In 1954 'the fastest man on Earth' was a doctor.

1954

On a rocket sled John Stapp reached 1,017 km/h and stopped in 1.4 seconds. The 46 g left him briefly blind, but he lived and went on to campaign for car seat belts.

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The event

• John Stapp's rocket sled1954 · Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. Air Force doctor John Stapp tested on himself how much deceleration a human can take. On 10 December 1954 a rocket sled took him to 1,017 km/h and stopped him in 1.4 seconds; he survived 46 g, and his work fed into car seat belts.

20th century

More amazing facts

• 1953 Spring 1953: the structure of DNA was published on 25 April, and on 29 May Hillary and Tenzing reached the top of Everest.
• 1953 The aircraft 'black box' was dreamed up by an Australian.
• 1953 The structure of DNA was first announced in a pub. On 28 February 1953 Francis Crick interrupted lunch at The Eagle in Cambridge to declare that he and Watson had discovered 'the secret of life'.
• 1953 News that Everest had been climbed reached London just in time for the coronation, on the morning of 2 June 1953, as Elizabeth II was crowned.
• 1953 · 1992 Edmund Hillary appeared on a banknote while still alive.
• 1955 Einstein's brain weighed 1,230 grams, well within the normal human range.

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