1921

Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s - 1920s - 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s

Years: 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 - 1921 - 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926

Events

• January 2 - The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
• January 2 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
• January 20 - Republic of Turkey is declared
• February 25 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by the Soviet Russia.
• March 8 - Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
• March 13 - Mongolia declares its independence from China
• March 18 - The second Peace of Riga between Poland and Soviet Union ending Polish-Soviet war. Despite the recent Polish successes, Soviets annex Ukraine and Belarus.
• April 11 - The Emirate of Transjordan is created.
• May 19 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the United States Congress establishing national quotas on immigration.
• May 24 - Elections are held for the first time for the new Northern Ireland Parliament.
• July 11 - The Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and the Irish forces.
• July 18 - The first BCG vaccination against tuberculosis
• July 27 - Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
• August - The United States formally ends World War I, declaring a peace with Germany
• September 7 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant is held.
• November 11 - During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding.
• December 6 - The Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the Irish Free State is signed in London. See Ireland/History
• December 29 - William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Canada's tenth prime minister.

• Change of US presidency from Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) to Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
• Discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto by Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip, and J.J.R. Macleod

The year in topics

• 1921 in film
• February 20 - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse film, starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres.
• 1921 in literature
• 1921 in music
• 1921 in science
• 1921 in sports

Births

• January 5 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, writer (d. 1990)
• January 5 - Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg
• January 6 - Louis Harris, pollster
• January 19 - Patricia Highsmith, author (d. 1995)
• January 20 - Bernt Engelmann, author (d. 1994)
• January 27 - Donna Reed, actress (d. 1986)
• January 31 - Carol Channing, actress
• January 31 - Mario Lanza, singer, actor (d. 1959)
• February 4 - Betty Friedan, feminist
• February 11 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress.
• February 11 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician.
• February 14 - Hugh Downs, game show host, journalist
• February 24 - Abe Vigoda, actor
• February 25 - Pierre Laporte, statesman, murdered by FLQ terrorists
• March 8 - Cyd Charisse, actress, dancer
• March 12 - Giovanni Agnelli, manager of Fiat
• March 12 - Gordon MacRae, singer, actor (d. 1986)
• March 20 - Rudolf Noelte, film director (d. 2002)
• March 20 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe, singer (d. 1973)
• March 25 - Simone Signoret, actress (d. 1985)
• March 28 - Dirk Bogarde, actor (d. 1999)
• April 15 - Georgi Beregovoi, cosmonaut
• May 2 - Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker.
• May 6 - Erich Fried, author (d. 1988)
• May 9 - Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter with White Rose in Nazi Germany
• May 11 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, politician
• May 12 - Joseph Beuys, artist (d. 1986)
• May 12 - Farley Mowat, writer, naturalist
• May 19 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
• May 20 - Wolfgang Borchert, lyricist, narrator and dramatist (d. 1947)
• May 20 - Hal Newhouser, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1998)
• May 21 - Andrei Sakharov, physicist, human rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Prize (d. 1989)
• May 23 - James Blish, US science fiction author
• May 28 - Heinz G. Konsalik, author (d. 1999)
• June 10 - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
• June 26 - Violette Szabo, SOE agent, WW II heroine (d. 1945)
• July 4 - Tibor Varga, violinist, conductor and pedagogue
• July 17 - Hannah Szenes, WW II heroine executed by the Nazis (d. 1944)
• October 13 - Yves Montand, French singer and actor
• October 25 - King Michael of Romania
• November 5 - Princess Fawzia of Egypt
• December 26 - Steve Allen, actor, composer, comedian, author

Deaths

• February 8 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist
• March 2 - King Nicholas of Montenegro
• June 5 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright
• September 11 - Subramanya Bharathy, Tamil Indian poet
• October 25 - Bat Masterson, "Wild West" legend
• December 16 - Camille Saint-Saens, composer

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Albert Einstein
• Chemistry - Frederick Soddy
• Medicine - not awarded
• Literature - Anatole France
• Peace - Karl Hjalmar Branting Christian Lous Lange

Referenced By