1921 deaths

François Hennebique (26 April 1842 – 7 March 1921) was a French engineer and self-educated builder who patented his pioneering reinforced-concrete construction system in 1892, integrating separate elements of construction, such as the column and the beam, into a single monolithic element. The Hennebique system was one of the first appearances of the modern reinforced-concrete method of construction.

Hennebique had first worked as a stonemason, later becoming a builder, with a particular interest in restoration of old churches. Hennebique's Béton Armé system started out by using concrete as a fireproof protection for wrought iron beams, on a house project in Belgium in 1879. He realised however, that the floor system would be more economic if the iron were used only where the slab was in tension, relying on the concrete in the compression areas. His solution was reinforced concrete – a concrete slab with steel bars in its bottom face.
His business developed rapidly, expanding from five employees in Brussels in 1896, to twenty-five two years later when he moved to Paris. In addition, he had a rapidly expanding network of firms acting as agents for his system. These included L.G. Mouchel and F.A. Macdonald & Partners in Britain, and Eduard Zublin in Germany. He was asked in 1896 by Hector Guimard for the terrace of the armory Coutolleau in Angers.

Wilhelm Kotarbiński (30 November 1848 – 4 September 1921) was a Polish artist and painter of historical and fantastical subjects, who spent most of his life in Kyiv and the Russian Empire.

Sophie Stehle (15 May 1838 – 4 October 1921) was a German operatic soprano.
She was born in Sigmaringen and was a member of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich from 1860 to 1874. While there, she created the roles of Fricka in Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold on 22 September 1869 and Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre on 26 June 1870. She retired from the stage after marrying Baron Wilhelm von Knigge in 1874.

Emilia Pardo Bazán y de la Rúa-Figueroa (16 September 1851 – 12 May 1921), countess of Pardo Bazán, was a Spanish novelist, journalist, literary critic, poet, playwright, translator, editor and professor. She is known for introducing naturalism into Spanish literature, for her detailed descriptions of reality, and for her ground-breaking introduction of feminist ideas into the literature of her era. Her ideas about women's rights for education also made her a prominent feminist figure.

Ernesto Pastor Lavergne (April 4, 1892 - June 11, 1921) was the first of only two Puerto Rican-born bullfighters (toreros) to gain international fame, the other being Juan Ramón Fernandez.

Georges Darien (pseudonym for Georges Hippolyte Adrien; 1862–1921) was a French writer associated with anarchism and an outspoken advocate of Georgism.

Wilhelm Heinrich Erb (30 November 1840 – 29 October 1921) was a German neurologist. He was born in Winnweiler, and died in Heidelberg.

Adolf von Hildebrand (6 October 1847 – 18 January 1921) was a German sculptor.

Lorenz Adlon (German: [ˈaːdlɔn]; 29 May 1849 – 7 April 1921) was a German caterer, gastronomer and hotelier.

Alphonsus Johannes Maria Diepenbrock (2 September 1862 in Amsterdam – 5 April 1921) was a Dutch composer, essayist and classicist.