1908

1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February

January 1 - British Harry Bensley leaves for his would-be trip around the world pushing a pram and wearing an iron mask, beginning from the Trafalgar Square
January 1 - A ball signifying New Year's Day drops in New York City's Times Square for the first time
January 8 - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
January 11 - Grand Canyon National Monument is created
January 12 - A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
January 15 - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first Greek-letter organization by and for Black college women is established.
January 21 - New York City passes a law, the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for aliens to smoke in public only to be vetoed by the mayor.
January 24 - Robert Baden-Powell begins the Boy Scout movement
February 1 - King Carlos I of Portugal and Crown Prince Luis shot in Lisbon
February 11 - Australia regain The Ashes with a 308 run cricket victory over England.
February 18 - Japanese immigration to USA forbidden
February 25 - Los Angeles. The Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University) founded.

March

March 25 - Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Clube Atlético Mineiro founded in Minas Gerais, today one of biggest clubs in Brazil

April-June

April 19 - The Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, designed by Jens Jensen (landscape architect), opens to the public for the first time.
April 21 - Friedrich A Cook's claimed date to have reached North Pole
May 10 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time (Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia).
May 26 - At Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.
June 30 - The Tunguska impact event, also known as the "Russian explosion" occurs in Siberia.

July-December

July 6 - Robert Peary sets sail for the Arctic North Pole.
July 11-12 night - Explosion of a ship Amalthea in the Malmö harbor in Sweden, housing 80 British strikebreakers. 1 dead, 20 injured.
July 13 - Women compete in modern Olympic Games for the first time.
July 19 - Feyenoord Rotterdam was founded.
July 22 - Albert Fisher establishes the Fisher Body Company to manufacture carriage and automobile bodies.
July 26 - United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).
August 15 - Winston Churchill is ordained as a Druid in England.
August 24 - After an intense power struggle, Abd al-Aziz IV, sultan of Morocco is deposed and is succeeded by his brother Abd al-Hafiz. (Date of proclamation)
September 8 - Danish minister of Justice, Alberti, is revealed to be an embezzler
September 23 - The University of Alberta is founded in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
September 27 - Henry Ford produces his first Model T automobile.
October 5 - Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire - Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar
October 14 - The Chicago Cubs win the World Series by defeating the Detroit Tigers 2-0 in the fifth game. They haven't won the World Series since.
November 3 - William Howard Taft defeats William Jennings Bryan in the U.S. presidential election
November 6 - Western bandits Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid are supposedly killed in Bolivia, after being surrounded by a large group of Mexican soldiers. There are many rumours to the contrary however, and the grave sites are unmarked.
November 13 - Andrew Fisher becomes the 5th Prime Minister of Australia.
November 14 - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson is the first woman in England to be elected mayor (of Aldeburgh)
December 5 - Sunderland F.C. set a record for an away victory when they humiliate local rivals Newcastle United 9-1 at St. James Park.
December 28 - An 7 Richter scale earthquake destroys Messina, Sicily and rocks Calabria killing over 75,000.

Unknown dates

First Zionist colony in Palestine
British suffragettes begin a campaign for female suffrage
Due to the evidence collected by Roger Casement, Léopold II of Belgium is forced to make reforms in Congo, which is his personal colony
The Children's Encyclopedia first published
Bureau of Investigation, forerunner of FBI, founded
Blackball coal miner strike in New Zealand lasts 11 weeks
Isak Saba, the first Sami in the Norwegian parliament
Henri Matisse open his own art academy
Serial killer Belle Guinness disappears in Laporte
Young Turks revolution in the Ottoman Empire
Change of Emperor of Qing Dynasty from Guangxu Emperor of China (1875-1908) to Henry Puyi (1909-1911)
A 40,000-year-old Neandertal boy skeleton is found at Le Moustier in southwest France.
The Child Labour Act of Ontario is passed.
The Irish Universities Act, 1908 is passed and creates the National University of Ireland at Dublin and the Queen's University of Belfast.
First Ideal Home Exhibition held.
De Meester's Dutch government resigns.
Discovery of oil deposits near the Persian city of Abadan.
The Young Turks rebel and force sultan Abd al-Hamid II to adhere to the constitution of 1876.
The University of the Philippines is founded at Manila.
First year of Rugby League in Australia
American Temperance University closes.
Panathinaikos, the Athenian sports club, is founded.

Births

January

January 8 - William Hartnell, British actor (d. 1975)
January 9 - Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (d. 1986)
January 12 - Jean Delannoy, French film director
January 14 - Russ Columbo, singer, bandleader, and composer (d. 1934)
January 15 - Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (d. 2003)
January 22 - Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
January 26 - Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist and composer (d. 1997)
January 27 - Oran "Hot Lips" Page, American jazz musician (d. 1954)

February

February 1 - George Pál, Hungarian-born animator (d. 1980)
February 5 - Daisy and Violet Hilton, English conjoined twin actresses (d. 1969)
February 11 - Vivian Ernest Fuchs, English geologist and explorer (d. 1999)
February 12 - August Neo, Estonian wrestler, Olympic medalist (d. 1982)
February 17 - Red Barber, American baseball announcer and sports journalist (d. 1992)
February 22 - John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
February 23 - William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
February 26 - Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
February 26 - Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)
February 29 - Balthus, French painter (d. 2001)
February 29 - Dee Brown, American writer and historian (d. 2002)

March

March 2 - Walter Bruch, German engineer (d. 1990)
March 5 - Rex Harrison, English actor (d. 1990)
March 7 - Anna Magnani, Italian actress (d. 1973)
March 12 - Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (d. 1970)
March 13 - Walter Annenberg, American publisher and philanthropist (d. 2002)
March 17 - Brigitte Helm, German actress (d. 1996)
March 20 - Sir Michael Redgrave, English actor (d. 1985)
March 22 - Louis L'Amour, American author (d. 1988)
March 25 - Helmut Käutner, German actor and director (d. 1980)
March 25 - David Lean, English film director (d. 1991)
March 29 - Arthur O'Connell, American actor (d. 1981)

April

April 1 - Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (d. 1970)
April 2 - Buddy Ebsen, American actor and dancer (d. 2003)
April 5 - Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989)
April 5 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989)
April 5 - Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (d. 1986)
April 6 - John P. Davies, American diplomat (d. 1999)
April 7 - Percy Faith, Canadian-born composer, musician (d. 1976)
April 15 - Eden Ahbez, American musician (d. 1995)
April 20 - Lionel Hampton, American musician and bandleader (d. 2002)
April 25 - Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
April 25 - Jack Williamson, American science fiction author
April 28 - Oskar Schindler, Austria-Hungary industrialist (d. 1974)
April 30 - Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic foreign and later prime minister (d. 1970)

May

May 5 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (d. 1989)
May 7 - Max Grundig, German inventor and industrialist (d. 1989)
May 8 - Cristian Vasile, Romanian singer (d. 1974)
May 19 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982)
May 20 - Jimmy Stewart, American actor (d. 1997)
May 23 - John Bardeen, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
May 25 - Theodore Roethke, American poet (d. 1963)
May 28 - Ian Fleming, English writer (d. 1964)
May 30 - Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
May 30 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)
May 31 - Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)

June-July

June 12 - Marina Semenova, Russian ballerina
June 18 - Bud Collyer, American voice actor and game show host (d. 1969)
June 21 - Yoon Bong-Gil, Korean resister against Japanese occupation of Korea (d. 1932)
June 24 - Hugo Distler, German composer (d. 1942)
June 29 - Leroy Anderson, American composer (d. 1975)
June 30 - Winston Graham, English writer (d. 2003)
July 12 - Milton Berle, American comedian (d. 2002)
July 25 - Bill Bowes, English cricketer (d. 1987)
July 27 - Joseph Mitchell, American writer (d. 1996)

August-September

August 4 - Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (d. 1994)
August 5 - Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
August 20 - Al Lopez, baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
August 21 - M. M. Kaye, British writer (d. 2004)
August 22 - Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer (d. 2004)
August 27 - Sir Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
August 27 - Lyndon Johnson, President of the United States (d. 1973)
August 28 - Roger Tory Peterson, American naturalist, artist, and educator (d. 1996)
August 30 - Leonor Fini, Argentine artist (d. 1996)
September 3 - Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (d. 1988)
September 6 - Louis Essen, English physicist (d. 1997)
September 6 - Korczak Ziolkowski, American sculptor (d. 1982)
September 7 - Paul Brown, American football coach (d. 1991)
September 7 - Michael E. DeBakey, American physician
September 13 - Mae Questel, American actress (d. 1998)
September 15 - Penny Singleton, American actress (d. 2003)
September 19 - Paul Bénichou, French intellectual (d. 2001)
September 29 - Eddie Tolan, American athlete (d. 1967)
September 30 - David Oistrakh, Ukrainian-born violinist (d. 1974)

October-December

October 6 - Carole Lombard, American actress (d.1942)
October 14 - Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (d. 2003)
October 14 - Allan Jones, American actor and singer (d. 1992)
October 15 - John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian economist (d. 2006)
October 16 - Enver Hoxha, dictator of Albania (d. 1985)
October 19 - Sydney MacEwan, Scottish singer (d. 1990)
October 19 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981)
October 23 - Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
October 25 - Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (d. 2004)
November 2 - Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (d. 1983)
November 4 - Józef Rotblat, Polish physicist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2005)
November 12 - Harry Blackmun, American judge (d. 1999)
November 18 - Imogene Coca, American actress (d. 2001)
November 20 - Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist (d. 2004)
November 28 - Claude Lévi-Strauss, Belgian-born anthropologist
December 4 - Alfred Hershey, American bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1997)
December 6 - Pierre Graber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 2003)
December 10 - Olivier Messiaen, French composer (d. 1992)
December 11 - Elliott Carter, American composer
December 17 - Willard Libby, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
December 31 - Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Nazi-hunter (d. 2005)

Unknown date

George Rodger, British photojournalist (d. 1995)
Carl Stuart Hamblen, American musician and Presidential candidate
Frances Ford Seymour, American socialite

Deaths

January 25 - Ouida, English writer (b. 1839)
February 1 - King Charles of Portugal (b. 1863)
April 20 - Henry Chadwick, English-born baseball writer and historian (b. 1824)
April 22 - Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1836)
May 26 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Punjabi founder of the Qadianism (b. 1835)
June 21 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (b. 1844)
June 24 - Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (b. 1837)
July 5 - Jonas Lie, Norwegian author (b. 1833)
July 10 - Phoebe Knapp, American hymn composer (b. 1839)
July 20 - Demetrius Vikelas, Greek International Olympic Committee president (b. 1835)
July 22 - William Randal Cremer, English politician and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1828)
August 25 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
August 26 - Tony Pastor, American vaudeville and theater impresario (b. 1837)
September 20 - Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (b. 1844)
October 30 - Caroline Astor, American socialite (b. 1830)
November 14 - The Guangxu Emperor of China (b. 1871)
November 15 - Empress Dowager Cixi, de facto ruler of China (b. 1835)

Marriages

February 14 - Lee De Forest & Nora Stanton Blatch
February 28 - King Ferdinand & Eleanor Reuss
April 7 - Knud Kristensen & Else Christensen
June 13 - Carl Sandburg & Lilian Steichen
July 19 - Shoeless Joe Jackson & Katherine Wynn
August 6 - Roscoe Arbuckle & Minta Durfee
August 8 - Ty Cobb & Charlotte Lombard
August 30 - Harry Solter & Florence Lawrence
September 12 - Winston Churchill & Clementine Churchill
November 20 - Vilhelm Buhl & Thyra Schmidt
November 25 - Will Rogers & Betty Blake
December 22 - Sybil Thorndike & Lewis Casson

Nobel prizes

1908

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Gourt Home::Gourt :: 1908

Events

January-February

March

April-June

July-December

Unknown dates

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June-July

August-September

October-December

Unknown date

Deaths

Marriages

Nobel prizes