January: USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.

February: Steve Jobs is born. With Steve Wozniak, he will found Apple & become a huge influence in personal computing.

March: The Blackboard Jungle premieres in the United States. The film track features Rock Around the Clock, by Bill Haley & His Comets.

April: Physicist Albert Einstein dies. He developed the general theory of relativity & discovered the law of the photoelectric effect.

May: The Pulitzer prize is awarded to Tennessee Williams for his play 'Cat on Hot Tin Roof', set in a Mississippi plantation.

June: The 'Johnny Carson Show' debuts on CBS-TV. It is short lived, but Carson would later host 'The Tonight Show' for 30 years.

July: Disneyland opens to the public in Anaheim, California. It is the only Disney theme park to be designed by Walt Disney.

August: Initially conceived as a give away, the first edition of the Guinness Book of Records, edited by the McWhirter twins is published.

September: James Dean dies when his Porsche 550 Spyder has a head-on crash with another car on Route 466. He was just 24 years old.

October: William Henry "Bill" Gates III is born. He will co-found Microsoft with Paul Allen & become a multi-billionaire.

November: Johnny Cash, 'The Man in Black', makes his 1st chart appearance with 'Cry Cry Cry'. He wrote the song in one night.

December: Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery Alabama for refusing to move to the back of bus, to make room for a white passenger.