1896
Centuries: 18th century- 19th century- 20th centuryDecades: 1860s 1870s 1880s - 1890s- 1900s 1910s 1920sYears: 189318941895- 1896 - 189718981899Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).
Contents
Events of 1896
January - March
January 5: Roentgen rays. Roentgen X-ray (23 Jan. 1896).- 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
- February 11 - Oscar Wilde's play Salomé premieres in Paris.
- March 1 - With the Battle of Adowa, Ethiopia defends its independence from Italy.
- 9 March - Responding to national outrage at the defeat at Adowa, Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi resigns.
- March 23 - The New York State Legislature passes the Raines Law, restricting Sunday alcoholic beverage sales to hotels
April - June
- 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.
- April 9 - The official chartering of The National Farm School which later became Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA.
- 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 and upholding segregation.
- 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 normalized damages, killing more than 255 and injuring over 1,000 people.
- June 4 - The Ford Quadricycle, the first Ford vehicle ever developed, is completed eventually leading Henry Ford to build the empire that "put America on wheels".
- 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.
July - September
- July 9 - William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of gold speech.
- July 11 - Wilfrid Laurier becomes Canada's seventh prime minister.
- July 27 - A causeway is opened between the islands of Saaremaa and Muhu in Estonia.
- 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 minutes of shelling.
- September 15 - Crash at Crush train wreck stunt.
- September 22 - Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.
October - December
- October 5 - After a long siege, Brazilian government troops take Canudos in north Brazil, crushing Antonio Conselheiro and his followers.
- 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 30 - A large carcass, later postulated to be the remains of a gigantic octopus, is found washed ashore near St. Augustine, Florida.
- December 25 - John Philip Sousa composes magnum opus, "Stars and Stripes Forever" on Christmas Day.
- December 30 - Jose Rizal, Filipino scholar and poet, executed in the Philippines
Undated
- 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 "Realignment" of the Republican Party of the United States of America.
- Founding of
Births
1896 in other calendars Gregorian calendar1896MDCCCXCVI Ab urbe condita2649 Armenian calendar1345
ԹՎ ՌՅԽԵ Bahá'í calendar52 – 53 Berber calendar2846 Buddhist calendar2440 Burmese calendar1258 Chinese calendar4532/4592-11-17
(乙未年十一月十七日) — to — 4533/4593-11-27
(丙申年十一月廿七日) Coptic calendar1612 – 1613 Ethiopian calendar1888 – 1889 Hebrew calendar5656– 5657Hindu calendars - Vikram Samvat1951 – 1952 - Shaka Samvat1818 – 1819 - Kali Yuga4997 – 4998 Holocene calendar11896 Iranian calendar1274 – 1275 Islamic calendar1313 – 1314 Japanese calendarMeiji29
(明治29年) Korean calendar4229 Thai solar calendar2439 v • d • e
January - June
- Lawrence Riley, American playwright and screen writer (d. 1974)
- January 2 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (d. 1954)
- January 4
- Everett Dirksen, American politician (d. 1969)
- 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)
- 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 15 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- April
30
- Hans List, founder of AVL List (d. 1996)
- Gary Davis, American musician (d. 1972)
- May 7 - John Dunville, British Army officer (d. 1917)
- May 30 - Howard Hawks, American director (d. 1977)
- June 6 - Henry Allingham, British, oldest ever veteran of British armed forces and oldest ever Englishman
- June 7
- Robert S. Mulliken, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- Douglas Campbell, American World War I flying ace (d. 1990)
- June 19 - Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (d. 1986)
July - December
- July 2 - Quirino Cristiani, Argentine animated film director (d. 1984)
- July 10 - Maurice Zbriger, Canadian violinist, composer and conductor (d. 1981)
- July 13 - Mordecai Ardon, Israeli painter (d. 1992)
- July 16 - Trygve Lie, Norwegian, first United Nations Secretary General (d. 1968)
- July 27 - Henri Longchambon, French politician (d. 1969)
- August 9 - Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist (d. 1980)
- August 9 - Leonide Massine, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (d. 1979)
- August 15 - Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1957)
- August 15 - Paul Outerbridge, American photographer (d. 1958)
- August 18 - Jack Pickford, American actor (d. 1933)
- August 22 - W. E. Lawrence, American actor (d. 1947)
- August 30 - Raymond Massey, Canadian-born actor (d. 1983)
- September 1 - A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Indian founder of Hare Krishna movement (d. 1977)
- September 24 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (d. 1940)
- October 7 - Paulino Alcántara, Philippine-Spanish soccer player (d. 1964)
- October 12 - Eugenio Montale, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
- October 27 - Edith Brown, RMS Titanic survivor (d. 1997)
- 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, American baseball player (d. 1977)
- November 10 - Jimmy Dykes, American 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 air-force general (d. 1993)
- December 21 - Leroy Robertson, American composer (d. 1971)
- December 27 - Louis Bromfield, American writer (d. 1956)
- See also Category: 1896 births.
Deaths
January - June
- January 4 - Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)
- January 8 - Paul Verlaine, French lyric poet (b. 1844)
- May 1 - Naser ad-Din Qajar, Shah of Persia, King of Herat (b. 1831)
- May 17 - Muhammad Al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait (b. 1831)
- May 19 - Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, father of Archduke Ferdinand (b. 1833)
- May 20 - Clara Schumann, German composer (b. 1819)
- May 24 - Federico Luigi, Conte Menabrea, Italian soldier and statesman (b. 1809)
July - December
- July 1 - Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author (b. 1811)
- July 16 - Edmond de Goncourt, French writer and co-founder of the Académie Goncourt (b. 1822)
- July 19 - Abraham H. Cannon, American Mormon apostle (b. 1859)
- August 10 - Otto Lilienthal, German aviation pioneer (b. 1848)
- August 17 - Bridget Driscoll, early British automobile fatality (b. c. 1852)
- August 25 - Hamad bin Thuwaini of Zanzibar, sultan of Zanzibar (b. 1857)
- October 11
- Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (b. 1824)
- Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1829)
- October 21 - James Henry Greathead, British engineer and inventor (b. 1844)
- October 23 - Columbus Delano, American statesman (b. 1809)
- November 16 - Josip Šokčević, Croatian viceroy (b. 1811)
- 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)
- See also Category: 1896 deaths.