May 1953

Saturday 02:

Hussein is crowned King of Jordan.

Monday 04:

Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.

Monday 11:

The Waco Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114.

Monday 18:

Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier (she flew in a F-86 Sabrejet at an average speed of 652.337 miles per hour (1049.835 km/h) at Rogers Dry Lake, California).

Monday 25:

Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test.

Friday 29:

Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay are the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.