1928
Years:
1925 1926 1927 - 1928(MCMXXVIII) - 1929 1930 1931 Decades:
1890s 1900s 1910s - 1920s - 1930s 1940s 1950sCenturies:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1928 by topic: Arts Architecture - Art - Film - Literature - Music - Television Science and Technology Archaeology - Aviation - Rail transport - Radio - Science Countries Australia - Canada - India - Ireland - South Africa Other Births - Deaths - Sport - State leaders - Religious leaders - Video gaming
1928 was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January-May
- January 6-7 - River Thames floods in London - 14 drowned
- January 7 - Moat at the Tower of London, previously drained in 1843, is completely refilled by a tidal wave
- January 12 - US murderer Ruth Snyder executed at Ossining
- January 17 - OGPU arrests Lev Trotsky in Moscow; he assumes a status of passive resistance and is exiled to Turkestan
- February - Kurume University (Japan) established
- February 11 - 1928 Winter Olympic Games open in St. Moritz, Switzerland
- February 12 - Heavy hails kill 11 in England
- February 25 - Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, DC becomes the first holder of a Television license from the Federal Radio Commission.
- March 12 - Malta becomes a British Dominion
- March 12 - In California, the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles fails killing 400
- March 21 - Charles Lindbergh is presented the Congressional Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
- April 10 - Pineapple Primary - Republican Party primary elections in Chicago preceded by assassinations and bombings
- April 12 - Bomb attack against the King of Italy in Milan - 17 bystanders dead
- April 22 - Earthquake destroys Corinth - 200.000 buildings destroyed
- May 15-17 - Christian X of Denmark visits Finland
- May 15 - Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, commenced operations
- May 15 - Release of the animated short Plane Crazy, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
- May 23 - Bomb attack against Italian consulate in Buenos Aires - 22 dead, 41 injured
- May 24 - Airship Italia crashes on the North Pole; one of the occupants is Italian general Umberto Nobile
- May 30 - A rescue expedition leaves for the North Pole
June-August
- June 11 - Medical doctor's strike begins in Vienna
- June 14 - Students take over the medical wing of Rosario University in Argentina
- July 6 - The world's largest hailstone falls in Potter, Nebraska.
- July 12 - Mexican Aviator Emilio Carranza dies in a solo plane crash in the New Jersey Pine Barrens while returning from a goodwill flight to New York City.
- June 17 - Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to successfully pilot an Aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she succeeded the next day).
- July 17 - Jose del León Toral assassinates Alvaro Obregon, president of Mexico
- June 20 - Shooting incident in Yugoslavian parliament - Punica Rasic shoots 3 opposition representatives and injures three others
- June 24 - Swedish aeroplane rescues part of Italian North Pole expedition, including Umberto Nobile. Soviet icebreaker Krasin saves the rest July 12
- July 16 - Leon Toral assassinates Álvaro Obregón, President of Mexico
- July 25 - USA recalls its troops from China
- July 27 - Tich Freeman becomes only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before end of July.
- July 28 - Official opening ceremony of the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.
- August 16 - Murderer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, DC after killing about 20 people.
- August 25 - Ahmet Zogu proclaims himself King Zog I of Albania; he is crowned September 1
- August 28 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris - it was the first treaty which outlawed aggressive war.
September-December
- September 1 - Richard Byrd leaves New York for Arctic
- September 3 - Alexander Fleming discovers Penicillin
- September 15 - Tich Freeman sets all-time record for number of wickets taken in an English Cricket season.
- September 16 - The 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane kills at least 2,500 people in Florida.
- October 2 Saint Josemaria Escriva, founds Opus Dei
- October 7 - Haile Selassie crowned king (not yet emperor) of Abyssinia
- October 12 - An Iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston.
- November 3 - cartoon star Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie, an animated short produced by Walt Disney.
- November 4 - At Park Central Hotel in Manhattan, Arnold Rothstein, New York City's most notorious gambler, is shot to death over a Poker game.
- November 6 - Swedes start a tradition of eating Gustavus Adolphus pastries to commemorate the king.
- November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1928: Republican Herbert Hoover wins by a wide margin over Democrat Alfred E. Smith.
- November 10 - Hirohito was enthroned as Emperor of Japan.
- November 11 - US gambling king Arnold Rothstein is shot to death in New York City
- December 3 - In Rio de Janeiro, a Seaplane sunk near Cap Arcona with Alberto Santos-Dumont on board.
- December 5 - Police disperses Sicilian gangs' meeting in Cleveland
- December 21 - U.S. Congress approves the construction of The Boulder Dam, later renamed The Hoover Dam
- December 31 - Bells of Big Ben first time in a radio
Unknown dates
- Charles King elected president of Liberia with 600,000 votes; the whole of country has only 15,000 voters.
- Chaco War
- Coca Cola enters Europe through the Amsterdam Olympics.
- Eliot Ness begins to lead the prohibition unit in Chicago, Illinois.
- The old Canaanite city of Ugarit is rediscovered.
- Turkey switches from the Arabic to the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet.
- The right to vote extended to all women in the United Kingdom.
- Frederick Griffith conducts the Griffith experiment, indirectly proving existence of DNA.
- Motorola is founded.
- First (and last) Best Title Writing Academy Award given.
- The Episcopal Church ratifies a new revision of the Book of Common Prayer.
- W2XBS, RCA's first television station, is established in New York City.
- Australian farmer, Jack Trott, finds Rhizanthella gardneri in his garden.
Births
January
- January 5 - Ali Bhutto, President of Pakistan and Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 1979)
- January 5 - Walter Mondale, U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate
- January 7 - William Peter Blatty, American writer
- January 11 - David L. Wolper, television producer
- January 16 - William Kennedy, American author
- January 17 - Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
- January 17 - Vidal Sassoon, English cosmetologist
- January 23 - Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)
- January 23 - Jeanne Moreau, French actress
- January 24 - Desmond Morris, anthropologist and writer
- January 26 - Roger Vadim, French film director (d. 2000)
- January 30 - Hal Prince, American stage producer and director
February
- February 5 - Andrew Greeley, American Catholic priest and novelist
- February 9 - Frank Frazetta, American illustrator
- February 9 - Roger Mudd, American journalist
- February 23 - Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut (d. 1990)
- February 26 - Fats Domino, American musician
- February 26 - Anatoli Filipchenko, cosmonaut
- February 27 - Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel
March-April
- March 4 - Alan Sillitoe, English writer
- March 6 - Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 8 - Gerald Bull, Canadian engineer (d. 1990)
- March 10 - James Earl Ray, American assassin (d. 1998)
- March 12 - Edward Albee, American dramatist
- March 16 - Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano
- March 19 - Hans Küng, Swiss theologian
- March 19 - Patrick McGoohan, Irish actor
- March 20 - Fred Rogers, American children's television host (d. 2003)
- March 24 - Byron Janis, American pianist
- March 25 - Jim Lovell, astronaut
- March 28 - Zbigniew Brzezinski, Polish-born U.S. National Security Advisor
- March 31 - Gordie Howe, Canadian hockey player
- March 31 - Lefty Frizzell, American country music performer
- April 1 - Jane Powell, American dancer, actress, and singer
- April 2 - Serge Gainsbourg, French singer (d. 1991)
- April 4 - Maya Angelou, American poet and novelist
- April 6 - James D. Watson, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 7 - James Garner, American actor
- April 7 - Alan J. Pakula, American producer and director (d. 1998)
- April 8 - Eric Porter, English actor (d. 1995)
- April 9 - Tom Lehrer, American songwriter
- April 12 - Jean-François Paillard, French conductor
- April 23 - Shirley Temple, American actress and politician
May-June
- May 3 - Dave Dudley, American singer (d. 2003)
- May 4 - Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt
- May 8 - Theodore Sorenson, American lawyer and speechwriter
- May 9 - Colin Chapman, English automotive engineer (d. 1982)
- May 9 - Pancho Gonzalez, American tennis player (d. 1995)
- May 9 - Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian figure skater
- May 12 - Burt Bacharach, American composer
- May 16 - Billy Martin, baseball player and manager (d. 1989)
- May 18 - Pernell Roberts, American actor
- May 23 - Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)
- May 26 - Jack Kevorkian, American physician
- June 1 - Georgi Dobrovolski, cosmonaut (d. 1971)
- June 1 - Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (d. 2003)
- June 13 - John Forbes Nash, Jr., American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
- June 14 - Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna, Argentine-born revolutionary (d. 1967)
- June 19 - Nancy Marchand, American actress (d. 2000)
- June 25 - Alexei Abrikosov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 26 - Jacob Druckman, American composer (d. 1996)
July-September
- July 5 - Warren Oates, American actor (d. 1982)
- July 10 - Moshe Greenberg, American-Israeli Bible scholar
- July 11 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (d. 2002)
- July 12 - Elias James Corey, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 13 - Leroy Vinnegar, American musician (d. 1999)
- July 16 - Robert Sheckley, American writer
- July 25 - Keter Betts, American jazz bassist (d. 2005)
- July 26 - Stanley Kubrick, American film director (d. 1999)
- July 26 - Bernice Rubens, British novelist (d. 2004)
- August 6 - Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987)
- August 10 - Eddie Fisher, American singer
- August 12 - Bob Buhl, baseball player (d. 2001)
- August 15 - Nicolas Roeg, English film director
- August 18 - Marge Schott, baseball team owner (d. 2004)
- August 25 - Herbert Kroemer, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 11 - William Kienzle, American author (d. 2001
- September 14 - Angus Ogilvy, husband of Princess Alexandra of Kent (d. 2004)
- September 15 - Julian Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist
- September 19 - Adam West, American actor
- September 22 - James Lawson, American civil rights activist and minister
- September 30 - Elie Wiesel, Romanian Holocaust survivor, writer, and lecturer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
October-December
- October 1 - George Peppard, American actor (d. 1994)
- October 8 - Bill Maynard, British actor
- October 9 - Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finnish composer
- October 27 - Kyle Rote, American football player (d. 2002)
- November 3 - Osamu Tezuka, Japanese artist (d. 1989)
- November 3 - George Yardley, American basketball player (d. 2004)
- November 10 - Ennio Morricone, Italian composer
- November 11 - Carlos Fuentes, Panamanian writer
- November 17 - Rance Howard, American actor
- November 29 - Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (d. 2003)
- December 7 - Noam Chomsky, American linguist
- December 15 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (d. 2000)
- December 16 - Philip K. Dick, American author (d. 1982)
- December 25 - Dick Miller, American actor
Unknown date
- Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu, King of Malaysia
Deaths
- January 1 - Loie Fuller, American dancer (b. 1862)
- January 6 - Alvin Kraenzlein, American athlete (b. 1876)
- January 11 - Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)
- January 29 - Douglas Haig, British soldier (b. 1861)
- February 1 - Hughie Jennings, baseball player (b. 1869)
- February 4 - Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
- February 15 - Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1852)
- February 16 - Eddie Foy, American vaudevillian (b. 1856)
- April 2 - Theodore William Richards, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
- April 5 - Roy Kilner, English cricketer (b. 1890)
- June 4 - Chang Tso-lin, Chinese warlord (b. 1873)
- June 22 - A. B. Frost, American illustrator (b. 1851)
- August 12 - Leos Janacek, Czech composer (b. 1854)
- August 30 - Wilhelm Wien, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
- October 22 - Andrew Fisher, fifth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)
- December 1 - José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (b. 1888)
- December 10 - Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect (b. 1868)
- Robert Abbe, American surgeon (b. 1851)