Star-Crossed (Jan. 14): Baseball legend Joe DiMaggio marries movie star Marilyn Monroe. The union will last only nine months.

Chaos in Congress (March 1): Puerto Rican nationalists draw guns in the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives. Amid shouts of "Free Puerto Rico!" they spray the chamber with bullets; five lawmakers are wounded, although all survive. The four assailants receive the maximum sentence, more than 100 years in prison each.

4-Minute Mile (May 6): Briton Roger Bannister achieves a goal that some thought was unattainable: running a mile in less than four minutes. Bannister runs the mile in 3:59.4. Six weeks later, Australian John Landy runs the mile in 3:58.

Separate & Unequal (May 17): A Supreme Court decision wraps up a 3-year-old lawsuit brought by Oliver Brown, a parent who wanted his daughter to attend a school near her home. The NAACP took the Browns' case and four others, collectively called Brown vs. Board of Education, to the Supreme Court. The court's 9-0 decision said that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and orders the states to proceed "with all deliberate speed" to integrate them.

Powering Russia (June 27): The first atomic power station opens in Obninsk, near Moscow, Russia. It can generate enough power to supply a town of about 5,000.

Paraguayan Strongman (July 11): Gen. Alfredo Stroessner takes control of the government in Paraguay. His grip on power in the landlocked South American country lasts 35 years.

Sports In-Depth (Aug 16): Sports Illustrated, a weekly sports magazine published by Time, hits the newsstand.

After Hours (Sept. 27): "The Tonight Show" begins broadcasts on NBC. Comedian Steve Allen serves as the first host of the TV late-night variety show.