1963
Events
January-March
- January 11 - The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened.
- January 14 - George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama.
- January 22 - Elysée treaty between France and Germany
- January 28 - Black student Harvey Gantt enters Clemson College in South Carolina, the last US state to hold out against racial integration
- January 29 - Charles De Gaulle vetos United Kingdom's entry into the EEC
- February 8 - Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
- February 11 - CIA Domestic Operations Division is created.
- February 21 - An earthquake in Libya destroys the village of Barce - 500 dead
- February 27 - Female suffrage in Iran
- March 1 - Yoko Ono's marriage to American Christian fundamentalist filmmaker Tony Cox is annulled
- March 4 - In Paris six people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.
- March 16 - Mount Agung erupts on Bali - 11.000 dead
- March 18 - Court decides poor must have lawyers (Gideon vs. Wainwright Supreme Court trial)
- March 21 - Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes; the last 27 prisoners are transferred elsewhere
- March 27 - In Britain Dr Beeching issues report calling for huge cuts to the UK's rail network; See Beeching axe
April-July
- April 7 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life
- April 10 - The US nuclear submarine Thresher sinks on the Mediterranean with all hands - 129 dead
- April 15 - 70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermarston to demonstrate against nuclear weapons
- April 22 - Lester B. Pearson becomes Canada's fourteenth prime minister.
- May 15 - Mercury program: NASA launches the last mission of the program, Mercury 9 (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb told Congress the program was complete)
- May 23 - Fidel Castro visits the Soviet Union
- May 25 - The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- June 1 - Kenya gains independence
- June 2 - Slavery declared illegal in Saudi Arabia
- June 5 - Profumo Affair - British Secretary of State for War John Profumo resigns in a sex scandal
- June 11 – Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc publicly sets himself on fire in Saigon, Vietnam, to protest against Ngo Dihn Diem's policies
- June 11 - Prime Minister of Greece Constantine Karamanlis resigns in protest of king's visit to Britain
- June 12 - Civil rights leader Medgar Evers is fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi.
- June 16 - Valentina Tereshkova (USSR) becomes the first woman in space.
- June 17 - The United States Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.
- June 21 - Pope Paul VI is elected by College of Cardinals.
- June 30 - Ciaculli Massacre - mafia car bomb explodes in Ciaculli, Sicily, killing 7 police officers
- July 1 - Zip codes introduced in the USA
- July 5 - Diplomatic relations between the Israeli and the Japanese governments are raised to embassies' level.
- July 26 - Earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia - 1800 dead
- July 27 – Indonesian president-for-life Sukarno declares that he will crush Malaysia – official start of Indonesian Confrontation
- July 30 - Soviet newspaper Izvestia reports that Kim Philby has been given asylum in Moscow
August-October
- August 5 - United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
- August 8 - The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire, England
- August 18 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi
- August 28 - Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a dream" speech on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
- September 5 - Christine Keeler arrested for perjury. On December 6 she is sentenced to nine months in prison
- September 15 - American civil rights movement: The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing results in 4 deaths and 22 injuries.
- September 16 – Federation of Malaysia formed
- September 18 – Rioters burn down British embassy in Jakarta to protest formation of Malaysia
- September 25 - Denning Report on Profumo affair
- September 29 - Opening of second period of Second Vatican Council in Rome.
- October 9 - Uganda becomes a republic.
- October 9 - In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.
November
- November 2 - South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem is assassinated following a military coup
- November 6 - Vietnam War: Coup leader General Duong Van Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam
- November 7 - Wunder von Lengede: In Germany, 11 miners are rescued from a collapsed mine after 14 days
- November 9 - 1963 Miike coal-mine explosion: In Japan, a coal mine explosion kills 458 and sends 839 carbon monoxide poisoning victims to the hospital
- November 14 - A volcanic eruption under the sea near Iceland creates a new island, Surtsey
- November 16 - Newspaper strike begins in Toledo, Ohio
- November 18 - Dartford Tunnel opens
- November 22 - John F. Kennedy assassination: In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and US Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn-in as the 36th President of the United States
- November 23 - The first episode of the BBC television series Doctor Who is broadcast in the United Kingdom.
- November 24 - John F. Kennedy assassination: Alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is mortally shot by Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas on live national television
- November 24 - Vietnam War: Newly sworn in US President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam militarily and economically
- November 25 - John F. Kennedy assassination: The late US President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery
- November 29 - John F. Kennedy assassination: US President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
- November 29 - A Douglas DC-8 carrying Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831 crashes into a wooded hillside after taking-off from Dorval Airport near Montreal, killing all 118 on board (for many years this was the worst air disaster in Canada's history).
December
- December 4 - Closing of second period of Second Vatican Council.
- End of the Mercury program of United States manned spaceflight
- December 12 – Kenya becomes independent with Jomo Kenyatta as a prime minister
- December 24 - Cyprus Emergency - A brief civil war in Cyprus between Greek and Turkish Cypriots erupts
- December 31 - Central African Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland formally dissolved
unknown date
- D. H. Frisch and J. H. Smith prove radioactive decay of mesons is slowed by their motion. (See Einstein's special relativity and general relativity).
- Syncom, the world's first geostationary (synchronous) satellite is orbited by NASA
- Full deployment of SAGE, the semi-automated ground environment.
- TAT-3 cable goes into operation.
- Geneticist J. B. S. Haldane coins the word "clone".
- Arecibo Observatory officially begins operation.
- Ostankino Tower in Moscow begins construction.
- The divorce case of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll causes scandal in the United Kingdom
Fiction
- March 1 - First appearance of John Rockerduck (a character in the Scrooge McDuck Universe) in Italian story Zio Paperone e il kiwi volante ("Uncle Scrooge and the flying kiwi") by Giampaolo Barosso and Giorgio Bordini
Year in topic
1963 is the year dubbed "Annus Mirabilis" by British poet Philip Larkin.
- 1963 in film
- Tom Jones
- Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds
- Charade starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn
- McLintock! starring John Wayne
- 1963 in literature
- 1963 in music
- February 11 - The Beatles tape 10 tracks for their 1st album, including Please, Please Me (released on March 2).
- 1963 in sports
- January 29 - First inductees into the "Pro Football" Hall of Fame are announced
- 1963 in television
- May 15 - First television pictures transmitted from a U.S. manned space capsule ("Faith 7.") Due to the poor picture quality, only NBC carries the transmission, and on tape-delay, not live
- September 2 ? CBS becomes first network to expand its evening network news from 15 to 30 minutes.
- September 9 - NBC expands its evening network news program to 30 minutes
- November 22 - regular television programming is suspended following news of John F. Kennedy's assassination
- November 23 - first episode of Dr Who is broadcast in the UK.
- November 24 - Jack Ruby murders John F. Kennedy's suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald live on television.
- The television remote control is authorized by the FCC.
Births
January-March
- January 14 - Steven Soderbergh, director
- January 21 - Hakeem Olajuwon, basketball player
- January 21 - Detlef Schrempf, basketball player
- January 23 - Gail O'Grady, actress
- January 26 - Andrew Ridgely, musician
- February 9 - Travis Tritt, country music singer
- February 11 - Todd Benzinger, American baseball player
- February 17 - Michael Jordan, basketball legend
- February 19 - Seal, singer
- February 20 - Charles Barkley, American basketball player
- February 21 - William Baldwin, actor
- February 22 - Vijay Singh, golfer
- March 1 - Dan Michaels, producer, saxophonist, member of the rock band The Choir and also The Swirling Eddies, owner of Galaxy21 Music.
- March 4 - Jason Newsted, former bassist of Metallica
- March 6 - D.L. Hughley, actor, comedian
- March 10 - Neneh Cherry, musician
- March 12 - Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
- March 14 - Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer
- March 18 - Vanessa Williams, actress, singer, Miss America
- March 27 - Quentin Tarantino, actor, director, writer, producer
- March 27 - Xuxa, Brazilian television personality
April-August
- April 4 - Graham Norton, talk show host
- April 9 - Joe Scarborough, American cable news host
- April 13 - Garry Kasparov, World Chess Champion 1985-2000
- April 18 - Conan O'Brien, American television entertainer
- April 26 - Jet Li, martial arts fighter, actor
- April 27 - Cali Timmins, actress
- May 8 - Helena Blagne Zaman, Slovene singer
- May 11 - Natasha Richardson, actress
- May 24 - Joe Dumars, basketball star
- May 25 - Mike Myers, actor, comedian
- June 6 - Jason Isaacs, actor ( Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets )
- June 9 - Johnny Depp, actor (Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean)
- June 13 - Bettina Bunge, tennis player.
- June 17 - Greg Kinnear, actor (As Good As It Gets, Mystery Men)
- June 18 - Bruce Smith, American football player
- June 23 - Colin Montgomerie, golfer.
- June 25 - George Michael, singer
- July 16 - Phoebe Cates, actress
- July 24 - Karl Malone, basketball
- July 30 - Lisa Kudrow, American actress
- August 3 - James Hetfield, Metallica frontman and co-founder
- August 19 - John Stamos, actor
September-December
- September 10 - Randy Johnson, baseball pitcher, five-time Cy Young Award winner
- September 21 - Cecil Fielder, baseball player
- September 29 - Dave Andreychuk, NHL player
- October 1 - Mark McGwire, baseball star
- October 10 - Daniel Pearl, journalist (d. 2002)
- October 22 - Brian Boitano, figure skater
- October 26 - Natalie Merchant, singer/songwriter/musician
- October 31 - Fred McGriff, baseball player
- November 18 - Dante Bichette, baseball player
- November 19 - Terry Farrell, actress (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
- December 2 - John Kennedy Morrisey, entertainer/athlete/storyteller
- December 16 - Benjamin Bratt, actor (Law & Order)
- December 18 - Brad Pitt, actor
Deaths
- January 5 - Rogers Hornsby, Baseball Hall of Famer
- January 29 - Robert Frost, poet
- January 30 - Francis Poulenc, composer
- February 11 - Sylvia Plath, poet/novelist.
- March 4 - William Carlos Williams, writer
- March 5 - Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas, country music singers
- April 6 - Otto Struve, astronomer (b. 1897)
- April 9 - Eddie Edwards, jazz musician (b. 1891)
- May 12 - Bobby Kerr, Canadian sprinter
- May 31 - Edith Hamilton, educator and author
- June 3 - Pope John XXIII
- June 11 - Thich Quang Duc[1]
- August 5 - Theodore Roethke, American poet
- September 11 - Suzanne Duchamp, Dada painter
- October 11 - Edith Piaf, French singer
- October 11 - Jean Cocteau, writer
- November 1 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam
- November 22 - John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
- November 22 - Aldous Huxley, novelist
- November 22 - C.S. Lewis - novelist, Christian apologist, and English professor
- November 24 - Lee Harvey Oswald, shot by Jack Ruby
- December 1 - Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, American spy in World War II
- December 2 - Thomas Hicks, American marathon runner
- December 5 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, composer
- December 28 - Paul Hindemith, German composer
- Physics - Eugene Paul Wigner, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, J. Hans D. Jensen
- Chemistry - Karl Ziegler, Giulio Natta
- Medicine - Sir John Carew Eccles, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, Andrew Fielding Huxley
- Literature - Giorgos Seferis
- Peace - International Committee of the Red Cross, League of Red Cross Societies
Miscellaneous
- Harvey Ball invents the ubiquitous smiley