1936

Events

January–February

January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House.
January 28 – State funeral of George V of the United Kingdom. After a procession through London, he is buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
February 4 – Radium E becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
February 6 – The IV Olympic Winter Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
February 10–19 – Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Battle of Amba Aradam – Italian forces gain a decisive tactical victory, effectively neutralizing the army of the Ethiopian Empire.
February 16 – 1936 Spanish general election: The left-wing Popular Front coalition takes a majority.
February 26 – February 26 Incident : The Imperial Way Faction engineers a failed coup against the Japanese government; some politicians are killed.

March–April

March 1 – Construction of Hoover Dam is completed in the United States.
March 7 – In violation of the Treaty of Versailles and Locarno Treaties, Nazi Germany reoccupies the Rhineland. Hitler and other Nazis later admit that the French army alone could have destroyed the Wehrmacht.
March 9 – Pro-democratic militarist Keisuke Okada steps down as Prime Minister of Japan and is replaced by radical militarist Kōki Hirota.
March 15 – Austrian Josef Bradl sets the men's world record ski jump at 101.5 metres on Bloudkova velikanka hill in Planica and becomes the first man in history to stand jump over one hundred metres.
April 5 – A tornado hits Tupelo, Mississippi, United States, killing 216 people and injuring over 700.
April 15 – The Tulkarm shooting, followed by Jewish retaliation, begins the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine against British administration, and stokes opposition to Jewish immigration.

May–June

May 5 – March of the Iron Will: Italian forces occupy Addis Ababa unopposed.
May 9 – Speaking in Rome, Benito Mussolini announces the foundation of the empire, as Italian East Africa is formed from the Italian territories of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland.
May 25 – The Remington Rand strike of 1936–37 begins, spawning the notorious Mohawk Valley formula, a corporate plan for strikebreaking.
June 19
* Per Albin Hansson resigns as Prime Minister of Sweden, over the issue of defence policy. He is replaced by the leader of the Farmer's League Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp, who also becomes Minister of Agriculture.
* The total solar eclipse of [June 19, 1936] is visible in Greece, Turkey, Russia and Japan. It is part of Solar Saros 126; Gamma is a value of 0.53889.
June 26 – Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first fully controllable helicopter, makes its maiden flight.

July–August

July 4 – First publication recognizing stress as a biological condition.
July 17 – The Spanish Army of Africa launches a coup d'état against the Republican Second Spanish Republic, beginning the Spanish Civil War.
July 20 – The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits is signed in Montreux, allowing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
July 24 – Carmelite Martyrs of Guadalajara: 3 nuns are shot dead by the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War).
August 1 – The 1936 Summer Olympics open in Berlin, Germany, and mark the first live television coverage of an international sports event in world history.
August 3 – 1936 Summer Olympics: African-American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 100-meter dash.
August 4 – A self-coup is staged by Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, marking the beginning of the authoritarian 4th of August Regime, which will rule Greece until the Axis occupation of Greece in 1941.
August 14 – 1936 Summer Olympics: The Junior Varsity Rowing Crew from the University of Washington surprises the world listening on radio when they come from behind to win Olympic Gold.
August 26 – The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 is signed.

September–October

September 4–5 – English-born aviator Beryl Markham becomes the first woman to make an east-to-west solo transatlantic flight, from Abingdon-on-Thames, England, to Baleine, Nova Scotia.
September 5 – Spanish Civil War: Robert Capa's photograph The Falling Soldier is taken.
September 7 – The last known thylacine, named Benjamin, dies in Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.
September 9
*1936 Naval Revolt (Portugal): The crews of Portuguese Navy frigate NRP Afonso de Albuquerque and destroyer Dão mutiny while anchored in Lisbon Harbour. Opposed to the Salazar dictatorship's support of General Franco's coup in Spain, they declare their solidarity with the Second Spanish Republic.
*The Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence is signed.
September 10 – The first World Speedway Championship is held at Wembley Stadium in London, England. It is won by Australian Lionel Van Praag, with Englishman Eric Langton second and Australian Bluey Wilkinson third.
September 13 – In response to a polio outbreak, Chicago Public Schools launches Distance education in [Chicago Public Schools in 1937|a distance education program] which constitutes the first large-scale use of radio broadcasts to facilitate distance education.
September 28 – After the election to the Swedish Riksdag's second chamber, Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp and his "Holiday Cabinet" resign and Per Albin Hansson returns as Prime Minister, staying in office until his death from a heart attack in 1946.
October
* Joseph Stalin's Great Purge begins in the Soviet Union.
* The Viking Age craftsman's Mästermyr chest is discovered in the Mästermyr mire, west of Hemse, on the island of Gotland, Sweden.
October 19 – [Herbert Ekins|H. R. Ekins], reporter for the New York World-Telegram, wins a race 20 Days|to travel around the world] on commercial airline flights, beating Dorothy Kilgallen of the New York Journal and Leo Kieran of The New York Times. The flight takes 18½ days.
October 25 – The Italo-German protocol of 23 [October 1936] is signed, resulting in the creation of the Axis.

November–December

November 2
* The BBC launches the world's first regular television service in high-definition.
* The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation begins radio in Canada.
November 3 – 1936 United States presidential election: Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term, in a landslide victory over Kansas Governor Alf Landon; farmers support Roosevelt.
November 12 – In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
November 19 and 20 – Buenaventura Durruti, a major Spanish anarchist, is fatally shot in Madrid, dying the following day.
November 20 – A levee failure and continued massive rain at the Mitsubishi Osarizawa mine, Kazuno, northeastern Akita, Japan, results in at least 375 deaths.
November 23 – Cover date of the first issue of Life, a weekly news magazine launched in the United States under the management of Henry Luce.
November 25 – The Anti-Comintern Pact is signed by Germany and Japan.
November 30 – A spectacular fire destroys The Crystal Palace in London, originally built for the 1851 Great Exhibition.
December 5 – The 1936 Soviet Constitution, promulgated by Stalin, is adopted in the Soviet Union. The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic is dissolved, and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia become full Republics of the Soviet Union.
December 7 – Streptococcous meningitis is successfully treated for the first time with a sulfonamide.
December 10 – Edward VIII [abdication crisis]: King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom signs an instrument of abdication at Fort Belvedere, Surrey in the presence of his three brothers, The Duke of York, The Duke of Gloucester and The Duke of Kent.
December 11
* Edward VIII abdication crisis: The British Parliament passes His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 on behalf of the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The King performs his last act as sovereign by giving Royal Assent to the Act, and his brother Prince Albert, Duke of York, becomes King, reigning as King George VI. The former King, now HRH Prince Edward, makes a broadcast to the nation explaining his decision to abdicate, and leaves the country for Austria.
* Taking the opportunity to free itself further from ties to the United Kingdom, the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State passes the Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936, removing most powers from the office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State, and the Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936, assenting to the abdication and restricting the power of the monarch in relation to Ireland to international affairs.
December 12 – Xi'an Incident: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China is kidnapped by Marshal Zhang Xueliang.
December 24 – The first filmed Russian opera, Natalka Poltavka, is released in Ukraine.

Date unknown

West China Famine: An estimated five million people die.
Nestlé introduce the white chocolate Milkybar.

Births

January

January 2 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician and actor
January 6
* Darlene Hard, American tennis player
* Alejandro Maldonado, 37th President of Guatemala
* Julio María Sanguinetti, 2-time President of Uruguay
January 8 – Robert May, Australian scientist
January 10
* Stephen E. Ambrose, American historian and biographer
* Robert Wilson, American physicist and radio astronomer, Nobel laureate
January 11 – Eva Hesse, American sculptor and textile artist
January 12 – Émile Lahoud, 15th President of Lebanon
January 14 – Reiner Klimke, German equestrian
January 19 – Ziaur Rahman, 7th President of Bangladesh
January 22
* Alan J. Heeger, American physicist and Nobel laureate
* Ong Teng Cheong, 5th President of Singapore
January 23 – Cécile Ousset, French pianist
January 25 – Diana Hyland, American actress
January 27
* Barry Barish, American gravitational physicist, Nobel laureate
* Troy Donahue, American actor
* Samuel C. C. Ting, American physicist
January 28
* Alan Alda, American actor, director, screenwriter, comedian and author
* Ismail Kadare, Albanian writer

February

February 3
* Jeanine Basinger, American film historian
* Bob Simpson, Australian cricketer
February 4
* David Brenner, American actor and comedian
* Gary Conway, American actor
February 6 – Kent Douglas, Canadian ice hockey player, coach
February 11 – Burt Reynolds, American actor
February 15 – Richard Michaels, American film director
February 16 – Carl Icahn, American businessman, investor and philanthropist
February 17 – Jim Brown, African-American football player and actor
February 21 – Barbara Jordan, African-American lawyer, educator, politician and civil rights activist
February 24
* Jess Conrad, British actor and singer
* Carol D'Onofrio, American public health researcher
February 25 – Jerry Reinsdorf, American Sports Executive
February 26 – Adem Demaçi, Albanian politician, writer
February 27 – Fred Haines, American film director and screenwriter
February 29 – Alex Rocco, American actor

March

March 4
* Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver
* Kim Yong-chun, North Korean soldier, politician
* Aribert Reimann, German composer
March 5
* Canaan Banana, 1st President of Zimbabwe
* Dean Stockwell, American actor
March 6
* Marion Barry, African-American civil rights activist and politician
* Choummaly Sayasone, 5th President of Laos
March 7
* Loren Acton, American astronaut
* Julio Terrazas Sandoval, Bolivian cardinal
March 9 – Mickey Gilley, American country singer
March 10 – Sepp Blatter, Swiss sports administrator, president of FIFA
March 11
* Harald zur Hausen, German virologist
* Takis Mousafiris, Greek composer and songwriter
* Antonin Scalia, Associate [Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]
March 17 – Ken Mattingly, American astronaut
March 18 – F. W. de Klerk, 7th and last State President of South Africa
March 19 – Ursula Andress, Swiss actress
March 20 – Lee "Scratch" Perry, Jamaican musician
March 27 – Banwari Lal Joshi, Indian politician
March 28 – Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian writer, politician, journalist and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate

April

April 1 – Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, 2-time President of Switzerland
April 5 – Glenn Jordan, American film and television director
April 9
* Gloria Grosso, Italian politician
* Valerie Solanas, American feminist writer who attempts to kill Andy Warhol
* Ferdinando Imposimato, Italian judge
April 12 – Charles Napier, American character actor
April 13 – Choi In-hun, South Korean writer
April 14 – Dilbagh Singh Kler, Malaysian Olympic athlete
April 15
* Pen Sovan, Cambodian politician
* Raymond Poulidor, French road-bicycle racer（d. 2019）
April 17 – Urs Wild, Swiss chemist
April 20 – Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz
April 22 – Glen Campbell, American singer and actor
April 23 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter
April 24
* Akwasi Afrifa, 3rd Head of State of Ghana
* Jill Ireland, English actress
April 28 – Tariq Aziz, Iraqi politician

May

May 1 – Danièle Huillet, French filmmaker
May 2
* Norma Aleandro, Argentinian actress
* Engelbert Humperdinck, British singer
May 4 – El Cordobés, Spanish matador
May 7 – Jimmy Ruffin, African-American singer
May 9
* Albert Finney, English actor
* Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician
* Ernest Shonekan, 9th Head of State of Nigeria
May 12
* Klaus Doldinger, German musician
* Guillermo Endara, 32nd President of Panama
May 13 – Rafael Campos, Dominican actor
May 14 – Bobby Darin, American singer
May 16
* Philippe de Montebello, American museum director
* Karl Lehmann, German Catholic cardinal
May 17
* Dennis Hopper, American actor and director
* Alfred R. Kelman, American film and television documentary producer and director
May 20
* Nickey Iyambo, Namibian politician, 1st Vice-President of Namibia
* Antanas Vaupšas, Lithuanian athlete
May 21
* Joe Alves, American film production designer
* Günter Blobel, German-American biologist, academic and Nobel Prize laureate
* Alan Heim, American film editor
May 25 – Tom T. Hall, American country singer-songwriter
May 26 – Richard Harrison, American actor, writer, director and producer
May 27 – Louis Gossett Jr., African-American actor
May 28 – John Wilder, American producer and former actor

June

June 2 – Volodymyr Holubnychy, Soviet Olympic athlete
June 3 – Colin Meads, New Zealand rugby union player
June 4
*Bruce Dern, American actor
*Nutan, Indian actress
June 8
*James Darren, American actor and singer
*Kenneth G. Wilson, American Nobel Prize-winning physicist
June 17 – Ken Loach, British film director
June 18
*Denny Hulme, New Zealand racing driver
*Ronald Venetiaan, president of Suriname
June 19 – Takeshi Aono, Japanese actor
June 22
*Kris Kristofferson, American actor and singer-songwriter
*Izatullo Khayoyev, 1st Prime Minister of Tajikistan
*Hermeto Pascoal, Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist
June 23 – Costas Simitis, Greek politician, 78th Prime Minister of Greece
June 24 – Robert Downey Sr., American actor, filmmaker and father of actor Robert Downey Jr.
June 25 – B. J. Habibie, Indonesian politician, 3rd President of Indonesia
June 26
*Hal Greer, African-American professional basketball player
*Lee Ming-liang, Taiwanese geneticist
June 27
*Geneviève Fontanel, French stage, film actress
*Joe Doyle, Irish politician
June 29
*David Jenkins, American figure skater
*Eddie Mabo, Australian Indigenous rights activist
*Kigeli V of Rwanda, last king of Rwanda
June 30
*Assia Djebar, Algerian writer
*Nancy Dussault – American actress and singer

July

July 1 – Antonio Salines, Italian actor and director
July 4 – Günter Vetter, Austrian politician
July 5
* Sir Frederick Ballantyne, Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* Shirley Knight, American actress
* Sir James Mirrlees, Scottish-born economist, winner of the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
July 7
*Hammoudi Al-Harithi, Iraqi actor
* Anatoly Kirov, Soviet wrestler
*Nikos Xilouris, Greek singer
July 8 – Johan Du Preez, Rhodesian-Zimbabwean sprinter
July 16
* Sanford Lieberson, American film producer
* Miria Obote, First Lady of Uganda
* Venkataraman Subramanya, Indian cricketer
* Leo Sterckx, Belgian cyclist
* Yasuo Fukuda, 58th Prime Minister of Japan
July 26 – Neelu, Indian actor
July 30
* Buddy Guy, African-American blues singer and guitarist
* Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, Spanish royal
July 31
* Jorge Sanjinés, Bolivian film director and screenwriter

August

August 1
*Yves Saint Laurent, Algerian-born French fashion designer
*Chadlia Farhat Essebsi, Tunisian consort, 5th First Lady of Tunisia
August 3
*Edward Petherbridge, British actor
August 12
*Kjell Grede, Swedish film director
*André Kolingba, President of Central African Republic
August 16 – Anita Gillette, American actress
August 17 – Margaret Hamilton, American computer scientist, systems engineer and business owner
August 18 – Robert Redford, American actor and film director
August 21 – Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia,
August 23 – Rudy Lewis, American rhythm and blues singer
August 25 – Giridharilal Kedia, Indian Working President of KVK
August 26 – Benedict Anderson, American academic
August 27 – Lien Chan, Taiwanese politician
August 28 – Bert Schneider, Austrian road racer
August 29 – John McCain, American politician, U.S. Senator
August 31 – Fabrizia Ramondino, Italian author

September

September 1 – Valery Legasov, Soviet inorganic chemist
September 2 – Andrew Grove, Hungarian-American businessman, engineer and author
September 3 – Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, 2nd President of Tunisia
September 4 – Kamuta Latasi, 4th Prime Minister of Tuvalu
September 7
* Buddy Holly, American rock-and-roll singer-songwriter and musician
* Jorge Porcel, Argentine-American actor
September 14 – Walter Koenig, American actor
September 15 – Ashley Cooper, Australian tennis player
September 19 – Al Oerter, American Olympic athlete
September 21 – Yury Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow
September 23 – Valentín Paniagua, President of Peru
September 24 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer, filmmaker and television producer
September 25 – Moussa Traoré, President of Mali
September 26 – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, South African anti-apartheid activist
September 27 – Joselo, Venezuelan actor, comedian
September 28 – Robert Wolders, Dutch actor
September 29 – Silvio Berlusconi, 50th Prime Minister of Italy, media entrepreneur

October

October 1 – Duncan Edwards, English footballer
October 2 – Gwen Marston, American quilter and writer
October 3 – Steve Reich, American composer
October 5 – Václav Havel, Czech playwright, writer and politician, 10th President of Czechoslovakia and 1st President of the Czech Republic
October 6 – Lin Yu-lin, Taiwanese billionaire real estate developer
October 7 – Fereydoun Farrokhzad, Iranian entertainer
October 8 – Rogelio Guerra, Mexican actor
October 9 – Brian Blessed, English actor
October 10 – Gerhard Ertl, German physicist, Nobel laureate
October 11 – Tom Zé, Brazilian Tropicália singer-songwriter
October 13 – Christine Nöstlinger, Austrian writer
October 16 – Andrei Chikatilo, Soviet serial killer
October 18 – Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Cuban cardinal
October 19 – Tony Lo Bianco, American actor
October 22 – Bobby Seale, American political activist
October 24 – Bill Wyman, English rock guitarist
October 25 – Masako Nozawa, Japanese actress and voice actress
October 26 – Etelka Kenéz Heka, Hungarian writer, poet, singer
October 28 – Charlie Daniels, American country singer-songwriter
October 30
*Polina Astakhova, Soviet artistic gymnast
*Luciano Tovoli, Italian cinematographer and filmmaker
*Dick Vermeil, American former football coach
October 31 – Michael Landon, American actor, director, producer and writer

November

November 3 – Roy Emerson, Australian tennis player
November 4
*Didier Ratsiraka, 3rd President of Madagascar
*C. K. Williams, American poet
November 5
* Ivan Stambolić, Serbian politician
* Uwe Seeler, German football player and manager
November 8 – Virna Lisi, Italian actress
November 9 – Mary Travers, American singer-songwriter
November 11 – Susan Kohner, American actress
November 17
* Dahlia Ravikovitch, Israeli poet
* Lazarus Salii, 3rd President of Palau
November 18
*Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family from 2008 to 2012.
*Ante Žanetić, Croatian professional footballer
November 19 – Dick Cavett, American talk show host, television personality
November 20 – Don DeLillo, American author
November 22 – Sigmund R. Petersen, Norwegian-born American NOAA Commissioned Corps admiral
November 23 – Lazarus Salii, 3rd President of Palau
November 30
* Eric Walter Elst, Belgian astronomer
* Abbie Hoffman, American political and social activist

December

December 3 – Alfred Uhry. American playwright and screenwriter
December 4 – América Alonso, Venezuelan actress
December 5 – James Lee Burke, American novelist
December 6 – David Ossman, American writer and comedian
December 7 – Martha Layne Collins, American businesswoman and politician
December 8 – David Carradine, American actor, director and martial artist
December 9 – A. B. Yehoshua, Israeli writer
December 11 – Hans van den Broek, Dutch politician and diplomat
December 12
*Iolanda Balaș, Romanian high jumper
*Alain Cornu, French footballer
December 13 – Prince Karim Al-Husseini, Aga Khan IV, Swiss-born 49th imam of Nizari Isma'ilis, businessman, philanthropist and racehorse owner
December 14 – Robert A. Parker, American physicist, astronomer and astronaut
December 15 – Walon Green, American documentary film director and screenwriter
December 17
*Pope Francis
*Klaus Kinkel, German politician
*Tommy Steele, British entertainer
December 20 – Niki Bettendorf, Luxembourgish politician
December 21 – Barbara Roberts, American politician
December 22 – Héctor Elizondo, American actor
December 23
*La Lupe, Cuban singer
* Bobby Ross, American football coach
December 25
*Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, member of the British royal family
*Ismail Merchant, Indian film director and producer
December 29 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress, producer and diabetes awareness activist
December 31 – Siw Malmkvist, Swedish singer

Deaths

January

January 1 – Harry B. Smith, American composer
January 5 – Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Spanish writer
January 6 – Louise Bryant, American journalist
January 9 – John Gilbert, American actor
January 15
* Henry Foster, British Conservative Party politician, Governor-General of Australia
* George Landenberger, United States Navy Captain, 23rd Governor of American Samoa
January 16 – Albert Fish, American serial killer
January 18 – Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate
January 20 – King George V of the United Kingdom
January 23 – John Mills Jr., "Mills Brothers" basso, guitarist
January 24
*Harry T. Morey, American actor
*Harry Peach, British furniture manufacturer, social campaigner
January 28 – Richard Loeb, American murderer

February

February 3 – Sophie, Princess of Albania, consort of William of Wied, Prince of Albania
February 4 – Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi Party
February 8 – Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President of the United States
February 19 – Billy Mitchell, American general, military aviation pioneer
February 20
* Max Schreck, German actor
* Georges Vacher de Lapouge, French anthropologist
February 23 – William Adamson, British Labour politician
February 26 – in the "February 26 Incident":
* Takahashi Korekiyo, 11th Prime Minister of Japan
* Saitō Makoto, Japanese admiral, 19th Prime Minister of Japan
February 27
* Ivan Pavlov, Russian psychologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* Mulugeta Yeggazu, Ethiopian government official, military leader
February 28 – Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

March

March 8 – Jean Patou, French fashion designer
March 9 – Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, Indian monk and yogi
March 12
* David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, British admiral
* Sir David Campbell, British army general and Governor of Malta
March 13 – Sir Francis Bell, 20th Prime Minister of New Zealand
March 16
* Dace Akmentiņa, Latvian actress
* Marguerite Durand, French journalist, feminist leader
March 18 – Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek statesman, several times Prime Minister
March 20 – Herman P. Faris, American temperance movement leader
March 21 – Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer, conductor
March 23 – Oscar Asche, Australian actor
March 28 – Sir Archibald Garrod, English physician
March 29 – Eugène Marais, South African lawyer, naturalist, poet and writer

April

April 2 – Alberico Albricci, Italian general
April 3 – Richard Hauptmann, German killer of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
April 6 – Edmund Breese, American actor
April 7 – Marilyn Miller, American actress
April 8 – Róbert Bárány, Austrian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
April 9 – Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist, economist and philosopher
April 18 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer, musicologist and conductor
April 23 – Teresa de la Parra, Venezuelan writer
April 25 – Wajed Ali Khan Panni, Bengali aristocrat and philanthropist
April 26 – Tammany Young, American actor
April 28 – King Fuad I of Egypt
April 30 – A. E. Housman, English poet

May

May 2 – Ivan Alexandrov, Russian engineer
May 4 – Ludwig von Falkenhausen, German general
May 5 – Marianne Hainisch, Austrian women's rights activist
May 8 – Oswald Spengler, German philosopher
May 12 – Hu Hanmin, Chinese politician
May 14 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, British soldier, administrator
May 16 – Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, Greek general, senator
May 17 – Panagis Tsaldaris, Prime Minister of Greece
May 24 – Khazʽal Ibn Jabir, Iranian sheikh
May 29 – Norman Chaney, American actor

June

June 11 – Robert E. Howard, American pulp fiction writer
June 12
* M. R. James, English medievalist scholar and author
* Karl Kraus, Austrian writer, journalist
June 14 – G. K. Chesterton, English author
June 17 – Henry B. Walthall, American actor
June 18 – Maxim Gorky, Russian writer
June 19 – Sir William Hall-Jones, English-New Zealand politician, 16th Prime Minister of New Zealand
June 22
* Mary Haviland Stilwell Kuesel, American pioneer dentist
* Moritz Schlick, German philosopher, physicist
June 28 – Alexander Berkman, Russian anarchist

July

July 1 – Hovhannes Abelian, Armenian actor
July 8 – Thomas Meighan, American actor
July 9 – Auguste Adib Pacha, two-time prime minister of Lebanon
July 11 – James Murray, American actor
July 13
* Kojo Tovalou Houénou, Beninese critic of the French colonial empire in Africa
* José Calvo Sotelo, Spanish politician
July 16 – Alan Crosland, American film director
July 23 – Anna Abrikosova, Soviet Roman Catholic religious sister and servant of God
July 24
* Georg Michaelis, 6th Chancellor of Germany
* Sir Arnold Theiler, South African veterinary scientist
July 25 – Heinrich Rickert, German philosopher

November

November 2 – Martin Lowry, English physical chemist
November 7
* Walter L. Finn, American physician and politician
* Charles "Chic" Sale, American vaudevillian
November 11 – Sir Edward German, English composer
November 17
* John Bowers, American actor
* Alexandros Papanastasiou, 2-time prime minister of Greece
November 20
* Buenaventura Durruti, Spanish anarchist
* José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish fascist politician
November 25 – Andrew Harper, Scottish–Australian biblical scholar, teacher
November 27 – Edward Bach, British physician, homeopath and bacteriologist

December

December 7 – Jean Mermoz, French aviator
December 9
* Juan de la Cierva, Spanish civil engineer, aviator and aeronautical engineer, inventor of the autogyro
* Arvid Lindman, 12th Prime Minister of Sweden
* Lottie Pickford, Canadian actress
December 10
* Bobby Abel, English cricketer
* Luigi Pirandello, Italian dramatist, Nobel Prize laureate
December 18 – Leonardo Torres Quevedo, Spanish engineer, a pioneer of computing and radio control, inventor of El Ajedrecista
December 23, William Henry Harrison, English cricketer
December 24 – Irene Fenwick, American actress
December 25 – Carl Stumpf, German philosopher and psychologist
December 26 – Percival G. Baldwin, American politician and businessman
December 27 – Hans von Seeckt, German general
December 29 – Lucy, Lady Houston, British philanthropist
December 31 – Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish writer

Nobel Prizes

Physics – Victor F. Hess, Carl D. Anderson
Chemistry – Petrus (Peter) Josephus Wilhelmus Debye
Physiology or Medicine – Sir Henry Hallett Dale, Otto Loewi
Literature – Eugene Gladstone O'Neill
Peace Prize|Peace] – Carlos Saavedra Lamas