1921

**1921** (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday in the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Friday in the Julian calendar.

## Events

- Albert Einstein receives the Nobel Prize in Physics.
- Partition of Ireland (May 3rd)
- Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma, United States (May 31st-June 1st)
- Karl Gareis is murdered in Munich, Germany (June 9th)
- Insulin is invented in Canada by Frederick Banting and Charles Best (July 27th)
- Matthias Erzberger is murdered in Germany (August 25th)
- A hurricane devastates Tampa Bay, Florida (October 20th-October 30th)
- Anglo-Irish Treaty signed (December 6th)

### January

- January 5 – Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (d. 2019)
- January 17 – Antonio Prohias Cuban-American cartoonist (d. 1998)
- January 19 – Patricia Highsmith, American writer (d. 1995)
- January 27 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
- January 29 – Mustafa Ben Halim, 3rd Prime Minister of Libya (d. 2021)
- January 31 – Carol Channing, American actress and singer (d. 2019)

### February

- February 4 – Betty Friedan, American feminist, activist, and writer (d. 2006)
- February 4 – K. R. Narayanan, President of India (d. 2005)
- February 8 – Lana Turner, American actress (d. 1995)
- February 16 - Hua Guofeng, Chairman of the Communist Party of China (d. 2008)
- February 20 – Suharto, 2nd President of Indonesia (d. 2008)
- February 22 - Jean-Bédel Bokassa, 2nd President of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)

### March

- March 21 – Abdul Salam Arif, 2nd President of Iraq (d. 1966)
- March 24 – Vasily Smyslov, Russian chess player (d. 2010)
- March 25 – Nancy Kelly, American actress (d. 1995)

### April

- April 9 - Yitzhak Navon, 5th President of Israel (d. 2015)
- April 14 – Thomas Schelling, American economist (d. 2016)
- April 25 – Karel Appel, Belgian artist (d. 2006)

### May

- May 2 – Satyajit Ray, Indian movie maker (d. 1992)
- May 3 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
- May 21 – Andrei Sakharov, Soviet physicist and activist (d. 1989)
- May 25 – Jack Steinberger, German-American physicist (d. 2020)

### June

- June 10 – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, member of the British royal family, husband of Queen Elizabeth II (d. 2021)
- June 21 – Jane Russell, American actress (d. 2011)

### July

- July 6 – Nancy Reagan, First Lady of the United States (d. 2016)
- July 14 – Geoffrey Wilkinson, English chemist (d. 1996)
- July 18 – John Glenn, American astronaut and politician (d. 2016)
- July 24 – Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian operatic tenor (d. 2008)

### August

- August 8 – Esther Williams, American swimmer and actress (d. 2013)

### September

- September 1 – Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch writer (d. 1995)
- September 30 – Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (d. 2007)
- September 30 – Sagramor de Scuvero Brandão, Brazilian actress, radio personality and councillor (d. 1995)

### October

- October 4 – Francisco Morales-Bermúdez, 112th Prime Minister and 51st President of Peru (d. 2022)
- October 19 – Gunnar Nordahl, Swedish footballer (d. 1995)

### November

- November 27 – Alexander Dubček, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (d. 1992)

### December

- December 26 – Steve Allen, American actor, comedian, composer, and writer (d. 2000)

### March

- March 1 – King Nicholas I of Montenegro (b. 1841)

### June

- June 9 – Karl Gareis, German legal scholar (b.1889)

### July

- July 4 – Antoni Grabowski, early proponent of Esperanto (b. 1857)

### August

- August 2 – Enrico Caruso, Italian operatic tenor (b. 1873)
- August 16 – Peter I of Serbia (b. 1844)
- August 25 – Matthias Erzberger, former German minister of finance (b. 1875)

## Sports

- Kentucky Derby winner, Behave Yourself