1896
1896 (
MDCCCXCVI) was a
leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).
January - April
*
January 4 -
Utah is admitted as the 45th
U.S. state.
*
January 5 - An
Austrian newspaper reports that
Wilhelm Röntgen discovered a type of
radiation later known as
X-rays.
*
January 12 -
H.L. Smith takes the first
X-ray photograph.
*
January 18 - The
X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time.
*
February 1 - The
opera La bohème premieres (
Turin).
*
February 1 - Walter Arnold, of
Kent,
England, is fined for
speeding in excess of the contemporary
speed limit of 2 mph
*
February 11 -
Oscar Wilde's play
Salomé premieres in
Paris.
*
March 1 - With the
Battle of Adowa,
Ethiopia defends its independence from
Italy.
*
April 3 - First edition of
Italian sports
newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport is published.
*
April 6 - Opening ceremonies of the
1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern
Olympic Games.
May - August
*
May 8 - Cricket: Against Warwickshire, Yorkshire sets a still-standing
County Championship record when they accumulate an innings total of 887.
*
May 18 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in
Plessy v. Ferguson, introducing the "
separate but equal" doctrine.
*
May 26 -
Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the
Dow Jones Industrial Average.
*
May 27 - The costliest and third deadliest
tornado in U.S. history levels a mile wide swath of downtown
St. Louis, Missouri, incurring $2.9 billion (1997 USD) in damages, killing more than 255 and injuring over 1,000 people.
*
June 12 -
J.T. Hearne sets a record for the earliest date of taking 100 wickets. It is equalled by
Charlie Parker in
1931.
*
June 15 - ?
Earthquake and
tsunami in
Sanriku,
Japan, kills 27.000
*
June 30 - David Rose dies after being poisoned by his daughter Celia, she would also poison her brother and mother.
*
July 9 -
William Jennings Bryan delivers his
Cross of gold speech.
*
July 11 -
Wilfrid Laurier becomes
Canada's seventh
prime minister.
*
August 16 -
Skookum Jim Mason,
George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover
gold in the
Klondike.
*
August 27 - The shortest war in recorded history, the
Anglo-Zanzibar War, starts at 9 in the morning and lasts for 45 mintues of shelling.
September - December
*
September 22 -
Queen Victoria surpassed her grandfather
King George III as the longest reigning
monarch in British history.
*
October 3 -
Dalton brothers try to rob two banks but only Emmet Dalton survives the shootout
*
October 5 - After a long siege,
Brazilian government troops take
Canudos in north Brazil, crushing
Antonio Conselheiro and his followers
*
October 12 - In Richland county, Ohio, the trial of Celia Rose for the triple murder of her family begins.
*
October 20 - In Richland county, Ohio, Celia Rose was acquitted on grounds of insanity.
*
October 30 Augusta, KY Augusta High School corner stone laid marking the end of the
Augusta Methodist College* November -
William McKinley defeats
William Jennings Bryan in the
U.S. presidential election.
*
November 6 -
Hale Johnson runs as vice-presidential candidate for
Prohibition Party.
*
November 16 -
Cherry Sisters perform in
Olympia Music Hall in
New York City. At first audience is stunned but then begins to answer with catcalls...
*
December 30 -
Jose Rizal, Filipino scholar and poet, executed in the
PhilippinesUnknown dates
*
Nepalese archaeologists rediscover the great stone pillar of
Ashoka at
Lumbini, using
Fa Xian's records.
*
Pontifical University of Maynooth is established by decree of the
Vatican*
France establishes an administrative post in
Abengourou,
Côte d'Ivoire.
* Formation of the
New York Telephone Company
* The great
Realignment of the Republican Party of the United States of America
*
Clarkson University is founded in
Potsdam,
New YorkJanuary - March
*
January 2 -
Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (d.
1954)
*
January 4 -
Everett Dirksen, American politician (d.
1969)
*
January 4 -
André Masson, French artist (d.
1987)
*
January 8 -
Arthur Ford, American psychic spiritual medium, clairaudient (d.
1971)
*
January 12 -
Rex Ingram, Irish director and actor (d.
1950)
*
January 14 -
Martin Niemöller, German theologian and pacifist (d.
1984)
*
January 14 -
John Dos Passos, American author (d.
1970)
*
January 20 -
George Burns, American comedian (d.
1996)
*
January 23 -
Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d.
1985)
*
February 18 -
André Breton, French writer (d.
1966)
*
February 28 -
Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1965)
*
February 29 -
Morarji Desai, Indian politician (d.
1995)
*
March 1 -
Dimitris Mitropoulos, Greek conductor, pianist, and composer (d.
1960)
*
March 1 -
Moriz Seeler, German writer, poet, film producer, and man of the theatre (d.
1942)
*
March 20 -
Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May, Canadian World War I pilot (d.
1952)
*
March 29 -
Wilhelm Ackermann, German mathematician (d.
1962)
April - August
*
April 15 -
Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1986)
*
April 30 -
Austrian
inventor and
automotive pioneer Hans List, founder of
AVL List*
April 30 -
Gary Davis, American musician (d.
1972)
*
May 30 -
Howard Hawks, American director (d.
1977)
*
June 7 -
Robert S. Mulliken, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1986)
*
June 7 -
Douglas Campbell, American World War I flying ace (d.
1990)
*
June 19 -
Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (d.
1986)
*
July 2 -
Quirino Cristiani, Argentine animated film director (d.
1984)
*
July 13 -
Mordecai Ardon, one of Israel's greatest painters (d.
1992)
*
July 16 -
Trygve Lie, first
United Nations Secretary General (d.
1968)
*
August 9 -
Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist (d.
1980)
*
August 15 -
Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1957)
*
August 18 -
Jack Pickford, American actor (d.
1933)
*
August 30 -
Raymond Massey, Canadian-born actor (d.
1983)
September - December
*
September 1 -
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder of
Hare Krishna movement (d.
1977)
*
September 24 -
F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (d.
1940)
*
October 1 -
Quaid-e-Millat (Leader of the Community) Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, first
Prime Minister of Pakistan (d.
1951)
*
October 12 -
Eugenio Montale, Italian writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1981)
*
October 28 -
Howard Hanson, American composer (d.
1981)
*
October 31 -
Ethel Waters, American singer and actress (d.
1977)
*
November 4 -
Carlos P. Garcia,
president of the Philippines (d.
1971)
*
November 8 -
Bucky Harris, baseball player (d.
1977)
*
November 10 -
Jimmy Dykes, baseball player and manager (d.
1976)
*
November 13 -
Nobusuke Kishi,
Prime Minister of Japan (d.
1987)
*
November 14 -
Mamie Eisenhower,
First Lady of the United States (d.
1979)
*
November 16 -
Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists (d.
1980)
*
November 17 -
Lev Vygotsky, Russian psychologist (d.
1934)
*
December 5 -
Carl Ferdinand Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1984)
*
December 6 -
Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (d.
1983)
*
December 14 -
Jimmy Doolittle, American World War II general (d.
1993)
*
December 21 -
Leroy Robertson, American composer (d.
1971)
*
January 4 -
Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German
Old Catholic bishop (b.
1821)
*
January 8 -
Paul Verlaine, French lyric poet (b.
1844)
*
April 30 -
Hamilton Disston, Floridan developer (b.
1844)
*
May 20 -
Clara Schumann, German composer (b.
1819)
*
July 1 -
Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author (b.
1811)
*
August 10 -
Otto Lilienthal, German aviation pioneer (b.
1848)
*
August 17 -
Bridget Driscoll, an early
automobile fatality
*
October 11 -
Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (b.
1824)
*
October 11 -
Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b.
1829)
*
October 21 -
James Henry Greathead, Famous engineer and inventor (b.
1884)
*
October 23 - ?
Columbus Delano, American statesman (b.
1809)
*
December 10 -
Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor of dynamite and creator of the
Nobel Prize (b.
1833)
*
December 30 -
José Rizal, national hero of the Philippines (b.
1861)
*
February 20 -
W.W. Denslow &
Ann Waters Holden*
April 6 -
Benjamin Harrison &
Mary Scott Lord Dimmick*
April 8 -
Jeanne Calment &
Fernand Calment*
June 5 -
Valborg Borchsenius &
Johannes Norden Guldbrandsen*
June 26 -
Jennette Lee &
Gerald Stanley Lee*
July 22 -
Queen Maud &
King Haakon VII*
September 1 -
W.S. Weatherwax &
Anna L. Wallis*
October 15 -
Lewis J. Selznick &
Florence Flossie Sachs*
October 24 -
King Victor Emmanuel III &
Helen Petrovic-Njegos*
October 26 -
Charles Fort &
Anna Filing*
November 4 -
Roberto Vittiglio &
Wilhelmine Westphal*
December 1 -
Neel Doff &
Fernand Brouez
