Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1885
Born in 1885? 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 141 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Rooster
The 1880s
The most famous people born in 188534
1885–1962Niels Bohr
Danish physicist who developed the Bohr model of the atom, won the Nobel Prize and helped found quantum mechanics
Photo: The American Institute of Physics credits the photo [1] to AB Lagrelius & Westphal , which is the Swedish company us · Public domain
1885–1970François Mauriac
French Catholic novelist of Thérèse Desqueyroux and The Viper's Tangle who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
Photo: Studio Harcourt · Public domain
1885–1951Sinclair Lewis
American satirist of Main Street, Babbitt and Elmer Gantry, the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
Photo: Oscar White, Pach Brothers Studio · Public domain
1885–1972Ezra Pound
American modernist poet of The Cantos who championed Eliot and Joyce but was charged with treason for wartime broadcasts
Photo: Alvin Langdon Coburn · CC0
1885–1930D. H. Lawrence
English novelist of Sons and Lovers, Women in Love and the once-banned Lady Chatterley's Lover
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author (passport office) · Public domain
1885–1962Karen Blixen
Danish author who wrote the memoir Out of Africa
Photo: By SAS Scandinavian Airlines ( http://images.flysas.com ) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
1885–1945George S. Patton
US general who commanded the Third Army during World War II
Photo: Robert F. Cranston / Harry Warnecke · CC0
1885–1967André Maurois
French author known for his biographies of famous historical figures
Photo: Studio Harcourt · Public domain
Born in 1885, month by month
- January
- Alice Paul (January 11) · American suffragist and strategist for the Nineteenth Amendment
- Mikhail Frunze (January 21) · Bolshevik revolutionary who led the Red Army during the civil war
- Umberto Nobile (January 21) · Italian aeronautical engineer and pioneer of Arctic exploration by airship
- February
- Sinclair Lewis (February 7) · American satirist of Main Street, Babbitt and Elmer Gantry, the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Alban Berg (February 9) · Austrian composer known for his modernist and twelve-tone works
- Julius Streicher (February 12) · Founder of the anti-Semitic Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer
- Bess Truman (February 13) · First Lady of the United States and wife of Harry S. Truman
- Sacha Guitry (February 21) · Prolific French playwright and director of the early 20th century
- Chester W. Nimitz (February 24) · US Navy admiral who commanded Allied forces in the Pacific
- Tamara Karsavina (February 25) · Renowned Russian ballerina and a principal with the Ballets Russes
- April
- Robert Delaunay (April 12) · French artist who co-founded the Orphism art movement
- Georg Lukács (April 13) · Hungarian Marxist philosopher and influential literary critic
- Karen Blixen (April 17) · Danish author who wrote the memoir Out of Africa
- May
- Yakov Sverdlov (May 22) · Bolshevik revolutionary and early leader of the Soviet Union
- June
- Nikolai Bulganin (June 11) · Soviet politician who served as Premier of the Soviet Union
- July
- Ernst Bloch (July 8) · Influential German Marxist philosopher known for The Principle of Hope
- André Maurois (July 26) · French author known for his biographies of famous historical figures
- Theda Bara (July 29) · Silent film actress and early cinema sex symbol
- August
- George de Hevesy (August 1) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist who developed radioactive tracers
- September
- D. H. Lawrence (September 11) · English novelist of Sons and Lovers, Women in Love and the once-banned Lady Chatterley's Lover
- Jean Arp (September 16) · Sculptor and painter who was a founding member of Dada
- Karen Horney (September 16) · Psychoanalyst who challenged traditional Freudian theories on feminine psychology
- Uzeyir Hajibeyov (September 17) · Composer widely regarded as the father of Azerbaijani classical music
- Erich von Stroheim (September 22) · Silent film director and actor known for Greed
- October
- Niels Bohr (October 7) · Danish physicist who developed the Bohr model of the atom, won the Nobel Prize and helped found quantum mechanics
- François Mauriac (October 11) · French Catholic novelist of Thérèse Desqueyroux and The Viper's Tangle who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Velimir Khlebnikov (October 28) · Influential Russian poet and key figure of the Futurist movement
- Ezra Pound (October 30) · American modernist poet of The Cantos who championed Eliot and Joyce but was charged with treason for wartime broadcasts
- November
- Harlow Shapley (November 2) · American astronomer who discovered the Sun's position in the Milky Way
- Will Durant (November 5) · Historian and philosopher known for the multi-volume series The Story of Civilization
- Hermann Weyl (November 9) · Mathematician who made major contributions to relativity and quantum mechanics
- George S. Patton (November 11) · US general who commanded the Third Army during World War II
- Heinrich Brüning (November 26) · Chancellor of Germany during the final years of the Weimar Republic
- December
- George Minot (December 2) · Nobel Prize-winning physician who researched treatments for anaemia