1931

January 2

• South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. [429]

January 4

• German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. [429]

January 6

• Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. [429]

January 9

• Claude Anet [Jean Schopfer] French writer (La fille perdue), dies. [1]

January 11

• Oscar Fetras composer, dies at age 76. [1]

January 14

• William Ernst Johnson British mathematician, dies. [1]

January 21

• Felix Blumenfeld composer, dies at age 67. [1]

January 22

• French government of Steeg falls. [1]
• Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. [5] [429]
• VARA begins experimental TV broadcast in Diamantbeurs Amsterdam. [1]

January 25

• Mohandas Gandhi is released again in India. [429]

January 26

• Lynn Riggs' "Green Grow the Lilacs" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

January 27

• Pierre Laval forms a government in France. [429]

January 30

• The movie City Lights is released to theaters, starring Charlie Chaplin. [1] [429]

January 31

• Philip Barry's "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

February 2

• First siyyum of Talmud celebrated by Daf Yomi students. [1]
• First use of a rocket to deliver mail (Austria). [1]
• Theodor Batthynyi Hungarian contra-revolutionary, dies at age 71. [1]

February 3

• Arkansas legislature passes motion to pray for soul of H L Mencken after he calls the state the "apex of moronia". [1]
• Hans Schardt Swiss geologist, dies at age 72. [1]
• Hawke's Bay earthquake: Much of the New Zealand city of Napier is destroyed in an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale. [429]

February 5

• Maxine Dunlap becomes first US women to earn a glider pilot license. [1]

February 7

• Ion Vidu composer, dies at age 67. [1]
• US opera, "Peter Ibbetson", by Deems Taylor premieres at Metropolitan Opera New York City. [1]

February 8

• Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000. [1]

February 10

• New Delhi becomes the capital of India. [1] [429]
• Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Harts premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

February 12

• Radio Vaticana first broadcasts. [429]

February 14

• Spanish government of General Damasco Berenguer falls. [1]
• The original film version of Dracula with Bela Lugosi is released to theaters. [429]

February 16

• Dirk Schäfer Dutch pianist/composer (Klavier), dies at age 57. [1]
• Extreme right wing Pehr Evind Svinhufvud is elected President of Finland. [1] [429]

February 21

• Alka Seltzer introduced. [1]
• Peruvian revolutionaries hijack a Ford Trimotor aeroplane and demand that the pilot drop propaganda leaflets over Lima. [429]

February 28

• Oswald Mosley founds his New Party. [1]

March 3

• Cab Calloway records "Minnie the Moocher" (Jazz's first million seller). [1]

March 4

• West Indies beat Australia for the first time, by 30 runs at SCG. [1]
• The British viceroy of India and Mohandas Gandhi negotiate. [429]

March 5

• Gandhi and British viceroy Lord Irwin sign pact. [1]

March 7

• Akseli V Gallen-Kallela Finnish painter/illustrator, dies at age 65. [1]
• Theo van Doesburg [Christian Kupper], painter/architect, dies at age 47. [1]
• The new House of Representatives opens in Helsinki, Finland. [429]

March 8

• Clara Kathleen Rogers composer, dies at age 87. [1]

March 9

• Ida B Wells-Barnett famous black, dies in Chicago at age 78. [1]

March 10

• British Labour party removes fascist sir Oswald Mosley. [1]

March 11

• The Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR programme, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union. [429]

March 14

• First theater built for rear movie projection (New York City, New York). [1]

March 16

• Genootschap Onze Taal (Our Language) organizes (Netherlands). [1]

March 17

• Stalin throws Krupskaya Lenin out of Central Committee. [1]

March 18

• First electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick). [1]
• Juan Bautista Aznar becomes premier of Spain. [1]

March 19

• Nevada legalizes casino gaming and most other forms of gambling. Nevada Governor Fred Balzar signs into law Assembly Bill 98, allowing faro, monte, roulette, keno, fan-tan, twenty-one, blackjack, seven-and-a-half, big injun, klondike, craps, stud poker, draw poker, or any card, dice, machine, at licensed establishments. Licensing fees for social games is set at US$25 per table per month, $50 for each mercantile game, $10 for each slot machine. Legal gambling age set at 21. [1] [5] [39] [80.303] [86.6] [187.355] (March 17 [429])

March 20

• Bishop Schreiber warns against national-socialism in Berlin. [1]

March 21

• KRO-broadcast studio initiated in Hilversum Holland. [1]

March 23

• Indian revolutionary leaders Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev are hanged by the British Government. [429]

March 25

• Hal Kemp and his Orchestra record Whistles, with Skinnay Ennis. [1]

March 26

• Iraq and Trans-Jordan sign peace treaty. [1]
• New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capitol of British-Indies. [1]

March 27

• Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor. [1]

March 31

• An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua, killing 2,000 people. [429]

April 1

• Earthquake devastates Managua Nicaragua, kills 2,000. [1]

April 2

• Teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga Tennessee. [1]

April 4

• Andre Michelin CEO (Michelin Tires), dies. [1]
• George Whitefield Chadwick composer, dies at age 76. [1]

April 6

• First broadcast of "Little Orphan Annie" on NBC-radio. [1]
• The Portuguese government declares martial law in Madeira and in the Azores because of an attempted military takeover in Funchal. [429]
• Giuseppi Radiciotti composer, dies at age 73. [1]

April 8

• "White Horse Inn" opens in London. [1]
• Dmitri Shostakovich's ballet "The Arrow", premieres. [1]

April 9

• Argentinian anarchist Severino Digiovanni is executed. [429]
• Paul Antonin Vidal composer, dies at age 67. [1]

April 12

• Spanish voters reject the monarchy. [1]

April 14

• The Second Spanish Republic is proclaimed in Madrid. [429]

April 15

• The first walk across America backwards begins. [1]
• The Castellemmarese War ends with the assassination of Joe "The Boss" Masseria, briefly leaving Salvatore Maranzano as capo di tutti i capi ("boss of all bosses") and undisputed ruler of the American Mafia. [429]

April 22

• Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the USA recognize the Spanish Republic. [429]
• Egypt and Iraq sign peace treaty. [1]

April 27

• 100 degrees F (38 degrees C), Pahala Hawaii (state record). [1]

April 30

• Disney completes the Mickey Mouse film The Moose Hunt. Pluto also appears, and is first called by name. Pluto speaks for the first and only time in his career. [6]

May 1

• U.S. President Herbert Hoover officially dedicates New York City's Empire State Building. At 102 stories and 1,250 feet high it is the world's tallest skyscraper (a record held until 1972). [1] [5] [129] [429]
• Norway claims Peter I Island. [1]
• Singer Kate Smith begins her long-running radio program on CBS. [1]

May 3

• Frank Hoyt Losey composer, dies at age 59. [1]
• Otto Winter-Hjelm composer, dies at age 93. [1]

May 4

• Kemal Atatürk is re-elected president of Turkey. [1] [429]

May 5

• Ismet Inönü forms new government in Turkey. (7th government) [429]

May 8

• Operette "Land of Smiles" premieres in London. [1]

May 10

• Golf ball size hail falls in Burlington New Jersey. [1]

May 11

• The Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, goes bankrupt, beginning the banking collapse in Central Europe that causes a worldwide financial meltdown. [1] [429]

May 12

• Eugene-Auguste Ysaye composer, dies at age 72. [1]

May 13

• Josif Marinkovic composer, dies at age 79. [1]
• Paul Doumer is elected president of France. [1] [429]

May 15

• Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Quadragesimo anno. [1]

May 17

• Johan [Eliza J] de Master art critic/writer, dies. [1]
• Timothy Cole wood engraver, dies. [1]

May 19

• Ironclad cruiser Germany launched in Kiel. [1]

May 21

• Belgian Government of Jaspar falls. [1]

May 22

• Canned rattlesnake meat first goes on sale in Florida. [1]

May 23

• Whipsnade Zoo opens in Whipsnade Beds England. [1]

May 24

• First air-conditioned train installed-B&O Railroad. [1]

May 27

• First full scale wind tunnel for testing airplanes, Langley Field Virginia. [1]
• Piccard and Knipfer make first flight into stratosphere, by balloon; first use of pressurized cabin in a balloon. [1]

June 5

• German Chancellor Dr. Heinrich Brüning visits London, where he warns the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald that the collapse of the Austrian banking system, caused by the bankruptcy of the Creditanstalt, has left the entire German banking system on the verge of collapse. [429]

June 6

• G Neujmin discovers asteroid #1210 Morosovia. [1]

June 9

• First showing of a Donald Duck cartoon. [1]
• C Jackson discovers asteroid #1197 Rhodesia. [1]
• Goddard patents rocket-fueled aircraft design. [1]

June 14

• The overloaded pleasure craft Saint-Philibert, carrying trippers home to Nantes from Île de Noirmoutier, sinks at the mouth of the river Loire in France; over 450 drown. [1] [429]

June 19

• First photoelectric cell installed commercially West Haven Connecticut. [1]
• In an attempt to stop the banking crisis in Central Europe from causing a worldwide financial meltdown, President Herbert Hoover issues the Hoover Moratorium. [429]

June 23

• Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to accomplish the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane. [1] [429]

June 29

• 109 degrees F (43 degrees C), Monticello, Florida (state record). [1]

July 1

• Ice vending machines introduced in Los Angeles 25 pounds, 15 cents. [1]
• Boeing Air Transport begin service (later called United Airlines). [5]
• Milan Central Station officially opens in Italy. [429]

July 16

• Emperor Haile Selassie signs the first constitution of Ethiopia. [429]
• The Huang He floods kill between 850,000 and 4,000,000 people (the deadliest historic natural disaster). [429]

July 18

• First air-conditioned ship (Mariposa) launched. [1]

July 21

• Reno race track, becomes first in US to use daily double wagering. [1]

July 23

• Ashmore and Cartier Island in Indian Ocean transferred to Australia. [1]

July 26

• The millennialist Bible Student movement adopts the name Jehovah's Witnesses at a meeting in Columbus, Ohio. [429]

July 28

• US Congress makes "The Star-Spangled Banner" our second national anthem. [1]

July 29

• Germany declares banking holiday. [421.68]

August 15

• Ernest Lassy completes longest canoe journey without port (6,102 mi). [1]
• Roy Wilkins joined NAACP as assistant secretary. [1]

August 24

• The Labour Government of Ramsay MacDonald resigns in Britain, replaced by a National Government of people drawn from all parties, also under MacDonald. [429]

August 31

• The Yangtze River floods, leaving 23 million homeless. [429]

September 10

• The worst hurricane in Belize history kills an estimated 1,500 people. [429]

September 15

• Invergordon Mutiny: Strikes are called in the British Royal Navy due to decreased salaries. [1] [429]

September 16

• Death by hanging of Omar Mukhtar, the leader of Libyan resistance (born 1862?). [429]

September 18

• Japan stages the Mukden Incident as a pretext to occupy Manchuria. [429]
• Geli Raubal is found shot dead in Adolf Hitler's apartment. [429]

September 21

• Great Britain suspends gold payments. [1] [500.F1] (September 22 [429])
• Denmark officially suspends the gold standard. [437.80]

October 2

• Pope Pius XI encyclical On the economic crisis. [1]

October 4

• Dick Tracy, a comic strip detective character created by cartoonist Chester Gould, makes its debut appearance in the Detroit Mirror newspaper. [1] [429]

October 5

• First nonstop transpacific flight, Japan to Washington (Herndon and Pangborn). [1]

October 7

• First infra-red photograph, Rochester, New York. [1]

October 10

• AJ Bennett hits H Garbarino for first scoring pass in Canada's Big 4. [1]

October 12

• First International Conference on Calendar Reform. [1]

October 16

• Trunk murderess Winnie Ruth Judd chops first victim. [1]

October 17

• American gangster Al Capone is convicted of US tax evasion in Chicago, Illinois, and sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined US$80,000. [1] [5] [129] [429]

November 3

• First commercially produced synthetic rubber manufactured. [1]

November 4

• Inauguration of the Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway station by the Maharaja of Travancore Sree Chithira Thirunal. [429]

November 7

• The Chinese Soviet Republic is proclaimed by Mao Zedong. [429]

November 8

• French police launch a large scale raid against Corsican bandits. [429]
• The Panama Canal is closed for a couple of weeks due to damage caused by a number of earthquakes. [429]

November 11

• Cornerstones laid for Opera House and Veterans Building. [1]

November 13

• Hattie Caraway (Democrat-Alaska) appointed first US woman senator. [1]

November 20

• Commercial teletype service begins. [1]

November 21

• Ali Fethi Okyar forms new government in Turkey. (3rd government) [429]

December 1

• In Canada, the Ottawa branch of the British Royal Mint begins operation as the Royal Canadian Mint, under the control of the Canadian Finance Department. [3]

December 2

• Paul-Marie-Theodore-Vincent D'indy French count/composer, dies at age 80. [1]

December 3

• Alka Seltzer goes on sale. [1]

December 4

• "Frankenstein" opens at Mayfair. [1]

December 8

• Coaxial cable patented. [1]
• Carl Friedrich Goerdeler is appointed Reich Price Commissioner in Germany to enforce the deflationary policies of the Brüning government. [429]

December 9

• Benn W Levy's "Springtime for Henry" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]
• Japanese army attacks Chinese province of Jehol. [1]
• Spain becomes a republic. [1]

December 10

• American Jane Addams named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize. [1] [429]
• Manuel Azaña becomes premier and Niceto Alcalá-Zamora is elected President of Spain. [1] [429]
• Max Elskamp Belgian author/poet (Six Chansons), dies at age 69. [1]

December 11

• The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa. [1] [429]
• Japan leaves the Gold Standard. [1]

December 12

• Japanese Government of Imukai forms. [1]

December 13

• Wakatsuki Reijiro resigns as Prime Minister of Japan. [429]

December 14

• First assembly of Anton Musserts NSB in Utrecht. [1]

December 16

• German SPD begins Eiserne Front against fascism. [1]
• Gustave J Waffelaert Flemish theologist/bishop of Bruges, dies at age 82. [1]

December 19

• Joseph A Lyons (Conservative) becomes premier of Australia. [1]

December 21

• John-French Cantré Flemish wood carver/painter/cartoonist, dies at age 45. [1]

December 25

• New York's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio. [1]

December 26

• George/Ira Gershwin's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical play "Of Thee I Sing" premieres on Broadway. [1]

December 27

• Peter Christian Lutkin composer, dies at age 73. [1]
• Walter Courvoisier composer, dies at age 56. [1]

December 28

• Lin-Sen succeeds Chiang Kai-shek as President of Nanjing-China. [1]

December 29

• Identification of heavy water publicly announced, HC Urey. [1]

December 30

• Tyrone Power Sr actor (Big Trial, Test of Donald Norton), dies at age 62. [1]