1947

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century 20th century 21st century
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
Years:	1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950

Template:C20YearInTopicX Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. Template:C20YearTOCship

January 1: Nigeria gains autonomy.

Events of 1947

January

• January 1
  • British mines are nationalized.
  • Nigeria gains limited autonomy.
  • The Canadian Citizenship Act goes into effect.
• January 3 - Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
• January 10 - The United Nations takes control of the free city of Trieste.
• January 15 - Elizabeth Short (the "Black Dahlia") is found murdered.
• January 16 - Vincent Auriol is inaugurated as president of France.
• January 19 - 392 drown in a shipwreck near Athens, Greece.
• January 24 - Dimitrios Maximos founds monarchist government in Athens.
• January 25 - Philippine plane crashes in Hong Kong with $5 million worth of gold and money.
• January 30 - February 8 - A heavy blizzard in Canada buries towns from Winnipeg to Calgary.
• January 31 - Communists take power in Poland.

February

• February 3
  • In Snag, Yukon Territory, -63 degrees Celsius, lowest recorded temperature in North America.
  • Percival Prattis becomes the first black news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press gallery.
• February 5 - Boleslaw Bierut becomes president of Poland.
• February 8 - A dance hall fire in Berlin kills over 80.
• February 10 - Paris peace treaties are signed between the World War II Allies and Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Finland: Italy cedes most of Istria to Yugoslavia.
• February 12 - A meteor creates a crater in Sikhote-Alin, Soviet Union.
• February 17 - Cold War: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
• February 20 - An explosion at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Co in Los Angeles, California leaves 17 dead, 100 buildings damaged, and a 22-foot crater.
• February 21 - In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
• February 23 - International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
• February 25
  • State of Prussia ceases to exist.
  • Worst-ever train crash in Japan kills 184.
• February 28
  • USA gives France a military base in Casablanca.
  • In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with large loss of civilian lives.

March

• March 1
  • The International Monetary Fund begins to operate.
  • Wernher von Braun marries his first cousin, 18-year-old Maria von Quirstorp.
• March 6 - USS Newport News, the first air-conditioned naval ship, is launched from Newport News, Virginia.
• March 12 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
• March 14 - The River Thames bursts its banks.
• March 15 - Hindus and Muslims clash in Punjab.
• March 19 - 19th Academy Awards ceremony
• March 21 - Homer Collyer of the Collyer brothers is found dead in their house in Harlem, New York City. His brother is found April 8.
• March 25 - A coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
• March 28 - A WW2 Japanese booby trap explodes in Corregidor, killing 28.
• March 29 - Rebellion against French rule erupts in Madagascar.
• March 31 - The leaders of the People's Republic of Mahabad, the second Kurdish state in the history of Iran, are hanged at the Chuwarchira Square in Mahabad after the country is conquered by Iranian forces.

April

• April 1
  • Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball professional, signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
  • King George II of Greece is succeeded by his brother King Paul I.
• April 9 - A multiple outbreak of tornadoes occur from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas killing 181 and injuring 970. Not known how many touched down.
• April 15 - Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play Major League Baseball.
• April 16 - The Texas City Disaster: An Ammonium nitrate cargo of SS Grandcamp explodes in Texas City, Texas - 552 dead, 3,000 injured, 200 lost, 20 city blocks destroyed.
• April 18 - The British Royal Navy detonates 6,800 tonnes of explosives in a concerted attempt to destroy the small island of Heligoland, Germany, creating the biggest non-nuclear explosion in history.

May

• May 1 - The Salvatore Giuliano Gang opens fire on a labor parade near Portella Della Ginestra, Sicily, killing 11 and wounding 30.
• May 3 - The new post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
• May 12 - The Cartoon Rabbit Transit Directed by Friz Freleng where Bugs goes to jail is made.
• May 22
  • Cold War: In an effort to fight the spread of Communism, President Harry S. Truman signs an act implementing the Truman Doctrine. The act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.
  • David Lean's film Great Expectations, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, opens in the United States. Critics call it the finest film ever made from a Dickens novel.

June

• June 5 - Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan for U.S. aid to Europe.
• June 7 - The ASA (currently Steaua) sport club is founded in Bucharest, Romania.
• June 10 - Saab produces its first automobile.
• June 15 - Portuguese government orders 11 military officers and 19 university professors accused of revolutionary activity to resign.
• June 18 - Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara hanged in Guam for war crimes related to the Battle of Wake Island on October 7, 1943.
• June 20 - Bugsy Siegel is found shot in the Beverly Hills mansion of Virginia Hill.
• June 21
  • Seaman Harold Dahl claims to have seen six UFOs near Maury Island. The next morning Dahl reports the first modern Men in Black encounter.
  • The Canadian Parliament votes unaminiously to pass several laws regarding displaced foreign refugees.
• June 23 - The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.
• June 24 - Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington.

July

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), created July 1947

• July 2 - A downed UFO is allegedly found in the Roswell UFO incident, written about by Stanton T. Friedman.
• July 10 - Princess Elizabeth announces her engagement to Philip Mountbatten.
• July 11 - Exodus (ship) departs France to Palestine with 4,500 Jewish Holocaust survivor refugees.
• July 18 - Following wide media and UNSCOP coverage, Exodus (ship) is captured by British troops and refused entry to Palestine in the port of Haifa.
• July 18 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
• July 19 - Burmese nationalist Aung San is murdered.
• July 26 - Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into law, creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
• July 27 - Take It or Leave It airs its final episode on CBS Radio.
• July 29 - After being shut off on November 9, 1946 for a refurbishment, ENIAC, one of the world's first digital computers, is turned on after a memory upgrade. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.

August

Flag of the newly independent Pakistan

Flag of the newly independent India

• August 4 - UK Betty Moore from Horsham, Sussex, sails in her first Cowes Week. 59 years later she is awarded the Skandia Cowes Week Ladies Day Trophy after campaigning her Solent Sunbeam, WHY, in all 60 consecutive regattas.
• August 5 - The Netherlands stops political actions in Indonesia.
• August 7
  • Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101 day, 4,300 mile journey across the Pacific Ocean proving that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
  • The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
• August 14 - After 90 years of British colonial rule, Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire. While the transition is officially at midnight on this day, Pakistan celebrates its independence on August 14 compared to India on the 15th. Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the first Governor General of Pakistan.
• August 15
  • After a long struggle India gained independence from British rule. Pakistan splits from India. Rajendra Prasad is the first President of India. Jawaharlal Nehru takes office as the first Prime Minister of India.
  • The Khan of Baluchistan declares independence (accedes to Pakistan in 1948).
• August 16 - In Greece, General Markos Vafiadis takes over.
• August 23 - Prime Minister of Greece Dimitrios Maximos resigns.
• August 24 - The first Edinburgh International Festival begins, with a post-war mission to 'provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit’.
• August 27 - When the French government lowers the bread ration to 200 grams, it causes riots in Verdun and Le Mans.
• August 30 - Fire at a movie theater in Rueil, a suburb of Paris, France kills 87.
• August 31 - Communists take power in Hungary.

September

• September 4-September 21 - A hurricane in southeast Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama leaves 51 dead.
• September 13 - Indian Prime Minister Nehru suggests the transfer of 4 million Hindus and Muslims between India and Pakistan.
• September 18
  • The United States Army Air Forces, along with some components of the United States Navy's air arm, becomes the United States Air Force.
  • The National Security Act creates the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA.

October

• October 13 - American cyclist and St. Ignatius High School gratuate, Edward Patrick Dignan, was born in Chicago, IL.
• October 14 - American test pilot Captain Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first man to do so in level flight.
• October 20 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 begins.
• October 30 - The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is founded.

November

• November 2
  • In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden flight of the Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built (flight lasted only eight minutes).
  • Earthquake in Chilean Andes kills 233.
• November 6 - Meet the Press makes its television debut on the NBC television network.
• November 10 - The arrest of four steel workers in Marseille begins a communist riot that spreads to Paris.
• November 16
  • In Brussels, 15,000 demonstrate against the relatively short sentences of Nazis.
  • The British begin to withdraw their troops from Palestine.

File:Qu&DoE Wedding.png

The Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on their wedding day

• November 20
  • The Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George VI marries the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London.
  • Paul Ramadier resigns as Prime Minister of France - he is succeeded by Robert Schuman. Schuman calls 80,000 reservists to quell the rioting miners.
• November 21 - The United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment begins in Havana, Cuba. The conference ends in 1948, when members finish the Havana Charter.
• November 24 - Red Scare: The United States House of Representatives votes 346 to 17 to approve citations of contempt of U.S. Congress against the so-called Hollywood 10 after the 10 had refused to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee concerning allegations of Communist influence in the movie industry, (the 10 were blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios the next day).
• November 25 - New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
• November 27 - In Paris, police occupy the editorial offices of communist newspapers.
• November 29 - The United Nations General Assembly votes to partition Palestine between Arabs and Jews, resulting in the creation of the State of Israel.

December

• December 3
  • French communist strikers derail the Paris-Tourcoing Express train because of false rumors that it was transporting soldiers - 21 dead.
  • Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway.
• December 4 - French interior minister Jules Moch secures emergency measures against riots after six days of violent arguments in the national assembly.
• December 6 - The legendary Arturo Toscanini conducts a concert performance of the first half of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello, based on Shakespeare's Othello, on NBC radio. The second half will be broadcast a week later. Starring are Ramon Vinay, Giuseppe Valdengo, and Herva Nelli. The complete performance (both parts) will eventually be released on LP and CD. Many believe this is one of the very finest opera performances led by Toscanini. It is for some the definitive Otello.
• December 9 - French labour unions call off the general strike and begin negotiations with the French government.
• December 12 - The Iranian Royal Army takes back power in Azerbaijan province.
• December 22
  • The Italian Constituent Assembly votes to accept the new constitution.
  • The first practical transistor is demonstrated.
• December 30 - King Michael of Romania abdicates.

Undated

• The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigations into communism in Hollywood.
• Cambridge University begins to admit women as full students.
• Mikhail Kalashnikov designs the AK-47 assault rifle.
• Raytheon produces first commercial microwave oven.
• Women's suffrage is granted in Argentina.
• In a cave in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea), several tall pottery jars containing leather scrolls are discovered, which later became known as the Dead Sea scrolls.
• By discovery of Promethium in products of nuclear fission, last gap of periodic table was closed.

Ongoing

• Marshall Plan

Births

1947 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1947 MCMXLVII
Ab urbe condita	2700
Armenian calendar	1396 ԹՎ ՌՅՂԶ
Assyrian calendar	6697
Baháʼí calendar	103–104
Balinese saka calendar	1868–1869
Bengali calendar	1354
Berber calendar	2897
British Regnal year	11 Geo. 6 – 12 Geo. 6
Buddhist calendar	2491
Burmese calendar	1309
Byzantine calendar	7455–7456
Chinese calendar	丙戌年 (Fire Dog) 4644 or 4437     — to — 丁亥年 (Fire Pig) 4645 or 4438
Coptic calendar	1663–1664
Discordian calendar	3113
Ethiopian calendar	1939–1940
Hebrew calendar	5707–5708
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2003–2004
- Shaka Samvat	1868–1869
- Kali Yuga	5047–5048
Holocene calendar	11947
Igbo calendar	947–948
Iranian calendar	1325–1326
Islamic calendar	1366–1367
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 22 (昭和２２年)
Javanese calendar	1878–1879
Juche calendar	36
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4280
Minguo calendar	ROC 36 民國36年
Nanakshahi calendar	479
Thai solar calendar	2490
Tibetan calendar	阳火狗年 (male Fire-Dog) 2073 or 1692 or 920     — to — 阴火猪年 (female Fire-Pig) 2074 or 1693 or 921

January-February

• January 2
  • Ai, American poet
  • Jack Hanna, American zoologist
• January 3 - Patricia Anthony, American author
• January 6 - Sandy Denny, British singer (d. 1978)
• January 7 - Shobha De, Indian writer
• January 8
  • David Bowie, English musician
  • Jenny Boyd, British model
  • Samuel Schmid, Swiss Federal Councilor
• January 9 - Ronnie Landfield, American artist
• January 10 - Ronald Harris, American
• January 11
  • Tom Netherton, American singer
  • Mart Smeets, Dutch sports journalist
• January 14 - Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (d. 2003)
• January 16 - Laura Schlessinger, American psychologist and radio talk show host
• January 18 - Takeshi Kitano, Japanese film director and actor
• January 23 - Thomas R. Carper, U.S. Senator from Delaware
• January 24 - Warren Zevon, American musician (d. 2003)
  • Masashi Ozaki, Japanese golfer
• January 26 - Richard Portnow, American actor
• January 29 - Linda B. Buck, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• January 30
  • Les Barker, English poet
  • Steve Marriott, British musician (The Small Faces) and (Humble Pie) (d. 1991)
• January 31 - Nolan Ryan, baseball player
• February 1 - Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
• February 2 - Farrah Fawcett, American actress
• February 3
  • Melanie, American singer
  • Paul Auster, American novelist
• February 4 - Dan Quayle, Vice President of the United States
• February 5 - Darrell Waltrip, American race car driver and broadcaster
• February 10
  • Louise Arbour, Canadian jurist
  • Nicholas Owen, English newsreader (ITN)
• February 12 - Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Most well known sikh leaders of the 20th century (d. 1984)
• February 13 - Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball coach
• February 15 - John Coolidge Adams, American composer
• February 18
  • Princess Christina of the Netherlands
  • Dennis DeYoung, American musician (Styx)
• February 20
  • Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
  • Peter Strauss, American actor
• February 21 - Victor Sokolov, Russian dissident journalist and priest (d. 2006)
• February 24 - Edward James Olmos, American actor
• February 25 - Doug Yule, American singer and musician (The Velvet Underground)
• February 26 - Sandie Shaw, British singer
• February 27 - Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist

March-April

• March 4
  • David Franzoni, American screenwriter
  • Jan Garbarek, Norwegian musician
  • Gunnar Hansen, Icelandic actor
  • Gwen Welles, American actress (d. 1993)
• March 6
  • Kiki Dee, English singer
  • Dick Fosbury, American athlete
  • Teru Miyamoto, Japanese author
• March 7
  • Matthew Fisher, British singer, songwriter, and producer
  • Walter Röhrl, German race car driver
  • Richard Lawson, American actor
• March 8 - Carole Bayer Sager, American composer
• March 10
  • Kim Campbell, Prime Minister of Canada
  • Tom Scholz, American musician, songwriter, and inventor
• March 11
  • David Ferguson (impresario), American music producer and activist
• March 12
  • Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist
  • Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts
• March 13 - Beat Richner, Swiss pediatrician and cellist
• March 14 - Pam Ayres, British poet
• March 15 - Ry Cooder, American guitarist.
• March 16 - Ramzan Paskayev, Chechen accordionist
• March 17 - Yury Chernavsky, Russian-born composer and producer
• March 19 - Glenn Close, American actress
• March 20 - John Boswell, American historian (d. 1994)
• March 24 - Louise Lanctôt, Canadian terrorist and writer
• March 25 - Elton John, English singer, pianist, and songwriter
• March 27 - Walt Mossberg, American newspaper columnist
• April 1 - Alain Connes, French mathematician
• April 2
  • Emmylou Harris, American singer
  • Camille Paglia, American literary critic
• April 4 - Eliseo Soriano, Philippine preacher
• April 5 - Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, incumbent Philippine president and daughter of former president Diosdado Macapagal
• April 6 - John Ratzenberger, American actor
• April 8 - Tom DeLay, American politician
• April 11 - Deem Bristow, American video game actor (d. 2005)
• April 12
  • Tom Clancy, American author
  • David Letterman, American entertainer
• April 15
  • Lois Chiles, American actress
  • Mike Chapman, Australian-born record producer and songwriter
• April 16 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player
• April 16 - Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer
• April 18
  • Kathy Acker, American author (d. 1997)
  • James Woods, American actor
• April 19 - Murray Perahia, American pianist
• April 20 - Hector, Finnish rock musician
• April 21
  • Iggy Pop, American musician (The Stooges)
  • John Weider, British musician (Eric Burdon and the Animals and Family)
• April 25 - Johan Cruijff, Dutch footballer and coach
• April 29 - Olavo de Carvalho, Brazilian philosopher
• April 29 - Tommy James, American singer and producer
• April 30 - Leslie Grantham, British actor

May-June

• May 4 - Theda Skocpol, American sociologist
• May 6 - Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher
• May 8 - H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• May 12 - Michael Ignatieff, a Canadian public intellectual with a background in philosophy and history.
• May 13 - Stephen R. Donaldson, American novelist
• May 19 - Paul Brady, Northern Ireland singer/songwriter
• May 23 - Bernard Comrie, English linguist
• May 24 - Maude Barlow, Canadian author, activist and National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians
• May 26 - Glenn Turner, New Zealand cricket captains
• May 27
  • Branko Oblak, Slovenian football player and coach
  • Peter DeFazio, American politician
• May 29 - Stan Zemanek, Australian radio broadcaster (d. 2007)
• June 4 - Viktor Klima, Chancellor of Austria
• June 6
  • David Blunkett, British politician
  • Ada Kok, Dutch swimmer
  • Robert Englund, American actor
• June 7 - Thurman Munson, Yankee catcher (d. 1979)
• June 8 - Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• June 14 - Barry Melton, American musician (Country Joe and The Fish and The Dinosaurs)
• June 15 - John Hoagland, American war photographer (d. 1984)
• June 16 - -minu, Swiss columnist and writer
• June 19 - Paula Koivuniemi, Finnish singer
• June 19 - Salman Rushdie, Indian-born author
  • Candy Clark, American actress
• June 21
  • Shirin Ebadi, Iranian activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Meredith Baxter, American Family Ties actress
  • Michael Gross, American Family Ties actor
• June 22
  • Octavia Butler, American author (d. 2006)
  • David Lander, American actor and baseball scout
  • Pete Maravich, American basketball player (d. 1988)
  • Mike Stone, American football player
• June 28 - Mark Helprin, American writer

July-August

• July 2 - Larry David, American actor, writer, producer, and director
• July 3 - Dave Barry, American writer
• July 7
  • Richard Beckinsale, British actor (d. 1979)
  • Rob Townsend, British drummer (Family)
• July 8 - Bobby Sowell, pianist and composer
• July 9
  • Haruomi Hosono, Japanese musician (Yellow Magic Orchestra)
  • Mitch Mitchell, American drummer (Jimi Hendrix Experience)
  • O.J. Simpson, American football player and actor
• July 10 - Arlo Guthrie, American singer
• July 17 - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
• July 18 - Steven W. Mahoney, Canadian politician
• July 19 - Brian May, English guitarist (Queen)
• July 20
  • Gerd Binnig, German physicis, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Carlos Santana, Mexican-born guitarist
• July 21 - Co Adriaanse, Dutch football manager
• July 24 - Peter Serkin, American pianist
• July 25 - Warren Matthews, New Zealand actor
• July 30 - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born American actor, bodybuilder, and 38th Governor of California
• July 31 - Richard Griffiths, English actor
• August 7 - Franciscus Henri, Dutch born Australian children's entertainer, composer and artist
• August 9 - John Varley, American science-fiction author
• August 10 - Ian Anderson, British musician (Jethro Tull)
• August 12 - William Hartston, British chess player
• August 14 - Maddy Prior, English folk singer
• August 15 - Raakhee Gulzar, Indian actress
• August 16 - Marc Messier, Canadian actor
• August 19 - Gerard Schwarz, American conductor
• August 19 - Terry Hoeppner, American football coach (d. 2007)
• August 23 - Willy Russell, British playwright
• August 24 - Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist
• August 26 - Emiliano Díez, American Actor
• August 27 - Barbara Bach, American actress
• August 28 - Liza Wang, Hong Kong actress
• August 30 - Allan Rock, Canadian politician and diplomat
• August 31 - Ramon Castellano de Torres, Spanish painter

September-October

• September 1 - Al Green, American politician
• September 3 - Kjell Magne Bondevik, Prime Minister of Norway
• September 6 - Bruce Rioch, Scottish footballer and coach
• September 14 - Sam Neill, New Zealand actor
• September 17 - Tessa Jowell, British politician
• September 19 - Steve Bartlett, U.S. Congressman and Mayor of Dallas, Texas
• September 21 - Stephen King, American author
• September 22 - Norma McCorvey, American abortion plaintiff
• September 25 - Ali Parvin, Iranian footballer and coach
• September 26 - Lynn Anderson, American country music singer
• September 27
  • Dick Advocaat, Dutch football manager
  • Meat Loaf (born Marvin Lee Aday), singer and actor
• September 30 - Marc Bolan, English musician (T. Rex) (d. 1977)
• October 1 - Aaron Ciechanover, Israeli biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• October 2 - Ward Churchill, American author and activist
• October 5 - Brian Johnson, English singer (AC/DC)
• October 6 - Gail Farrell, American singer
• October 7
  • Pip Williams, British record producer
• October 9 - France Gall, French singer
• October 10 - Martin Ruane, British wrestler best known as Giant Haystacks and later, The Loch Ness Monster (d. 1998)
• October 13 - Sammy Hagar, American singer
• October 14 - Lukas Resetarits, Austrian singer and actor
• October 16 - Bob Weir, American guitarist (Grateful Dead)
• October 17
  • Gene Green, American politician
  • Michael McKean, American actor and comedian
• October 18 - James H. Fallon, American neuroscientist
• October 19 - Giorgio Cavazzano, Italian comics artist and illustrator
• October 22 - Ed Welch, English television composer
• October 24 - Kevin Kline, American actor
• October 25 - Glenn Tipton, English guitarist (Judas Priest)
• October 26
  • Hillary Rodham Clinton, First Lady of the United States and Senator from New York
  • Trevor Joyce, Irish poet
• October 29 - Richard Dreyfuss, American actor

November-December

• November 6
  • Jim Rosenthal, ITV sport presenter
• November 7 - Yutaka Fukumoto, Japanese professional baseball player
• November 10 - Glen Buxton, American guitarist (Alice Cooper) (d. 1997)
• November 14 - P. J. O'Rourke, American journalist and satirist
• November 17 - Inky Mark, Canadian politician
• November 19
  • Bob Boone, baseball player and manager
  • Anfinn Kallsberg, former Faroese Prime Minister
  • Lamar S. Smith, American politician
• November 20 - Joe Walsh, Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist
• November 22 - Valerie Wilson Wesley, American author
• November 24
  • Dwight Schultz, American actor
  • Johnny Zell, American musician
• November 25 - John Larroquette, American actor
• November 30
  • Véronique Le Flaguais, Canadian actress
  • Sergio Badilla Castillo, Chilean poet
  • David Mamet, American playwright
• December 2 - Isaac Bitton, French rock band drummer (Les Variations)
• December 7 - Wendy Padbury, British actress
• December 8 - Thomas R. Cech, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• December 9 - Tom Daschle, U.S. Senator
• December 10 - Rainer Seifert, German field hockey player
• December 12 - Will Alsop, English architect
• December 14 - Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
• December 16 - Vincent Matthews, American athlete
• December 18 - Rod Piazza, American musician
• December 21
  • Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist
  • Bryan Hamilton, Irish footballer and football manager
  • Lucien Carpentier
• Mushtari Begum Eminent Ghazal Singer of the Fiji Islands
• December 26 - Carlton Fisk, baseball player
• December 28 - Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican Major League Baseball player (d. 2000)
• December 29 - Ted Danson, American actor
• December 30
  • Michael Burns, American actor
  • Jeff Lynne, British musician (Electric Light Orchestra)
• December 31
  • Burton Cummings, Canadian musician
  • Tim Matheson, American actor

Unknown date

• Chua Ek Kay, Singaporean painter (d. 2008)
• Peter Irniq, Commissioner of Nunavut

Deaths

January - June

• January 15 - Elizabeth Short, "The Black Dahlia", famous murder victim (b. 1924)
• January 20
  • Andrew Volstead, American politician (b. 1860)
  • Josh Gibson, baseball player (b. 1911)
• January 23 - Pierre Bonnard, French painter (b. 1867)
• January 25 - Al Capone, American gangster (b. 1899)
• January 27 - Vasily Balabanov, an administrator and Provincial Governor of Imperial Russia (b.1873)
• February 6 - O. Max Gardner, the governor of North Carolina
• February 12 - Sidney Toler, American actor, best known for playing Charlie Chan (b. 1874)
• February 27 - Heinrich Häberlin, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1868)
• March 11 - Victor Lustig, Austrian-born con artist (b. 1890)
• March 12 - Walter Samuel Goodland, Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1862)
• March 18 - William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (b. 1861)
• March 19 - Prudence Heward, Canadian painter (b. 1896)
• March 20 - Victor Goldschmidt, Swiss geochemist (b. 1888)
• March 23 - Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany (b. 1870)
• March 25 - Chen Cheng-po, Taiwanese painter (b. 1895)
• March 28 - Karol Świerczewski, Polish military leader (b. 1897)
• March 30 - Arthur Machen, Welsh-born author (b. 1863)
• April 1 - King George II of Greece (b. 1890)
• April 7 - Henry Ford, American automobile manufacturer (b. 1863)
• April 20 - King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
• April 24 - Willa Cather, American novelist (b. 1873)
• May 8 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, American department store magnate (b. 1858)
• May 13 - Sukanta Bhattacharya, Bengali poet (b. 1926)
• May 16 - Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (b. 1861)
• May 17 - George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1869)
• May 20 - Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
• May 24 - C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (b. 1878)
• May 30 - Georg Ritter von Trapp, sailor (b. 1880)
• May 31 - Adrienne Ames, American actress (b. 1907)
• June 11 - Richard Hönigswald, philosopher (b. 1875)
• June 19 - Kōsō Abe, Japanese admiral (b. 1892)
• June 26 - Richard Bedford Bennett, eleventh Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1870)

July - December

• July 19 - Aung San, Burmese nationalist (assassinated) (b. 1915)
• July 30 - Joseph Cook, sixth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1860)
• August 8 - Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Russian military leader (b. 1872)
• September 1 - Frederick Russell Burnham, American Scout, father of the international Scouting movement (b. 1861)
• October 4 - Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
• October 6 - Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer (b. 1887)
• October 28 - Earl Snell, Governor of Oregon (plane crash.) (b. 1895)
• October 29 - Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland (b. 1864)
• November 25 - Léon-Paul Fargue, French writer (b. 1876)
• November 28 - W. E. Lawrence, (b. 1896)

• December 1 - Aleister Crowley, British occultist (b. 1875)
• December 1 - G. H. Hardy, British mathematician (b. 1877)
• December 7 - Nicholas M. Butler, American president of Columbia University, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1862)
• December 7 - Tristan Bernard, French writer and lawyer (b. 1866)
• December 14
  • Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
  • Edward Higgins, General of The Salvation Army (b. 1864)
• December 17 - J. N. Brønsted, Danish chemist (b. 1879)
• December 25 - Gaspar G. Bacon, was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1886)
• December 27 - Johannes Winkler, German rocket pioneer (b. 1897)
• December 28 - Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (b. 1869)
• Emil J. Brach, American candy manufacturer (b. 1859)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Edward Victor Appleton
• Chemistry - Sir Robert Robinson
• Medicine - Carl Ferdinand Cori, Gerty Cori, Bernardo Houssay
• Literature - André Gide
• Peace - The Friends Service Council (UK) and The American Friends Service Committee (USA), on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends

Academy Awards

• Best Picture--The Best Years of Our Lives
• Best Director--William Wyler, The Best Years of Our Lives
• Best Actor--Frederic March, The Best Years of Our Lives
• Best Supporting Actor--Harold Russell, The Best Years of Our Lives
• Best Actress--Olivia de Havilland, To Each His Own
• Best Supporting Actress--Anne Baxter, The Razor's Edge
• Best Original Story-- Clemence Dane, Vacation From Marriage
• Best Original Screenplay--Muriel Box and Sydney Box, The Seventh Veil
• Best Screenplay--Robert E. Sherwood, The Best Years of Our Lives
• Best Art Direction (Black and White)--Art direction: Lyle Wheeler, William Darling, Interior Decoration: Thomas Little, Frank E. Hughes, Anna and the King of Siam
• Best Art Direction (Color) Art direction--Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Interior Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, The Yearling
• Best Cinematography (Black and White)--Arthur Miller, Anna and the King of Siam
• Best Cinematography (Color)--Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith, Arthur Arling, The Yearling
• Best Documentary--United States Department of War, Seeds of Destiny
• Best Film Editing--Daniel Mandell, The Best Years of Our Lives
• Best Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)--Hugo Friedhofer, The Best Years of Our Lives
• Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)--Morris Stoloff, The Jolson Story
• Best Music (Song) Music--Harry Warren, Lyrics: Johnny Mercer, "On the Atchinson, Topeka and the Santa Fe", The Harvey Girls
• Best Short Subject (Cartoon)--Frederick Quimby, Producer, The Cat Concerto
• Best Short Subject (One Reel)--Gordon Hollingshead, Producer, Facing Your Danger
• Best Short Subject (Two Reel)--Gordon Hollingshead, Producer, A Boy and His Dog
• Best Sound Recording--Columbia Studio Sound Department, John Livadary, Sound Director, The Jolson Story
• Best Special Effects--Thomas Howard, Blithe Spirit

Ship events

• List of ship commissionings in 1947
• List of ship decommissionings in 1947
• List of shipwrecks in 1947