Contemporary
Salk Polio Vaccine (1955): The Field Trial That Beat Polio
The inactivated polio vaccine was declared safe and effective and licensed in 1955, and polio cases in the United States fell sharply within a few years.
Region
Americas
Contemporary
Murder of Emmett Till (1955): The Lynching That Shocked America
Two white men were acquitted of the murder by an all-white jury; the case became a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Contemporary
Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956): Rosa Parks and a City's Buses
After 381 days the boycott ended when a Supreme Court-backed ruling in Browder v. Gayle declared bus segregation in Montgomery unconstitutional.
Contemporary
Little Rock Nine (1957): Integrating Central High School
Federal troops enforced the desegregation of Central High; the crisis confirmed federal authority over school integration but Little Rock's high schools were closed in 1958–59.
Contemporary
Invention of the Integrated Circuit (1958): Kilby and Noyce
Two independent inventions created the integrated circuit, the basis of modern microchips and computers.
Contemporary
Founding of NASA (1958): How America's Space Agency Began
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration replaced NACA as a civilian agency directing the US space programme.
Contemporary
Explorer 1 (1958): First US Satellite and the Van Allen Belts
The United States placed its first satellite in orbit, and its cosmic-ray instrument revealed the Earth's radiation belts.
Contemporary
FDA Approval of the Pill (1960): Enovid and the Contraceptive Era
Enovid became the first drug approved for contraception, and within five years millions of American women were using the pill.
Contemporary
Greensboro Sit-ins (1960): Four Students at a Woolworth's Counter
The Greensboro Woolworth's desegregated its lunch counter on 25 July 1960, and the sit-in movement spread across the South and led to the founding of SNCC.
Contemporary
Invention of the Laser (1960): Theodore Maiman's Ruby Laser
Maiman's ruby laser produced the first coherent light beam, launching laser science and technology.
Contemporary
1960 Valdivia Earthquake: The Strongest Earthquake Ever Recorded
An estimated 1,000-6,000 deaths in Chile, about 2 million people left homeless, and a tsunami that killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.
Contemporary
Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961): The CIA's Failed Landing in Cuba
Cuban government victory; Brigade 2506 surrendered within three days and Castro's position was strengthened.