Daily Almanac for
Jan 16, 2009
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1946
United Nations symbol

World Events

World Statistics

population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize:
Emily G. Balch and John R. Mott (US)

More World Statistics...

U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Harry S Truman
Vice President: none
Population: 141,388,566
Life expectancy: 66.7 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 6.4

More U.S. Statistics...

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars):   $222.6 billion
Federal spending:   $55.23 billion
Federal debt:   $271.0 billion
Dow Jones High/Low:   212/165
Consumer Price Index:   19.5
Unemployment:   3.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03


Sports

World Series
St. Louis Cardinals d. Boston Red Sox (4-3)
Stanley Cup
Montreal d. Boston (4-1)
Wimbledon
Women: Pauline Betz d. L. Brough (6-2 6-4)
Men: Yvon Petra d. G. Brown (6-2 6-4 7-9 5-7 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Assault
NCAA Basketball Championship
Oklahoma A&M d. North Carolina (43-40)
NCAA Football Champions
Notre Dame (8-0-1)
World Cup
Not Held

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Music: The Canticle of the Sun, Leo Sowerby
Drama: State of the Union, Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay

Oscars awarded in 1946
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Lost Weekend (Paramount)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Hermann Hesse (Switzerland)

Miss America: Marilyn Buferd (CA)

More Entertainment Awards...

Events

  • The Cannes Film Festival debuts in France.
  • The Best Years of Our Lives debuts, and is immediately recognized as a classic post-War film that accurately—and poignantly—portrays the readjustment families face when loved ones return from battle. The film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor.
  • Faraway Hill, what many television historians consider to be the first network soap opera, debuts on the DuMont network.
  • George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein establish the New York City Ballet. It makes its home at Lincoln Center in 1964.
  • Roberto Rossellini's Neorealist ode to the Italian Resistance, Rome, Open City, presents an alternative to Hollywood with its use of street cinematography, lyrically capturing the despair and confusion of post-World War II Europe.

Movies

  • It's a Wonderful Life, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Razor's Edge

Music

Books

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: James B. Sumner (US), for crystallizing enzymes; John H. Northrop and Wendell M. Stanley (both US), for preparing enzymes and virus proteins in pure form

Physics: Percy Williams Bridgman (US), for studies and inventions in high-pressure physics

Physiology or Medicine: Herman J. Muller (US), for hereditary effects of X-rays on genes

  • US Atomic Energy Commission is formed (Aug. 1). Background: nuclear energy
  • Vincent du Vigneaud (US) synthesizes penicillin.
  • The US Army makes radar contact with the moon for the first time. Background: Astronomy

Deaths

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