1928

January

January – English bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.

January 1

Estonia changes its currency from the mark to the kroon.

Abolition of domestic slavery in the British Protectorate of Sierra Leone comes into effect.

Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, Joseph Stalin's personal secretary, crosses the border to Iran to defect from the Soviet Union.

January 6–7 – The River Thames floods in London; 14 drown. On January 7 the moat at the Tower of London (drained in 1843 and planted with grass) is completely refilled by the river.

January 12 – Convicted American murderer Ruth Snyder is executed at Sing Sing.

January 17 – The OGPU arrests Leon Trotsky in Moscow; he assumes a status of passive resistance.

January 26 – The volcanic island Anak Krakatau appears.

January 31 – Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata.

February

February 8 – British inventor John Logie Baird broadcasts a transatlantic television signal from London to Hartsdale, New York.

February 11–19 – The 1928 Winter Olympics are held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first as a separate event. Sonja Henie of Norway wins her first gold medal in women's figure skating.

February 12 – Heavy hail kills 11 in Britain.

February 20 – The Japanese general election produces a hung parliament.

February 25 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C., becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.

March

March 12 – In California, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles fails, killing 600.

March 15

March 15 incident: The Japanese government cracks down on socialists and communists.

Chinese warlord Shi Yousan sets fire to the Shaolin Monastery in Henan, destroying some of its ancient structures and artifacts.

March 21 – Charles Lindbergh is presented with the Medal of Honor for his first Transatlantic flight.

March 26 – The China Academy of Art is founded in Hangzhou (originally named the National Academy of Art).

April

April 10 – "Pineapple Primary": The United States Republican Party primary elections in Chicago are preceded by violence, bombings and assassination attempts (two politicians are killed, Octavius C. Granady and Giuseppe Esposito).

April 12 – A bomb attack against Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini in Milan kills 17 bystanders.

April 12–14 – The first ever east–west transatlantic flight by aeroplane takes place from Dublin, Ireland, to Greenly Island, Canada, using German Junkers W 33 Bremen.

April 14 – Two earthquakes in Chirpan and Plovdiv in Bulgaria destroy more than 21,000 buildings and kill almost 130 people.

April 19 – The last section ("wise – wyze") of the original Oxford English Dictionary is completed and published.

April 22 – An Ms 6.0 earthquake affects southern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 20 dead, and destroying 3,000 homes in Corinth. A non-destructive tsunami was also observed.

April 28 – 28 inches of snow fall in southern-central Pennsylvania.

May

May 3 – Jinan incident: An armed conflict between the Imperial Japanese Army allied with Northern Chinese warlords against the Kuomintang's southern army, occurs in Jinan, China.

May 7 – Passage of the Representation of the People Act in the United Kingdom lowers the voting age for women from 30 to 21 giving them equal suffrage with men from July 2.

May 10 – The first regular schedule of television programming begins in Schenectady, New York by the General Electric's television station W2XB (the station is popularly known as WGY Television, after its sister radio station WGY).

May 15

The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia commences operations.

The animated short Plane Crazy is released by Disney Studios in Los Angeles, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

May 23 – A bomb attack against the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 22 and injures 43.

May 24 – The airship Italia crashes at the North Pole; one of the occupants is Italian general Umberto Nobile. A rescue expedition leaves for the Pole on May 30.

May 30 – Rookie driver Louis Meyer wins his first Indianapolis 500. He would win that race again in 1933 and 1936.

June

June 3 – American serial killer Albert Fish kidnaps and kills 10-year-old Grace Budd.

June 4 – Huanggutun incident: Zhang Zuolin, a warlord, is killed by Japanese agents.

June 8 – By seizing Beijing and renaming it Běipíng, the National Revolutionary Army puts an end to the 'Fengtian warlords' Beiyang government there.

June 9

Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew complete the first flight across the Pacific Ocean from the mainland United States to Australia in Fokker F.VII aircraft Southern Cross. Having left Oakland, California on May 31, they reach Brisbane via Honolulu and Fiji.

Ellis Park Stadium, as known well for sport venues of South Africa, officially open in Johannesburg.

June 11 – A medical doctors' strike begins in Vienna.

June 14 – Students take over the medical wing of Rosario University in Argentina.

June 17–18 – Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to make a successful Transatlantic flight, as a passenger in a Fokker F.VIIb/3m piloted by Wilmer Stultz from Newfoundland to Wales.

June 20 – Puniša Račić kills three opposition representatives in the Yugoslavian Parliament, and injures three others in gun attack.

June 24 – A Swedish aeroplane rescues part of the Italian North Pole expedition, including Umberto Nobile. The Soviet icebreaker Krasin saves the rest July 12.

June 28 – The International Railway (New York–Ontario) switches to one-man crews for its trolleys in Canada. The keel of the first 1000 ft-long Ocean Liner Oceanic (III) is laid; construction is delayed and later cancelled the following year.

June 29 – At the 1928 Democratic National Convention in Houston, Governor of New York Al Smith becomes the first Catholic nominated by a major political party for President of the United States.

July

July 2 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories' W3XK station begins broadcasting on 6.42 MHz using 48 lines.

July 3 – British inventor John Logie Baird demonstrates the world's first colour television transmission.

July 7 – The first machine-sliced and machine-wrapped loaf of bread is sold in Chillicothe, Missouri, using Otto Frederick Rohwedder's technology.

July 12 – Mexican aviator Emilio Carranza dies in a solo plane crash in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, while returning from a goodwill flight to New York City.

July 17 – José de León Toral assassinates Álvaro Obregón, president of Mexico.

July 25 – The United States recalls its troops from China.

July 27

English cricketer Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before the end of July.

Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness, with its theme of lesbian love, is published in London.

July 28–August 12 – The 1928 Summer Olympics are held in Amsterdam, opening with the lighting of the Olympic flame. Women's athletics and gymnastics debut at these games and discus thrower Halina Konopacka of Poland became the first female Olympic gold medal winner for a track or field event. Coca-Cola enters Europe as sponsor of the games.

August

August 2 – Italy and Ethiopia sign the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty.

August 16 – Serial killer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, D.C., for burglary. According to his confession, "In my lifetime I have murdered 21 human beings, I have committed thousands of burglaries, robberies, larcenies, arsons and, last but not least, I have committed sodomy on more than 1,000 male human beings. For all these things I am not in the least bit sorry."

August 22 – Al Smith accepts the Democratic presidential nomination, with WGY/W2XB simulcasting the event on radio and television.

August 25 – Ahmet Zogu proclaims himself King Zog of Albania; he is crowned September 1.

August 26 – In Scotland, May Donoghue finds the remains of a snail in her ginger beer, leading to the landmark negligence case Donoghue v Stevenson.

August 27 – The Kellogg–Briand Pact is signed in Paris, the first treaty to outlaw aggressive war.

August 29 – C.D. Motagua is founded as an association football club in Honduras.

August 31 – The Threepenny Opera (German: Die Dreigroschenoper) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill opens at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin.

September

September 1

Ahmet Zogu, President of the Albanian Republic, declares the country to be a constitutional monarchy, the Albanian Kingdom, with himself as King Zog I.

Richard E. Byrd leaves New York for the Arctic.

September 3

Philo Farnsworth demonstrates to the Press in San Francisco the world's first working all-electronic television system, employing electronic scanning in both the pickup and display devices.

Alexander Fleming, at St Mary's Hospital, London, accidentally rediscovers the antibiotic Penicillin.

September 11 – The Queen's Messenger is the first melodrama broadcast by Ernst F. W. Alexanderson at W2XAD (Schenectady, New York); WMAK (Kenmore) begins broadcasting in Buffalo, New York.

September 12 – The Okeechobee hurricane hits Guadeloupe, killing 1,200 people.

September 15 – Tich Freeman sets an all-time record for the number of wickets taken in an English cricket season.

September 16 – The Okeechobee hurricane kills at least 2,500 people in Florida.

September 25 – Paul and Joseph Galvin incorporate the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (later known as Motorola and Freescale).

October

October 1 – Joseph Stalin launches the First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932 – The average nonfarm wage falls by 50% in the Soviet Union).

October 2

Josemaría Escrivá founds Opus Dei.

Arvid Lindman returns as Prime Minister of Sweden , with his right-wing rival Ernst Trygger as Foreign Minister of Sweden.

October 7 – Haile Selassie is crowned king (not yet emperor) of Abyssinia.

October 8 – Chiang Kai-shek is named as Generalissimo (Chairman of the National Military Council) of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China.

October 12 – An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston.

October 19 – William Edward Hickman is executed at San Quentin State Prison for the 1927 murder of 12-year-old Marion Parker.

October 22 – The Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity is founded at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.

October 26 – The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (ICRM) is formally established, with the adoption of the “Statutes of the International Red Cross”

November

November 1 – Turkey passes a law switching the country from the Arabic to the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet.

November 4 – Arnold Rothstein, New York City's most notorious gambler, is shot to death over a poker game in a Manhattan hotel.

November 6 – United States presidential election, 1928: Republican Herbert Hoover wins by a wide margin over Democratic Governor of New York Al Smith.

November 10

The enthronement ceremony of Emperor of Japan Hirohito, is held two years after he actually took the imperial throne on December 26, 1926, following the death of Emperor Taishō.

The MGM lion roars for the first time at the beginning of the film White Shadows in the South Seas.

November 12 – The SS Vestris develops a severe starboard list, is abandoned and sinks approximately 200 miles off Hampton Roads, Virginia. Estimates of the dead range from 110 to 127.

November 17 – Boston Garden opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

November 18 – Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie, the third Mickey Mouse cartoon released, but the first sound film and the first such film to be generally distributed.

November 22 – The one-movement ballet Boléro with music by Maurice Ravel and choreography by Bronislava Nijinska premières at the Paris Opéra to a commission by Ida Rubinstein.

December

December 3 – In Rio de Janeiro, a seaplane sent to greet Alberto Santos-Dumont crashes near Cap Arcona, killing all on board.

December 21 – The United States Congress approves the construction of Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam.

Date unknown

Eliot Ness begins to lead the prohibition unit in Chicago.

The old Canaanite city of Ugarit is rediscovered.

Margaret Mead's influential cultural anthropology text Coming of Age in Samoa is published in the U.S.

The Episcopal Church in the United States of America ratifies a new revision of the Book of Common Prayer.

W2XBS, RCA's first television station, is established in New York City.

January

January 1 – Abdul Sattar Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist (d. 2016)

January 2

Howard Caine, American character actor (d. 1993)

Robert Goralski, American journalist (d. 1988)

Daisaku Ikeda, Japanese religious leader, the 3rd President of Soka Gakkai

Kate Molale, South African anti-Apartheid activist (d. 1980)

Dan Rostenkowski, American politician from Illinois (d. 2010)

January 5

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, President of Pakistan and Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 1979)

Walter Mondale, U.S. Senator, 42nd Vice President of the United States and Presidential candidate

January 6 – George H. Ross, American businessman

January 7 – William Peter Blatty, American writer (d. 2017)

January 9 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer, songwriter, actor and politician (d. 1994)

January 10 – Philip Levine, American poet (d. 2015)

January 11

Mitchell Ryan, American actor

David L. Wolper, American television producer (d. 2010)

Toshie Kusunoki, Japanese singer, actress and voice actress

January 15 – Joanne Linville, American actress

January 16

William Kennedy, American author

Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano (d. 1996)

January 17

Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)

Vidal Sassoon, English hairdresser (d. 2012)

January 21

Gene Sharp, American political theorist of nonviolent action

Reynaldo Bignone, 45th President of Argentina

January 22 – Yoshihiko Amino, Japanese historian (d. 2004)

January 23

Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)

Jeanne Moreau, French actress

January 24

Desmond Morris, English anthropologist and writer

Michel Serrault, French actor (d. 2007)

January 25

Cor van der Hart, Dutch footballer (d. 2006)

Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian politician, 2nd President of Georgia (d. 2014)

January 26 – Roger Vadim, French film director (d. 2000)

January 27 – Hans Modrow, East German Premier

January 30

Mitch Leigh, American musical theatre composer and theatrical producer (d. 2014)

Hal Prince, American stage producer and director

January 31 – Chuck Willis, American singer and songwriter (d. 1958). Some sources give his year of birth as 1926.

February

February 1

Tom Lantos, American Congressman (d. 2008)

Stuart Whitman, American film and television actor

February 3 – Frankie Vaughan, British singer (d. 1999)

February 4 – Kim Yong-nam, North Korean politician

February 5 – Andrew Greeley, American Roman Catholic priest and fiction novelist (d. 2013)

February 8 – Gene Lees, Canadian biographer and lyricist (d. 2010)

February 9

Frank Frazetta, American illustrator (d. 2010)

Rinus Michels, Dutch association football player and coach (d. 2005)

Roger Mudd, American journalist

February 13 – Refik Erduran, Turkish playwright, columnist and writer (d. 2017)

February 14 – Norman Bridwell, American cartoonist (d. 2014)

February 16 – Porfi Jiménez, Dominican-Venezuelan musician (d. 2010)

February 18 – John Ostrom, American paleontologist (d. 2005)

February 20 – Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat

February 22 – Sir Bruce Forsyth, English entertainer

February 23

Ralph Earnhardt, American race car driver (d. 1973)

Vasily Lazarev, Russian cosmonaut (d. 1990)

February 26

Fats Domino, African-American musician

Anatoly Filipchenko, Russian cosmonaut

Ariel Sharon, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 2014)

February 27 – Cláudio Correia e Castro, Brazilian actor (d. 2005)

March

March 1 – Jacques Rivette, French filmmaker (d. 2016)

March 3 – Gudrun Pausewang, German writer

March 4

Samuel Adler, American composer

Alan Sillitoe, English writer (d. 2010)

March 8 – Gerald Bull, Canadian engineer (d. 1990)

March 10

Kiyoshi Atsumi, Japanese actor (d. 1996)

James Earl Ray, American assassin (d. 1998)

March 12

Edward Albee, American dramatist (d. 2016)

Aldemaro Romero, Venezuelan musician (d. 2007)

March 14 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish naturalist and broadcaster (d. 1980)

March 16

Karlheinz Böhm, Austrian actor (d. 2014)

Wakanohana Kanji I, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 2010)

Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano

Victor Maddern, English actor (d. 1993)

March 17 – Eunice Gayson, British actress

March 18 – Fidel Valdez Ramos, 12th President of the Philippines

March 19

Arthur Cook, American shooter

Hans Küng, Swiss Roman Catholic theologian

Patrick McGoohan, American-born British-based actor of Irish descent (d. 2009)

March 20 – Fred Rogers, American children's television host (d. 2003)

March 21 – Surya Bahadur Thapa, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (d. 2015)

March 24 – Byron Janis, American pianist

March 25 – Jim Lovell, American astronaut

March 28

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Polish-born U.S. National Security Advisor

Alexander Grothendieck, German-born mathematician (d. 2014)

March 29 – Vincent Gigante, Italian-American mobster (d. 2005)

March 31

Lefty Frizzell, American country music performer (d. 1975)

Gordie Howe, Canadian hockey player (d. 2016)

April

April 1 – George Grizzard, American actor (d. 2007)

April 2

Serge Gainsbourg, French singer (d. 1991)

Piet Römer, Dutch actor (d. 2012)

April 4

Maya Angelou, African-American poet and novelist (d. 2014)

Estelle Harris, American actress

April 6

Joi Lansing, American actress (b. 1972)

James D. Watson, American geneticist; recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

April 7

James Garner, American actor and producer (d. 2014)

Alan J. Pakula, American producer and director (d. 1998)

James White, Irish writer (d. 1999)

April 8 – Eric Porter, English actor (d. 1995)

April 9 – Tom Lehrer, American songwriter and satirist

April 11 – Ethel Kennedy, wife of Robert F. Kennedy

April 12

Hardy Krüger, German actor

Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (d. 2013)

April 15 – Vida Alves, Brazilian actress (d. 2017)

April 17

Cynthia Ozick, American writer

Victor Lownes, American businessman (d. 2017)

April 18 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal (d. 2015)

April 19

Alexis Korner, British musician (d. 1984)

Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak, King of Malaysia (d. 2014)

April 20 – Robert Byrne, American chess player (d. 2013)

April 23 – Shirley Temple, American actress and diplomat (d. 2014)

April 25 – Cy Twombly, American artist (d. 2011)

April 27 – Brigitte Auber, French actress

April 28 – Yves Klein, French artist (d. 1962)

May

May 1

Sonny James, American country singer (d. 2016)

Desmond Titterington, British race car driver (d. 2002)

May 3

Dave Dudley, American singer (d. 2003)

Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (d. 2001)

May 4

Maynard Ferguson, Canadian jazz trumpeter (d. 2006)

Elemér Hankiss, Hungarian sociologist and philosopher (d. 2015)

Hosni Mubarak, 4th President of Egypt

Joseph Tydings, former Democratic United States Senator

May 8

Gregory Scarpa, American mobster (d. 1994)

Theodore Sorenson, American lawyer and speechwriter (d. 2010)

May 9

Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (d. 1995)

Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian figure skater (d. 2012)

Jean Smith, American professional baseball player (d. 2011)

May 10

Mel Lewis, American jazz drummer and band leader (d. 1990)

Lothar Schmid, German chess player (d. 2013)

Arnold Rüütel, President of Estonia

May 12 – Burt Bacharach, American composer

May 13 – Jim Shoulders, American rodeo cowboy (d. 2007)

May 16 – Billy Martin, American baseball player and manager (d. 1989)

May 18 – Pernell Roberts, American actor (d. 2010)

May 19

Colin Chapman, Founder of Lotus Cars (d. 1982)

Dolph Schayes, American basketball player (d. 2015)

May 21 – Alice Drummond, American actress (d. 2016)

May 23

Jeannie Carson, English actress and comedian

Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)

May 24 – Adrian Frutiger, Swiss typeface designer and cutter (d. 2015)

May 26 – Jack Kevorkian, American right-to-die advocate (d. 2011)

May 28 – Gina Cabrera, Cuban actress

June

June 1

Georgi Dobrovolski, Russian cosmonaut (d. 1971)

Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (d. 2003)

June 3 – Donald Judd, American artist (d. 1994)

June 10 – Maurice Sendak, American children's author/illustrator (d. 2012)

June 11 – Queen Fabiola of Belgium, Spanish Queen Consort of King Baudouin of Belgium (d. 2014)

June 12 – Richard M. Sherman, American songwriter

June 13

Giacomo Biffi, Italian Cardinal (d. 2015)

John Forbes Nash, Jr., American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics (d. 2015)

June 14 – Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna aka Che Guevara, Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary (d. 1967)

June 16 – Annie Cordy, Belgian actress and singer

June 19

Tommy DeVito, American musician and former guitarist of 'The Four Seasons'

Nancy Marchand, American actress (d. 2000)

June 20 – Eric Dolphy, American jazz musician (d. 1964)

June 21

Margit Bara, Hungarian actress (d. 2016)

Wolfgang Haken, German mathematician

Fiorella Mari, Brazilian-Italian actress

Al Mengert, American former professional golfer

June 22

Alfred M. Gray, Jr., American general

Ralph Waite, American actor and political activist (d. 2014)

June 23

Paul Cholakis, Canadian football player

Klaus von Dohnányi, German politician

Mohammad Jusuf, Indonesian general (d. 2004)

June 24

Wolfgang Altenburg, German general

Lester Grinspoon, Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School

Lawrence A. Skantze, American four-star general

June 25

Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

Michel Brault, Canadian cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter, and film producer (d. 2013)

Edwin Mills, American economist

Moray Watson, English actor

June 26

Samuel Belzberg, Canadian businessman and philanthropist

Jacob Druckman, American composer (d. 1996)

Yoshiro Nakamatsu, Japanese inventor

Bill Sheffield, American Democratic politician

June 27

Edward B. Cottingham, American politician

Lin Ho-ming, Taiwanese former sports shooter

Antoinette Spaak, Belgian politician

June 28

Hans Blix, Swedish diplomat and politician

Harold Evans, British newspaper editor

June 29

Bill Bagley, American politician

Alfredo Biondi, Italian policitian and lawyer

Hans Cavalli-Björkman, Swedish lawyer

Jean-Louis Pesch, French writer

Gene Verble, American shortstop

June 30 – Tony Conyers, British journalist (d. 2011)

July

July 1

Birgitta Ulfsson, Finnish actress

Gunnar Möller, German television and film actor

Bucky McConnell, American former professional basketball player

Andreas Aarflot, Norwegian theologian and bishop emeritus in the Church of Norway

Charles James McDonnell, American bishop

July 2

Line Renaud, French actress

Sidney Kibrick, American former child actor

Jacques Bimbenet, French politician

Neil Dansie, former Australian first-class cricketer

Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr., American Korean War fighter ace and test pilot (d. 1958)

July 3

Evelyn Anthony, British female writer

Georges-Jean Arnaud, French author

Raymond Setlakwe, Canadian entrepreneur, lawyer, and former senator

July 4

Teofisto Guingona, Jr., 13th Vice President of the Philippines

Giampiero Boniperti, Italian football player

July 5

Juris Hartmanis, prominent computer scientist and computational theorist

Ernie Kell, American politician

Bruce Nickells, American harness racing driver and trainer

Lorraine Fisher, American professional baseball player (d. 2007)

Warren Oates, American actor (d. 1982)

July 6

Bernard Malgrange, French mathematician

Richard R. Larson, American politician

Néstor de Villa, Filipino actor (d. 2004)

July 7

Patricia Hitchcock, English actress

Henry Sommerville, Australian fencer

Søren Elung Jensen, Danish actor (d. 2017)

July 8

Pat Adams, American painter and printmaker

Balakh Sher Mazari, former Prime Minister of Pakistan

Gordon Hill, English football player

Kassai Ilona, Hungarian actress

Rudolf Kortokraks, German painter (d. 2014)

July 9 – Federico Bahamontes, Spanish road bicycle racer

July 10

John Glenn, Major League Baseball outfielder

Hubert Monteilhet, French writer

Herb Johnson, American football player

Moshe Greenberg, American Bible scholar (d. 2010)

July 11

Jane Gardam, English writer of children's and adult fiction

Greville Janner, British politician, barrister and writer (d. 2015)

Bobo Olson, American boxer (d. 2002)

July 12

Elias James Corey, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

Hayden White, American historian

S. R. Janakiraman, Carnatic vocalist and a musicologist

July 13

Al Rex, American musician

Mace Neufeld, American film and television producer

Edgar Espinoza, Venezuelan former sports shooter

Tommaso Buscetta, Italian mafioso (d. 2000)

Bob Crane, American actor (d. 1978)

Leroy Vinnegar, American musician (d. 1999)

July 14

Nancy Olson, American actress

Pal Benko, French chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems

Ezra Fleischer, Romanian dissident, later Israeli writer (d. 2006)

Bedabrata Barua, Indian politician

July 15

Viramachaneni Vimla Devi, Indian parliamentarian

Hans Andersson-Tvilling, Swedish ice hockey player

Tom Troupe, American actor and writer

A. Dean Jeffs, American politician

Nicholas Rescher, German-American philosopher

Carlo Lenci, Italian professional football player.

July 16

Concha Valdes Miranda, Cuban songwriter

Bella Davidovich, Jewish Soviet-born American pianist

Mehmet Dursun, Turkish former sports shooter

Robert Sheckley, American writer (d. 2005)

July 17

Robert Nixon, Canadian politician

David Leach, senior officer of the Royal Australian Navy

Vince Guaraldi, American jazz pianist (d. 1976)

Joe Morello, American jazz drummer (d. 2011)

July 18

Baddiewinkle, born Helen Ruth Elam Van Winkle, American internet personality

Manuel Guerra, Spanish swimmer

Simon Vinkenoog, Dutch poet and writer (d. 2009)

July 19 – Samuel John Hazo, American author

July 20

Belaid Abdessalam, Algerian politician

Peter Ind, British jazz double-bassist and record producer

Jan Meyers, American politician

Sheldon Solow, American real estate developer in New York

July 21

Anne Harris, Canadian sculptor

Jervis Percy, British modern pentathlete

July 22

Freda Dowie, English actress

Orson Bean, American film, television, and stage actor

Hugh Edighoffer, Canadian politician

Robert Bergland, American politician

Keter Betts, American jazz bassist (d. 2005)

July 23 – Vera Rubin, American astronomer (d. 2016)

July 25

Dolphy, Filipino actor and comedian (d. 2012)

Mario Montenegro, Filipino actor (d. 1988)

July 26

Francesco Cossiga, Italian politician; 8th President of Italy (d. 2010)

Joe Jackson, manager and father of Michael Jackson

Stanley Kubrick, American film director (d. 1999)

Bernice Rubens, British novelist (d. 2004)

July 29

Philippe Bär, Dutch Roman Catholic bishop

Li Ka-shing, Asia's & Hong Kong's richest person and major philanthropist

July 30

Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player (d. 2007)

Paul Bisciglia, French film actor (d. 2010)

July 31 – Gilles Carle, Canadian film director and screenwriter (d. 2009)

August

August 1

James R. Dixon, American professor (d. 2015)

Jack Shea, American film and television director (d. 2013)

August 2 – Yoko Tani, French-born Japanese actress and nightclub entertainer (d. 1999)

August 3

Henning Moritzen, Danish actor (d. 2012)

Cécile Aubry, French film actress, author, television screenwriter and director (d. 2010)

August 4

Udham Singh, member of Indian Hockey team and won three gold and a silver medals (d. 2000)

Flóra Kádár, Hungarian actress (d. 2002)

Gerard Damiano, American director of adult films (d. 2008)

August 5

Albrecht Dold, German mathematician (d. 2011)

Bogdan Maglich, American physicist

August 6

Michel Clouscard, French Marxist philosopher and sociologist (d. 2009)

Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987)

Jean Carrière, French writer (d. 2005)

August 7

Helen Vita, Swiss chanson singer, actress, and comedian (d. 2001)

James Randi, Canadian-American retired stage magician and scientific skeptic

August 8

Lubor Bárta, Czech composer (d. 1972)

Simón Díaz, Venezuelan folk composer and singer (d. 2014)

Jane Stoll, American professional baseball player (d. 2000)

August 9

Dolores Wilson, American coloratura soprano (d. 2010)

Milan Bjegojević, Yugoslav basketball player and coach (d. 2003)

Bob Cousy, American basketball player

Gerd Ruge, German journalist, author and filmmaker

August 10

Jimmy Dean, American musician, entrepreneur (d. 2010)

Eddie Fisher, American singer (d. 2010)

August 11 – Beniamino Andreatta, Italian economist and politician (d. 2007)

August 12 – Bob Buhl, American baseball player (d. 2001)

August 14

Jacques Rouffio, French film director and screenwriter (d. 2016)

Gunnar Andersson, football player from Sweden (d. 1969)

Joëlle Bernard, French film and television actressc (d. 1977)

August 15

Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan, Indian sitar player (d. 2017)

Simone Silva, Egyptian-born French film actress (d. 1957)

August 16

Levan Sanadze, Georgian athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres (d. 1998)

Shōji Yasui, Japanese actor (d. 2014)

George Ahlgren, American rower who competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics (d. 1951)

Eydie Gormé, American singer (d. 2013)

Ann Blyth, American actress and singer

August 17 – Willem Duys, Dutch radio and television presenter, tennis player and music producer (d. 2011)

August 18 – Marge Schott, American baseball team owner (d. 2004)

August 19 – Queen Ratna of Nepal

August 20 – Frank Rosolino, American jazz trombonist (d. 1978)

August 21

Wu Chuanyu, Indonesian-born Chinese swimmer who competed in the Olympic Games in 1948 and 1952 (d. 1954)

Chris Brasher, British track and field athlete, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon (d. 2003)

Art Farmer, American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player (d. 1999)

August 22

Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer (d. 2007)

Roberto Aizenberg, Argentine painter and sculptor (d. 1996)

August 23 – Marian Seldes, American actress (d. 2014)

August 25 – Herbert Kroemer, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

August 26 – Zdeněk Veselovský, Czech zoologist (d. 2006)

August 27 – Francesco Saverio Salerno, Italian Roman Catholic prelate (d. 2017)

August 31

James Coburn, American actor (d. 2002)

Jaime Cardinal Sin, Filipino Roman Catholic prelate (d. 2005)

September

September 3 – Gaston Thorn, Luxembourg Prime Minister (d. 2007)

September 4 – Dick York, American actor (d. 1992)

September 5

Damayanti Joshi, Indian classical dancer of Kathak (d. 2004)

Albert Mangelsdorff, German jazz musician (d. 2005)

September 6

Robert M. Pirsig, American philosopher and author

Yevgeny Svetlanov, Russian conductor and composer (d. 2002)

Sid Watkins, English neurosurgeon (d. 2012)

September 7 – Donald Henderson, American epidemiologist (d. 2016)

September 9 – Sol LeWitt, American artist (d. 2007)

September 11 – William X. Kienzle, American author (d. 2001)

September 12 – M. V. Rajasekharan, Indian member of Rajya Sabha

September 13 – Robert Indiana, American contemporary artist

September 15 – Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist (d. 1975)

September 17 – Roddy McDowall, British actor (d. 1998)

September 19 – Adam West, American actor; Batman television series

September 20

Donald Hall, American poet and United States Poet Laureate

Ruth Richard, American female professional baseball player

Kirsten Rolffes, Danish actress (d. 2000)

September 22 – James Lawson, African-American civil rights activist and minister

September 28 – Koko Taylor, African-American singer (d. 2009)

September 30 – Elie Wiesel, Rumanian-born Holocaust survivor, writer, and lecturer; recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2016)

October

October 1

Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian-born South African actor (d. 1973)

George Peppard, American film and television actor (d. 1994)

Zhu Rongji, former Premier of the People's Republic of China

October 2 – George "Spanky" McFarland, American actor and singer (d. 1993)

October 3 – Edward L. Moyers, American railroad executive (d. 2006)

October 7

Muriel Bevis, American female professional baseball player (d. 2002)

Sohrab Sepehri, Persian poet and painter (d. 1980)

October 8 – Bill Maynard, British actor

October 9 – Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finnish composer (d. 2016)

October 10 – Sheila F. Walsh, English novelist (d. 2009)

October 14 – Arnfinn Bergmann, Norwegian Olympic ski jumper (b. 2011)

October 15 – Paul Giambarba, American graphic designer

October 20 – Li Peng, former Premier of the People's Republic of China

October 21 – Whitey Ford, American baseball player

October 24 – Mohammad Beheshti, Chief Justice of Iran (d. 1981)

October 25

Jeanne Cooper, American actress (d. 2013)

Anthony Franciosa, American actor (d. 2006)

Marion Ross, American actress

October 30 – Daniel Nathans, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1999)

November

November 3

Osamu Tezuka, Japanese manga artist (d. 1989)

George Yardley, American basketball player (d. 2004)

Nick Holonyak, American electrical engineer and inventor

November 8 – Ursula Haverbeck, German historian

November 9

Anne Sexton, American poet (d. 1974)

Werner Veigel, German journalist and news presenter (d. 1995)

November 10 – Ennio Morricone, Italian composer

November 11 – Carlos Fuentes, Mexican writer (d. 2012)

November 16 – Clu Gulager, American actor and director

November 17

Arman, French artist (d. 2005)

Rance Howard, American actor

Anna Meyer, American female professional baseball player

November 18

Inge Bandekow, wife of German industrialist Harald Quandt (d. 1978)

Otar Gordeli, Georgian composer (d. 1994)

November 19 – Ina van Faassen, Dutch actress and comedian (d. 2011)

November 20 – Aleksey Batalov, Russian actor.

November 22

Timothy Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley (d. 2008)

Pat Smythe, British showjumper and author (d. 1996)

November 28

Arthur Melvin Okun, American economist (d. 1980)

Piet Steenbergen, Dutch footballer (d. 2010)

November 29 – Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (d. 2003)

November 30

Takako Doi, Japanese politician (d. 2014)

Joe B. Hall, American basketball coach

Peter Hans Kolvenbach, Dutch Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 2016)

December

December 2 – Guy Bourdin, French fashion photographer (d. 1991)

December 4 – Hebe de Bonafini, Argentine activist

December 7 – Noam Chomsky, American linguist

December 9 – Dick Van Patten, American actor (d. 2015)

December 12 – Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Swedish actor (d. 1998)

December 15 – Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (d. 2000)

December 16

Philip K. Dick, American author (d. 1982)

December 17 – George Lindsey, American actor (d. 2012)

December 20 – Donald Adams, British actor and opera singer (d. 1996)

December 25

Irish McCalla, American actress and model (d. 2002)

Dick Miller, American actor

December 26 – Martin Cooper, American "Father of the mobile phone"

December 30 – Bo Diddley, African-American musician (d. 2008)

December 31

Siné, French cartoonist (d. 2016)

Veijo Meri, Finnish writer (d. 2015)

Date unknown

Sidney Kimmel, Philanthropist and Film Producer Sidney Kimmel Entertainment

Norman Carlberg, American sculptor

George Parrish, retired American NASCAR Cup Series driver

January–March

January 1 – Loie Fuller, American dancer (b. 1862)

January 3

Dorothy Donnelly, American actress and songwriter (b. 1880)

Emily Stevens, American actress (b. 1882)

January 6 – Alvin Kraenzlein, American athlete (b. 1876)

January 11 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)

January 12 – Ruth Snyder, American murderer (executed) (b. 1895)

January 21

John de Robeck, British admiral (b. 1862)

Nikolai Astrup, Norwegian painter (b. 1880)

January 28 – Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Spanish novelist and screenwriter(b. 1867)

January 29 – Douglas Haig, British soldier (b. 1861)

January 30 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1867)

February 1 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1869)

February 4 – Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)

February 12 – Manfred von Clary-Aldringen, Austro-Hungarian nobleman and statesman, former Prime Minister of Austria (b. 1852)

February 15 – Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1852)

February 16 – Eddie Foy, American vaudevillian (b. 1856)

February 26 – Juan Vázquez de Mella, Spanish scholar and politician (b. 1861)

February 28 – Armando Diaz, Italian general and Marshal of Italy (b. 1861)

March 7 – Robert Abbe, American surgeon (b. 1851)

March 19 – Nora Bayes, American singer and actress (b. 1880)

March 21 – Edward Walter Maunder, British astronomer (b. 1851)

March 31 – Medardo Rosso, Italian sculptor (b. 1858)

April–June

April 2 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)

April 5 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer (b. 1890)

April 19 – Dorus Rijkers, famous Dutch sailor and savior of over 500 men, women and children (b. 1847)

April 22

Warner B. Bayley, United States Navy rear admiral (b. 1845)

Frank Currier, American actor (b. 1857)

April 25 – Floyd Bennett, American aviator (b. 1890)

April 27 – Alessandro Guidoni, Italian air force general (b. 1880)

May 8 – Clara Williams, American actress (b. 1888)

May 18 – Big Bill Haywood, American labor leader (b. 1869)

May 19

Max Scheler, German philosopher (b. 1874)

Henry F. Gilbert, American composer (b. 1868)

May 22 – Francisco López Merino, Argentine poet (b. 1904)

June 4 – Zhang Zuolin, Chinese warlord (b. 1873)

June 12 – Salvador Díaz Mirón, Mexican poet (b. 1853)

June 14 – Emmeline Pankhurst, British women's suffrage campaigner (b. 1858)

June 16 – Mark Keppel, Superintendent of Los Angeles County Schools (b. 1867)

June 18 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer (b. 1872)

June 22

A. B. Frost, American illustrator (b. 1851)

George Siegmann, American actor (b. 1882)

June 24 – Holbrook Blinn, American actor (b. 1872)

June 28 – Leo Ditrichstein, Austrian born actor and playwright (b. 1865)

July–September

July 1 – Frankie Yale, American gangster (b. 1893)

July 17

Álvaro Obregón, 39th President of Mexico (assassinated) (b. 1880)

Giovanni Giolitti, five times Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1842)

July 21

Mihail Savov, Bulgarian general (b. 1857)

Dame Ellen Terry, British stage actress (b. 1847)

July 22 – William M. Folger, American admiral (b. 1844)

August 8 – Stjepan Radić, Croatian politician (assassinated) (b. 1871)

August 12 – Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (b. 1854)

August 16 – Carlo del Prete, Italian aviator (b. 1897)

August 27 – Émile Fayolle, French general (b. 1852)

August 30

Hugh Evan-Thomas, British admiral (b. 1862)

Wilhelm Wien, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)

September 9 – Urban Shocker, American baseball player (b. 1890)

September 13 – Italo Svevo, Italian writer and businessman (b. 1861)

October–December

October 1 – Cecilia Eusepi, Italian religious leader and blessed (b. 1910)

October 8 – Larry Semon, American film actor (b. 1889)

October 13 – Dagmar of Denmark, later Maria Fyodorovna, wife of Tsar Alexander III and Empress Consort of Russia (b. 1847)

October 22 – Andrew Fisher, 5th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)

October 24 – Arthur Bowen Davies, American artist (b. 1863)

October 30 – Robert Lansing, U.S. Secretary of State (b. 1864)

October 31 – John William Wood, Sr., North Carolinian politician, founder of Benson, North Carolina (b. 1855)

November 4 – Arnold Rothstein, Jewish-American businessman and gangster (b. 1882)

November 5 – Vlasios Tsirogiannis, Greek general (b. 1872)

November 10 – Alexander Trepov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Empire (b. 1862)

November 12 – Oskar Victorovich Stark, Russian admiral and explorer (b. 1846)

November 13 – Enrico Cecchetti, Italian ballet dancer (b. 1850)

November 17 – Lala Lajpat Rai "The Lion of Punjab", a leader of the Indian independence movement (b. 1865)

November 18 – Mauritz Stiller, Finnish screenwriter and director (b. 1883)

November 21 – Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line, (b. 1858)

November 26 – Reinhard Scheer, German admiral (b. 1863)

November 27 – Frank Hedges Butler, British wine merchant and foundering member of the Aero Club of Great Britain (b. 1855)

December 1

Arthur Gore, British tennis player (b. 1868)

José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (b. 1888)

December 2 – Hallam Tennyson, second Governor-General of Australia (b. 1852)

December 10 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect (b. 1868)

December 11 – Lewis Latimer, American inventor (b. 1848)

December 14

Theodore Roberts, American actor (b. 1861)

Pierre Ruffey, French general (b. 1851)

December 16 – Elinor Wylie, American poet and novelist (b. 1885)

December 17 – Eglantyne Jebb, English human rights activist and co-founder of Save the Children (b. 1876)

December 21 – Luigi Cadorna, Italian general (b. 1850)

December 25 – Fred Thomson, American silent film actor (b. 1890)

Nobel Prizes

Physics – Owen Willans Richardson

Chemistry – Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus

Physiology or Medicine – Charles Jules Henri Nicolle

Literature – Sigrid Undset

Peace – not awarded

In fiction

This year is the setting of the video game Blood (1997) retroactively dated in the game's sequel Blood II: The Chosen (1998)

This is the year that the Stargate is discovered in Giza, Egypt, near the Great Pyramids, as seen in the film Stargate (1994).