From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1931
(
MCMXXXI
) was a
common year starting on Thursday
in the
Gregorian calendar
, the 931st year of the
2nd millennium
, the 31st year of the
20th century
, and the 2nd year of the
1930s
decade.
- January 27
?
Pierre Laval
forms a government in France
- February 16
?
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
is elected president of Finland
- March 31
? An
earthquake
destroys
Managua
,
Nicaragua
, killing 2,000 people
- April 25
? The automobile manufacturer
Porsche
is founded by
Ferdinand Porsche
in
Stuttgart
- May 1
? Construction of the
Empire State Building
is completed in
New York City
- June 3
?
Salvador Dali
's
The Persistence of Memory
is put on display for the first time
- July 9
? Irish racing driver
Kaye Don
breaks the world
water speed record
at Lake Garda, Italy
[1]
- July 20
? A
violent tornado strikes
the city of
Lublin
,
Poland
.
- August ?
Warner Brothers
releases the first
Merrie Melodies
cartoon
- September- The
1931 Belize hurricane
strikes Belize (then British Honduras), killing over 2,500 people
- September 22
? The
United Kingdom
abandons the
gold standard
- October 5
– American aviators
Clyde Edward Pangborn
and Hugh Herndon, Jr. complete the first
non-stop flight
across the Pacific Ocean. They travel from
Misawa, Japan
to
East Wenatchee, Washington
in 41½ hours.
[2]
- November 7
? The
Chinese Soviet Republic
is proclaimed by
Mao Zedong
- December 10
?
Niceto Alcala-Zamora
is elected president of the
Spanish Republic
- January 23
?
Anna Pavlova
, Russian ballerina (b.
1881
)
- February 11
–
Charles Algernon Parsons
, British inventor (b.
1854
)
- February 26
–
Otto Wallach
, German chemist,
Nobel Prize
laureate (b.
1847
)
- March 7
–
Akseli Gallen-Kallela
, Finnish painter (b.
1865
)
- April 8
–
Erik Axel Karlfeldt
, Swedish writer,
Nobel Prize
laureate (b.
1864
)
- April 26
–
George Herbert Mead
, American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist (b.
1863
)
- May 9
–
Albert Abraham Michelson
, German-born physicist,
Nobel Prize
laureate (b.
1852
)
- June 2
–
Joseph W. Farnham
, American screenwriter (b.
1884
)
- July 12
–
Nathan Soderblom
, Swedish archbishop, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize
(b.
1866
)
- August 26
–
Hamaguchi Osachi
, 27th
Prime Minister of Japan
(b.
1870
)
- September 12
–
Joseph Le Brix
, French aviator and naval officer (b.
1899
)
- October 21
–
Arthur Schnitzler
, Austrian author and dramatist (b.
1862
)
- November 13
–
Ivan Fichev
, Bulgarian general, minister of defense, military historian, and academician (b.
1860
)
- December 9
–
Antonio Salandra
, Italian statesman, 21st
Prime Minister of Italy
(b.
1853
)
- December 27
–
Jose Figueroa Alcorta
, 16th
President of Argentina
(b.
1860
)
- Nobel Prize in Physics
– not awarded
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry
won by
Carl Bosch
, German
chemist
and
engineer
, and
Friedrich Bergius
, German chemist
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
won by
Otto Heinrich Warburg
,
German
chemist
, (
1883
?
1970
)
- Nobel Prize in Literature
won by
Erik Axel Karlfeldt
,
Swedish
poet
- Nobel Peace Prize
won by
Jane Addams
,
American
activist, and
Nicholas Murray Butler
, American philosopher, diplomat, and educator