MultiEducator · The 20th Century Almanac
HistoryCentral Est. 1996
5520th C.
1955
The 20th Century Almanac · The Fifties

1955

Major Events · Sports · Music · Screen · Prizes

Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, igniting the Montgomery boycott and Martin Luther King's rise, while the Warsaw Pact answered NATO. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was declared safe, James Dean died young, and the small-town drama Marty won Best Picture.

A Year in Review
Best Picture
Marty
Nobel · Literature
Laxness
World Series
Brooklyn Dodgers vs. NY Yankees Series:
No. 1 Song
Rock Around the Clock
Top TV
Academy · Actor
Ernest Borgnine.. " Marty "

Sports Highlights

Champions of 1955

Champions

NBASyracuse Nationals vs. Ft. Wayne Pistons Series: 4-3
NCAA FootballOklahoma Record: 11-0-0
Heisman TrophyHoward Cassady, ohio state, HB points: 2,219
Stanley CupDetroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens Series: 4-3 US Open Golf: Jack Fleck Score: 287 Course: Oak Hill CC Location: Rochester, NY
World SeriesBrooklyn Dodgers vs. NY Yankees Series: 4-3

Top Music of 1955

The year on the charts

Top Songs

  1. Rock Around the Clock Bill Haley and His Comets
  2. The Yellow Rose of Texas Mitch Miller
  3. Love Is a Many Splendored Thing The Four Aces
  4. Autumn Leaves Roger Williams
  5. Sixteen Tons Tennessee Ernie Ford

Screen & Television

At the box office & on the air

Top Movies

  1. Cinerama Holiday
  2. Mister Roberts
  3. Battle Cry
  4. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
  5. Not a Stranger
  6. The Country Girl
  7. The Lady and the Tramp
  8. Strategic Air Command
  9. To Hell and Back
  10. Sea Chase

Academy Awards

Honoring 1955
Best Picture
Marty
Best Director
Delbert Mann
Marty
Best Actor
Ernest Borgnine.. " Marty
Best Actress
Anna Magnani
The Rose Tattoo

Nobel & Pulitzer Prizes

The year in letters & science

Nobel Prizes

Chemistry
DU VIGNEAUD, VINCENT, U.S.A., Cornell University, New York, NY, b. 1901, d. 1978: "for his work on biochemically important sulphur compounds, especially for the first synthesis of a polypeptide hormone"
Literature
LAXNESS, HALLD”R KILJAN, Iceland, b. 1902, d. 1998: "for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland"
Peace
The prize money was allocated to the Main Fund (1/3) and to the Special Fund (2/3) of this prize section
Physiology or Medicine
THEORELL, AXEL HUGO THEODOR, Sweden, Nobel Medical Institute, Stockholm, b. 1903, d. 1982: "for his discoveries concerning the nature and mode of action of oxidation enzymes"
Physics
The prize was divided equally between: LAMB, WILLIS EUGENE, U.S.A., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, b. 1913: "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum"; and KUSCH, POLYKARP, U.S.A., Columbia University,

Pulitzer Prizes

Drama
Tennessee Williams ... "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Fiction
William Faulkner ... "A Fable"
History
Paul Horgan ... "Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History" International Reporing: Harrison E. Salisbury ... "New York Times" National Reporting: Anthony Lewis ... "Washington Daily News"
Public Service
"Columbus (GA) Ledger" & "Sunday Ledger-Inquirer"