1881 births

Albert Edouard, Baron Michotte van den Berck (13 October 1881, in Brussels, Belgium – 2 June 1965) was a Belgian experimental psychologist.

Edgar Goldschmid (born 14 December 1881 in Frankfurt, died 26 May 1957 in Lausanne) was a German physician, pathologist and historian of medicine.

Noël Armand Fiessinger (24 December 1881 – 15 January 1946) was a French physician.

William Robert Gregory (20 May 1881 – 23 January 1918) was an Irish flying ace who served as a fighter pilot with the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. He was also an accomplished artist and cricket player. His death was memorialised in a series of poems by W. B. Yeats.

Richard Laqueur (27 March 1881 – 25 November 1959) was a German historian and philologist born in Strassburg.
He studied classical literature and history at the Universities of Bonn and Strassburg, and in 1904 received his doctorate of philosophy. In 1912 he was made a full professor at Strassburg, and during the same year was appointed professor at the University of Giessen. From 1914 to 1918 he performed military duties during World War I, and in 1919 returned to Giessen, where he remained until 1930. Laqueur was rector at the university in 1922/23.In 1930 he became a professor at the University of Tübingen, and two years later a professor at the University of Halle. Because he was Jewish, Laqueur was removed from his position at Halle in 1936, and in 1939 emigrated to the United States. After World War II, he returned to Germany, but was denied his former status at Halle due to bureaucratic obstacles. In 1952 he moved to Hamburg, where he was later granted an honorary professorship.Laqueur was a specialist of ancient Greek and Roman history, and was particularly interested in the economic history of their civilizations. He conducted extensive research of the ancient historians Polybius and Flavius Josephus, and made literary contributions to the Pauly-Wissowa- Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft.

Sir Thomas Drummond Shiels MC MB ChB (7 August 1881 – 1 January 1953) was a Scottish Labour politician.

Livio Cesare Pavanelli (7 September 1881 – 29 April 1958) was an Italian film actor.
Pavanelli was born in Copparo, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy and died in Rome in 1958 at age 76.

Achille Majeroni (24 August 1881 – 12 October 1964) was an Italian film actor.
Born in Syracuse, Sicily, son of Achille Majeroni and his second wife Graziosa Bignetti, he made his stage debut at age twelve with the Marazzi-Diligenti company. He later formed his own company, specializing in Shakespearean works. He appeared in 73 films between 1913 and 1964, notably Fellini's I Vitelloni, in which he played an old comedian.
He died in Rome.

Dirk Janssen (11 July 1881 – 22 November 1986) was a Dutch gymnast who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.Born in Groningen, Janssen was part of the Dutch gymnastics team, which finished seventh in the team event. In the individual all-around competition he finished 69th.He was the younger brother of Jan Janssen. He died at the age of 105 in Haarlem.

Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie (8 November 1881 – 6 December 1957) was a French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He is referred to as being one of the founders of modern rocketry and astronautics, along with the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the Germans Hermann Oberth, Wernher Von Braun and the American Robert H. Goddard.