1939

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: World War II; Years

Centuries:	19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades:	1900s  1910s  1920s  - 1930s -   1940s   1950s   1960s
Years:	1936 1937 1938 - 1939 - 1940 1941 1942

Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1939

(Below, many events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.)

January

• 1 January
  • The Hewlett-Packard Company is founded.
  • Texas A&M University wins its first football national championship
• 2 January - End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Culbert Levy Olson.
• 5 January - Amelia Earhart is officially declared dead after her disappearance.
• 6 January - Naturwissenschaften publishes evidence that nuclear fission has been achieved by Otto Hahn.
• 13 January - Black Friday: 71 people die across Victoria in one of Australia's worst ever bushfires.
• 24 January - Earthquake kills 30,000 in Chile – about 50,000 sq mi razed.
• 26 January - Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to Francisco Franco, and aided by Italy, take Barcelona.

February

• 2 February - Hungary joins Anti-Comintern Pact.
• 10 February - Falangists take Catalonia.
• 21 February - Golden Gate International Exposition opens in San Francisco, California.
• 27 February
  • United Kingdom and France recognize Franco's government.
  • Borley Rectory burns.
  • Sit-down strikes are outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
• 28 February - The first issue of Serbian weekly magazine Politikin zabavnik was published.

March

• March - End of the Great Arab Revolt in the British mandate of Palestine (started 1936
• 1 March - 94 killed, Japanese Imperial Army ammunition dump exploded at outskirt of Osaka.
• 2 March - Pope Pius XII (Cardinal Pacelli) succeeds Pope Pius XI as the 260th pope.
• 3 March
  • In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of the autocratic rule in India.
  • Students at Harvard University demonstrate the new tradition of swallowing goldfish to reporters.
• 13 March - Hitler advises Jozef Tiso to declare Slovakia's independence in order to prevent its partition by Hungary and Poland.
• 14 March - Slovak provincial assembly proclaims independence - priest Jozef Tiso becomes the president of independent Slovak government.
• 15 March - German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist; beginning hostilities leading to WWII. The Ruthenian region of Czechoslovakia declares independence as Carpatho-Ukraine.
• 16 March - Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran. Hungary invades Carpatho-Ukraine; final resistance ends on 18 March.
• 22 March - After an ultimatum of March 20 Nazi Germany takes Klaipėda Region from Lithuania
• 23 March - Slovak-Hungarian War begins.
• 25 March - The second cartoon to feature Happy Rabbit, Prest-O Change-O, is released.
• 26 March - The Philadelphia Story, a comedy by Philip Barry starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts at the Shubert Theatre in New York City.
• 28 March
  • Dictator Francisco Franco assumes power in Madrid.
  • The last message from adventurer Richard Halliburton - he disappears later.

April

• 1 April - Spanish Civil War comes to an end when the last of the Republican forces surrendered.
• 4 April - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq. Slovak-Hungarian War ends with Slovakia ceding eastern territories to Hungary.
• 7 April - Italy invades Albania - King Zog flees.
• 9 April - Singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution and of a public high school by the federally-controlled District of Columbia.
• 11 April - Hungary leaves the League of Nations.
• 14 April - John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath is first published.
• 27 April - Ely Racecourse closes.
• 30 April - New York World's Fair opens.

May

• 2 May - Batman, created by Bob Kane (and, unofficially, Bill Finger), makes his first appearance.
• 2 May - Major League Baseball's Lou Gehrig, the legendary Yankee first baseman known as "The Iron Horse", ends his 2130 consecutive games played streak after contracting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The record will stand for 56 years before Cal Ripken, Jr. plays 2131 consecutive games.
• 3 May - The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
• 7 May - Spain leaves the League of Nations.
• 17 May - King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive in Quebec City to begin the first-ever tour of Canada by Canada's monarch.
• 20 May - Pan-American Airways begins trans-Atlantic mail service with the inaugural flight of its Yankee Clipper from Port Washington, New York.
• 22 May - Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
• 29 May - Northamptonshire gains (over Leicestershire at Northampton) their first victory for 99 matches, easily a record in the County Championship. Their last Championship victory was as far back as 14 May 1935 over Somerset at Taunton.

June

• 4 June - The SS St. Louis, a ship carrying a cargo of 907 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, most of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.
• 12 June - The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is officially dedicated in Cooperstown, New York.

• 17 June - Last public guillotining in France - murderer Eugen Weidmann is decapitated by the guillotine.
• 23 June - Turkey annexes Hatay.
• 24 June - Government of Siam changes its name to Thailand, which means 'Free Land'.

July

• 2 July - The 1st World Science Fiction Convention opens in New York City.
• 4 July
  • Lou Gehrig gives his last public speech, following his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In it, he states, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
  • The concentration camp Neuengamme becomes autonomous.
• 6 July - The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed by the Nazis.

August

• 2 August - Albert Einstein writes President Franklin Roosevelt about developing the Atomic Bomb using Uranium. This led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.
• 15 August - MGM's classic musical film version of The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr, premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Winner of three Academy Awards, it will not do quite as well as hoped on first release, but years later, after two theatrical re-releases, will grow to legendary status with its annual showings on TV.
• 20 August - Armored forces under the command of Soviet General Georgi Zhukov deliver a decisive defeat to forces of the Japanese Imperial Army in the Japanese-Soviet border war in Inner Mongolia. Although largely unnoticed in the West, this event enhances Soviet military prestige in the East, leading to the Japanese-Soviet non-aggression pact of 1941, and increases German motivation to conclude a non-aggression pact with the Russians before invading Poland.
• 23 August - Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: Hitler and Stalin agree to divide Europe between themselves (Finland, Estonia, Latvia and eastern Poland to the USSR; Lithuania and western Poland to Germany).so they would not have to fight on two fronts.
• 25 August - An IRA bomb explodes in the centre of Coventry, England killing five people.
• 26 August - The Kriegsmarine orders all German flagged merchant ships to head to German ports immediately in anticipation of the Invasion of Poland.
• 27 August - A Heinkel 178, the first turbojet-powered aircraft, flies for the first time with Captain Erich Warsitz in command.
• 30 August - Poland begins mobilization against Nazi Germany.

September

• 1 September - WWII: Nazi Germany invades Poland, beginning the Second World War in Europe.'
• 1 September - German navy fires on Danzig.
• 1 September - Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland declare their neutrality.
• 2 September - Following the invasion of Poland, Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.
• 2 September - Spain and Ireland declare their neutrality.
• 3 September - WWII: United Kingdom, France, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany.
• 4 September - WWII: Nepal declares war on Germany.
• 5 September - WWII: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.
• 6 September - WWII: South Africa declares war on Germany.
• 9 September - Canada declares war on Germany.
• 16 September - Ceasefire ending undeclared Border War between The Soviet Union (and Mongolian allies) and Japan.
• 17 September - Soviet Union invades Poland and then occupies eastern Polish territories.
• 21 September - Radio station WJSV in Washington, D.C. records an entire broadcast day for preservation in the National Archives.
• 23 September - Death of Sigmund Freud.
• 27 September - Warsaw surrenders to Germany; Modlin surrenders day later; last Polish large operational unit surrenders near Kock eight days later.

October

• 8 October - WWII: Germany annexes Western Poland.
• 11 October - Manhattan Project: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt is presented with a letter signed by Albert Einstein urging the United States to rapidly develop the atomic bomb.
• 12 October - Jüri Uluots becomes prime minister of Estonia.
• 14 October - German U-Boat U-47 sinks British battleship HMS Royal Oak.
• 15 October - The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.
• 24 October - Nylon stockings go on sale for the first time anywhere in Wilmington, Delaware.
• 25 October - The Time of Your Life, a drama by William Saroyan, debuts in New York City.

November

• 4 November - WWII: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons to non-belligerent nations.
• 6 November
  • Hedda Hopper's Hollywood debuts on radio with Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as host (the show ran until 1951 and made Hopper a powerful figure in the Hollywood elite).
  • WWII: Sonderaktion Krakau, the codename for a German action against scientists from the University of Kraków and other Kraków universities at the beginning of World War II.
• 8 November
  • Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
  • In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Georg Elser while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
• 15 November - In Washington, DC, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
• 16 November - Al Capone released from Alcatraz
• 30 November - Winter War begins: Soviet forces attack Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
• 30 November - Sweden declares non-warfaring (not neutral) in the Winter War.

December

• 2 December - La Guardia Airport opens for business in New York City.
• 13 December - WWII - Battle of the River Plate: German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee trapped by cruisers HMS Ajax, HMNZS Achilles, and HMS Exeter after a running battle off the coast of Uruguay. Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by its crew off Montevideo harbour on 17 December.
• 14 December - League of Nations expels the USSR for attacking Finland.
• 15 December - The film version of Gone with the Wind, starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard, premieres at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 26 December - Mining strike in Borinage, Belgium
• 27 December - Earthquake in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, destroys the town of Erzincan - about 30,000 dead.
• 31 December - The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the first sound film version of the Victor Hugo classic, is released by RKO. It stars Charles Laughton as Quasimodo the hunchback, and Maureen O'Hara as Esmerelda the gypsy.

Undated

• Kirlian photography is invented by Semyon Kirlian.
• A logging crew sets off a second forest fire in the Tillamook Burn, which destroys 190,000 acres (769 km²).
• Sandia View Academy, a private Adventist school, is founded in Corrales, New Mexico.

Ongoing

• Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
• Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
• The Great Depression (1929-The Late 1930s, early 1940s).
• World War II (1939-1945).

Fictional

The following are references to year 1939 in fiction:

• All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) - Takes place in 1939 New Orleans
• According to " The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" theme park attraction and the derivative 1997 television movie Tower of Terror, it was on October 31, 1939 that five unfortunate souls aboard an elevator at the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel were cast into the Twilight Zone when the tower was struck by lightning. Since this event, the hotel has been abandoned and apparently cursed.

Births

1939 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1939 MCMXXXIX
Ab urbe condita	2692
Armenian calendar	1388 ԹՎ ՌՅՁԸ
Bahá'í calendar	95 – 96
Berber calendar	2889
Buddhist calendar	2483
Burmese calendar	1301
Byzantine calendar	7447 – 7448
Chinese calendar	戊寅年十一月十一日 (4575/4635-11-11) — to — 己卯年十一月廿一日 (4576/4636-11-21)
Coptic calendar	1655 – 1656
Ethiopian calendar	1931 – 1932
Hebrew calendar	5699 – 5700
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1994 – 1995
- Shaka Samvat	1861 – 1862
- Kali Yuga	5040 – 5041
Holocene calendar	11939
Iranian calendar	1317 – 1318
Islamic calendar	1357 – 1358
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 14 (昭和14年)
Korean calendar	4272
Thai solar calendar	2482

January-February

• 3 January
  • Bobby Hull, Canadian hockey player
  • Ruben Reyes, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• 6 January - Valeri Lobanovsky, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2002)
• 6 January - Murray Rose, Australian swimmer
• 9 January - Malcolm Bricklin, American automotive pioneer
• 10 January
  • Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
  • Bill Toomey, American athlete
• 11 January - Ann Heggtveit, Canadian skier
• 12 January - William Lee Golden, American country and gospel singer, member of the Oak Ridge Boys
• 17 January - Maury Povich, American talk show host
• 17 January - Archbishop Christodoulos, The most popular Archbishop of the modern Greek History,he was the best Archbishop of Greece considering the criticism from people.
• 18 January - James Gritz, U.S. Presidential candidate
• 19 January - Phil Everly, American musician
• 20 January - Chandra Wickramasinghe, British astronomer and poet
• 22 January - Ray Stevens, American musician
• 29 January - Germaine Greer, Australian writer
• 1 February - Paul Gillmor, American politician (d. 2007)
• 6 February - Mike Farrell, American actor
• 10 February
  • Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada
  • Peter Purves, British actor and television presenter
• 12 February - Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist
• 13 February - Beate Klarsfeld, German-born Nazi hunter
• 16 February - Adolfo Azcuna, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• 20 February - Frank Arundel, English footballer
• 21 February - Gert Neuhaus, German artist
• 27 February - David Mitton, British producer, director, model maker, and author (d. 2008)
• 28 February - Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 28 February - Tommy Tune, American dancer, choreographer, and actor

March-April

• 1 March - Leo Brouwer, Cuban composer and guitarist
• 4 March
  • Jack Fisher, former American Major League baseball pitcher
  • Paula Prentiss, American actress
  • Carlos Vereza, Brazilian actor
• 8 March - Robert Tear, Welsh tenor
• 12 March - Johnny Callison, American baseball player (d. 2006)
• 13 March - Neil Sedaka, American singer
• 14 March - Raymond J. Barry, American actor
• 17 March - Jim Gary, American sculptor (d. 2006)
• 20 March - Brian Mulroney, eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada
• 31 March
  • Zviad Gamsakhurdia, President of Georgia (d. 1993)
  • Volker Schlöndorff, German film director
• 2 April - Marvin Gaye, American singer (d. 1984)
• 4 April - Hugh Masakela, South African musician
• 7 April
  • Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
  • David Frost, English television personality
• 13 April - Seamus Heaney, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 13 April - Paul Sorvino, American actor
• 16 April - Dusty Springfield, English singer (d. 1999)
• 20 April - Elspeth Ballantyne, Australian actress
• 22 April - Jason Miller, American playwright and actor (d. 2001)
• 23 April - Lee Majors, American actor
• 25 April - Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate
• 27 April - Erik Pevernagie, Belgian painter

May-June

• 1 May - Judy Collins, American singer and songwriter
• 7 May
  • Sidney Altman, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
  • Jimmy Ruffin, American singer
  • Marco St. John, American actor
• 9 May
  • Ralph Boston, American athlete
  • Pierre Desproges, French humorist (d. 1988)
• 11 May - Dante Tinga, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• 12 May - Ron Ziegler, White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
• 13 May - Harvey Keitel, American actor
• 19 May
  • Livio Berruti, Italian athlete
  • Sonny Fortune, American jazz musician
  • James Fox, English actor
  • Dick Scobee, astronaut (d. 1986)
• 21 May - Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist and composer
• 23 May - Reinhard Hauff, German film director
• 25 May - Dixie Carter, American actress
• 26 May - Brent Musburger, American sports announcer
• 29 May - Al Unser, American race car driver
• 30 May - Michael J. Pollard, American actor
• 1 June - Cleavon Little, American actor (d. 1992)
• 3 June - Ian Hunter (singer), English singer ( Mott the Hoople)
• 6 June - Louis Andriessen, Dutch composer
• 9 June
  • Ileana Cotrubaş, Romanian soprano
  • Dick Vitale, American basketball broadcaster
• 11 June - Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver
• 15 June - Brian Jacques, British writer
• 16 June
  • Billy Crash Craddock, American country singer
  • Richard Spendlove, British radio and television presenter and scriptwriter

July-August

• 5 July - Booker Edgerson, American football player
• 14 July - George E. Slusser, American scholar and writer
• 15 July - Aníbal Cavaco Silva, President of Portugal and former Prime Minister
• 17 July
  • Milva, Italian singer and actress
  • Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
• 21 July - John Negroponte, U.S. Director of National Intelligence
• 23 July - Raine Karp, Estonian architect
• 26 July
  • John Howard, twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia
  • Bob Lilly, American football player
• 27 July - Michael Longley, Irish poet
• 2 August - John Snow, 73rd United States Secretary of the Treasury
• 5 August - Princess Irene of the Netherlands
• 12 August - George Hamilton, American actor
• 12 August - Skip Caray, American broadcaster for baseball (d. 2008)
• 17 August - Luther Allison, American musician (d. 1997)
• 19 August - Ginger Baker - Drummer of English rock group Cream
• 22 August - Carl Yastrzemski, baseball player
• 25 August - Robert Jager, American composer and theorist
• 29 August - Joel Schumacher, American film producer and director
• 30 August - John Peel, English disk jockey (d. 2004)
• 31 August - Cleveland Eaton, American jazz musician

September-October

• 5 September - Clay Regazzoni, Swiss Formula 1 Driver (d. 2006)
• 5 September - George Lazenby, Australian Actor
• 6 September - Brigid Berlin, American actress and artist
• 6 September - David Allan Coe, American musician
• 8 September - Carsten Keller, German field hockey player
• 8 September - Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 8 September - Guitar Shorty, American blues guitarist
• 9 September - Ron McDole, American football player
• 13 September - Richard Kiel, American actor
• 16 September - Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer and painter
• 17 September - Shelby Flint, American singer
• 18 September - Frankie Avalon, American musician
• 18 September - Fred Willard, American comedian
• 23 September - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
• 26 September - Ricky Tomlinson, British actor
• 29 September - Larry Linville, American actor (d. 2000)
• 30 September - Len Cariou, Canadian actor and singer
• 30 September - Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1 October - George Archer, American golfer (d. 2005)
• 5 October - Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• 7 October - John Hopcroft, American computer scientist
• 7 October - Harold Kroto, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 7 October - Bill Snyder, American football coach
• 11 October - Austin Currie, Irish politician
• 13 October - T. J. Cloutier, American poker player
• 13 October - Melinda Dillon, American actress
• 18 October - Flavio Cotti, Swiss Federal Councilor
• 18 October - Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
• 14 October - Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
• 22 October - George Cohen, English footballer
• 24 October - F. Murray Abraham, American actor
• 27 October - John Cleese, British actor
• 30 October - Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 30 October - Grace Slick, American singer (The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship)
• 31 October - Ron Rifkin, American actor

November-December

• 1 November - Barbara Bosson, American actress
• 6 November
  • Athanasios Angelopoulos, Greek academic
  • Leonardo Quisumbing, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• 8 November - Laila Kinnunen, Finnish singer (d. 2000)
• 9 November - Paul Cameron, American psychologist
• 10 November - Russell Means, Native American activist
• 15 November - Yaphet Kotto, American actor
• 16 November - Michael Billington, British drama critic
• 18 November
  • Margaret Atwood, Canadian writer
  • Brenda Vaccaro, American actress
• 21 November - Mulayam Singh Yadav, Indian politician
• 23 November - Bill Bissett, Canadian poet
• 26 November - Tina Turner, American singer
• 27 November - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 2001)
• 1 December - Dianne Lennon, American singer ( The Lennon Sisters}
• 2 December
  • Yael Dayan, Israeli writer and politician
  • Harry Reid, American politician and U.S. Senate Majority Leader
• 5 December - Minita Chico-Nazario, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• 8 December - James Galway, Irish flautist
• 11 December - Thomas McGuane, American writer
• 13 December - Eric Flynn, British actor and singer (d. 2002)
• 17 December - Eddie Kendricks, American singer (The Temptations)
• 18 December
  • Alex Bennett, American radio personality
  • Robert T. Bennett, American politician
  • Michael Moorcock, English writer
  • Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 22 December - Alfred J. Ferrara, American baseball player

Deaths

January - June

• 2 January - Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
• 23 January - Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
• 24 January - Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist (b. 1867)
• 28 January - William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
• 10 February - Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
• 11 February - Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (b. 1874)
• 12 February - S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (b. 1868)
• 22 February - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
• 27 February - Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, Russian Marxist revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin's wife (b. 1869)
• 2 March - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
• 19 March - Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist
• 28 March - Francis Matthew John Baker, Australian politician (b. 1903)
• 7 April - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
• 25 April - John Foulds, British classical music composer (b. 1880)
• 25 April - Georges Ricard-Cordingley, painter (b. 1873)
• 4 June - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1900)
• 19 June - Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (b. 1878)
• 26 June - Ford Madox Ford, English writer (b. 1873)

July - December

• 14 July - Alfons Mucha, Czech painter and decorative artist (b. 1860)
• 2 August - Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (b. 1883)
• 11 August - Jean Bugatti, German automobile designer (b. 1909)
• 30 August - Wilhelm Bölsche, German journalist and science writer (b. 1861)
• 6 September - Arthur Rackham, British artist (b. 1867)
• 18 September - Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (b. 1885)
• 23 September - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (b. 1856)
• 7 October - Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon (b. 1869)
• 29 October - Dwight B. Waldo, American educator and historian (b. 1864)
• 12 November - Norman Bethune, Canadian humanitarian (b. 1890)
• 28 November - James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (b. 1861)
• 29 November - Philipp Scheidemann, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1865)
• 3 December - Princess Louise of the United Kingdom, second youngest daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1848)
• 23 December - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Ernest Orlando Lawrence
• Chemistry - Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, Leopold Ruzicka
• Physiology or Medicine - Gerhard Domagk
• Literature - Frans Eemil Sillanpää
• Peace - not awarded

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