Timeline January 1961

Events in January 1961 17

• 1887 – 1961 Erwin Schrödinger Quantum Physicist Nobel laureate who developed the foundations of quantum mechanics, famous for his "cat" thought experiment.
• 1888 – 1961 Barry Fitzgerald (1888-1961) Irish actor from Dublin's Abbey Theatre who won an Oscar for Going My Way.
• 1894 – 1961 Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) Died 10 January 1961, aged 66 American writer of hardboiled detective fiction, author of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man. He was jailed in 1951 for refusing to testify before a grand jury about his political associations and died of lung cancer in New York.
• 1925 – 1961 Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) Died 17 January 1961, aged 35 First democratically elected Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ousted in a coup months after independence. He was captured, tortured, and executed by firing squad in Katanga with the involvement of Belgian and Congolese rival factions.
• 1953 – 1961 Eisenhower presidency 34th President — 1953 to 1961 Dwight D. Eisenhower served as the 34th President from January 20, 1953 to January 20, 1961. He ended the Korean War, presided over post-war prosperity, created the Interstate Highway System and managed Cold War tensions.
• 1953 – 1961 Richard Nixon becomes vice president Under Eisenhower, 1953-1961 He stood in three times while Eisenhower was ill, and turned a ceremonial job into a platform.
• 1961 Australian Open 1961 Men: Roy Emerson · Women: Margaret Smith
• 1961 Carole King's Will You Love Me Tomorrow tops the charts The Shirelles The first number one by a Black girl group.
• 1961 Woody Guthrie visited by the young Bob Dylan Pilgrimage Dylan comes to New York to meet his hero and writes Song to Woody.
• 1961 1961: Phil Hill Ferrari Hill became the first American World Champion, but his title was won amid tragedy — his teammate Wolfgang von Trips was killed at Monza in the penultimate race.
• 1961 First Major Hit Scored his first major songwriting hit with Tower of Strength for Gene McDaniels, beginning an extraordinary run of chart success.
• 1961 – 1963 Soft Sculptures and Studio with Judd and Hesse Moved her studio into the same building as Donald Judd and Eva Hesse, who became a close friend. Began creating 'soft sculptures' — ladders, shoes and chairs covered with white phallic protrusions. When she exhibited a phallus-covered couch at the Green Gallery in 1963, Claes Oldenburg soon began exhibiting similar sewn soft sculptures, causing Kusama great distress.
• 1961 Barry Fitzgerald dies in Dublin Barry Fitzgerald dies aged 72.
• 1961 Eisenhower's farewell address Warns of the "military-industrial complex" In his final address as president, Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation about the growing political influence of the arms industry and permanent military establishment. The speech is remembered as a prescient statement on the risks of unchecked defense spending.
• 1961 – 1963 Kennedy presidency 35th President — assassinated 1963 John F. Kennedy served as the 35th President from January 20, 1961 until his assassination on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. He managed the Cuban Missile Crisis, established the Peace Corps and committed the US to landing on the Moon.
• 1961 Bob Dylan arrives in New York Greenwich Village Moves to New York, visits his hero Woody Guthrie in hospital and plays the Village folk clubs.
• 1961 Ham the chimpanzee spaceflight First hominid launched into space NASA launched the chimpanzee Ham aboard a Mercury-Redstone rocket on a suborbital flight to test the capsule and life-support systems before human missions. Ham operated levers during flight and survived splashdown, paving the way for Alan Shepard's flight months later.