jet passenger services across the Atlantic.
• October 11 – Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of the 3 project Able space probes, becomes the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.
• October 17 – An Evening with Fred Astaire, the first television show recorded on color videotape, is broadcast on NBC in the United States.
• October 18 – Tennis for Two, a game invented by William Higinbotham and considered to be the first pure entertainment computer game, is introduced at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Visitors' Day Exhibit in the United States.
• October 26 – A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 makes its first transatlantic flight.
• October 28 – Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII, as the 261st pope.

November

• November 3
  • The new UNESCO building, World Heritage Centre, is inaugurated in Paris.
  • Jorge Alessandri is sworn in as President of Chile.
• November 10 – Harry Winston donates the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution.
• November 18 – En route to Rogers City, Michigan, United States, the Lake freighter SS Carl D. Bradley breaks up and sinks in a storm on Lake Michigan; 33 of the 35 crewmen on board perish.
• November 20 – The Jim Henson Company is founded as Muppets, Inc. in the United States.
• November 22 – 1958 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H.V. Evatt. This is the first election where television was used as a medium for communicating with voters. Evatt will eventually resign as Labor leader and will be replaced by his deputy Arthur Calwell.
• November 25 – French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French colonial empire.
• November 28 – Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French colonial empire.
• November 30 – Gaullists win the French parliamentary election.

December

• December 1
  • Our Lady of the Angels School fire: 90 students and 3 nuns are killed in a fire in Chicago.
  • Adolfo López Mateos takes office as President of Mexico.
• December 14 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first ever to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility.
• December 15 – Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes of Bell Laboratories publish a paper in Physical Review Letters setting out the principles of the optical laser.
• December 16
  • A fire breaks out in the Vida Department Store in Bogotá, Colombia and kills 84 persons.
  • Soviet polar pilot V. M. Perov on Li-2 rescues four Belgian polar explorers, led by Gaston de Gerlache, who have survived a plane crash in Antarctica 250 km from their base five days earlier.
• December 18
  • The United States launches SCORE, the world's first communications satellite.
  • The Bell XV-3 Tiltrotor makes the first true mid-air transition from vertical helicopter-type flight to fully level fixed-wing flight.
• December 19 – A message from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is broadcast from the SCORE satellite.
• December 21 – General Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France with 78.5% of the votes.
• December 24 – 1958 BOAC Bristol Britannia crash: A BOAC Bristol Britannia (312 G-AOVD) crashes near Winkton, England, during a test flight, killing nine people. Three crew members survive.
• December 28 – In American football, the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants 23–17 to win the NFL Championship Game, the first to go into sudden death overtime and "The Greatest Game Ever Played".
• December 29 – Battle of Santa Clara: Rebel troops under Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara begin to invade Santa Clara, Cuba.
• December 30 – The Guatemalan Air Force fires on Mexican fishing boats which had strayed into Guatemalan territory, triggering the Mexico–Guatemala conflict.
• December 31 – After the fall of Santa Clara, Cuban President Fulgencio Batista flees the country.

Date unknown

• Denatonium, the bitterest substance known, is discovered. It is used as an aversive agent in products such as bleach to reduce the risk of children drinking them.

January

• January 1 – Grandmaster Flash, Barbadian-American hip-hop/rap DJ
• January 4 – Matt Frewer, Canadian-American actor (Max Headroom)
• January 6 – Shlomo Glickstein, Israeli tennis player
• January 7 – Yasmin Ahmad, Malaysian film director, writer and scriptwriter (d. 2009)
• January 8 – Betsy DeVos, American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education
• January 9 – Mehmet Ali Ağca, Turkish militant, would-be assassin of Pope John Paul II
• January 10 – Samira Said, Moroccan singer
• January 12 – Christiane Amanpour, British-born Iranian journalist and television host for CNN and PBS
• January 15 – Boris Tadić, Serbian president
• January 20 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor, martial artist and reality show participant
• January 21 – Hussein Saeed, Iraqi football player
• January 24 – Jools Holland, British musician
• January 26
  • Anita Baker, American soul and R&B singer
  • Ellen DeGeneres, American actress, comedian, and television host

February

• February 8 – Marina Silva, Brazilian politician
• February 9 – Cyrille Regis, English footballer (d. 2018)
• February 10 – Ricardo Gareca, Argentine footballer and manager
• February 13 – Pernilla August, Swedish actress
• February 15 – Shaun Toub, Iranian born-American actor
• February 16
  • Ice-T, American rapper, songwriter, and actor
  • Andriy Bal, Ukrainian football player and coach (d. 2014)
• February 19 – Leslie David Baker, American actor
• February 21
  • Jack Coleman, American actor and screenwriter
  • Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
• February 26 – Susan Helms, American astronaut
• February 28 – Natalya Estemirova, Russian activist (d. 2009)

March

• March 3 – Miranda Richardson, English actress
• March 4 – Patricia Heaton, American actress
• March 5 – Andy Gibb, English singer, songwriter, performer, and teen idol (d. 1988)
• March 7 – Rik Mayall, English comedian and actor (d. 2014)
• March 8 – Gary Numan, British singer
• March 10
  • Sharon Stone, American actress and producer
  • Frankie Ruiz, Puerto Rican singer (d. 1998)
• March 14 – Albert II, Prince of Monaco
• March 20 – Holly Hunter, American actress
• March 21 – Gary Oldman, English actor and filmmaker
• March 24 – Roland Koch, German politician
• March 26 – Hala Fouad, Egyptian actress (d. 1993)
• March 28
  • Bart Conner, American gymnast
  • Curt Hennig, American professional wrestler (d. 2003)
• March 30 – Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor and comedian
• March 31 – Dietmar Bartsch, German politician

April

• April 3 – Alec Baldwin, American actor
• April 4
  • Cazuza, Brazilian poet, singer and composer (d. 1990)
  • Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Thai billionaire businessman (d. 2018)
• April 12 – Ginka Zagorcheva, Bulgarian athlete
• April 14 – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor
• April 15 – Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and musician (d. 2023)
• April 21
  • Andie MacDowell, American actress
  • Yoshito Usui, Japanese manga artist (Crayon Shin-chan) (d. 2009)
• April 24 – Susan Tsvangirai, Spouse of the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (d. 2009)
• April 25 – Luis Guillermo Solís, President of Costa Rica
• April 26 – Giancarlo Esposito, Italian-American actor
• April 29 – Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress

May

• May 4 – Keith Haring, American artist (d. 1990)
• May 10
  • Rick Santorum, American politician
  • Ellen Ochoa, American astronaut, first Hispanic woman to go into space
• May 12 – Dries van Noten, Belgian designer
• May 20 – Jane Wiedlin, American musician and actress^{[citation needed]}
• May 23 – Drew Carey, American comedian and actor
• May 25 – Paul Weller, English singer-songwriter
• May 26 – Margaret Colin, American actress
• May 27 – Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
• May 29
  • Annette Bening, American actress
  • Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor, director, filmmaker and political activist (d. 2011)
• May 30 – Marie Fredriksson, Swedish rock guitarist and singer-songwriter (d. 2019)

June

• June 1 – Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Mongolian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Mongolia
• June 2 – Lex Luger, American professional wrestler
• June 3 – Margot Käßmann, Lutheran theologian, German bishop
• June 5 – Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, Comoroan businessman and politician, President of Comoros 2006–2011
• June 7 – Prince, African-American musician (d. 2016)
• June 10 – Elain Harwood, English architectural historian (d. 2023)
• June 14
  • Eric Heiden, American speed skater with five Olympic gold medals
  • Olaf Scholz, 9th Chancellor of Germany
• June 15 – Wade Boggs, American baseball player
• June 18 – Peter Altmaier, German jurist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany
• June 19 – Sergei Makarov, Russian ice-hockey player and coach
• June 22
  • Rocío Banquells, Mexican pop singer and actress
  • Bruce Campbell, American actor, producer, writer and director
• June 24 – Tommy Lister Jr., American actor and professional wrestler (d. 2020)
• June 25 – Serik Akhmetov, 8th Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
• June 27 –
  • Magnus Lindberg, Finnish composer
  • Jón Steindór Valdimarsson, Icelandic politician
• June 29 – Rosa Mota, Portuguese long-distance runner
• June 30
  • Ziggy Rozalski, Polish American boxing manager and promoter
  • Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer
  • Irina Vorobieva, Russian pair skater
  • Vasil Yakusha, Belarusian rower

July

• July 1 – Tom Magee, Canadian world champion powerlifter and strongman competitor
• July 2 – Pavan Malhotra, Indian actor
• July 5 – Bill Watterson, American cartoonist (Calvin and Hobbes)
• July 6 – Jennifer Saunders, British comedian and actress
• July 7 – Michala Petri, Danish recorder player
• July 8
  • Kevin Bacon, American actor
  • Neetu Singh, Indian actress
• July 10 – Fiona Shaw, Irish actress
• July 11 – Hugo Sánchez, Mexcian footballer player and coach
• July 14 – Jujie Luan, Chinese-Canadian fencer
• July 15 – Jörg Kachelmann, Swiss presenter, journalist and entrepreneur in the meteorological field
• July 16 – Michael Flatley, Irish-born dancer
• July 17 – Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong second wave filmmaker
• July 19 – Azumah Nelson, Ghanaian boxer
• July 27 – Christopher Dean, British ice dancer and Olympian
• July 28 – Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (d. 1981)
• July 30 – Kate Bush, English singer-songwriter
• July 31 – Mark Cuban, American entrepreneur and basketball team owner

August

• August 3 – Lambert Wilson, French actor
• August 5 – Andriy Fedetskyi, Ukrainian football player (d. 2018)
• August 7
  • Bruce Dickinson, English musician (Iron Maiden)
  • Russell Baze, Canadian/American champion jockey
• August 10 – Rami Hamdallah, Palestine politician
• August 16
  • Angela Bassett, African-American actress
  • Anne L'Huillier, French-born atomic physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Madonna, American-born singer-songwriter and actress
• August 17 – Belinda Carlisle, American singer
• August 18
  • Reg E. Cathey, African-American actor (d. 2018)
  • Madeleine Stowe, American actress
• August 19 – Brendan Nelson, Australian politician
• August 22 – Colm Feore, American-born Canadian actor
• August 24 – Steve Guttenberg, American actor
• August 25 – Tim Burton, American film director
• August 27 – Kathy Hochul, American politician, Governor of New York
• August 29
  • Michael Jackson, African-American singer-songwriter and dancer (d. 2009)
  • Lenny Henry, English comedian and actor

September

• September 2 – Zdravko Krivokapić, Montenegrin politician, Prime Minister of Montenegro
• September 6 – Jeff Foxworthy, American comedian, actor and author
• September 10 – Chris Columbus, American film director/writer/producer
• September 13 – Paweł Przytocki, Polish conductor
• September 16 – Jennifer Tilly, Canadian/American actress
• September 17 – Janez Janša, 2-Time Prime Minister of Slovenia
• September 18 – Rachid Taha, Algerian singer and activist (d. 2018)
• September 19 – Lita Ford, British musician
• September 22
  • Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor
  • Joan Jett, American rock musician
• September 24 – Kevin Sorbo, American actor
• September 27 – Irvine Welsh, Scottish writer

October

• October 3 – Chen Yanyin, Chinese sculptor
• October 5 – Neil deGrasse Tyson, American astrophysicist and science communicator
• October 7 – Bernardo Arévalo, president of Guatemala
• October 8 – Ursula von der Leyen, German politician, President of the European Commission
• October 10 – Tanya Tucker, American singer
• October 13 – Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist (d. 2018)
• October 16 – Tim Robbins, American actor and film director
• October 20 – Viggo Mortensen, Danish-American actor
• October 25 – Kornelia Ender, German swimmer
• October 26 – Pascale Ogier, French actress (d. 1984)
• October 27 – Simon Le Bon, English rock singer
• October 28 – Raúl Pellegrin, Chilean revolutionary, leader of Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (d. 1988)
• October 31 – Jeannie Longo, French cyclist

November

• November 5 – Robert Patrick, American actor
• November 7 – Dmitry Kozak, Russian politician and deputy Prime Minister of Russia
• November 12 – Megan Mullally, American actress, singer and media personality
• November 16
  • Sooronbay Jeenbekov, President of Kyrgyzstan
  • Marg Helgenberger, American actress
• November 17 – Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, American actress and singer
• November 18 – Daniel Brailovsky, Argentine-born Israeli footballer and manager
• November 22
  • Jamie Lee Curtis, American actress
  • Ibrahim Ismail of Johor, Sultan of Johor
• November 28 – Tanya Harford, South African tennis player

December

• December 1
  • Charlene Tilton, American actress
  • Javier Aguirre, Mexican football player and manager
• December 6 – Nick Park, English filmmaker and animator
• December 8 – Arlette Sombo-Dibélé, Central African lawyer and politician
• December 10 – Cornelia Funke, German author
• December 11 – Nikki Sixx, American rock musician
• December 12 – Sheree J. Wilson, American actress
• December 17 – Donald Payne Jr., American politician (d. 2024)
• December 25
  • Dimi Mint Abba, Mauritanian musician and singer (d. 2011)
  • Alannah Myles, Canadian singer-songwriter
• December 29 – Lakhdar Belloumi, Algerian football player
• December 31 – Bebe Neuwirth, American actress

January

• January 1 – Edward Weston, American photographer (b. 1886)\
• January 7 – Petru Groza, Romanian politician, 46th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1884)
• January 8
  • Mary Colter, American architect (b. 1869)
  • Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (b. 1883)
• January 13
  • Jesse L. Lasky, American film producer (b. 1880)
  • Edna Purviance, American actress (b. 1895)
• January 19 – Cândido Rondon, Brazilian military officer (b. 1865)
• January 20 – Ataúlfo Argenta, Spanish conductor and pianist (b. 1913)
• January 27 – Prince Oskar of Prussia (b. 1888)
• January 30 – Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer and manufacturer (b. 1888)

February

• February 1 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
• February 6 – Manchester United footballers killed in Munich air disaster
  • Geoff Bent (b. 1932)
  • Roger Byrne (b. 1929)
  • Eddie Colman (b. 1936)
  • Mark Jones (b. 1933)
  • David Pegg (b. 1935)
  • Frank Swift (b. 1913)
  • Tommy Taylor (b. 1932)
  • Liam "Billy" Whelan (b. 1935)
• February 10 – Nezihe Muhiddin, Turkish suffragette and journalist (b. 1889)
• February 11 – Ernest Jones, Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1879)
• February 13
  • Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (b. 1880)
  • Georges Rouault, French painter (b. 1871)
• February 21
  • Henryk Arctowski, Polish scientist and explorer (b. 1871)
  • Duncan Edwards English footballer, died from injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster (b. 1936)
• February 27 – Harry Cohn, American film producer (b. 1891)

March

• March 1 – Giacomo Balla, Italian painter (b. 1871)
• March 6 – Anton Reinthaller, Austrian politician (b. 1895)
• March 11 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founder of The Lego Group (b. 1891)
• March 12 – Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (b. 1878)
• March 22 – Mike Todd, American film director, in aviation accident (b. 1907)
• March 23 – Florian Znaniecki, Polish philosopher and sociologist (b, 1882)
• March 28
  • W. C. Handy, African-American blues composer (b. 1873)
  • Chuck Klein, American baseball player (b. 1904)

April

• April 2
  • Willie Maley, Scottish football player and manager (b. 1868)
  • Jōsei Toda, Japanese educator and activist (b. 1900)
• April 5 – Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria (born 1884)
• April 8 – Alcibíades Arosemena, Panamanian politician, 15th President of Panama (b. 1883)
• April 15 – Estelle Taylor, American actress (b. 1894)
• April 16 – Rosalind Franklin, English crystallographer (b. 1920)
• April 17 – Rita Montaner, Cuban singer, pianist and actress (b. 1900)
• April 18 – Maurice Gamelin, French general (b. 1872)
• April 19 – Billy Meredith, Welsh footballer (b. 1874)

May

• May 2 – Henry Cornelius, South African-born director (b. 1913)
• May 5 – James Branch Cabell, American writer (b. 1879)
• May 9 – Koshirō Oikawa, Japanese admiral (b. 1883)
• May 19
  • Ronald Colman, English actor (b. 1891)
  • Marie Pujmanová, Czechoslovak poet and novelist (b. 1893)
  • Jadunath Sarkar, Indian historian (b. 1870)
• May 20 – Frédéric François-Marsal, 59th Prime Minister of France (b. 1874)
• May 26 – Constantin Cantacuzino, Romanian aviator (b. 1905)
• May 29 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)

June

• June 9 – Robert Donat, English actor (b. 1905)
• June 16
  • Imre Nagy, Hungarian politician, 44th Prime Minister of Hungary (executed) (b. 1896)
  • Nereu Ramos, Brazilian politician, 20th President of Brazil (b. 1888)
• June 18 – Douglas Jardine, British cricketer (b. 1900)
• June 20 – Kurt Alder, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
• June 24 – George Orton, Canadian athlete (b. 1876)

July

• July 5 – Patriarch Vikentije II (b. 1890)
• July 14 (killed during coup d'état):
  • King Faisal II of Iraq (b. 1935; assassinated)
  • 'Abd al-Ilah, Prince of Iraq (b. 1913; assassinated)
  • Ibrahim Hashem, Jordanian lawyer and politician, 3-time Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1888)
• July 15 – Nuri al-Said, Iraqi politician, 7th Prime Minister of Iraq (b. 1888)
• July 18 – Henri Farman, French aviator and aircraft company founder (b. 1874)
• July 25 – Harry Warner, American studio executive (b. 1881)
• July 27 – Claire Lee Chennault, American aviator and general, leader of the Flying Tigers (b. 1893)

August

• August 1 – Albert E. Smith, English-born American stage magician, film director and producer (b. 1875)
• August 2 – Michele Navarra, Italian Sicilian Mafia boss (b. 1905)
• August 8 – Barbara Bennett, American actress (b. 1906)
• August 12 – Augustus Owsley Stanley, American politician (b. 1867)
• August 14
  • Big Bill Broonzy, American blues singer, composer (b. 1893) (some sources give his year of birth as 1903)
  • Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1900)
• August 16
  • José Domingues dos Santos, Portuguese politician, 89th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1885)
  • Paul Panzer, German actor (b. 1872)
• August 21
  • Stevan Hristić, Yugoslav composer (b. 1885)
  • Kurt Neumann, German film director (b. 1908)
• August 22 – Roger Martin du Gard, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
• August 24 – J. G. Strijdom, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (b. 1893)
• August 26 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (b. 1872)
• August 27 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)

September

• September 11
  • Hans Grundig, German artist (b. 1901)
  • Robert W. Service, Scottish-born Canadian poet (b. 1874)
• September 16 – Alma Bennett, American actress (b. 1904)
• September 23 – Walter F. Otto, German classical philologist (b. 1874)
• September 25 – John B. Watson, American psychologist (b. 1878)
• September 27 – Adolfo Salazar, Spanish historian, composer and diplomat (b. 1890)
• September 28 – Aarre Merikanto, Finnish composer (b. 1893)
• September 30 – Estate Tatanashvili, Soviet general (b. 1902)

October

• October 9 – Pope Pius XII (b. 1876)
• October 11 – Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter (b. 1876)
• October 14 – Sir Douglas Mawson, Australian geologist and polar explorer (b. 1882)
• October 16 – Michalis Souyioul, Greek composer (b. 1906)
• October 17 – Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and eminence (b. 1876)
• October 24 – G. E. Moore, British philosopher of (Principia Ethica) (b. 1873)
• October 29 – Zoë Akins, American playwright, poet and author (b. 1886)

November

• November 4 – Sam Zimbalist, American film producer (b. 1904)
• November 11 – André Bazin, French film critic and theorist (b. 1918)
• November 15 – Tyrone Power, American actor (b. 1914)
• November 19 – Vittorio Ambrosio, Italian general (b. 1879)
• November 24 – Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, English politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)
• November 27
  • Artur Rodziński, Polish conductor (b. 1892)
  • Georgi Damyanov, Bulgarian Communist political, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly and head of the State (b. 1892)
• November 30 – Sir Hubert Wilkins, Australian explorer (b. 1888)

December

• December 4 – José María Caro Rodríguez, Chilean Roman Catholic cardinal and eminence (born 1866)
• December 5
  • Willie Applegarth, British track and field athlete (b. 1890)
  • Patras Bokhari, Pakistani humorist (b. 1898)
• December 8 – Tris Speaker, American baseball player (b. 1888)
• December 12
  • Slobodan Jovanović, Serbian intellectual and politician (b. 1869)
  • Milutin Milanković, Yugoslav mathematician, astronomer, climatologist and geophysicist, (b. 1879)
• December 13 – Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (b.1890)
• December 15 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
• December 21
  • Lion Feuchtwanger, German novelist and playwright (b. 1884)
  • H. B. Warner, English actor (b. 1876)
• December 27 – Mustafa Merlika-Kruja, 16th Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1887)
• December 29 – Doris Humphrey, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1895)

• Physics – Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, and Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm
• Chemistry – Frederick Sanger
• Physiology or Medicine – George Wells Beadle, Edward Lawrie Tatum, and Joshua Lederberg
• Literature – Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
• Peace – Georges Pire