1932

1845–1958	Germany [earth sciences]	German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt lays the basis of modern geography with the publication of Kosmos/Cosmos, in which he arranges geographic knowledge in a systematic fashion.
1929–1935	United Kingdom [television]	Experimental television broadcasting begins in England.
c. 1931–c. 1940	[technology]	The development of facsimile machines is made possible with the discovery of a dry chemical copying process.
c. 1931–c. 1940	[aircraft]	Aeroplanes undergo radical changes; they become streamlined, are made almost entirely of metal, acquire controllable-pitch propellers, have air-cooled engines and retractable landing gear, and passengers and crew are protected in soundproofed and insulated cabins.
8 December 1931 - 1 January 1932	USA [banking and finance]	Departing from his laissez-faire philosophy, the US president, Herbert Hoover, asks Congress to create the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). Capitalized in January at $2 billion, the RFC will lend money to banks, railroads, insurance companies, and building and loan associations.
1932	[astronomy]	US scientist Carl David Anderson, while analysing cosmic rays, discovers positive electrons (‘positrons’), the first form of antimatter to be discovered.
1932	USA [astronomy]	US engineer Karl Jansky discovers that the interference in telephone communications is caused by radio emissions from the Milky Way. He thus begins the development of radio astronomy.
1932–1934	USSR [agriculture]	Soviet leader Joseph Stalin collectivizes farms and seizes grain and livestock in the Ukraine and Caucasus regions, starting a famine; an estimated 5 million people die.
1932	[Christianity]	Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth publishes the first volume of Die Kirchliche Dogmatik/Church Dogmatics.
1932	USA [crime and punishment]	The infamous couple Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow commit a series of robberies and kill fifteen people throughout the South and Midwest USA.
1932	[fiction]	The US writer Erskine Caldwell publishes his novel Tobacco Road, which establishes his reputation and becomes a best-seller. In 1933, dramatized by Jack Kirkland, it will run on Broadway for more than 3,000 performances.
1932	[fiction]	The French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline publishes his novel Voyage au bout de la nuit/Journey to the End of the Night. A grimly realistic account of his experiences as a doctor among the poor, written in a strikingly original style, it wins international acclaim.
1932	[fiction]	The English writer Aldous Huxley publishes his novel Brave New World, which presents a nightmarish vision of a utopia based on science and technology.
1932	USA [health and medicine]	In the USA, 26 states have passed compulsory sterilization laws for those described as ‘morons, mental defectives, epileptics, illiterates, paupers, unemployables, criminals, prostitutes, and dope fiends’.
1932	[historical study]	Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky publishes his three-volume History of the Russian Revolution.
1932	[opera]	The Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg completes the first two acts of his opera Moses und Aaron/Moses and Aaron. The third act is often spoken (as Schoenberg said it should be) though it is sometimes set to music from the first two acts.
1932	[philosophy]	German philosopher Karl Jaspers publishes his three-volume Philosophie/Philosophy, in which he expounds his own distinctive form of existentialism.
1932	[poetry]	The Russian writer Boris Pasternak publishes his poetry collection Vtoroe rozhdenie/Second Birth.
1932	[technology]	The US corporation Technicolor develops a special camera in which three separate films, registering red, green, and blue, are exposed simultaneously.
1932	[thought and scholarship]	French philosopher Henri Bergson publishes Les Deux Sources de la morale et de la religion/The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, which analyses the role of morality and religion in society.
1932	Brazil [women's rights]	Women in Brazil gain the vote.
1932	France [women's rights]	The French Senate denies women's suffrage for the third time.
1932	Thailand [women's rights]	Women in Thailand win the right to vote and to hold public office.
4 January 1932	India [law and government]	Following the return of the nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi to India from the second Round Table Conference in London, England, and the revival of civil disobedience, the Indian government is granted emergency powers for six months. The Indian National Congress is declared illegal and Gandhi is arrested.
2 February 1932	Europe, USA, USSR, Japan [diplomacy]	Sixty nations, including the USA and the USSR, attend the Geneva Disarmament Conference, at which a French proposal for an armed force under international control is opposed by Germany.
1 March 1932	United Kingdom [legislation]	The Import Duties Act comes into force in Britain, effectively ending 80 years of free trade.
9 March 1932	Ireland [administration]	The Dáil (lower house of the legislature) elects Éamon de Valera as president of the executive council (prime minister) in the Irish Free State.
13 March 1932	Germany [elections]	In the German presidential election, the conservative former field marshal Paul von Hindenburg receives 18.6 million votes (49.6%) against the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's 11.3 million (30.1%), falling just short of the necessary absolute majority.
14 March 1932	[births and deaths]	George Eastman, US inventor, manufacturer, and philanthropist who introduced the Kodak camera, dies in Rochester, New York (77).
29 March - 6 April 1932	Palestine [Judaism]	Jewish athletes from 20 countries participate in the inaugural World Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv.
10 April 1932	Germany [elections]	Paul von Hindenburg is re-elected German president on the second ballot.
15 May 1932	Japan, China [political events]	Inukai Tsuyoshi, Prime Minister of Japan, is assassinated by young naval officers following his attempt to halt military activities against China.
20 May - 21 May 1932	[aircraft]	US aviator Amelia Earhart flies from Newfoundland, Canada, to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in 13.5 hours, the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic.
June - October 1932	USA [plagues and epidemics]	Over 4,000 people die from cholera in New York City.
2 June 1932	Germany [administration]	Franz von Papen, expelled from the Centre Party on becoming chancellor, forms a nonparty ‘cabinet of barons’ in Germany.
15 June 1932	Bolivia, Panama [wars]	The Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay begins, with Bolivians attacking Paraguayan positions in the disputed border territory of Chaco Boreal.
30 July - 14 August 1932	USA [Olympic Games]	The 10th Olympic Games are held in Los Angeles, California. The USA wins 16 gold medals; Italy, 12; France, 10; Sweden, 9; Japan, 7; Hungary, 6; Finland, 5. National flags and the three-tiered victory stand are used in medal ceremonies for the first time; photo-finish equipment is first used in track events. The games are attended by 1.25 million spectators. Mildred ‘Babe’ Didrikson of the USA wins a gold medal in the javelin and the 80 m hurdles, and a silver medal in the high jump. Kusuo Kitamura of Japan, aged 14 years and 309 days, wins the men's 1,500-m freestyle swimming gold medal. US athlete Eddie Tolan wins the men's 100-m and 200-m gold medals.
31 July 1932	Germany [elections]	The Nazis win 230 seats in the election to the German Reichstag (lower legislative house). The Social Democrats gain 133, the Centre 75, the communists 89, the National People's Party 37, and others 44. The result is a stalemate, since neither Nazis nor Social Democrats will enter a coalition.
August 1932	United Kingdom [telephone services]	The GPO (General Post Office) introduces the telephone service Directory Enquiries in the UK.
2 August 1932	United Kingdom [food and drink]	In Slough, England, Forrest Mars launches the Mars Bar: this product will form the basis of the Mars confectionery empire.
22 August - 10 September 1932	United Kingdom [television]	In collaboration with Baird Company, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) begins the first regular television service, with transmissions between 11 a.m. and 11:30 p.m.
9 September 1932	Spain [administration]	The northeast region of Catalonia is granted autonomy in Spain, with its own flag, language, and parliament.
2 October 1932	China, Japan [diplomacy]	The Lytton Commission, set up by the League of Nations to investigate Japan's 1931 invasion of Manchuria, China, recognizes Japan's special transport and economic interests in the region and recommends an autonomous state under Chinese sovereignty but Japanese control.
3 October 1932	UK, Iraq [colonies and mandate]	Britain terminates its mandate over Iraq, and it is admitted to the League of Nations as an independent state.
3 October 1932	United Kingdom [newspapers]	The Times introduces the Times New Roman font, in the UK. Designed by Stanley Morrison, it will become the most widely used font for newspapers and magazines.
11 October 1932	USA [television]	The Democratic Party gives the first party political television broadcast, in New York City.
27 October 1932	[births and deaths]	Sylvia Plath, US poet and novelist, born in Boston, Massachusetts (–1963).
6 November 1932	Germany [elections]	Further elections to the German Reichstag (parliament), after the inconclusive elections of 31 July, produce another deadlock, with some communist gains from Nazis.
8 November 1932	USA [elections]	Franklin D Roosevelt wins the US presidential election in a Democratic landslide, with 472 electoral votes to the Republican Herbert Hoover's 59 votes. In the House of Representatives, Democrats pick up 90 seats for a 310–117 majority; in the Senate, Democrats gain 13 seats for a majority of 60–35.
25 December 1932	United Kingdom [television]	King George V of Britain makes the first Christmas broadcast by a British head of state.