Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1881
Born in 1881? Meet the well-known people who share your birth year, from the biggest names to the ones you might not expect, month by month.
Turning 145 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Snake
The 1880s
The most famous people born in 188131
1881–1973Pablo Picasso
Spanish artist who co-founded Cubism and painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Guernica, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century
Photo: Condor Films · CC BY-SA 3.0
1881–1938Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Ottoman army commander who founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923, became its first president and drove sweeping modernising reforms
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1881–1963John XXIII
Italian pope known as Good Pope John, who called the Second Vatican Council and was later declared a saint
Photo: De Agostini Editore · Public domain
1881–1955Alexander Fleming
Scottish scientist who discovered penicillin in 1928, the first antibiotic, and shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine
Photo: Official photographer · Public domain
1881–1936Lu Xun
Chinese writer of The True Story of Ah Q and A Madman's Diary, regarded as the father of modern Chinese literature
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1881–1942Stefan Zweig
Austrian writer of Chess Story, Letter from an Unknown Woman and the memoir The World of Yesterday, among the most translated authors of his day
Photo: Franz Xaver Setzer (1886-1939) · Public domain
1881–1945Béla Bartók
Hungarian composer and pioneer of the study of folk music
Photo: RIA Novosti · CC BY-SA 3.0
1881–1958Juan Ramón Jiménez
Nobel Prize-winning Spanish poet and author
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
Born in 1881, month by month
- January
- Kliment Voroshilov (January 23) · Soviet military commander and politician under Joseph Stalin
- Irving Langmuir (January 31) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist who pioneered the study of surface chemistry
- February
- Alexei Rykov (February 13) · Soviet revolutionary who served as the Premier of the Soviet Union
- Sveinn Björnsson (February 27) · First President of Iceland following its independence from Denmark
- March
- Walter Rudolf Hess (March 17) · Nobel Prize-winning physiologist who mapped the brain's internal organ control
- Roger Martin du Gard (March 23) · French novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Hermann Staudinger (March 23) · Nobel Prize winner who discovered the existence of macromolecules
- Béla Bartók (March 25) · Hungarian composer and pioneer of the study of folk music
- April
- Alcide De Gasperi (April 3) · Italian Prime Minister and a founding father of the European Union
- Alexander Kerensky (April 22) · Leader of the Russian Provisional Government during the 1917 Revolution
- May
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (May 1) · Jesuit priest and palaeontologist who helped discover Peking Man
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (May 19) · Ottoman army commander who founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923, became its first president and drove sweeping modernising reforms
- Władysław Sikorski (May 20) · Polish military leader and Prime Minister of the government-in-exile
- June
- Natalia Goncharova (June 4) · Influential Russian avant-garde artist and theatrical costume designer
- July
- Hans Fischer (July 27) · German chemist awarded the Nobel Prize for his research into blood
- August
- Alexander Fleming (August 6) · Scottish scientist who discovered penicillin in 1928, the first antibiotic, and shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine
- Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist (August 8) · German Field Marshal who commanded Panzer groups during World War II
- Cecil B. DeMille (August 12) · Influential filmmaker who co-founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- Georges Enescou (August 19) · Renowned Romanian composer and virtuoso violinist
- September
- Asta Nielsen (September 11) · Danish silent film star and cinema's first international female icon
- Lu Xun (September 25) · Chinese writer of The True Story of Ah Q and A Madman's Diary, regarded as the father of modern Chinese literature
- Ludwig von Mises (September 29) · Austrian economist and philosopher of the free market
- October
- William Boeing (October 1) · Founder of the aircraft company and aviation industry pioneer
- Hans Kelsen (October 11) · Influential legal philosopher who developed the Pure Theory of Law
- P. G. Wodehouse (October 15) · Humorous English author who created the characters Jeeves and Wooster
- Clinton Davisson (October 22) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered electron diffraction
- Pablo Picasso (October 25) · Spanish artist who co-founded Cubism and painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Guernica, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century
- November
- Enver Pasha (November 22) · Ottoman military leader and politician during World War I
- John XXIII (November 25) · Italian pope known as Good Pope John, who called the Second Vatican Council and was later declared a saint
- Stefan Zweig (November 28) · Austrian writer of Chess Story, Letter from an Unknown Woman and the memoir The World of Yesterday, among the most translated authors of his day
- December
- Juan Ramón Jiménez (December 23) · Nobel Prize-winning Spanish poet and author