The year in history
1931
Someone born in 1931 turns 95 in 2026
1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1931st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 931st year of the 2nd millennium, the 31st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1930s decade.
What happened in 1931
South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
Charlie Chaplin comedy drama film City Lights receives its public premiere at the Los Angeles Theater with Albert Einstein as guest of honor. Contrary to the current trend in cinema, it is a silent film, but with a score by Chaplin. Critically and commercially successful from the start, it will place consistently in lists of films considered the best of all time.
The British viceroy of India and Mohandas Gandhi sign the Gandhi–Irwin Pact.
The Portuguese government declares martial law in Madeira and in the Azores, because of the Madeira uprising in Funchal.
The automobile manufacturer Porsche is founded by Ferdinand Porsche in Stuttgart.
Ådalen shootings: Five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, when soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.
Anti-Chinese rioting occurs in Pyongyang. Approximately 127 Chinese people are killed, 393 wounded, and a considerable number of properties are destroyed by Korean residents.
The rebuilt Milano Centrale railway station officially opens in Italy.
Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck: Two Berlin police officers are killed by Communists.
The United Kingdom abandons the gold standard.
The Chinese Soviet Republic is proclaimed by Mao Zedong.
Carl Friedrich Goerdeler is appointed Reich Price Commissioner, in Germany to enforce the deflationary policies of the Brüning government.
Famous people born in 1931
Mona Hammond
Jamaican-born British actress (d. 2022)
January 1 →
Bill Graham
German concert promoter (d. 1991)
January 8 →
Mordecai Richler
Canadian author (d. 2001)
January 27 →
James Dean
American actor (d. 1955)
February 8 →
Josephine Tewson
British actress (d. 2022)
February 26 →
Janosch
German children's author and illustrator
March 11 →
Aleksei Gubarev
Russian cosmonaut (d. 2015)
March 29 →
Luis Cabral
1st President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2009)
April 11 →
Frank Auerbach
German-born painter (d. 2024)
April 29 →
András Hajnal
Hungarian mathematician (d. 2016)
May 13 →
John Schrieffer
American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019)
May 31 →
Junior Walker
American saxophonist, singer (d. 1995)
June 14 →
Graziella Galvani
Italian stage, television and film actress (d. 2022)
June 27 →
Antonella Lualdi
Italian actress and singer (d. 2023)
July 6 →
David M. Walsh
American cinematographer
July 23 →
Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Saudi prince and politician (d. 2018)
August 15 →
Jacques Braunstein
Romanian-born Venezuelan economist, publicist and disc jockey (d. 2009)
August 30 →
Silvia Pinal
Mexican actress and politician (d. 2024)
September 12 →
Elizabeth Blackadder
Scottish painter (d. 2021)
September 24 →
Jack Berry
American sports journalist
October 7 →
Klaus Hasselmann
German oceanographer, climate modeller and Nobel Prize laureate
October 25 →
Peter Collins
British racing driver (d. 1958)
November 6 →
Muhammad Jamiruddin Sircar
Bangladeshi barrister and politician (d. 2026)
December 1 →
Abdullah H. Abdur-Razzaq
African-American activist and Muslim (d. 2014)
December 20 →