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1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year that started on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1908

January

• January 12 – A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
• January 13 – A fire at the Rhoads Opera House in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. kills 170.
• January 24 – Robert Baden-Powell begins the Boy Scout movement.

January 24: Boy Scout movement.

February

• February 1 – King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.
• February 12 – The first around-the-world car race, the 1908 New York to Paris Race, begins.
• February 18 – Japanese immigration to the U.S.A. is forbidden.

March

• March 4 – The Collinwood School Fire, near Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., kills 174.
• March 21 – Frenchman Henri Farman pilots the first passenger flight.
• March 27 – The first overseas Scout Troop is formed in Gibraltar.

April

• April 20 – Sunshine train disaster: Two trains collide in Melbourne,Australia, killing 44 people and injuring more than 400.^[1]
• April 21 – Frederick Cook claims to have reached the North Pole on this date.
• April 27 – The 1908 Summer Olympics begin in London.

May

• May 26 – At Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil discovery in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.

June

Evidence of the Tunguska event (June 30). Photo taken 19 years later.

• June 30 – The Tunguska event, also known as the Russian explosion, occurs near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russian Empire.

July

• July 3 – Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire: Major Ahmed Niyazi, with 200 followers (Ottoman troops and civilians), begins an open revolution by defecting from the 3rd Army Corps in Macedonia, decamping into the hill country.
• July 6 – Robert Peary sets sail for the North Pole.
• July 11–12 – The steamship Amalthea, housing 80 British strikebreakers while in Malmö harbour, Sweden, is bombed by Anton Nilson; 1 is killed, 20 injured.
• July 23 – Young Turk Revolution: The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) issues a formal ultimatum to Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the constitution of 1876, within the Ottoman Empire. It is restored the following day.
• July 24 – Dorando Pietri wins the Olympic marathon in London in one of the most dramatic arrivals of the Olympic history, only to be disqualified soon afterwards.

August

• August 24 – After an intense power struggle, Sultan Abd al-Aziz IV of Morocco is deposed, and is succeeded by his brother Abd al-Hafiz.

September

• September 17 – At Ft. Myer, Virginia, U.S.A. Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in an airplane crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, is severely injured in the crash but recovers.
• September 27 – Henry Ford produces his first Model T automobile.

October

• October 5 – Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire; Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar.
• October 6 – The Bosnian Crisis begins after the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.

November

• November 6 – Western bandits Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid are supposedly killed in Bolivia, after being surrounded by a large group of soldiers. There are many rumors to the contrary however, and their grave sites are unmarked.

December

• December 2 – Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at age 2.
• December 16 – Construction begins on the RMS Olympic at the Harland and Wolff Shipyards in Belfast.
• December 28 – An earthquake and tsunami destroys Messina, Sicily and Calabria, killing over 70,000 people.

Undated

• Due to the evidence collected by Roger Casement, Léopold II of Belgium is forced to make reforms in the Congo, which is his personal colony.
• The Children's Encyclopedia is first published.
• Henri Matisse opens his own art academy in France.
• A 40,000-year-old Neanderthal boy skeleton is found at Le Moustier in southwest France.

Births

January–February

• 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 (d. 2008)
• January 14 – Russ Columbo, Italian-American 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 26 – Rupprecht Geiger, German painter (d. 2009)
• February 1 – George Pál, Hungarian-born animator (d. 1980)
• February 11 – Vivian Ernest Fuchs, English geologist and explorer (d. 1999)
• February 12 – Jean Effel, French painter and journalist (d. 1982)
• February 17 – Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (d. 2007)
• February 22 – John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
• February 22 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan president (d. 1981)
• February 23 – William McMahon, 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–April

• 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 17 – Brigitte Helm, German actress (d. 1996)
• March 19 – George Rodger, British photojournalist (d. 1995)
• March 20 – Michael Redgrave, English actor (d. 1985)
• March 20 – Frank Stanton, American businessman (d. 2006)
• 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 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 7 – Percy Faith, Canadian-born composer, musician (d. 1976)
• April 8 – Tito Guízar, Mexican singer and film actor (d. 1999)
• April 20 – Lionel Hampton, African-American musician and bandleader (d. 2002)
• April 24 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor and medallic artist (d. 1963)
• April 25 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
• April 28 – Oskar Schindler, Austro-Hungarian (Sudeten German) industrialist (d. 1974)
• April 29 – Jack Williamson, American science fiction author (d. 2006)
• April 30 – Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic prime minister (d. 1970)

May–June

• May 1 – Krystyna Skarbek, Polish-born heroine of World War II (d. 1952)
• 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 – James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997)
• May 23 – Max Abramovitz, American architect (d. 2004)
• May 23 – John Bardeen, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
• May 23 – Hélène Boucher, French aviatrix (d. 1934)
• May 25 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (d. 1963)
• May 26 – Nguyen Ngoc Tho, First prime minister of South Vietnam
• 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 12 – Marina Semyonova, Russian ballerina
• June 21 – Yoon Bong-Gil, Korean resister against the Japanese occupation of Korea (d. 1932)
• June 24 – Alfons Rebane, Estonian military commander (d. 1976)
• June 24 – Hugo Distler, German composer (d. 1942)
• June 26 – Salvador Allende, President of Chile (d. 1973)
• June 27 – Bill Kennedy, American actor (d. 1997)
• June 29 – Leroy Anderson, American composer (d. 1975)
• June 30 – Winston Graham, English writer (d. 2003)

July–August

• July 12 – Milton Berle, American comedian (d. 2002)
• August 4 – Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (d. 1994)
• August 5 – Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
• August 9 – A. I. Bezzerides, American screenwriter (d. 2007)
• August 10 – Rica Erickson, Australian naturalist and botanical artist (d. 2009)
• August 21 – M. M. Kaye, British writer (d. 2004)
• August 22 – Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer (d. 2004)
• August 27 – Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
• August 27 – Lyndon Johnson, President of the United States (d. 1973)
• August 28 – Robert Merle, French writer (d. 2004)
• August 30 – Leonor Fini, Argentine artist (d. 1996)
• August 31 – William Saroyan, American writer (d. 1981)

September–October

• September 2 – Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev, Russian astronomer/astrophysicist (d.1983)
• September 3 – Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (d. 1988)
• September 4 – Richard Wright, African-American author (d. 1960)
• September 6 – Louis Essen, English physicist (d. 1997)
• September 7 – Michael E. DeBakey, American surgeon and medical researcher (d. 2008)
• September 10 – Raymond Scott, American composer, bandleader, electronic music pioneer (d. 1994)
• September 13 – Mae Questel, American actress (d. 1998)
• September 15 – Miško Kranjec, Slovenian writer (d. 1983)
• September 18 – Viktor Hambardzumyan, Soviet Armenian scientist (d. 1996)
• September 19 – Paul Bénichou, French intellectual (d. 2001)
• September 21 – Charles Upham, New Zealand soldier (d. 1994)
• September 25 – Eugen Suchoň, Slovak composer (d. 1993)
• September 29 – Eddie Tolan, American athlete (d. 1967)
• September 30 – David Oistrakh, Ukrainian-born violinist (d. 1974)
• October 1 – Umar Dimayev, Chechen folk singer (d. 1972)
• October 6 – Carole Lombard, American actress (d.1942)
• October 15 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian economist (d. 2006)
• October 16 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (d. 1985)
• October 17 – Kenji Miyamoto, Japanese politician (d. 2007)
• October 19 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981)
• October 21 – Jorge Oteiza, Spanish painter (d. 2003)
• October 23 – Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov, Chechen historian (d. 1997)
• October 23 – Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
• October 25 – Tauno Palo, Finnish actor (d. 1982)
• October 25 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (d. 2004)
• October 28 – Arturo Frondizi, President of Argentina (d. 1995)

November–December

• November 4 – Józef Rotblat, Polish physicist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 2005)
• November 12 – Harry Blackmun, American judge (d. 1999)
• November 16 – Sœur Emmanuelle, French nun (d. 2008)
• November 18 – Imogene Coca, American actress (d. 2001)
• November 20 – Alistair Cooke, English-born American journalist (d. 2004)
• November 28 – Claude Lévi-Strauss, Belgian-born French anthropologist (d. 2009)
• December 4 – Alfred Hershey, American bacteriologist, Nobel Prize laureate (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 11 – Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese film director
• December 17 – Willard Libby, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
• December 22 – Kočo Racin, Macedonian poet and revolutionary (d. 1943)
• December 22 – Giovanni Luigi Bonelli, Italian comic book author and writer (d. 2001)
• December 31 – Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Nazi-hunter (d. 2005)

Date unknown

• Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, Somali politician (d. 2007)

Deaths

January–June

• January 9 – Wilhelm Busch, German painter and poet (b. 1832)
• January 17 – Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
• January 25 – Ouida, English writer (b. 1839)
• February 1
  • King Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863)
  • Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal (b. 1887)
• April 22 – Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1836)
• April 26 – Karl Möbius, German ecologist (b. 1825)
• May 24 – Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1821)
• May 26 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam (b. 1835)
• June 14 – Frederick Stanley, Governor-General of Canada and founder of the Stanley Cup (b. 1841)
• June 21 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (b. 1844)
• June 24 – Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (b. 1837)

July–December

• July 3 – Joel Chandler Harris, American author (Br'er Rabbit) (b. 1848)
• July 5 – Jonas Lie, Norwegian author (b. 1833)
• July 6 – Felipe Calderón y Roca, Filipino politician (b. 1868)
• July 20 – Demetrius Vikelas, Greek International Olympic Committee president (b. 1835)
• July 22 – William Randal Cremer, English politician and pacifist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1828)
• August 4 – Radoje Domanović, Serbian writer (b. 1873)
• August 25 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
• August 26 – Tony Pastor, American theater impressario (b. 1837)
• September 17 – Thomas Selfridge, American Army officer & first aviation casualty (b. 1882)
• September 20 – Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (b. 1844)
• September 29 – Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Brazilian author (b. 1839)
• November 3 – Harro Magnussen, German sculptor (b. 1861)
• November 4
  • Richard Gerstl, Austrian artist (b. 1883)
  • Tomás Estrada Palma, first President of Cuba (b. 1832)
• November 7 – Butch Cassidy, American outlaw (b. 1866)
• November 14 – The Guangxu Emperor of China (b. 1871)
• November 15 – Empress Dowager Cixi, ruler of China (b. 1835)
• November 17 – Lydia Thompson, English dancer and actress (b. 1838)

Unknown date

• Qasim Amin, Egyptian writer (b. 1863)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Gabriel Lippmann
• Chemistry – Ernest Rutherford
• Medicine – Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Paul Ehrlich
• Literature – Rudolf Christoph Eucken
• Peace – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Fredrik Bajer

Notes

1. ^ Ballarat Genealogy: Newspaper Report of the accident

External links

From Wikiquote