The 1950s began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. It is distinct from the decade known as the 196th decade which began on January 1, 1951 and ended on December 31, 1960.
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1920s 1930s 1940s – 1950s – 1960s 1970s 1980s |
| Years: | 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 |
| Categories: | Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments |
Events
change- 1950–1953 Korean War.
- 1953 – Structure of DNA published by James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins.
- 1953 – Edmund Hillary is the first man on Mount Everest.
- 1954 – Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends France's colonization of Vietnam and leads to division of Vietnam into North and South.
- 1956 – Hungarian Revolution of 1956
- 1956 – Suez Crisis
- 1958 – Treaty of Rome
- 1959 – Fidel Castro becomes the Prime Minister of Cuba.
- 1957 – Sputnik launched.
Important people
changeActor
change- Cary Grant, British-American actor
- Charles Boyer, French actor
- Dana Andrews, American actor
- Fred Astaire, American actor
- Fred MacMurray, American actor
- Gene Reynolds, American actor
- Humphrey Bogart, American actor
- James Dean, American actor
- James Stewart, American actor
- Kirk Douglas, American actor
- Lionel Barrymore, American actor
- Melvyn Douglas, American actor
- Paul Newman, American actor
- Robert Taylor, American actor
- Spencer Tracy, American actor
- Toshirō Mifune, Japanese actor
- William Holden, American actor
- P. Ramlee, Malaysian actor
Actress
change- Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress
- Audrey Hepburn, British-Belgian actress
- Ava Gardner, American Actress
- Barbara Stanwyck, American actress
- Bibi Ferreira, Brazilian actress
- Deborah Kerr, British actress
- Donna Reed, American actress
- Gene Tierney, American actress
- Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress
- Marilyn Monroe, American actress
- Monica Vitti, Italian actress
Director
change- Alfred Hitchcock, British movie director
Musician
change- Chuck Berry, American rock & roll musician
- Bo Diddley, American rock & roll musician
- Elvis Presley, American singer
- Buddy Holly, American singer
World Leader
change- Juan Perón, President of Argentina
- U Nu, Prime Minister of Burma
- Ne Win, Prime Minister of Burma
- Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist Party of China
- Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
- Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt
- René Coty, President of France
- Charles de Gaulle, President of France
- Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany
- Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of Germany
- Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India
- David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel
- Hirohito, Emperor of Japan
- Shigeru Yoshida, Prime Minister of Japan
- Ichirō Hatoyama, Prime Minister of Japan
- Tanzan Ishibashi, Prime Minister of Japan
- Nobusuke Kishi, Prime Minister of Japan
- Kim Il-Sung, Supreme Leader of North Korea
- Pope Pius XII, Pope (until 1958)
- Pope John XXIII, Pope from 1958
- Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Soviet Union (until 1953)
- Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the Soviet Union
- Francisco Franco, Caudillo of Spain
- Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand
- George VI, British king (until 1952)
- Elizabeth II, British queen (since 1952)
- Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of United Kingdom
- Harry S. Truman, President of the United States (until 1953)
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States
- Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia