In history, year 1966 has its own importance and known for many memorable events like famous birthdays, inventions, natural disaster, treaties, change of rulers, special days etc. Find below a list of important historical events which happened during the year 1966.
| Date/Month | Event / Incidence / Incident |
|---|
| 17 january | A US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker during aerial refueling over the Mediterranean Sea, dropping three hydrogen bombs on land near Palomares, Spain, and a fourth one into the sea. |
| 26 january | The three Beaumont children disappeared from a beach in Glenelg, South Australia, resulting in one of the country's largest-ever police investigations. |
| 05 march | BOAC Flight 911 disintegrated and crashed near Mount Fujishortly after departure from Tokyo International Airport, killing all113 passengers and 11 crew members on board. |
| 10 march | Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguy?n Cao K? sacked rival General Nguy?n Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation. |
| 11 march | Indonesian President Sukarno was forced to sign the Presidential Order Supersemar, giving Suharto the authority to take whatever measures he deemed necessary to restore order during the Indonesian killings. |
| 15 may | Disapproving of his handling of the Buddhist Uprising, SouthVietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky ordered an attack on the forcesof General Ton That Dinh and ousted him from the position. |
| 16 may | The Cultural Revolution was launched on May 16, 1966 by Mao Zedong, then chairman of the Communist Party of China. The revolution severely affected the country economically, socially and politically. |
| 16 may | Chinese leader Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution officially as a campaign to rid China of its liberal bourgeois elements and to continue revolutionary class struggle. |
| 25 may | Explorer 32 launched. Explorer 32, also known as Atmosphere Explorer-B (AE-B), was a satellite launched by the United States to study the Earth's upper atmosphere. It was launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta-C1 rocket. It was the second of five Atmosphere Explorers, the first being Explorer 17. |
| 26 may | British Guiana gained independence and became Guyana. British Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, since 1966 known as the independent nation of Guyana. Its indigenous people are the Arawak-speaking Lucayan, part of the Taino people. |
| 30 may | Launch of Surveyor 1, the first US spacecraft to land on an extraterrestrial body. Surveyor 1 was the first lunar soft-lander in the unmanned Surveyor program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, United States). This lunar soft-lander gathered data about the lunar surface that would be needed for the manned Apollo Moon landings that began in 1969. |
| 02 june | Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world, Surveyor 1 was the first lunar soft-lander in the unmanned Surveyor program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, United States). This lunar soft-lander gathered data about the lunar surface that would be needed for the manned Apollo Moon landings that began in 1969. |
| 10 june | Indian version of MIG Fighter Aircraft designed at Nashik. This was originated from Russia. MIG Fighter Aircrafts played a major role during 1971 Indo-Pak war and Kargil war. These planes were extensively used by Indian Air force. |
| 13 june | The Miranda v. Arizona landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court established the Miranda warning, requiring law enforcement officials to advise a suspect in custody of his rights to remain silent and to obtainan attorney. |
| 14 june | The Vatican formally abolished its 427-year-old list ofprohibited books. |
| 01 july | The first colour television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto. There are three main analog broadcast television systems in use around the world, PAL (Phase Alternating Line), NTSC (National Television System Committee), and SECAM (Séquentiel Couleur à Mémoire—Sequential Color with Memory). |
| 06 july | Malawi became a republic country. The country adopted its new constitution n thus join the club of republic nations. Hastings Banda became the 1st president of Malawi. He was one of the leaders who were demanding the freedom for country. |
| 08 july | King of Burundi Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng was displaced by his son Ntare-V. Burundi is a small landlocked country in African continent. It is one of the five poorest countries of the world. The history of Burundi is marked with genocides and political imbalances before becoming a republic. |
| 10 july | Martin Luther King, Jr. led a rally in support of the Chicago Freedom Movement, one of the most ambitious civil rights campaigns inthe northern United States. |
| 15 july | Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam began Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. |
| 06 august | Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan became emir and ruler of AbuDhabi, succeeding his brother, Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, whowas deposed in a bloodless coup d'état. |
| 13 august | China has declared it's Cultural Revolution. By reorganizing the present minor farming collectives into great cooperatives workers would be allowed to work in industry.. |
| 14 august | The U.S. Lunar Orbiter was made to capture photos of the moon’s landscape in order to prepare American astronauts landing on the lunar landscape. |
| 18 august | Vietnam War-Members from D Company of the 6th Battalion of theRoyal Australian Regiment were surrounded and attacked on all sides by amuch larger Viet Cong unit at the Battle of Long Tan, but held them offfor several hours until reinforcements arrived. |
| 23 august | The Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from an orbit around the Moon. |
| 24 august | U.S.S.R. launches Luna 11 for orbit around Moon. |
| 26 august | The South African Defence Force launched an attack against SWAPO guerrilla fighters at Omugulugwombashe, starting the Namibian War of Independence. |
| 06 september | Hendrik Verwoerd, the South African Prime Minister who apparently was the Architect of apartheid is murdered during a parliamentary meeting in Cape Town |
| 06 september | South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the 'architectof apartheid', was stabbed to death by Dimitri Tsafendas. |
| 08 september | The American science fiction show Star Trek premiered on theNBC television network, launching a media franchise that has sincecreated a cult phenomenon and has influenced the design of many currenttechnologies. |
| Date/Month | Name / Profession / Country |
|---|
| 01 November | Jeremy Hunt / Politician / United Kingdom |
| 05 February | José María Olazábal / Golfer / Spain |
| 06 October | Tommy Stinson / Writer / United States of America |
| 07 September | Lutz Heilmann / Politician / Germany |
| 08 April | Mazinho / Footballer / Brazil |
| 09 March | Tony Lockett / Footballer / Australia |
| 11 December | Gary Dourdan / Actor / United States of America |
| 17 June | Ken Clark / Footballer / United States of America |
| 17 May | Qusay Hussein / Politician / Iraq |
| 18 August | Gustavo Charif / Producer / Argentina |
| 18 April | Valeri Kamensky / Ice Hockey Player / Russia |
| 18 May | Renata Nielsen / Jumper / Denmark |
| 19 January | Yukiko Duke / Journalist / Sweden |
| 20 October | Abu Musab al-Zarqawi / Militant Islamist / Jordan |
| 20 January | Rainn Wilson / Actor / United States of America |
| 21 September | James Richardson / Journalist / United Kingdom |
| 24 January | Jimeoin / Actor / United Kingdom |
| 26 June | Jürgen Reil / Drummer / United States of America |
| 27 June | Aigars Kalvītis / Politician / Latvia |
| 27 September | Don Jamieson / Comedian / United States of America |