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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

• January 2 - South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics
• January 4 - Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
• January 6 - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
• January 22 - Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
• January 25 - Mohandas Gandhi released again.
• January 27 - Pierre Laval forms a government in France.

January 25: Gandhi freed.

• February 3 - Hawke's Bay earthquake - much of the New Zealand city of Napier is destroyed in an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale.
• February 10 - New Delhi becomes the capital of India.
• February 12 - Radio Vaticana first broadcast.
• February 14 - The original film version of Dracula with Bela Lugosi is released.
• February 16 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud elected president of Finland.
• February 20 - California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
• February 21 - Peruvian revolutionaries hijack a Ford Trimotor aeroplane and demand that the pilot drop propaganda leaflets over Lima.

February 10: New Delhi became capital.

February 21: Ford Trimotor hijacked.

March-April

• March 1 - USS Arizona placed back in full commission after a refit.
• March 3 - The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States National anthem.
• March 4 - British viceroy of India and Mohandas Gandhi negotiate.
• March 7 - New House of Representatives opened in Helsinki, Finland.
• March 11 - Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR programme, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.
• March 17 - Nevada legalizes gambling.
• March 23 - Revolt for Independent India leaders Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev are hanged by the British Government.
• March 25 - The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.
• March 27 - British writer Arnold Bennett dies in Paris when he drinks local water to prove it is safe to drink - but is poisoned.
• March 31 - An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua killing 2000 people.

• April 6 - Portuguese government declares martial law in Madeira and in the Azores because of an attempted military takeover in Funchal.
• April 9 - Execution of Argentinian anarchist Severino Digiovanni.
• April 14 - 2nd Spanish Republic proclaimed in Spain.
• April 15 - 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.
• April 18 - An incorporation of Cheverly, Maryland is made.
• April 22 - Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and USA recognize the Spanish Republic.

May-June

May 1: Empire State Building is completed.

• May 1 - Construction of the Empire State Building is completed in New York City.
• May 4 - Kemal Atatürk re-elected president of Turkey.
• May 13 - Paul Doumer elected president of France.
• June 12 - Charlie Parker equals J.T. Hearne's record for the earliest date to reach 100 wickets.
• June 14 - 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
• June 23 - 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. http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Wiley_Post/EX27.htm

July-August

• July - John Haven Emerson of Cambridge, Massachusetts perfects the Emerson iron lung just in time for the growing polio epidemic
• July 1 - Official opening of Milan Central Station
• July 16 - 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.
• August 24 - Labour Government of Ramsay MacDonald resigns in Britain - replaced by National Government of people drawn from all parties also under MacDonald.
• August 31 - Yangtze River floods - 23 million made homeless

September-October

• September 5 - John Thomson, soccer player, dies in an accident during a Celtic - Rangers match
• September 10 - The worst hurricane in Belize history kills an estimated 1,500 people.
• September 15 - The Invergordon Mutiny: Strikes in Royal Navy due to decreased salaries
• September 18 - Mukden Incident. Later used by Japan to occupy Manchuria.
• September 18 - 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.
• October 18 - Thomas Edison dies at his home in West Orange, New Jersey.

November-December

• November 6 - Indian spiritual leader Meher Baba arrives in America for the first time.
• November 7 - Chinese Soviet Republic proclaimed by Mao Zedong.
• November 8
  • 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.
• December 10 - Niceto Alcalá-Zamora elected president of Spanish republic.
• December 11 - 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.
• December 12 - Eta Chapter of Kappa Delta Phi was founded at The University of Maine at Machias
• December 13 - Wakatsuki Reijiro resigned as Prime Minister of Japan.
• December 26 - 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

January-February

• January 5
  • Alvin Ailey, American choreographer (d. 1989)
  • Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist
  • Robert Duvall, American actor and director
• January 6 - E. L. Doctorow, American author
• January 8 - Bill Graham, German concert promoter (d. 1991)
• January 10 - Peter Barnes, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2004)
• January 12 - Roland Alphonso, Jamaican musician (d. 1998)
• January 13 - Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor (d. 2007)
• January 14 - Caterina Valente, French singer and actress
• January 16 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany (d. 2006)
• January 17 - James Earl Jones, American actor
• January 19 - Robert MacNeil, Canadian journalist
• January 20 - David Lee, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• January 22 - Sam Cooke, American singer (d. 1964)
• January 26 - Alfred Lynch, English actor (d. 2003)
• January 27 - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (d. 2001)
• January 30 - Allan W. Eckert, American historian, naturalist, and author
• January 31 - Ernie Banks, baseball player
• February 1 - Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia (d. 2007)
• February 2
  • Dries van Agt, Dutch politician
  • Les Dawson, British comedian (d. 1993)
• February 6 - Rip Torn, American actor and director
• February 8 - James Dean, American actor (d. 1955)
• February 10 - Thomas Bernhard, Dutch author (d. 1989)
• February 11 - Larry Merchant, American author and boxing commentator
• February 13 - Geoff Edwards, American actor and game show host
• February 16
  • George E. Sangmeister, American politician (d. 2007)
  • Ken Takakura, Japanese actor
• February 18 - Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (d. 2007)
• February 18 - Toni Morrison, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• February 18 - Bob St. Clair, American football player
• February 24 - Brian Close, British cricketer
• February 25 - Eric Edgar Cooke, Western Australian Murderer (d. 1964)
• February 26 - Ally McLeod, Scottish football manager
• February 28 - Dean Smith, American basketball coach

March-April

• March 2
  • Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• March 4
  • Wally Bruner, American journalist and television host (d. 1997)
  • William Henry Keeler, American Roman Catholic Archbishop and Cardinal
  • Alice Rivlin, American economist
• March 8 - Neil Postman, American media theorist and cultural critic
• March 11 - Rupert Murdoch, Australian-born publisher
• March 22
  • Burton Richter, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • William Shatner, Canadian actor
• March 26 - Leonard Nimoy, American actor and director
• March 29
  • Aleksei Gubarev, cosmonaut
  • Norman Tebbit, British politician
• April 1 -
  • Rolf Hochhuth, German writer
  • Ita Ever, Estonian actress
• April 6 - Suchitra Sen (Roma Dasgupta), the legendary Bengali Actress, is born in Pabna (now in Bangladesh).
• April 11 - Johnny Sheffield, American actor
• April 27 - Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist
• April 29
  • Frank Auerbach, German-born painter
  • Lonnie Donegan, Scottish musician (d. 2002)

May-June

• May 6 - Willie Mays, baseball player
• May 7 - Teresa Brewer, American pop and jazz singer (d. 2007)
• May 13
  • Jim Jones, American cult leader (d. 1978)
  • Jiri Petr, Czech university president
• May 14 - Alvin Lucier, American composer
• May 15
  • Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
  • Ken Venturi, American golfer
• May 16 - Natwar Singh, Indian politician
• May 18 - Robert Morse, American actor
• May 19 - Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor
• May 20 - Ken Boyer, baseball player (d. 1982)
• May 25 - Georgi Grechko, cosmonaut
• May 30 - Fr. John O'Brien, Irish priest and musician (d. 2008)
• May 31
  • John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Shirley Verrett, American mezzo-soprano
• June 3 - Lindy Remigino, American athlete
• June 7 - Malcolm Morley, English-born painter
• June 9 - Jackie Mason, American comedian
• June 9 - Joe Santos, American actor
• June 13 - Moysés Baumstein, Brazilian Holographer and artist
• June 14 - Ross Higgins, Australian actor
• June 27 - Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

July-August

• July 1 - Leslie Caron, French actress
• July 4 - Stephen Boyd, Irish actor (d. 1977)
• July 6 - Della Reese, American singer and actress
• July 10 - Alice Munro, Canadian writer
• July 23 - Te Atairangi Kaahu, M?ori Queen (d. 2006)
• July 26 - Fred Foster, American songwriter and record producer
• July 27 - Jerry Van Dyke, American comedian and actor
• August 7 - Charles E. "Charlie" Rice, Legal Scholar and Author
• August 12 - William Goldman, American author
• August 15 - Joe Feeney, American singer (d. 2008)
• August 15 - Florian ZaBach, American musician and TV personality (d. 2006)
• August 18 - Bramwell Tillsley, General of The Salvation Army
• August 19 - Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (d. 2003)
• August 23 - Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• August 25 - Hal Fishman, Los Angeles based local news anchor. (d. 2007)
• August 25 - Regis Philbin, American television personality
• August 28 - John Shirley-Quirk, English bass-baritone
• August 30 - Jack Swigert, American astronaut (d. 1982)
• August 31 - Jean Béliveau, Canadian hockey player

September-October

• September 8 - Jack Rosenthal, English playwright (d. 2004)
• September 12 - George Jones, American singer and songwriter, king of country music
• September 17 - Anne Bancroft, American actress (d. 2005)
• September 21 - Larry Hagman, American actor
• September 22
  • Fay Weldon, British author
  • George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (d. 2003)
• September 23 - Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator and statesman (d. 2004)
• September 29
  • James Watson Cronin, American nuclear physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress
• September 30
  • Angie Dickinson, American actress
  • Wesley L. Fox, U.S. Marine Corps officer
• October 6 - Riccardo Giacconi, Italian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• October 7
  • Cotton Fitzsimmons, American basketball coach (d. 2004)
  • Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• October 13 - Eddie Mathews, baseball player (d. 2001)
• October 15 - Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, President of India
• October 16
  • James Chace, American historian (d. 2004)
  • Charles Colson, American Watergate conspirator
  • Rosa Rosal, Filipino actress and humanitarian
• October 17 - Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian writer
• October 19 - John le Carré, English novelist
• October 20 - Mickey Mantle, baseball player (d. 1995)
• October 23
  • Jim Bunning, baseball player and U.S. Senator
  • Diana Dors, English actress (d. 1984)
• October 25 - Jimmy McIlroy, Irish footballer and football manager
• October 31 - Dan Rather, American television news reporter

November-December

• November 3 - Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (d. 2007)
• November 5 - Ike Turner, American singer and songwriter (d. 2007)
• November 15 - Mwai Kibaki, third President of Kenya
• November 21
  • Malcolm Williamson, Australian composer (d. 2003)
  • Revaz Dogonadze, Georgian physicist (d. 1985)
• November 23 - Dervla Murphy, Irish author
• November 26 - Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Argentine activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• November 28 - Hope Lange, American actress (d. 2003)
• December 1
  • Jimmy Lyons, American musician (d. 1986)
  • Jim Nesbitt, singer
• December 2
  • Edwin Meese, American attorney general
  • Nigel Calder, British science writer
• December 11 - Rita Moreno, Academy award-winning Puerto Rican actress
• December 12 - Lionel Blair, British actor, choreographer, tap dancer, headmaster and TV presenter
• December 23 - Ronnie Schell, American actor
• December 24 - Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer
• December 30 - Skeeter Davis, American singer (d. 2004)
• December 31 - Bob Shaw, Irish writer (d. 1996)

Deaths

January - June

• January 11 - James Milton Carroll, Baptist pastor, historian, and author (b. 1852)
• January 14 - Hardy Richardson, baseball player (b. 1855)
• January 22 - Alma Rubens, American actress (b. 1897)
• January 23 - Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (b. 1881)
• February 11 - Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor (b. 1854)
• February 16 - Wilhelm von Gloeden, German photographer (b. 1856)
• February 23 - Dame Nellie Melba, Australian soprano (b. 1861)
• February 26 - Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1847)
• March 5 - Arthur Tooth, Anglican clergyman (b. 1839)
• March 7 - Akseli Gallén-Kallela, Finnish painter (b. 1865)
• March 11 - F.W. Murnau, German director (b. 1888)
• March 20 - Hermann Müller, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
• March 21 - Bhagat Singh, Indian revolutionary (b. 1908)
• March 27 - Arnold Bennett, novelist (b. 1867)
• March 31 - Knute Rockne, American football coach (b. 1888)
• April 8 - Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
• April 10 - Khalil Gibran, Lebanese poet and painter (b. 1883)
• April 30 - Sammy Woods, English cricketer (b. 1867)
• May 9 - Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
• May 14 - David Belasco, American writer (b. 1853)

July - December

• July 4 - Buddie Petit, American jazz musician
• July 12 - Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1866)
• August 6 - Bix Beiderbecke, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1903)
• August 26 - Hamaguchi Osachi, 27th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1870)
• August 27
  • Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (b. 1856)
  • Francis Marion Smith, American businessman (b. 1846)
• September 5 - John Thomson, Scottish footballer (b. 1909)
• October 13 - Ernst Didring, Swedish writer (b. 1868)
• October 18 - Thomas Edison, American inventor (b. 1847)
• November 11 - Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (b. 1840)
• December 2 - Vincent d'Indy, French composer (b. 1851)
• December 5 - 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

See also

• 20th century

Notes

External links

• The 1930s Timeline: 1931 — from American Studies Programs at The University of Virginia

Table of Contents

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