1926

1926 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1926; MCMXXVI
Ab urbe condita	2679
Armenian calendar	1375; ԹՎ ՌՅՀԵ
Assyrian calendar	6676
Baháʼí calendar	82–83
Balinese saka calendar	1847–1848
Bengali calendar	1333
Berber calendar	2876
British Regnal year	16 Geo. 5 – 17 Geo. 5
Buddhist calendar	2470
Burmese calendar	1288
Byzantine calendar	7434–7435
Chinese calendar	乙丑年 (Wood Ox); 4623 or 4416; — to —; 丙寅年 (Fire Tiger); 4624 or 4417
Coptic calendar	1642–1643
Discordian calendar	3092
Ethiopian calendar	1918–1919
Hebrew calendar	5686–5687
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1982–1983
- Shaka Samvat	1847–1848
- Kali Yuga	5026–5027
Holocene calendar	11926
Igbo calendar	926–927
Iranian calendar	1304–1305
Islamic calendar	1344–1345
Japanese calendar	Taishō 15 / Shōwa 1; (昭和元年)
Javanese calendar	1856–1857
Juche calendar	15
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4259
Minguo calendar	ROC 15; 民國15年
Nanakshahi calendar	458
Thai solar calendar	2468–2469
Tibetan calendar	阴木牛年; (female Wood-Ox); 2052 or 1671 or 899; — to —; 阳火虎年; (male Fire-Tiger); 2053 or 1672 or 900

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century; 20th century ; 21st century;
Decades:	1900s; 1910s; 1920s ; 1930s; 1940s;
Years:	1923; 1924; 1925; 1926 ; 1927; 1928; 1929;

Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

Events

January

January 1
- Flooding in the Rhine River strikes Cologne.
- Ireland's first regular radio service, 2RN (later Radio Éireann), begins broadcasting.
- Turkey switches to the Gregorian calendar after reforms set by Kemal Atatürk.
January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece.
January 8 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz.
January 12 – Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll premiere their radio program Sam 'n' Henry, in which the two white performers portrayed two black characters from Harlem looking to strike it rich in the big city. It is a precursor to Gosden and Correll's more popular later program, Amos 'n' Andy.
January 16 – A BBC radio play about a worker's revolution causes a panic in London.
January 21 – The Belgian Parliament accepts the Locarno treaties.
January 26 – John Logie Baird demonstrates a mechanical television system.
January 29 – Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown opens at the Greenwich Theatre.
January 31 – British and Belgian troops leave Cologne.

February

February 1 – Land on Broadway and Wall Street in New York City is sold at a record $7 per sq inch.
February 8 – Sean O'Casey's Plough and Stars opens at Abbey Theater in Dublin.
February 9 – Flooding hits London suburbs.
February 12 – The Irish minister for Justice, Kevin O'Higgins, appoints the Committee on Evil Literature.
February 20 – Berlin International Green Week in Berlin starts for its first time
February 25 – Francisco Franco becomes General of Spain.

March

March 6 – The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon is destroyed by fire.
March 16 – Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fuel rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
March 23 – Éamon de Valera organizes Fianna Fáil in Ireland.

April

April 4 – Greek dictator Theodoros Pangalos is elected president.
April 7 – An assassination attempt against Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini fails.
April 12 – By a vote of 45–41, the United States Senate unseats Iowa Senator Smith W. Brookhart and seats Daniel F. Steck, after Brookhart had already served for over one year.
April 16 – A train crash in San José, Costa Rica kills 178 people.
April 24 – Treaty of Berlin: Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.
April 25 – Reza Khan is crowned Shah of Iran under the name "Pahlevi".
April 30 – African-American pilot Bessie Coleman is killed after falling 500 feet (150 m) from an airplane.

May

May 1 – A coal miners' strike begins in Britain.
May 3 – The British General Strike begins in support of the coal strike.
May 9
- Martial law is declared in Britain because of the general strike.
- The French navy bombards Damascus because of the Druze riots.
- Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of his diary seems to indicate that this did not happen).
May 10
- Talks between the government and strikers begin in the U.K.
- Planes piloted by Major Harold Geiger and Horace Meek Hickam, students at the Air Corps Tactical School, collide in mid-air at Langley Field, Virginia. Hickam parachutes to safety.
May 12
- Roald Amundsen flies over the North Pole.
- UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a general strike by trade unions ends (the strike began on May 3).
May 12–May 14 – May Coup: Józef Piłsudski takes over in Poland.
May 18 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach.
May 20 – The United States Congress passes the Air Commerce Act, licensing pilots and planes.
May 23 – The first Lebanese constitution is established.
May 26 – The Rifkabyl rebels surrender in Morocco.
May 28 – The 1926 coup d'état commanded by Manuel Gomes da Costa in Portugal installs the Ditadura Nacional (National Dictatorship), followed by António de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo.

June

June 4 – Ignacy Moscicki becomes president of Poland.
June 19 – DeFord Bailey is the first African-American to perform on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.
June 29 – Arthur Meighen returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.

July

July 1 – The Kuomingtang begins a military unification campaign in northern China.
July 3 – A Caudron C-61 aircraft operated by Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne crashes in Czechoslovakia.
July 9 – General Antonio Carmona takes power in a military coup in Portugal.
July 12 – A lightning strike destroys an ammunition depot in Dover, New Jersey.
July 15 – BEST buses make their début in Bombay.
July 23 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.
July 26 – The National Bar Association incorporates in the United States.

August

August 6
- Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel from France to England.
- In New York, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system premieres with the movie Don Juan starring John Barrymore.
August 18
- The British miners' union begins negotiations with the government
- A weather map is televised for the first time, sent from NAA Arlington to the Weather Bureau Office in Washington, D.C.
August 22 – In Greece, Georgios Kondylis ousts Theodoros Pangalos.
August 23 – The sudden death of popular Hollywood actor and sex symbol Rudolph Valentino at the age of only 31 years old causes mass grief and hysteria around the world.
August 25 – Pavlos Kountouriotis announces that dictatorship is finished in Greece and becomes the president.

September

September 1 – Lebanon under the French Mandate gets its first constitution, thereby becoming a republic. Charles Debbas is elected president.
September 8 – Weimar Republic joins the League of Nations.
September 11
- Spain leaves the League of Nations.
- Aloha Tower is officially dedicated at Honolulu Harbor in the Territory of Hawai'i.
September 14 – Locarno Treaties of 1925 are ratified in Geneva and come into effect.
September 16 – Philip Dunning and George Abbott's play Broadway premieres in New York City.
September 18 – Great Miami Hurricane: A strong hurricane devastates Miami, Florida, leaving over 100 dead and causing several hundred million dollars in damage (equal to nearly $100 billion dollars today).
September 20 – Twelve blue cars full of gangsters open fire at the Hawthorne Inn, Al Capone's Chicago headquarters. Only one of Capone's men is wounded.
September 23 – Gene Tunney defeats Jack Dempsey and becomes heavyweight champion of the world.
September 25
- The League of Nations Slavery Convention abolishes all types of slavery.
- William Lyon Mackenzie King returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.

October

October 2 – Józef Piłsudski becomes prime minister of Poland.
October 12 – British miners agree to end their strike.
October 14 – Alan Alexander Milne's book Winnie-the-Pooh is released.
October 19 – The 1926 Imperial Conference opens in London, the United Kingdom.
October 20 – A hurricane kills 650 in Cuba.
October 23
- A decree in Italy bans women from holding public office.
- Leon Trotsky and Lev Kamenev are removed from the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- The Fazal Mosque (one of the first in London) is completed.
October 31 – Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured.

November

November 10 – In San Francisco, California, a necrophiliac serial killer named Earle Nelson (dubbed "Gorilla Man") kills and then rapes his 9th victim, a boardinghouse landlady named Mrs. William Edmonds.
November 11 – U.S. Route 66 is established.
November 15
- The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations (formed by Westinghouse, General Electric and RCA).
- The Balfour Declaration is approved by the 1926 Imperial Conference, making the Commonwealth dominions equal and independent.
November 24
- The village of Rocquebillier in the French Riviera is almost destroyed in a massive hailstorm.
- Sri Aurobindo retires, leaving The Mother to run the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India.
November 25 – The death penalty is re-established in Italy.
November 26 – All Italian Communist deputies are arrested.
November 27
- Mount Vesuvius erupts.
- In Williamsburg, Virginia, the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg begins.

December

December 2 – British prime minister Stanley Baldwin ends the martial law that had been declared due to general strike.
December 3 – Agatha Christie disappears from her home in Surrey; on December 14 she is found at the Harrogate Hotel.
December 17 – A democratically elected government is overthrown during the 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état; Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania.
December 18 – Turkey converts to the Gregorian calendar, making 'tomorrow' January 1 1927
December 26 – In Japanese History, the Shōwa era begins from this day due to the demise of Emperor Taishō on the day before.

Date unknown

Phencyclidine (PCP, angel dust) is first synthesized.
Widows' pensions are introduced in New South Wales, Australia.
Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, designs and makes rodeo's first high-cut rodeo chaps at Stirling, Alberta Canada.
The short-lived Western Australian Secession League is founded.
The International African Institute is founded in London.
Raymond Pearl publishes his landmark book, Alcohol and Longevity.
American microbiologist Selman Waksman publishes Enzymes.
The Pike School of Andover, Massachusetts is founded.
U.S. Marines intervene in Nicaragua to bolster the conservative government.
Industrial output surpasses the level of 1913 in the USSR.

Births

January–February

January 2 – Harold Bradley, American session guitarist on country music records
January 3 – George Martin, English producer of The Beatles
January 5 – William De Witt Snodgrass, American poet (d. 2009)
January 6
- Kim Daejung, President of South Korea, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2009)
- Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian actor and bodybuilder (d. 2006)
January 8
- Evelyn Lear, American soprano
- Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
- Soupy Sales, American comedian (d. 2009)
- Chester Feldman, American television game show producer (d. 1997)
January 11 – Lev Demin, cosmonaut (d. 1998)
January 12 – Ray Price, American singer
January 14
- Maria Schell, Austrian actress (d. 2005)
- Tom Tryon, American actor and novelist (d. 1991)
January 17 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress and dancer (d. 2006)
January 19 – Fritz Weaver, American actor
January 20
- Patricia Neal, American actress (The Day The Earth Stood Still) (d. 2010)
- David Tudor, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
January 21 – Steve Reeves, American actor (d. 2000)
January 26 – Franco Evangelisti, Italian composer (d. 1980)
January 27
- Fritz Spiegl, Austrian journalist (d. 2003)
- Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (d. 2004)
January 29 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
February 2 – Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, President of France
February 4 – Dave Sands, Australian boxer (d. 1952)
February 6 – Haskell Wexler, American cinematographer
February 7 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2009)
February 8 – Neal Cassady, American writer (d. 1968)
February 10 – Danny Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer and football manager (d. 1993)
February 11
- Paul Bocuse, French chef
- Alexander Gibson, British conductor and founder of the Scottish Opera
- Leslie Nielsen, Canadian actor (d. 2010)
February 14 – Al Brodax, American film and television producer
February 16
- Margot Frank, sister of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
- John Schlesinger, British film director (d. 2003)
February 17 – John Meyendorff, Orthodox scholar, protopresbiter, and teacher (d. 1992)
February 20
- Whitney Blake, American actress (d. 2002)
- Richard Matheson, American author
- Bob Richards, American track and field athlete
February 22 – Kenneth Williams, English actor (d. 1988)
February 27 – David H. Hubel, Canadian neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
February 28 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian author (d. 2011)

March–April

March 1 – Pete Rozelle, American commissioner of the National Football League (d. 1996)
March 2 – Murray Rothbard, American economist (d. 1995)
March 3 – James Merrill, American poet (d. 1995)
March 4
- Richard DeVos, American billionaire, co-founder of Amway
- James J. Eagan, former Mayor of Florissant, Missouri (d. 2000)
- Fran Warren, American popular singer
March 6
- Alan Greenspan, American economist and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve
- Andrzej Wajda, Polish film director
March 8 – Sultan Salahuddin of Malaysia (d. 2001)
March 11 – Derek Benfield, English playwright and actor (d. 2009)
March 13 – Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (d. 2003)
March 15 – Norm Van Brocklin, American football player (d. 1983)
March 16
- Charles Goodell, American politician (d. 1987)
- Jerry Lewis, American comedian and humanitarian (Muscular Dystrophy Telethon)
March 17
- Jaynne Bittner, American female baseball player
- Siegfried Lenz, German writer
March 18 – Peter Graves, American actor (d. 2010)
March 24 – Dario Fo, Italian author, Nobel Prize laureate
March 26 – László Papp, Hungarian boxer (d. 2003)
March 26 – Ventsislav Yankov, Bulgarian pianist
March 30
- Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish businessman
- Peter Marshall, American game-show host (Hollywood Squares)
March 31 – John Fowles, English writer (d. 2005)
April 1
- Charles Bressler, American tenor
- Anne McCaffrey, American author (d. 2011)
April 2 – Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver
April 3 – Gus Grissom, American astronaut (d. 1967)
April 6
- Sergio Franchi, Italian tenor and actor (d. 1990)
- Gil Kane, Latvian-born cartoonist (d. 2000)
- Ian Paisley, Northern Irish politician
April 9 – Hugh Hefner, American magazine editor (Playboy)
April 12 – Khozh-Akhmed Bersanov, Chechen ethnographer
April 14
- Frank Daniel, Czech-born writer, producer, director, teacher (d. 1996)
- George Robledo, Chilean soccer player (d. 1989)
April 17 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian hockey player (d. 2004)
April 19 – Rawya Ateya, Egyptian politician and first female parliamentarian in the Arab world (d. 1997)
April 21
- Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom
- Arthur Rowley, English footballer (d. 2002)
April 22
- James Stirling, Scottish architect (d. 1992)
- Charlotte Rae, American actress and singer (The Facts of Life)
April 24 – Thorbjörn Fälldin, Prime Minister of Sweden
April 25 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (d. 2008)
April 26
- David Coleman, British TV sports broadcaster
- Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator (d. 2003)
April 28 – Harper Lee, American author
April 29 – Paul Baran, American internet pioneer (d. 2011)
April 30
- Edmund Cooper, British author & poet (d. 1982)
- Cloris Leachman, American actress

May–June

May 5
- Ann B. Davis, American actress (The Brady Bunch)
- Bing Russell, American actor (d. 2003)
May 8
- David Attenborough, British broadcaster, naturalist and producer
- Don Rickles, American comedian and actor
May 10 – Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, American film personality and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter (d. 2004)
May 14 – Eric Morecambe, English comedian and author. (d. 1984)
May 15
- Anthony Shaffer, English novelist and playwright (d. 2001), twin brother of:
- Peter Shaffer, English playwright
May 17 – Franz Sondheimer, German-born British chemist (d. 1981)
May 18 – Dirch Passer, Danish actor (d. 1980)
May 20 – John Lucarotti, TV writer (d. 1994)*
May 21 – Robert Creeley, American Poet (d. 2005)
May 25 – Bill Sharman, American basketball player and coach
May 26 – Miles Davis, American musician (d. 1991)
May 27 – Kees Rijvers, Dutch football player and manager
May 29 – Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal
May 30 – Tsuneo Watanabe, Japanese businessman
June 1
- Andy Griffith, American actor
- Marilyn Monroe, American actress (d. 1962)
June 3
- Roscoe Gardner Bartlett, Republican member of the United States House of Representatives
- Allen Ginsberg, American poet (Howl) (d. 1997)
June 6 – Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (d. 1998)
June 10 – Lionel Jeffries, British film director and actor (d. 2010)
June 11 – Frank Plicka, Czech-born photographer
June 12 – Gaspare di Mercurio, Italian doctor and author
June 13 – Paul Lynde, American comedian (d. 1982)
June 15 – Shigeru Kayano, Japanese Ainu activist (d. 2006)
June 16 – William F. Roemer, Jr., United States FBI agent (d. 1996)
June 21
- Conrad Hall, Tahitian-born cinematographer (d. 2003)
June 25 – Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian writer (d. 1973)
June 28 – Mel Brooks, American entertainer (The Producers)
June 29 – Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (d. 2006)
June 30 – Paul Berg, American chemist, Noble Prize laureate

July–August

July 1
- Robert Fogel, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Carl Hahn, German automotive executive, chairman of Volkswagen from 1982 to 1993
- Hans Werner Henze, German composer
July 4
- Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentine-born footballer
- Amos Elon, Israeli writer (d. 2009)
- Mary Stuart, American soap actress (d. 2002)
July 8 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (d. 2004)
July 9 – Ben Roy Mottelson, American-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
July 10 – Fred Gwynne, American actor and author (d. 1993)
July 13 – Andrew Maher, American actor
July 14 – Harry Dean Stanton, American actor
July 15 – Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine dictator (d. 2003)
July 16
- Stanley Clements, American actor (d. 1981)
- Irwin Rose, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
July 17 – William Pierson, American television, motion picture and stage actor (d. 2004)
July 18 – Robert Sloman, English writer (d. 2005)
July 26
- James Best, American actor (The Dukes of Hazzard)
- Lennox Sebe, President of Ciskei bantustan (d. 1994)
July 27 – Doris Satterfield, American professional baseball player (d. 1993)
July 28 – Walt Brown, American presidential candidate
July 30 – Sir Patrick Russell QC, PC, British High Court Judge (d. 2002)
August 1 – Hannah Hauxwell, English TV personality
August 2 – Sy Mah, Canadian marathoner (d. 1988)
August 3
- Tony Bennett, American singer (I Left My Heart In San Francisco)
- Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (d. 2004)
August 6 – Norman Wexler, Academy Award nominated Screen writer
August 11
- Aaron Klug, Lithuanian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Claus von Bülow, British socialite
August 12
- John Derek, American actor and director (d. 1998)
- Wallace Markfield, American writer (d. 2002)
- Hiroshi Koizumi, Japanese actor
August 13 – Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary and politician
August 14 – René Goscinny, French comic book writer (d. 1977)
August 15 – Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, former President of Greece
August 17 – Jiang Zemin, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and [President of the People's Republic of China]]
August 19 – Arthur Rock, American venture capitalist
August 23 – Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist
August 27 – Pat Coombs, British actress (d. 2002)
August 29 – Betty Lynn, American actress

September–October

September 2 – Ibrahim Nasir Rannabanderyi Kilegefan, Maldivian president (d. 2008)
September 3 – Uttam Kumar (Arun Kumar Chatterjee), legendary Bengali Actor (d. 1980)
September 6
- Claus van Amsberg, German born Prince Consort of the Netherlands (d. 2002)
- Maurice Cowling, British historian (d. 2005)
- Maurice Prather, American photographer (d. 2001)
September 7 – Don Messick, American voice actor (d. 1997)
September 14 – Dick Dale, American singer and musician
September 15 – Jean-Pierre Serre, French mathematician
September 16
- John Knowles, American author (d. 2001)
- Robert H. Schuller, American televangelist
September 19 – James Lipton, American television personality and writer
September 21
- Donald A. Glaser, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Noor Jehan, Pakistani singer and actress (d. 2000)
September 23 – John Coltrane, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1967)
September 24 – Aubrey Burl, British archaeologist
September 26
- Julie London, American singer and actress (d. 2000)
- Masatoshi Koshiba, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
September 28 – Jerry Clower, American country comedian (d. 1998)
September 30 – Robin Roberts, American baseball player (d. 2010)
October 4 – Senaida Wirth, American female professional baseball player (d. 1967)
October 7 – Czesław Ryll-Nardzewski, Polish mathematician
October 9 – Ruth Ellis, British murderess (d. 1955)
October 13 – Kazuo Nakamura, Japanese-Canadian Painter, part of the Painters Eleven (d. 2002)
October 15
- Michel Foucault, French philosopher (d. 1984)
- Karl Richter, German conductor (d. 1981)
October 17
- Beverly Garland, American actress and hotel founder (d. 2008)
- Julie Adams, American actress
October 18
- Chuck Berry, American musician (Johnny B. Goode)
- Klaus Kinski, German actor (d. 1991)
- Pauline Pirok, American female professional baseball player
October 21 – Bob Rosburg, American golfer (d. 2009)
October 22 – Gloria Carter Spann, sister of former President Jimmy Carter (d. 1990)
October 25 – Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano
October 28 – Bowie Kuhn, American Commissioner of Baseball (d. 2007)
October 29
- Necmettin Erbakan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2011)
- Jon Vickers, Canadian tenor
October 30 – Lois Wyse, American advertising executive, author and columnist (d.2007)
October 31 – Jimmy Savile, English DJ and television presenter (d. 2011)

November–December

November 1 – Betsy Palmer, American actress and game show panelist (Friday The 13th and I Got A Secret)
November 2 – Tsung-Dao Lee, Chinese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
November 3 – Valdas Adamkus, President of Lithuania
November 6 – Frank Carson, Northern Irish comedian
November 7 – Dame Joan Sutherland, Australian soprano (d. 2010)
November 16 – Amy Irene Applegren, American professional baseball player
November 19 – Jeane Kirkpatrick, American ambassador (d. 2006)
November 20
- John Gardner, English spy novelist (d. 2007)
- Andrzej W. Schally, Polish-born endocrinologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
November 22 – Geraldine Page, American author (d. 1987)
November 23
- Sathya Sai Baba, Indian spiritual leader (d. 2011)
- R. L. Burnside, American musician (d. 2005)
November 25 – Poul Anderson, American author (d. 2001)
November 26 – Peter van Pels, German-Dutch love interest of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
November 30 – Richard Crenna, American actor (d. 2003)
December 1 – Robert Symonds, American actor (d. 2007)
December 9 – Henry Way Kendall, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
December 13 – George Rhoden, Jamaican athlete
December 16 – James McCracken, American tenor (d. 1988)
December 17
- Allan V. Cox, American geologist (d. 1987)
- Bill Keightley (Mr. Wildcat), equipment manager for the University of Kentucky men's basketball team from 1962 to 2008 (d. 2008)
December 20
- Sir Geoffrey Howe, British politician
- David Levine, U.S. caricaturist
December 21 – Joe Paterno, American football coach and philanthropist (d. 2012)
December 23 – Robert Bly, American poet
December 26 – Gina Pellón, Cuban painter
December 31 – Billy Snedden, Australian politician (d. 1987)

Deaths

January–June

January 4 – Margherita of Savoy, queen consort of Italy (b. 1851)
January 15 – Louis Majorelle, French furniture designer (b. 1859)
January 21 – Camillo Golgi, Italian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1843)
January 28 – Kato Takaaki, 24th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1860)
January 30 – Barbara La Marr, American film actress (b. 1896)
February 6 – Carrie Clark Ward, stage & film character actress (b. 1862)
February 21 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
February 24 – John Jacob Bausch, German-American optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (b. 1830)
March 11 – Usui Mikao, Japanese founder of Reiki (b. 1865)
March 12 – E.W. Scripps, American newspaper publisher (b. 1854)
March 16 – Sergeant Stubby, World War IAmerican hero, most decorated war dog. First dog promoted to Sergeant. (b. 1916 or 1917)
March 17 – Aleksei Brusilov, Russian general (b. 1853)
March 24 – Sizzo, Prince of Schwarzburg (b. 1860)
March 26 – Konstantin Fehrenbach, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1852)
April 1 – Jacob Pavlovich Adler, Russian actor (b. 1855)
April 9 – Henry Miller, stage actor & producer (b. 1859)
April 20 – Billy Quirk, American actor (b. 1873)
April 24 – Emperor Sunjong of Korea (b. 1874)
April 30 – Bessie Coleman, African-American pilot (b. 1892)
May 9 – J. M. Dent, British publisher (b. 1849)
May 16 – Mehmed VI, last Ottoman Sultan (b. 1861)
May 26 – Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (b. 1879)
June 8 – Emily Hobhouse, British welfare campaigner (b. 1860)
June 10 – Antoni Gaudí, Catalan architect (b. 1852)
June 14 – Mary Cassatt, American artist (b. 1844)

July–December

July 2 – Émile Coué, French psychologist (b. 1857)
July 12
- Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist, writer, spy, and administrator known as the "Uncrowned Queen of Iraq" (b. 1868)
- John W. Weeks, American politician in the Republican Party (b. 1860)
July 22 – Willard Louis, American actor (b. 1882)
July 26 – Robert Todd Lincoln, American statesman and businessman, son of 16th President Abraham Lincoln (b. 1843)
August 14 – John H. Moffitt, American politician (b. 1843)
August 21 – Ugyen Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (b. 1861)
August 22 – Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University (b. 1834)
August 23 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (b. 1895)
August 30 – Eddie Lyons, American actor (b. 1886)
September 15 – Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1846)
September 21 – Leon Charles Thevenin, French telegraph engineer (b. 1857)
September 25 – Herbert Booth, third son of William and Catherine Booth (b. 1862)
October 7 – Emil Kraepelin, German psychiatrist (b. 1856)
October 16 – Princess Frederica of Hanover (b. 1848)
October 19 – Victor Babeş, Romanian bacteriologist (b. 1854)
October 20 – Eugene V. Debs, American labor and political leader (b. 1855)
October 31
- Harry Houdini, Hungarian-born escapologist (b. 1874)
- Charles Vance Millar, Canadian businessman (b. 1853)
November 3 – Annie Oakley, American sharpshooter and entertainer (b. 1860)
November 7 – Tom Forman, American actor & director (b. 1893)
December 4 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (b. 1861)
December 5 – Claude Monet, French painter (b. 1840)
December 16 – William Larned, American tennis champion (b. 1872)
December 17 – Lars Magnus Ericsson, Swedish inventor and founder of Ericsson (b. 1846)
December 24 – Johan Castberg, Norwegian Radical politician (b. 1862)
December 25 – Emperor Taishō, 123rd Emperor of Japan (b. 1879)
December 29 – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (b. 1875)

Nobel Prizes

Physics – Jean Baptiste Perrin
Chemistry – Theodor Svedberg
Physiology or Medicine – Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger
Literature – Grazia Deledda
Peace – Aristide Briand, Gustav Stresemann

References