Coach Bobby Dodd assumes the position of athletic director following the death of William Alexander.

Tech awards its first doctor of philosophy degree, in chemical engineering, to William Lloyd Carter.

The department of air science (now Air Force aerospace studies) is established.
John "Whack" Hyder is named basketball coach.

The tradition of blowing the whistle after a football victory starts, attributed to a fireman named Cash Shaw.
The Board of Regents votes to admit women to Tech. The first two female students enroll in the fall quarter.

The football team contends for the national championship with a 12-0 record and a Sugar Bowl victory.

The architecture building is dedicated.

The School of Mathematics is established.
Students form a "book brigade" to transfer books from the Carnegie Library to the newly dedicated Price Gilbert Memorial Library. The Carnegie Building is later remodeled for administrative offices and the president's office.
Al Ciraldo broadcasts his first Georgia Tech football game.

The Georgia Tech Alumni Foundation becomes the Georgia Tech Foundation.
The Rich Electronic Computer Center begins operation.

The faculty senate votes to end further publication of the humor magazine The Yellow Jacket after it publishes scurrilous remarks about a Tech staff member. The magazine in various incarnations had a checkered history of pranksterism dating to the 1920s.
President Van Leer dies. Paul Weber is named acting president.

Tech's first female graduates, Shirley Clements and Diane Michel, receive their degrees.

Alexander Memorial Coliseum is dedicated.
Edwin D. Harrison becomes the sixth president of Georgia Tech.

The Georgia Legislature grants Tech $2.5 million for a nuclear reactor.
Swimming coach Freddy Lanoue's drownproofing technique gains nationwide recognition.
The Schools of Engineering Science and Mechanics and Psychology are established.