What happened in 1928

20 entries recorded for 1928, listed by date. That was 98 years ago.

1928 at a glance

January 1
Joseph Stalin
Historical event
Joseph Stalin's personal secretary, Boris Bazhanov, crossed the Iranian border and defected from the Soviet Union.
January 8
Comité Pro Acción Sindical
Historical event
The Committee for Union Action is established in Guatemala.

February 28
C. V. Raman
Historical event
Indian physicist C. V. Raman and his colleagues discovered what is now known as Raman scattering, for which he later became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

March 12
St. Francis Dam
Historical event
The failure of the St. Francis Dam (pictured) northwest of Los Angeles resulted in a flood that killed 400 people.
March 19
Radio comedy
Historical event
The highly influential American radio comedy show Amos 'n' Andy made its debut.

May 11
Jinan incident
Historical event
After a week-long standoff punctuated by military clashes, Japanese forces captured the city of Jinan, Shandong in China.
May 15
Mickey Mouse
Historical event
Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their film debuts in the animated cartoon Plane Crazy.

June 9
Charles Kingsford Smith
Historical event
Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew landed the Southern Cross in Brisbane, completing the first transpacific flight.

July 11
Ivan Borkovský
Historical event
Archaeologist Ivan Borkovský discovered a medieval skeleton at Prague Castle; competing factions claimed the skeleton as Germanic or Slavic in origin.

August 26
Paisley, Renfrewshire
Historical event
At a cafe in Paisley, Scotland, a woman found the remains of a snail in her bottle of ginger beer, giving rise to the landmark civil-action case Donoghue v Stevenson.

September 12
1928 Okeechobee hurricane
Historical event
The Okeechobee hurricane first struck the island of Guadeloupe; eventually it reached the United States and caused over 4,000 deaths overall.
September 26
Nationalist government
Historical event
The Republic of China adopted Gwoyeu Romatzyh (designer pictured) as the official system for romanization of Mandarin Chinese.
September 28
Alexander Fleming
Historical event
Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming (pictured) discovered penicillin when he noticed a bacteria-killing mould growing in his laboratory.

October 12
Iron lung
Historical event
The iron lung (example pictured), a type of medical ventilator, was used for the first time at the Boston Children's Hospital to treat an eight-year-old girl paralyzed by polio.
October 28
Wage Rudolf Supratman
Historical event
Indonesian composer Wage Rudolf Supratman introduced "Indonesia Raya", now the country's national anthem.

November 9
The Great Mecca Feast
Historical event
The Great Mecca Feast, the first documentary film on the Hajj, premiered in the Netherlands.
November 12
Ocean liner
Historical event
The British ocean liner SS Vestris sank in the western Atlantic Ocean, killing 111 people.

December 4
Cosmo Gordon Lang
Historical event
Cosmo Gordon Lang was enthroned as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the first bachelor to be appointed in 150 years.
December 13
An American in Paris
Historical event
An American in Paris, a jazz-influenced orchestral piece by George Gershwin, premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York.
December 29
Northern Expedition
Historical event
The Northern Expedition, a military campaign by the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang, ended with the complete control of the Republic of China.

This site records 20 entries for 1928, including Joseph Stalin on January 1. They are listed below by date.

98 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1928 turns 98 this year.

1928 falls in the 20th century, in the 1920s.

Silent Generation (1928–1945). Children of the Depression and war years.

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