13 September 1953

Nikita Khrushchev is appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Nikita Khrushchev was a Soviet politician who rose from humble beginnings…

22 August 1953

The penal colony on Devil’s Island is permanently closed. Devil’s Island, part of the Îles du Salut (Salvation Islands) off the coast of French Guiana…

30 October 1953

President Eisenhower approves the top-secret document NSC 162/2 concerning the maintenance of a strong nuclear deterrent force against the Soviet Union.

25 April 1953

Francis Crick and James Watson publish “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” describing the double helix structure of DNA. The…

21 November 1953

The Natural History Museum, London announces that the “Piltdown Man” skull, initially believed to be one of the most important fossilized hominid skulls ever found,…

21 November 1953

The Natural History Museum, London announces that the “Piltdown Man” skull, initially believed to be one of the most important fossilized hominid skulls ever found,…

18 June 1953

The Egyptian revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of Egypt.

31 January 1953

A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.