The year in history
1916
Someone born in 1916 turns 110 in 2026
1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 1916th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 916th year of the 2nd millennium, the 16th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1910s decade. As of the start of 1916, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
What happened in 1916
The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored and cooled.
The Romanian Association football club Sportul Studențesc is founded in Bucharest.
The toggle light switch is invented, by William J. Newton and Morris Goldberg.
Britain and France conclude the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement, which is to divide Arab areas of the Ottoman Empire, following the conclusion of WWI and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, into French and British spheres of influence.
WWI: The Battle of Kostiuchnówka concludes in Galicia (modern-day Ukraine) with Russian Imperial troops breaking through the line, forcing the Polish Legions and supporting Hungarian troops to retreat, with the Poles enduring 2,000 casualties.
5 – WWI: Sinai and Palestine Campaign – Battle of Romani: British Imperial troops secure victory over a joint Ottoman-German force.
WWI: Peru declares neutrality.
WWI: East African Campaign – Dar es Salaam surrenders to British Empire forces, securing them control of the Central Line of railway through German East Africa.
Hipólito Yrigoyen is elected President of Argentina.
Everett massacre: An armed confrontation in Everett, Washington, between local authorities and members of the Industrial Workers of the World results in seven deaths.
"White Friday": In the Dolomites, 100 avalanches bury at least 2,000 Austrian and Italian soldiers.
The 1916 Summer Olympics are cancelled in Berlin, Germany.
Famous people born in 1916
Giuseppe Aquari
Italian film cinematographer (d. 1982)
January 1 →
Richard Münch
German actor (d. 1987)
January 10 →
Betty Field
American actress (d. 1973)]
February 8 →
Retta Scott
first woman to receive screen credit as an animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios (d. 1990)
February 23 →
Jacque Fresco
American futurist and designer (d. 2017)
March 13 →
Sam Beazley
British actor (d. 2017)
March 29 →
Lee Jung-seob
Korean oil painter (d. 1956)
April 10 →
Walter Berg
German footballer (d. 1949)
April 21 →
Jane Jacobs
née Butzner, American-born urban activist (d. 2006)
May 4 →
Lenka Reinerová
Czech writer (d. 2008)
May 17 →
Robert F. Furchgott
American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2009)
June 4 →
Herbert Friedman
American physicist (d. 2000)
June 21 →
Olivia de Havilland
British-American film actress (d. 2020)
July 1 →
Werner G. Scharff
American arts patron and fashion designer (d. 2006)
July 7 →
Sudono Salim
Indonesian-Chinese businessman (d. 2012)
July 16 →
Sandra Gould
American actress (d. 1999)
July 23 →
Shigeo Arai
Japanese freestyle swimmer (d. 1944)
August 8 →
Consuelo Velázquez
Mexican songwriter (d. 2005)
August 21 →
Dorothy Cheney
American tennis player (d. 2014)
September 1 →
Haider Raza
2nd Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Air Force (d. 1998)
September 23 →
C. Everett Koop
United States Surgeon General (d. 2013)
October 14 →
Bill Melendez
American animator (d. 2008)
November 15 →
John C. Harkness
American architect (d. 2016)
November 30 →
Maurice Wilkins
New Zealand-born physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
December 15 →