* Brett Austin ( 1959 – 1990 ), New Zealand swimmer

British Medical Journal, Jan. 3, 1959, 1 ( 5113 ): 1 – 6.

* 1959 – Gail Shea, Canadian politician

* 1883 – Dally Messenger, Australian footballer ( d. 1959 )

* 1959 – Paul Gross, Canadian actor, director, and writer

* 1959 – Stephen Harper, Canadian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada

* 1959 – W. Thomas Smith, Jr, American author and columnist

* 1909 – Lester Young, American saxophonist ( d. 1959 )

* 1959 – Gerhard Berger, Austrian race car driver

* 1959 – Downtown Julie Brown, English television host and actress

* 1959 – Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian painter and sculptor

* 1959 – András Petöcz, Hungarian author

* 1959 – Jeanette Winterson, English novelist

* 1959 – Rajendra Singh Indian water conservationist

* 1875 – Albert Ketèlbey, English conductor, composer, and pianist ( d. 1959 )

* 1959 – Kurtis Blow, American rapper and producer

* 1959 – Stuart Hughes, Canadian actor

* 1959 – Michael Kors, American fashion designer

* 1959 – Toni Servillo, Italian actor and director

* 1959 – Danny Bonaduce, American actor

* 1959 – Michael Bradley, Irish bass player and radio host ( The Undertones )

* 1959 – Bruce French, English cricketer

* 1959 – Tom Niedenfuer, American baseball player

* 1959 – Victoria Jackson, American comedian, actress, and singer

* 1959 – Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress ( Apollonia 6 )

Following a performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, 1959, Holly chartered a small airplane to take him to the next stop on the tour.

Until 1959 it was known as the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.

On 3 February 1959, a chartered plane transporting the three American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. " The Big Bopper " Richardson goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four occupants on board, including pilot Roger Peterson.

The Day the Music Died, dubbed by Don McLean's song " American Pie ", was an aviation accident that occurred on February 3, 1959, near Clear Lake, Iowa, where rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. " The Big Bopper " Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson, perished.

Category: 1959 in Iowa

* 1959 color movie of the Lincoln Highway made by the Iowa State Highway Commission ( ISHC ), now the Iowa DOT ( 16 min ).

On February 3, 1959, a day that has become known as The Day the Music Died ( from Don McLean's song " American Pie "), Richardson was killed in a plane crash in Iowa, along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash en route to their scheduled performance at the Moorhead Armory Building from Clear Lake, Iowa on February 3, 1959.

* J. P. Richardson, " The Big Bopper ", DJ, Rock & Roll star, Killed with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in plane crash in Iowa in 1959.

* February 29 – Buddy Holly's trademark glasses and the Big Bopper's wristwatch are " rediscovered " in old police files by the Mason City, Iowa, sheriff ( both were killed in a plane crash on February 3, 1959, along with singer Ritchie Valens ).

On February 2, 1959, preparing for a concert at Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly decides to charter a private plane to fly to Moorhead, Minnesota for his next big concert.

In 1959, Dion and The Belmonts were part of the historic Winter Dance Party tour that lost three performers in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa ; Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson " The Big Bopper ".

The CYCLONE, was an early computer built in 1959 by John Vincent Atanasoff and his assistant Clifford Berry at Iowa State College ( now Iowa State University ), was based on the Institute for Advanced Study ( IAS ) architecture developed by John von Neumann.

* 1952: As TIME reported in 1959, " Van Allen ’ s ‘ Rockoons ’ could not be fired in Iowa for fear that the spent rockets would strike an Iowan or his house.

Since Iowa had last been to the Rose Bowl in 1959, the Hawkeyes got the conference's berth in the 1982 Rose Bowl.

A member of Republican Party, he previously served in the served in the United States House of Representatives ( 1975 – 1981 ) and the Iowa state legislature ( 1959 – 1974 ).

Grassley represented parts of Butler County in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1959 until 1975.

One artist, Maynard Reece from Arnolds Park, Iowa, has won the competition a record five times, winning in 1948, 1951, 1959, 1969 and 1971.

Born in Naperville, Illinois, Kalas graduated from Naperville High School in 1954 and from the University of Iowa in 1959.

The ruins were dismantled in 1959 and a new Our Lady of the Angels School, located at 3814 West Iowa Street, was constructed with the latest required fire safety standards, such as a sprinkler system.

John Clinton Porter, born in Leon, Iowa ( April 4, c. 1872 – May 27, 1959 ) was a U. S. political figure.

Junkins graduated from Iowa State University's electrical engineering program in 1959, where he was a member and chapter president of Theta Xi fraternity.