1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

Environmental change

• The Africanized bee is accidentally released in Brazil
• The Asian Flu pandemic begins in China
• March 10 - Floodgates of The Dalles Dam are closed inundating Celilo Falls and ancient indian fisheries along the Columbia River in Oregon.
• November 13 - Flooding in the Po River valley of Italy leads to the flooding also in Venice

Undated

• Consumers' Association founded (UK)
• Project Orion begins, a U.S. program to build a spacecraft powered by nuclear explosions.
• Civil Rights Commission established under the Civil Rights Act of 1957
• IBM makes FORTRAN scientific programming language available to customers. It becomes the most widely used computer language for technical work.

January

• January 2 - San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge.
• January 3 - Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch
• January 4 - After 69 years the last issue of Colliers magazine is published
• January 5 - Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed handled the ball in test match cricket
• January 10 - Harold Macmillan becomes the prime minister of the United Kingdom
• January 13 - Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee
• January 16 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool
• January 22 - Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (they invaded Egypt on October 29, 1956)
• January 22 - The New York City "Mad Bomber," George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and is charged with planting more than 30 bombs.
• January 23 - Ku Klux Klan members force a truck driver Willie Edwards to jump off a bridge into an Alabama River - he drowns.

February

• February 4 - France prohibits UN involvement in Algeria

March

Flag of Ghana, the first country in colonial Africa to gain independence

• March 1 - U Nu becomes Prime Minister of Burma
• March 1 - Arturo Lezama becomes President of the National Council of Government of Uruguay
• March 1 - Sud Aviation forms from a merger between SNCASE (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Est) and SNCASO (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest)
• March 6 - United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana
• March 8 - Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal
• March 13 - The FBI arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery
• March 14 - President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia
• March 20 - French newspaper L'Express reveals that French army tortures Algerian prisoners
• March 25 - Treaty of Rome (patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC); see EU

April

• April 1 - The first new conscripts join the Bundeswehr
• April 5 - First elected government of Kerala. CPI won the elections and E. M. S. Namboodiripad became the first chief minister of united Kerala
• April 12 - United Kingdom announces that Singapore will gain self rule January 1 1958
• April 12 - Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl, printed in England, is seized by U.S. customs officials on the grounds of obscenity

May

• May 16 - Paul-Henri Spaak becomes the new secretary-general of NATO.

June

• June 9 - First ascent of Broad Peak
• June 15 - Eindhoven University of Technology is founded.
• June 21 - John Diefenbaker becomes Canada's thirteenth prime minister.
• June 27 - Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, killing 400 people.

July

• July - International Geophysical Year begins
• July 16 - United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record
• July 25 - Tunisia becomes a republic
• July 29 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

August

• August 4 - Juan Manuel Fangio, driving for Maserati, wins the Formula One German Grand Prix, clinching (with 4 wins that season) his record fifth world drivers championship, including his fourth consecutive championship (also a record); these two records would endure for nearly half a century.
• August 31 - The Federation of Malaya, which does not include Singapore, gains independence from the United Kingdom. Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan becomes the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

September

• September 4 - American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis - Orville Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the National Guard to prevent black students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock
• September 4 - Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel

October

• October 4 - launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
• October 9 - Neil H. McElroy was sworn in as the 6th Secretary of Defense of United States.
• October 10 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he was refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant
• October 11 - Radio telescope of Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, UK, opened
• October 23 - Morocco begins its invasion of Ifni
• October 25 - Assassination of a Mafia boss Albert Anastasia in a barber shop in Park Sheraton Hotel

November

• November 1 - Michigan's Mackinac Bridge opened.
• November 3 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter space - a dog named Laika (she was kept alive for several days in space with a sophisticated life-support system )
• November 7 - Cold War: In the United States, the Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters
• November 14 - Apalachin Meeting - The leaders of the American Mafia meet at a convention in Apalachin, New York at the house of Joseph Barbara. It is broken up by a curious patrolman.
• November 15 - Plane crash in the Isle of Wight - 43 dead
• November 16 - Serial killer Edward Gein murders Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin (this was his last murder)
• November 30 - Grenade attack against Indonesian president Sukarno in Cikini School in Jakarta. Six children killed, Sukarno survives unscathed

December

• December 4 - Lewisham train disaster in Britain - 92 dead
• December 5 - All Dutch nationals expelled from Indonesia
• December 6 - First US attempt to launch a satellite fails, blowing up on the launchpad

Year in topic

• 1957 in film
  • The Bridge on the River Kwai
  • Peyton Place
• 1957 in literature
  • The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
• 1957 in music
  • Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel name themselves Tom and Jerry and begin their recording career, signing with Sid Prosen of Big Records . Their first single, "Hey, Schoolgirl," backed with "Dancin' Wild," hit #49 on the Billboard pop charts.
• 1957 in rail transport
• 1957 in sports
  • July 6 - Althea Gibson wins the Wimbledon championships becoming the first black athlete to do so.
• 1957 in television
  • Jack Paar becomes the permanent host for NBC's Tonight Show

Births

January

• January 6 - Nancy Lopez, golfer
• January 7 - Nicholson Baker, novelist
• January 7 - Katie Couric, television host
• January 7 - Julian Solis, world champion boxer
• January 11 - Robert Earl Keen, musician, singer
• January 15 - Mario Van Peebles, actor, director
• January 15 - Julian Sands , actor
• January 19 - Katey Sagal, actress, singer & writer
• January 22 - Mike Bossy, ice hockey player
• January 23 - Earl Falconer , bassist
• January 23 - Princess Caroline of Monaco

February

• February 6 - Kathy Najimy, actress, comedian
• February 6 - Robert Townsend , comedian, actor, director, producer
• February 8 - Cindy Wilson, singer, of The B-52's
• February 16 - LeVar Burton, actor (Reading Rainbow, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
• February 16 - James Ingram, singer
• February 18 - Vanna White, game show presenter
• February 19 - Falco, singer (d. 1998)
• February 27 - Viktor Markin, Soviet athlete

March

• March 10 - Osama bin Laden, terrorist
• March 12 - Steve Harris, bassist/leader of Iron Maiden
• March 20 - Spike Lee, film director, actor
• March 29 - Christophe Lambert, actor
• March 30 - Paul Reiser, actor

April

• April 4 - Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film director
• April 5 - Ivan Corea, Sri Lankan autism campaigner
• April 9 - Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer
• April 29 - Daniel Day-Lewis, actor

May

• May 7 - Sinjin Smith , volleyball player
• May 10 - Sid Vicious, bassist of The Sex Pistols (d. 1979)
• May 22 - Gary Sweet, actor
• May 26 - Margaret Colin, actress
• May 27 - Siouxsie Sioux, lead singer of Siouxsie and the Banshees
• May 28 - Kirk Gibson, baseball player
• May 29 - Jeb Hensarling, American politician

June

• June 8 - Scott Adams, cartoonist, creator of Dilbert
• June 11 - Jamaaladeen Tacuma, jazz musician
• June 12 - Javed Miandad, cricketer
• June 19 - Anna Lindh, Swedish politician and minister of foreign affairs (d. 2003)

July

• July 13 - Cameron Crowe, writer and film director
• July 26 - Nana Visitor, actress (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
• July 29 - Nelli Kim, gymnast, five times Olympic Champion

August

• August 6 - Jim McGreevey, governor of New Jersey
• August 9 - Melanie Griffith, actress (Working Girl, The Bonfire of the Vanities)
• August 24 - Stephen Fry, English comedian, author, and actor
• August 27 - Bernhard Langer, German golfer
• August 28 - Daniel Stern, actor

September

• September 1 - Gloria Estefan, singer
• September 12 - Rachel Ward, actress

October

• October 14 - Kenny Neal, blues musician, guitarist
• October 26 - Bob Golic, American football player

November

• November 7 - Christopher Knight, actor (The Brady Bunch)
• November 15 - Kevin Eubanks, musician
• November 24 - Denise Crosby, actress (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
• November 30 - Colin Mochrie, Improv Comic

December

• December 8 - Phil Collen, singer/guitarist (Def Leppard)
• December 9 - Donny Osmond, singer
• December 10 - Michael Clarke Duncan, actor (Armageddon, The Green Mile)
• December 13 - Steve Buscemi, actor (Reservoir Dogs, Fargo, The Sopranos)
• December 13 - Jean-Marie Messier, French businessman
• December 20 - Billy Bragg, singer
• December 21 - Tom Henke, baseball relief pitcher
• December 21 - Ray Romano, actor, comedian (Everybody Loves Raymond)
• December 30 - Matt Lauer, NBC newscaster

Unknown date

• Walter Moers - German comic artist and writer
• Eugene Spafford - American computer scientist

Deaths

January-March

• January 10 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet (b. 1889)
• January 14 - Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)
• January 16 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)
• February 8 - John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician (b. 1903)
• February 9 - Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and longtime Regent (b. 1868)
• February 10 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)
• February 18 - Henry Norris Russell, astronomer
• February 25 - George "Bugs" Moran, Chicago gangster
• March 11 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd, American explorer
• March 16 - Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor
• March 17 - Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines
• March 25 - Max Ophüls, director, writer
• March 29 - Joyce Cary, author

April-June

• May 2 - Joseph McCarthy, U.S. senator
• May 9 - Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)
• May 14 - Marie Vassilieff, artist
• May 16 - Eliot Ness, American F.B.I. agent
• May 31 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
• June 17 - Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (b. 1873)
• June 27 - Malcolm Lowry, English novelist (b. 1909)

July-September

• July 4 – Judy Tyler, actress
• July 24 - Sacha Guitry, French playright, actor and director
• July 28 - Edith Abbott, social worker, educator, and author (b. 1876)
• August 7 - Oliver Hardy, American actor
• August 19 - David Bomberg, painter
• September 1 - Dennis Brain, English French horn player (b. 1921)
• September 20 - Jean Sibelius, composer
• September 21 - Haakon VII of Norway
• September 22 - Toyoda Soemu, Japanese admiral in World War II

October-December

• October 25 - Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author
• November 4 - Laika, female Samoyed Terrier dog from Moscow, first living passenger to enter orbit.
• November 24 - Diego Rivera, painter
• November 30 - Beniamino Gigli, tenor
• December 21 - Eric Coates, English composer

Religious leaders

• Archbishop of Canterbury - Geoffrey Francis Fisher
• Coptic Pope - see vacant
• Dalai Lama - Tenzin Gyatso
• Patriarch of Constantinople - Athenagoras
• Patriarch of Moscow - Patriarch Alexius I
• Pope - Pope Pius XII
• President of the LDS Church - David O. McKay

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee
• Chemistry- Lord Alexander R. Todd
• Medicine - Daniel Bovet
• Literature - Albert Camus
• Peace - Lester Bowles Pearson