1951
1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar .
Events January-February January 9 - United Nations headquarters officially opens (New York City ). January 15 - Ilse Koch , The "Witch of Buchenwald," wife of the Commandant of the Buchenwald Concentration camp , is sentenced to life imprisonment in a court in West Germany . January 17 - Korean War : Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul . January 20 - Avalanches in the Alps - 240 die and 45.000 are buried for a time in Switzerland , Austria and Italy January 27 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flats, northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada . February 1 - United Nations General Assembly declares that China is the aggressor in the Korean War February 4 -8 - Surgeons remove an Ovarian cyst from Gertrude Levandowski in 96-hour long operation in Chicago, Illinois . She loses almost half of her weight and emerges weighing 140 kg / 308 lbs February 6 - A Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge, New Jersey . The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more; one of the worst rail disasters in American history. February 12 - Marriage of Muhammad Reza Shah to Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari February 19 - Jean Lee becomes the last woman hanged in Australia , when Lee and her two pimps are hanged for the murder and tourture of a 73 year old bookmaker. February 27 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution , limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified. March-April May-July May 1 - Opera house of Geneva, Switzerland almost destroyed in a fire May 3 - London 's Royal Festival Hall opens. May 3 - The U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry S. Truman . May 14 - First volunteer-run passenger trains on Talyllyn Railway , Wales . May 15 - Military coup in Bolivia June 14 - UNIVAC I is dedicated by U.S. Census Bureau . June 15 - July 1 - In New Mexico , Arizona , California , Oregon , Washington , and British Columbia , thousands of acres (several km²) of forests were destroyed in fires. July 5 - William Shockley invents the junction Transistor . July 10 - Korean War : At Kaesong , Armistice negotiations begin. July 13 - The Great Flood of 1951 reaches it's highest point in Northeast Kansas , culminating in the greatest flood damage to date in the Midwestern United States . July 14 - In Joplin, Missouri , George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American . July 16 - King Léopold III of Belgium signs the act of Abdication in favour of his son Baudouin . July 17 - Baudouin takes the oath as king of Belgium , after his father abdicated the day before. July 20 - King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem . September-October November-December Undated Births January-March January 6 - Kim Wilson , American singer and harmonica player January 8 - Kenny Anthony , Prime Minister of Saint Lucia January 12 - Kirstie Alley , American actress January 12 - Rush Limbaugh , American radio personality January 30 - Phil Collins , English musician February 14 - Kevin Keegan , English footballer and football manager February 15 - Melissa Manchester , American singer February 15 - Jane Seymour , English actress February 18 - Dale Earnhardt , American racing car driver (d. 2001 ) February 19 - Tahir-ul-Qadri , Islamic scholar and leader February 20 - Gordon Brown , Scottish politician February 25 - Don Quarrie , Jamaican sprinter March 4 - Kenny Dalglish Scottish footballer and football manager March 4 - Chris Rea , British singer and musician March 6 - Gerrie Knetemann , Dutch cyclist (d. 2004 ) March 8 - Karen Kain , Canadian ballerina March 12 - Susan Musgrave Canadian poet and children's writer March 13 - Fred Berry , American actor (d. 2003 ) March 17 - Kurt Russell , American actor March 24 - Tommy Hilfiger , American fashion designer March 26 - Carl Wieman , American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate April-May April 5 - Guy Vanderhaeghe , Canadian author April 6 - Bert Blyleven , Dutch Major League Baseball player April 7 - Janis Ian , American singer and songwriter April 10 - David Helvarg , American journalist and activist April 10 - Steven Seagal , American actor April 11 - Doris McGowen Beck Angleton , American socialite and murder victim (d. 1997 ) April 13 - Peabo Bryson , American singer April 13 - Peter Davison , British actor April 13 - Max Weinberg , American drummer April 14 - Julian Lloyd Webber , English cellist and composer April 16 - Ioan Mihai Cochinescu , Romanian writer April 20 - Louise Jameson , British actress April 29 - Dale Earnhardt , American race car driver (d. 2001 ) May 9 - Christopher Dewdney , Canadian poet May 13 - Sharon Sayles Belton , Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota May 15 - Jonathan Richman , American musician May 15 - Frank Wilczek , American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate May 19 - Joey Ramone , American musician (The Ramones ) (d. 2001 ) May 23 - Anatoly Karpov , Russian chess player May 26 - Sally Ride , astronaut May 30 - Stephen Tobolowsky , American actor June-August June 2 - Larry Robinson , Canadian hockey player June 14 - Paul Boateng , British politician June 17 - Mary McAleese , eighth President of Ireland June 20 - Tress MacNeille , American voice actress June 28 - Lalla Ward , British actress July 3 - Richard Hadlee , New Zealand cricketer July 5 - Rich 'Goose' Gossage , baseball player July 8 - Anjelica Huston , American actress July 10 - Cheryl Wheeler , American singer and songwriter July 14 - Erich Hallhuber , German actor (d. 2003 ) July 18 - Elio Di Rupo , Belgian politician June 28 - Lloyd Maines , American musician and record producer July 24 - Chris Smith , British politician August 3 - Marcel Dionne , Canadian hockey player August 6 - Daryl Somers , Australian television personality August 20 - Greg Bear , American author August 23 - Akhmad Kadyrov , President of Chechnya August 23 - Queen Noor of Jordan August 24 - Orson Scott Card , American author September-October September 7 - Julie Kavner , American voice actress September 12 - Joe Pantoliano , American actor September 21 - Aslan Maskhadov , President of Chechnya September 22 - David Coverdale , English singer September 25 - Mark Hamill , American actor September 26 - Stuart Tosh , Scottish musician September 29 - Andrés Caicedo , Colombian writer (d. 1977 ) September 29 - Maureen Caird , Australian hurdler September 30 - Barry Marshall , Australian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine October 3 - Dave Winfield , baseball player October 3 - Keb Mo' , American musician October 6 - Manfred Winkelhock , German race car driver October 7 - John Mellencamp , American musician and songwriter October 10 - Ratu Epeli Ganilau October 11 - Jean-Jacques Goldman , French singer and songwriter October 26 - Bootsy Collins , American musician, singer, and songwriter October 30 - Harry Hamlin , American actor November-December November 11 - Marc Summers , American television host November 15 - Alamgir Hashmi , English poet November 19 - Lord Falconer , British politician November 24 - Chet Edwards , American politician November 26 - Cicciolina , Italian actress and politician November 30 - Christian Bernard , French-born mystic December 6 - Tomson Highway , Canadian writer December 8 - Jan Eggum , Norwegian singer-songwriter December 12 - Wau Holland , German hacker (d. 2001 ) December 17 - Ken Hitchcock , Canadian hockey coach December 30 - Meredith Viera , American television host Deaths January 7 - René Guénon , French-born author (b. 1886 ) January 10 - Sinclair Lewis , American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885 ) January 29 - Frank Tarrant , Australian cricketer (b. 1880 ) February 9 - Eddy Duchin , American pianist and bandleader (b. 1909 ) February 13 - Lloyd C. Douglas , American author (b. 1877 ) February 18 - Lyman Gilmore , American aviation pioneer (b. 1874 ) February 19 - André Gide , French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869 ) February 21 - Choudhary Rahmat Ali , founding father of Pakistan (b. 1895 ) March 6 - Ivor Novello , Welsh actor, musician, and composer (b. 1893 ) March 10 - Shidehara Kijuro , Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1872 ) March 21 - Willem Mengelberg , Dutch conductor (b. 1871 ) March 25 - Eddie Collins , baseball player (b. 1887 ) March 25 - Oscar Micheaux , American filmmaker (b. 1884 ) April 4 - Al Christie , Canadian-born film director and producer (b. 1881 ) April 4 - George Albert Smith , president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1870 ) April 6 - Robert Broom , Scottish paleontologist (b. 1866 ) April 22 - Horace Donisthorpe , English myrmecologist (b. 1870 ) April 23 - Charles G. Dawes , Vice President of the United States , recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865 ) May 7 - Warner Baxter , American actor (b. 1889 ) May 30 - Hermann Broch , Austrian author (b. 1886 ) June 4 - Serge Koussevitzky , Russian conductor (b. 1874 ) June 13 - Ben Chifley , Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1885 ) June 21 - Charles Dillon Perrine , American-born astronomer (b. 1867 ) July 9 - Harry Heilmann , baseball player (b. 1894 ) July 13 - Arnold Schoenberg , Austrian composer (b. 1874 ) July 20 - King Abdullah I of Jordan (b. 1882 ) July 23 - Robert J. Flaherty , American filmmaker (b. 1884 ) July 23 - Philippe Pétain , leader of Vichy France (b. 1856 ) July 29 - Hozumi Shigeto , Japanese author (b. 1883 ) August 14 - William Randolph Hearst , American newspaper publisher (b. 1863 ) August 15 - Artur Schnabel , Polish pianist (b. 1882 ) August 21 - Constant Lambert , British composer (b. 1905 ) October 16 - Liaquat Ali Khan , first Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1896 ) November 5 - Reggie Walker , South African athlete (b. 1889 ) November 9 - Sigmund Romberg , Hungarian-born composer (b. 1887 ) November 13 - Nikolai Medtner , Russian pianist and composer (b. 1880 ) Nobel Prizes
