The almanac
The 1947 Edition
A vintage print: the UN count of births worldwide starts in 1950. About 29 million are still in circulation.
Estimates from the UN World Population Prospects 2024. How we count
What happened in 1947
- Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrierHe made his Brooklyn Dodgers debut at first base before 26,623 fans at Ebbets Field.April 15 · Source: National Baseball Hall of Fame
- The Kon-Tiki raft set sailThor Heyerdahl and his crew sailed a balsa raft from Peru across the Pacific for 101 days.April 28 · Source: Kon-Tiki Museum
- Miracle on 34th Street openedA kind old man hired to play Santa Claus at Macy's says he is the real thing.May 2 · Source: Box Office Mojo
- A moth became the first computer bugA moth found in the Harvard Mark II was taped into the logbook as the first actual bug.September 9 · Source: Computer History Museum, This Day in History
- Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrierFlying the Bell X-1 rocket plane Glamorous Glennis, he became the first pilot faster than sound.October 14 · Source: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
- The transistor was shown at Bell LabsBardeen and Brattain showed a device that turned a whispered hello into a loudspeaker shout.December 23 · Source: Computer History Museum, This Day in History
- Howdy Doody premiered on NBCThe puppet show played to a live audience of children known as the Peanut Gallery.December 27 · Source: University of Florida, Recess! Media
Famous people born in 1947
- Stephen KingAmerican novelist and writer · born September 21
- David BowieEnglish musician and actor · born January 8
- Paulo CoelhoBrazilian lyricist and novelist · born August 24
- Johan CruyffDutch footballer and manager · born April 25
- Elton JohnBritish singer, songwriter and musician · born March 25
- Glenn CloseAmerican actress · born March 19
- Tom ClancyAmerican author · born April 12
- Farrah FawcettAmerican actress · born February 2
From Wikidata, ranked by how many Wikipedia languages write about them. Spotted a mistake?
If you were born in 1947
- Older than PeanutsThe Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz first appeared, in seven US newspapers on October 2, 1950.
- Older than the DNA double helixWatson and Crick's paper describing the double-helix structure of DNA was published in Nature on April 25, 1953.
- Older than the first climb of EverestEdmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.
- Older than the four-minute mileRoger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in under four minutes, in Oxford on May 6, 1954.