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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).

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 has 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.
• January 28 Walter Arnold, of East Peckham, Kent, England, is fined 1 shilling for speeding at 8 mph, thus exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph. The first speeding fine.
• February 1
  • The opera La bohème premieres in Turin, Italy.

• February 11 – Oscar Wilde's play Salomé premieres in Paris.
• March 1 – Battle of Adwa: Ethiopia defends its independence from Italy.
• March 9 – 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 – The first edition of the Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport is published.
• April 6 – The opening ceremonies of the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympic Games, are held.
• April 9 – The National Farm School (later Delaware Valley College) is chartered 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 – Plessy v. Ferguson: The U.S. Supreme Court introduces the "separate but equal" doctrine and upholds 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 – An earthquake and tsunami in Sanriku, Japan, kills 27,000.

A picture of the restored Panathenaic Stadium, the site of the 1896 Summer Olympics

• June 28 – An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston City, Pennsylvania resulted in a massive cave-in that killed 58 miners. [1] [2] [3]

July–September

• July 9 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of gold speech at the Democratic National Convention, which nominates him for President of the United States.
• July 11 – Wilfrid Laurier becomes Canada's seventh prime minister.
• July 26 International Socialist Workers and Trade Union Congress opens in London.
• July 27 – A causeway is opened between the islands of Saaremaa and Muhu in Estonia.
• July 30 – Shortly after 6:30 pm, at a crossing just west of Atlantic City, New Jersey, two trains collide, crushing five loaded passenger coaches, killing 50 and seriously injuring approximately 60, in the 1896 Atlantic City rail crash.
• August 16 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in the Klondike.
• August 17 – Bridget Driscoll was run over by a Benz car at Crystal Palace, London. The first motoring fatality in England.
• 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 – The Crash at Crush train wreck stunt is held in Texas.
• 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: The Augusta High School corner stone is laid, marking the end of the Augusta Methodist College.
• November 3 – U.S. presidential election, 1896: Republican William McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan.
• November 30 – A large carcass, later postulated to be the remains of a gigantic octopus, is found washed ashore near St. Augustine, Florida.
• 14 December – The Glasgow Subway, the third-oldest underground metro system in the world, opened.
• December 25 – John Philip Sousa composes his magnum opus, the Stars and Stripes Forever, on Christmas Day.
• December 30 – Jose Rizal, Filipino scholar and poet, is executed in the Philippines.

Undated

• Nepalese archaeologists rediscover the great stone pillar of Ashoka at Lumbini, using Fa Xian's records.
• The Pontifical University of Maynooth is established by decree of the Vatican.
• France establishes an administrative post in Abengourou, Côte d'Ivoire.
• The New York Telephone Company is formed.
• The Republican Party of the United States of America is realigned.
• Construction of the Uganda Railway starts.
• The Philippine Revolution erupts.
• Founding of
  • Clarkson University (in Potsdam, New York)
  • Devonport High School for Boys (in Plymouth UK)
• Pleasure Beach Blackpool, a popular English theme park (Britain's Biggest Tourist Attraction), is founded by Alderman William George Bean.

Births

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)
  • John Dos Passos, American author (d. 1970)
• January 18 – C. M. Eddy, Jr., American author (d. 1967)
• January 20 – George Burns, American comedian (d. 1996)
• January 23 – Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d. 1985)
• February 16– Eugenie "Douchy" Blanchard French supercentenarian
• February 18 – André Breton, French writer (d. 1966)
• February 23 – Herbert Weichmann, German politician and mayor of Hamburg (d. 1983)
• 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)
• March 31 – Florrie Baldwin, British supercentenarian and oldest living person in the United Kingdom
• April 15 – Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
• April 27 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball player (d. 1963)
• April 30
  • Hans List, Austrian founder of the AVL List (d. 1996)
  • Gary Davis, American musician (d. 1972)
• May 7 – John Dunville, British Army officer in World War I (d. 1917)
• May 30 – Howard Hawks, American director (d. 1977)
• June 6 – Henry Allingham, British World War I veteran and world's oldest man (d. 2009)
• 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)
  • 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)
  • 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 the Hare Krishna movement (d. 1977)
• September 4 – Antonin Artaud, Theatre Practitioner, Director and Actor (d. 1948)
• September 21 – Walter Breuning, American supercentenarian, world's oldest man, last living man born in 1896
• September 22 – Uri Zvi Grinberg, Israeli poet and journalist (d. 1981)
• 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, R.M.S. 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)
• November 23 – Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovakian Communist Politician (d. 1953)
• 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)

Deaths

January–June

• January 4 – Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)
• January 6 – Thomas W. Knox, American author and journalist (b. 1835)
• January 8 – Paul Verlaine, French lyric poet (b. 1844)
• May 1 – Naser ad-Din Qajar, Shah of Persia, King of Herat (b. 1831)
• May 7 – Herman Webster Mudgett, American serial killer (b. 1860)
• May 10 – Antti Ahlström, Finnish industrialist and founder of Ahlstrom (b. 1827)
• 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 4 – Marcelo H. del Pilar, Filipino writer and journalist (b. 1850)
• 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 – Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini 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)

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