Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
Years: 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 - 1941 - 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946
Events
- February 11 - 1st Gold record presented to Glenn Miller for Chattanooga Choo Choo.
- February 11 - Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli
- April - Russia and Japan sign a neutrality pact
- June 22 - Germany attacks the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, Finland sees an opportunity and launches the Continuation War.
- November 14 - HMS Ark Royal capsizes and sinks
- December 7, December 6 (in Japan standard time) - Japan navy abrupty attacks the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor, thus drawing the US into World War II.
- John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry developed the Atanasoff Berry Computer
- Ives and Stilwell prove that ions radiate at frequencies affected by their motion.
- In Sweden, Victor Hasselblad forms the Hasselblad camera company.
Art, Culture & Fashion
- 1941 in film
- 1941 in literature
- Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
- 1941 in music
- 1941 in sports
Births
- January 5 - Miyazaki Hayao, Japanese film maker
- January 8 - Graham Chapman, comedian
- February 11 - Glenn Randall Jr, stuntman.
- February 11 - Jeremy Mackenzie, general.
- February 27 - Paddy Ashdown, British politician
- May 31 - Johnny Paycheck (singer)
- June 5 - Martha Argerich, Argentinian pianist
- June 27 - Krzysztof Kieslowski, film director
- October 4 - Anne Rice, horror/fantasy writer.
- Richard Dawkins, British scientist
- Bob Dylan, US poet and musician
Deaths
- February 11 - Rudolf Hilferding, German economist/Minister of Finance.
- March 15 - Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian impressionist painter
- August 31 - Marina Tsvetaeva, aged 48, Russian poet (suicide)
- August 7 - Rabindranath Tagore, author
- Physics - not awarded
- Chemistry - not awarded
- Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - not awarded
- Peace - not awarded
1941 is the title of a Steven Spielberg movie made in 1979.