1931
2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Years
| Centuries: | 19th century - 20th century - 21st century |
| Decades: | 1900s 1910s 1920s - 1930s - 1940s 1950s 1960s |
| Years: | 1928 1929 1930 - 1931 - 1932 1933 1934 |
Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1931
January-February
- 2 January - South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics
- 4 January - Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
- 6 January - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
- 22 January - Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
- 25 January - Mohandas Gandhi released again.
- 27 January - Pierre Laval forms a government in France.
- 3 February - Hawke's Bay earthquake - much of the New Zealand city of Napier is destroyed in an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale.
- 10 February - New Delhi becomes the capital of India.
- 12 February - Radio Vaticana first broadcast.
- 14 February - The original film version of Dracula with Bela Lugosi is released.
- 16 February - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud elected president of Finland.
- 20 February - California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge.
- 21 February - Peruvian revolutionaries hijack a Ford Trimotor aeroplane and demand that the pilot drop propaganda leaflets over Lima.
March-April
- 1 March - USS Arizona placed back in full commission after a refit.
- 3 March - The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States National anthem.
- 4 March - British viceroy of India and Mohandas Gandhi negotiate.
- 7 March - New House of Representatives opened in Helsinki, Finland.
- 11 March - Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR programme, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.
- 17 March - Nevada legalizes gambling.
- 23 March - Revolt for Independent India leaders Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev are hanged by the British Government.
- 25 March - The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.
- 27 March - British writer Arnold Bennett dies in Paris when he drinks local water to prove it is safe to drink - but is poisoned.
- 31 March - An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua killing 2000 people.
- 6 April - Portuguese government declares martial law in Madeira and in the Azores because of an attempted military takeover in Funchal.
- 9 April - Execution of Argentinian anarchist Severino Digiovanni.
- 14 April - 2nd Spanish Republic proclaimed in Spain.
- 15 April - The Castellemmarese War ends with the assassination of Joe "The Boss" Masseria, briefly leaving Salvatore Maranzano as capo di tutti i capi, "boss of all bosses" and undisputed ruler of the American mafia. Maranzano is himself assassinated less than 6 months later, leading to the establishment of the Five Families.
- 18 April - An incorporation of Cheverly, Maryland is made.
- 22 April - Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and USA recognize the Spanish Republic.
May-June
- 1 May - Construction of the Empire State Building is completed in New York City.
- 4 May - Kemal Atatürk re-elected president of Turkey.
- 13 May - Paul Doumer elected president of France.
- 12 June - Charlie Parker equals J.T. Hearne's record for the earliest date to reach 100 wickets.
- 14 June - Overloaded pleasure craft Saint-Philibert, carrying trippers home to Nantes from Île de Noirmoutier, sinks at the mouth of the river Loire in France - over 450 drown
- 23 June - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to accomplish the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane.
July-August
- July - John Haven Emerson of Cambridge, Massachusetts perfects the Emerson iron lung just in time for the growing polio epidemic
- 1 July - Official opening of Milan Central Station
- 16 July - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia
- Huang He floods kill between 850,000 and 4,000,000 people - the most deadly historic natural disaster.
- 24 August - Labour Government of Ramsay MacDonald resigns in Britain - replaced by National Government of people drawn from all parties also under MacDonald.
- 31 August - Yangtze River floods - 23 million made homeless
September-October
- 5 September - John Thomson, soccer player, dies in an accident during a Celtic - Rangers match
- 10 September - The worst hurricane in Belize history kills an estimated 1,500 people.
- 15 September - The Invergordon Mutiny: Strikes in Royal Navy due to decreased salaries
- 18 September - Mukden Incident. Later used by Japan to occupy Manchuria.
- 18 September - Geli Raubal is found shot dead in Hitler's apartment
- October - The Caltech Department of Physics Faculty and graduate students meet with Albert Einstein as a guest.
- 18 October - Thomas Edison dies at his home in West Orange, New Jersey.
November-December
- 6 November - Indian spiritual leader Meher Baba arrives in America for the first time.
- 7 November - Chinese Soviet Republic proclaimed by Mao Zedong.
- 8 November
- French police launch a large scale raid against Corsican bandits.
- Panama Canal is closed for couple of weeks due to damage caused by a number of earthquakes.
- 10 December - Niceto Alcalá-Zamora elected president of Spanish republic.
- 11 December - The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
- 12 December - Eta Chapter of Kappa Delta Phi was founded at The University of Maine at Machias
- 13 December - Wakatsuki Reijiro resigned as Prime Minister of Japan.
- 26 December - Phi Iota Alpha, the oldest existing Latino fraternity is founded.
Undated
- Deuterium discovered by Harold Clayton Urey.
- Ust-Abakanskoye becomes Abakan.
- National Committee for Modification of the Volstead Act formed to work for repeal of prohibition in United States.
- The Persistence of Memory is put on display for the first time in Paris at the Galerie Pierre Colle.
Ongoing
- Rise of the NAZI party.
Births
| Gregorian calendar | 1931 MCMXXXI |
| Ab urbe condita | 2684 |
| Armenian calendar | 1380 ԹՎ ՌՅՁ |
| Bahá'í calendar | 87 – 88 |
| Berber calendar | 2881 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2475 |
| Burmese calendar | 1293 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7439 – 7440 |
| Chinese calendar | 庚午年十一月十三日 (4567/4627-11-13) — to — 辛未年十一月廿三日(4568/4628-11-23) |
| Coptic calendar | 1647 – 1648 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1923 – 1924 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5691 – 5692 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1986 – 1987 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1853 – 1854 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5032 – 5033 |
| Holocene calendar | 11931 |
| Iranian calendar | 1309 – 1310 |
| Islamic calendar | 1349 – 1350 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 6 (昭和6年) |
| Korean calendar | 4264 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2474 |
January-February
- 5 January
- Alvin Ailey, American choreographer (d. 1989)
- Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist
- Robert Duvall, American actor and director
- 6 January - E. L. Doctorow, American author
- 8 January - Bill Graham, German concert promoter (d. 1991)
- 10 January - Peter Barnes, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 12 January - Roland Alphonso, Jamaican musician (d. 1998)
- 13 January - Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor (d. 2007)
- 14 January - Caterina Valente, French singer and actress
- 16 January - Johannes Rau, President of Germany (d. 2006)
- 17 January - James Earl Jones, American actor
- 19 January - Robert MacNeil, Canadian journalist
- 20 January - David Lee, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 22 January - Sam Cooke, American singer (d. 1964)
- 26 January - Alfred Lynch, English actor (d. 2003)
- 27 January - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (d. 2001)
- 30 January - Allan W. Eckert, American historian, naturalist, and author
- 31 January - Ernie Banks, baseball player
- 1 February - Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia (d. 2007)
- 2 February
- Dries van Agt, Dutch politician
- Les Dawson, British comedian (d. 1993)
- 6 February - Rip Torn, American actor and director
- 8 February - James Dean, American actor (d. 1955)
- 9 February - Thomas Bernhard, Dutch author (d. 1989)
- 11 February - Larry Merchant, American author and boxing commentator
- 13 February - Geoff Edwards, American actor and game show host
- 16 February
- George E. Sangmeister, American politician (d. 2007)
- Ken Takakura, Japanese actor
- 18 February - Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (d. 2007)
- 18 February - Toni Morrison, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 18 February - Bob St. Clair, American football player
- 24 February - Brian Close, British cricketer
- 25 February - Eric Edgar Cooke, Western Australian Murderer (d. 1964)
- 26 February - Ally McLeod, Scottish football manager
- 28 February - Dean Smith, American basketball coach
March-April
- 2 March
- Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 4 March
- Wally Bruner, American journalist and television host (d. 1997)
- William Henry Keeler, American Roman Catholic Archbishop and Cardinal
- Alice Rivlin, American economist
- 8 March - Neil Postman, American media theorist and cultural critic
- 11 March - Rupert Murdoch, Australian-born publisher
- 22 March
- Burton Richter, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- William Shatner, Canadian actor
- 26 March - Leonard Nimoy, American actor and director
- 29 March
- Aleksei Gubarev, cosmonaut
- Norman Tebbit, British politician
- 1 April -
- Rolf Hochhuth, German writer
- Ita Ever, Estonian actress
- 6 April - Suchitra Sen (Roma Dasgupta), the legendary Bengali Actress, is born in Pabna (now in Bangladesh).
- 11 April - Johnny Sheffield, American actor
- 27 April - Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist
- 29 April
- Frank Auerbach, German-born painter
- Lonnie Donegan, Scottish musician (d. 2002)
May-June
- 6 May - Willie Mays, baseball player
- 7 May - Teresa Brewer, American pop and jazz singer (d. 2007)
- 13 May
- Jim Jones, American cult leader (d. 1978)
- Jiri Petr, Czech university president
- 14 May - Alvin Lucier, American composer
- 15 May
- Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Chairman of the National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse
- Ken Venturi, American golfer
- 16 May - Natwar Singh, Indian politician
- 18 May - Robert Morse, American actor
- 19 May - Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor
- 20 May - Ken Boyer, baseball player (d. 1982)
- 25 May - Georgi Grechko, cosmonaut
- 30 May - Fr. John O'Brien, Irish priest and musician (d. 2008)
- 31 May
- John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Shirley Verrett, American mezzo-soprano
- 3 June - Lindy Remigino, American athlete
- 7 June - Malcolm Morley, English-born painter
- 9 June - Jackie Mason, American comedian
- June 9 - Joe Santos, American actor
- 13 June - Moysés Baumstein, Brazilian Holographer and artist
- 14 June - Ross Higgins, Australian actor
- 27 June - Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
July-August
- 1 July - Leslie Caron, French actress'
- 4 July - Stephen Boyd, Irish actor (d. 1977)
- 5 July - Ismail Mahomed South African and Namibian Chief Justice (d. 2000)
- 6 July - Della Reese, American singer and actress
- 10 July - Alice Munro, Canadian writer
- 23 July - Te Atairangi Kaahu, Māori Queen (d. 2006)
- 26 July - Fred Foster, American songwriter and record producer
- 27 July - Jerry Van Dyke, American comedian and actor
- 7 August - Charles E. "Charlie" Rice, Legal Scholar and Author
- 12 August - William Goldman, American author
- 15 August - Joe Feeney, American singer (d. 2008)
- 15 August - Florian ZaBach, American musician and TV personality (d. 2006)
- 18 August - Bramwell Tillsley, General of The Salvation Army
- 19 August - Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (d. 2003)
- 23 August - Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 25 August - Hal Fishman, Los Angeles based local news anchor. (d. 2007)
- 25 August - Regis Philbin, American television personality
- 28 August - John Shirley-Quirk, English bass-baritone
- 30 August - Jack Swigert, American astronaut (d. 1982)
- 31 August - Jean Béliveau, Canadian hockey player
September-October
- 8 September - Jack Rosenthal, English playwright (d. 2004)
- 12 September - George Jones, American singer and songwriter, king of country music
- 17 September - Anne Bancroft, American actress (d. 2005)
- 21 September - Larry Hagman, American actor
- 22 September
- Fay Weldon, British author
- George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (d. 2003)
- 23 September - Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator and statesman (d. 2004)
- 29 September
- James Watson Cronin, American nuclear physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress
- 30 September
- Angie Dickinson, American actress
- Wesley L. Fox, U.S. Marine Corps officer
- 6 October - Riccardo Giacconi, Italian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 7 October
- Cotton Fitzsimmons, American basketball coach (d. 2004)
- Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 13 October - Eddie Mathews, baseball player (d. 2001)
- 15 October - Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, President of India
- 16 October
- James Chace, American historian (d. 2004)
- Charles Colson, American Watergate conspirator
- Rosa Rosal, Filipino actress and humanitarian
- 17 October - Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian writer
- 19 October - John le Carré, English novelist
- 20 October - Mickey Mantle, baseball player (d. 1995)
- 23 October
- Jim Bunning, baseball player and U.S. Senator
- Diana Dors, English actress (d. 1984)
- 25 October - Jimmy McIlroy, Irish footballer and football manager
- 31 October - Dan Rather, American television news reporter
November-December
- 3 November - Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (d. 2007)
- 5 November - Ike Turner, American singer and songwriter (d. 2007)
- 15 November - Mwai Kibaki, third President of Kenya
- 21 November
- 23 November - Dervla Murphy, Irish author
- 26 November - Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Argentine activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 28 November - Hope Lange, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1 December
- Jimmy Lyons, American musician (d. 1986)
- Jim Nesbitt, singer
- 2 December
- Edwin Meese, American attorney general
- Nigel Calder, British science writer
- 11 December - Rita Moreno, Academy award-winning Puerto Rican actress
- 12 December - Lionel Blair, British actor, choreographer, tap dancer, headmaster and TV presenter
- 23 December - Ronnie Schell, American actor
- 24 December - Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer
- 30 December - Skeeter Davis, American singer (d. 2004)
- 31 December - Bob Shaw, Irish writer (d. 1996)
Deaths
January - June
- 11 January - James Milton Carroll, Baptist pastor, historian, and author (b. 1852)
- 14 January - Hardy Richardson, baseball player (b. 1855)
- 22 January - Alma Rubens, American actress (b. 1897)
- 23 January - Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (b. 1881)
- 11 February - Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor (b. 1854)
- 16 February - Wilhelm von Gloeden, German photographer (b. 1856)
- 23 February - Dame Nellie Melba, Australian soprano (b. 1861)
- 26 February - Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1847)
- 5 March - Arthur Tooth, Anglican clergyman (b. 1839)
- 7 March - Akseli Gallén-Kallela, Finnish painter (b. 1865)
- 11 March - F.W. Murnau, German director (b. 1888)
- 20 March - Hermann Müller, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
- 21 March - Bhagat Singh, Indian revolutionary (b. 1908)
- 27 March - Arnold Bennett, novelist (b. 1867)
- 31 March - Knute Rockne, American football coach (b. 1888)
- 8 April - Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
- 10 April - Khalil Gibran, Lebanese poet and painter (b. 1883)
- 30 April - Sammy Woods, English cricketer (b. 1867)
- 9 May - Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- 14 May - David Belasco, American writer (b. 1853)
July - December
- 4 July - Buddie Petit, American jazz musician
- 12 July - Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1866)
- 6 August - Bix Beiderbecke, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1903)
- 26 August - Hamaguchi Osachi, 27th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1870)
- 27 August
- 5 September - John Thomson, Scottish footballer (b. 1909)
- 13 October - Ernst Didring, Swedish writer (b. 1868)
- 18 October - Thomas Edison, American inventor (b. 1847)
- 11 November - Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (b. 1840)
- 2 December - Vincent d'Indy, French composer (b. 1851)
- 5 December - Vachel Lindsay, American poet (b. 1879)
- date unknown - Joseph Tabrar, British songwriter (b. 1857)
Nobel prizes
- Physics - not awarded
- Chemistry - Carl Bosch, Friedrich Bergius
- Physiology or Medicine - Otto Heinrich Warburg
- Literature - Erik Axel Karlfeldt
- Peace - Jane Addams, Nicholas Murray Butler
Ship events
- List of ship launches in 1931
- List of ship commissionings in 1931
- List of ship decommissionings in 1931
- List of shipwrecks in 1931