Timeline March 1952

Events in March 1952 5

• 1857 – 1952 Charles Sherrington (1857-1952) Died 4 March 1952, aged 94 Sir Charles Sherrington, the British neurophysiologist who shared the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work on the function of neurons, died on 4 March 1952. His research established the concept of the synapse and laid foundations for modern neuroscience. He had also served as president of the Royal Society.
• 1952 1952 World Snooker Championship The Split Year Fred Davis won the Professional Matchplay, recognized as the world title. Winner: Fred Davis; Runner-up: Walter Donaldson. Score: 38–35.
• 1952 Batista's coup in Cuba Fulgencio Batista seizes power before scheduled elections General Fulgencio Batista led a bloodless coup on 10 March 1952, ousting President Carlos Prio Socarras just months before elections he was expected to lose. Batista suspended the constitution and ruled as a dictator. His government's later corruption and repression helped fuel the Cuban Revolution.
• 1952 – 2001 Douglas Adams (1952-2001) Died 11 May 2001, aged 49 Adams wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which began as a BBC radio series in 1978 and became a bestselling series of comic science-fiction novels. He was also an early enthusiast for personal computers and an environmental campaigner. He died suddenly of a heart attack in California.
• 1952 Convicted of gross indecency For reporting a burglary Turing reports a break-in at his house in Wilmslow. In the course of the investigation he describes his relationship with Arnold Murray plainly to the police, apparently expecting the law to be reformed shortly. He is charged under the same 1885 statute used against Oscar Wilde and, given the choice between prison and probation conditional on hormone treatment, chooses the treatment. He loses his security clearance and is barred from further work at GCHQ.