1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January

• January 1 - British mines nationalized
• January 1 - Nigeria gains limited autonomy
• January 1 - The Canadian Citizenship Act went into effect
• January 3 - Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time
• January 10 - United Nations takes control of the free city of Trieste
• January 15 - Elizabeth Short is found dead
• January 24 - Demetrios Maximos founds monarchist government in Athens
• January 25 - Philippinean plane crashes in Hong Kong with $5 million worth of gold and money
• January 29 - -26 degrees Celsius in Britain
• January 30 - February 8 - heavy blizzard in Canada buries towns from Winnipeg to Calgary

February

• February 3 - In Snag, Yukon , -63 degrees Celsius
• February 3 - Percival Prattis becomes the first African American news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press gallery.
• February 5 - Boleslaw Bierut becomes president of Poland
• February 10 - Paris peace treaties signed between the World War II Allies and Italy, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria: Italy cedes most of Istria to Yugoslavia
• February 12 - A meteor creates a crater in Sikhote-Alin , Soviet Union
• February 17 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
• February 20 - State of Prussia ceases to exist
• 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 28 - USA gives France a military base in Casablanca

March

• March 1 - The International Monetary Fund begins to operate.
• March 1 - Wernher von Braun marries his first cousin, 18-year-old Maria von Quirstorp.
• March 1 - Japanese city Tsushima, Aichi is founded
• 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 15 - Hindus and Muslims clash in Punjab
• 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 coalmine explosion in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
• March 29 - Rebellion against French rule erupts in Madagascar

April

• April 9 - The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward Tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
• April 15 - Jackie Robinson, an African-American, takes the field at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers major-league baseball team, breaking that sport's color line.
• April 16 - The Texas City Disaster occurs when a French ship loaded with ammonium nitrate blows up in the harbor of Texas City, Texas. Approximately 600 were killed or missing due to the blast, with 2,000 injured.
• April 24 - The Armenian Massacre occurs when the Ottoman Empire begins the systematic relocation of every Armenian living withing the Turkish Borders. Approximately 2.5 Million Armenians were killed or displaced during the alleged relocation.
• April 27 - Babe Ruth Day is celebrated at Yankee Stadium

May

• May 1 - Gang of Salvatore Giuliano opens fire on a labor parade near Portella Della Ginestra , Sicily; Eleven killed, thirty wounded
• 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 granted $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.

June

• June 5 - Secretary of State Gen George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan for U.S. aid to Europe.
• June 10 - Saab produces its first automobile.
• June 15 - Portuguese government orders 11 military officers and 19 university professors to resign accused of revolutionary activity
• June 20 - Bugsy Siegel found shot in his Beverly Hills home
• 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.

July

• July 1 - The Australian real estate franchise L. J. Hooker lists on the Australian Stock Exchange
• July 7 - Downed UFO believed to be found in the Roswell UFO incident
• July 10 - Princess Elizabeth announces engagement to Philip Mountbatten
• 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 - Murder of Burmese nationalist Aung San
• July 24 - 100 year anniversary of Brigham Young leading 148 Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.
• July 26 - Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
• 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.
• July 30 - Thor Heyerdahl sails with Kon-Tiki

August

• 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.
• August 9 - Beginning the 6 Scout World Jamboree - see Jamboree Scout 1947 (in French)
• August 14 - Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. 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 - Following decades of nonviolent resistance and periodic civil unrest from 1919, India gains independence from the British Empire. Pakistan splits from India. Jawaharlal Nehru takes office as first Prime Minister of India.
• August 16 - In Greece, General Markos Vafiadis takes over
• August 23 - Prime Minister of Greece Dimitrios Maximos resigns.

September

• September 4-September 21 - Hurricane in southeast Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama - 51 killed
• September 9 - "First actual case of (a computer) bug being found" - a moth lodged in a relay of a Mark II computer at Harvard.
• September 13 - Nehru suggests transfer of 4 million Hindus and Muslims between India and Pakistan.

October

• 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

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).
• November 16 - 15.000 demonstrate in Brussels against the relatively short sentences of Nazis
• November 20- Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth marries the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London.
• 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 29 - The United Nations General Assembly votes to partition Palestine between Arabs and Jews.
• November 2 - Earthquake in Chilean Andes - 233 dead
• November 16 - British begin to withdraw their troops from Palestine
• November 27 - In Paris, police occupy editorial offices of communist newspapers

December

• December 3 - Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway.
• December 23- the Transistor is invented.
• December 30 - King Michael of Romania abdicates

Unknown date

• Prussia is legally abolished by the Allied Control Council following World War II and the establishment of the Oder-Neisse line as Germany's eastern border.
• The House Un-American Activities Committee begin their investigations of communism in Hollywood.
• Cambridge University begins to admits women as full students.
• Mikhail Kalashnikov designs the AK-47 assault rifle.
• Walter Morrison invents the Frisbee.
• Raytheon produces first commercial microwave oven.

Year in topic

• 1947 in aviation
• 1947 in film
  • Gentleman's Agreement
  • Miracle on 34th Street
  • Germania anno zero by Roberto Rossellini
• 1947 in literature
• 1947 in music
• 1947 in rail transport
  • June 6 - The Pere Marquette Railroad is merged into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.
• 1947 in sports
• 1947 in television
• January 22 - The first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, KTLA, begins operation in Hollywood, California.
  • January 30 - The FCC rejects CBS' color television system.
  • May 7 - Kraft Television Theater premieres on NBC, the first regularly scheduled drama series on a network.
  • September 30 - The opening game of the World Series is the first World Series game to be telecast. The 1947 World Series brought in an estimated 3.9 million people, becoming television's first mass audience.
  • October 5 - The first presidential address is telecast from the White House. President Truman speaks about the world food crisis.
  • November 6 - Meet the Press first appears as a local program in Washington.
  • November 20 - Meet the Press first network telecast.
  • December 27 - Puppet Television Theater (later called Howdy Doody), a children's television program, makes its debut (NBC).
  • The first Hollywood film production for TV, The Public Prosecutor.
  • There are 14,000 television sets in use in the United States.

Births

January

• January 6 - Sandy Denny - British vocalist (d. 1978)
• January 8 - David Bowie - Pop star
• January 8 - Samuel Schmid, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• January 11 - Bryan Robson, football player
• January 16 - Dr. Laura Schlessinger, physiologist, radio talk show host
• January 18 - Takeshi Kitano - Director and actor
• January 24 - Warren Zevon, musician (d. 2003)
• January 29 - Linda B. Buck, scientist
• January 30 - Les Barker, English poet
• January 30 - Steve Marriott, musician ("The Small Faces") (d. 1991)
• January 31 - Nolan Ryan, Baseball Hall of Famer

February

• February 1 - Jessica Savitch, journalist (d. 1983)
• February 2 - Farrah Fawcett, actress
• February 2 - Melanie, singer
• February 3 - Paul Auster, novelist
• February 4 - Dan Quayle, Vice President of the United States
• February 5 - Darrell Waltrip, automobile racer, broadcaster
• February 10 - Louise Arbour, jurist
• February 13 - Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University basketball coach, Basketball Hall of Famer
• February 18 - Princess Christina of the Netherlands
• February 18 - Dennis DeYoung, musician ("Styx")
• February 20 - Peter Osgood, English football player
• February 20 - Peter Strauss, actor
• February 24 - Edward James Olmos, actor
• February 25 - Lee Evans, American athlete
• February 25 - Doug Yule, singer and multi-instrumentalist of The Velvet Underground and solo
• February 27 - Gidon Kremer, Latvian violinist

March

• March 4 - Jan Garbarek, Norwegian musician
• March 6 - Rob Reiner, actor, comedian, movie producer
• March 6 - Dick Fosbury, athlete
• March 6 - Kiki Dee, singer
• March 7 - Walter Röhrl , car racer
• March 8 - Carole Bayer Sager, composer
• March 10 - Kim Campbell, first female Prime Minister of Canada (1993)
• March 12 - Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist
• March 13 - Beat Richner, pediatrician in Cambodia, cellist
• March 14 - Billy Crystal, actor, comedian
• March 14 - Pam Ayres, poet
• March 15 - Ry Cooder, guitarist
• March 19 - Glenn Close, actress
• March 24 - Louise Lanctôt, FLQ terrorist and writer
• March 25 - Elton John - Pop star

April

• April 1 - Alain Connes, French mathematician
• April 2 - Camille Paglia, feminist writer
• April 2 - Emmylou Harris, singer
• April 6 - John Ratzenberger, actor
• April 12 - David Letterman, American entertainer
• April 12 - Tom Clancy, author
• April 16 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Basketball Hall of Famer
• April 18 - Kathy Acker, author
• April 18 - James Woods, actor
• April 19 - Murray Perahia, American pianist
• April 23 - Philip Schneider, structural engineer
• April 26 - Donna DeVarona , Olympic gold medalist in swimming, sports journalist, sports activist
• April 29 - Olavo de Carvalho, Brazilian philosopher

May

• May 6 - Martha Nussbaum, philosopher
• May 13 - Stephen R. Donaldson, American fantasy novelist

June

• June 4 - Viktor Klima, former Austrian Chancellor
• June 6 - David Blunkett, British Labour Party politician
• June 14 - Barry Melton, musician Country Joe and The Fish, The Dinosaurs
• June 16 - -minu, Swiss columnist and writer
• June 19 - Salman Rushdie, author
• June 20- Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester
• June 22 - David Lander, actor, baseball scout
• June 22 - Pete Maravich, Basketball Hall of Famer (d. 1988)

July

• July 2 - Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld
• July 7 - Richard Beckinsale, British actor
• July 9 - O. J. Simpson, American football player, actor, suspected murderer
• July 10 - Arlo Guthrie, folk singer
• July 19 - Brian May, guitarist in rock band Queen
• July 20 - Carlos Santana, rock star
• July 24 - Peter Serkin, American pianist
• July 30 - Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor, former bodybuilder, 38th Governor of California

August

• August 15 - Raakhee Gulzar , Indian actress
• August 19 - Gerard Schwarz, American conductor
• August 24 - Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian road cyclist
• August 28 - Liza Wang, actress

September

• September 1 - Al Green, American politician
• September 3 - Kjell Magne Bondevik, Prime Minister of Norway
• September 17 - Tessa Jowell, British politician
• September 19 - Steve Bartlett - former U.S. Congressman and Mayor of Dallas, Texas
• September 21 - Stephen King, author
• September 22 - Norma McCorvey, best known as Jane Roe
• September 30 - Marc Bolan, musician ("T Rex") (d. 1977)

October

• October 5 - Brian Johnson, singer
• October 14 - Lukas Resetarits, Austrian cabaret artist and actor
• October 17 - Gene Green, American politician
• October 19 - Giorgio Cavazzano, comics artist and illustrator
• October 24 - Kevin Kline, actor
• October 26 - Hillary Rodham Clinton, politician and First Lady of the US
• October 26 - Trevor Joyce, Irish poet

November

• November 14 - P. J. O'Rourke, journalist and satirist
• November 19 - Bob Boone, baseball player and manager
• November 19 - Lamar S. Smith, American politician
• November 24 - Dwight Schultz, actor

December

• December 9 - U.S. Senator Tom Daschle
• December 14 - Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
• December 18 - Rod Piazza, blues musician
• December 16 - Vincent Matthews, American athlete
• December 21- Paco de Lucía, Musician
• December 26 - Carlton Fisk, Baseball Hall of Famer
• December 28 - Aurelio Rodríguez, Major League Baseball player (d. 2000)
• December 29 - Ted Danson, American Actor

Deaths

Emil J. Brach

January

• January 25 - Al Capone, gangster

March

• March 11 - Victor Lustig, great con artist
• March 18 - William C. Durant, automobile pioneer, founder of General Motors
• March 19 - Prudence Heward, Canadian painter
• March 20 - Victor Goldschmidt, Father of Modern Geochemistry
• March 30 - Arthur Machen, author

April

• April 1 - King George II of Greece
• April 7 - Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer and industrialist

May

• May 8 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, American department store magnage (b. 1858)
• May 17 - George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand
• May 24 - C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (b. 1878)

July

• July 19 - Aung San, Burmese nationalist, assassinated.
• July 30 - Joseph Cook, sixth Prime Minister of Australia

November

• November 25 - Léon-Paul Fargue, poet

December

• December 1 - Aleister Crowley, British occultist
• December 7 - Tristan Bernard, French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer
• December 17 - J. N. Brønsted, physical chemist.

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, better known as the Quakers.