1908 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). Events January-February 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 21 - New York City passes a law, the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women 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 April-June April 7 - Herbert Henry Asquith takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman April 14 - In Denmark, suffrage of every tax-paying citizen April 21 - Friedrich A Cook's claimed date to have reached North Pole April 27 - The 1908 Summer Olympics open in London. May 10 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time (Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virgina). 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 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 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). October 5 - Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire - Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar December 28 - An 7 Richter scale earthquake destroys Messina, Sicily and rocks Calabria killing over 75,000. November - William Howard Taft defeats William Jennings Bryan in the U.S. presidential election unknown dates First Zionist colony in Palestine British suffragettes begin a campaign for female suffrage Due to the evidence collected by Roger Casement, Leopold II of Belgium is forced to make reforms in Congo, which is his personal colony Danish minister of Justice, Alberti, is revealed to be an embezzler The Children's Encyclopedia 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) Henry Ford produces its first Model T automobile. 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. Abd al-Aziz IV, sultan of Morocco is deposed and succeededs by his brother Abd al-Hafiz. The Young Turks rebel and force sultan Abd al-Hamid II to adhere to the constitution of 1876. Births January January 7 - Red Allen, jazz musician (d. 1967) January 9 - Simone de Beauvoir, feminist philosopher (d. 1986) January 12 - Jean Delannoy, film director January 14 - Rus Columbo, singer, bandleader, composer January 15 - Edward Teller (d. 2003) January 22 - Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist (d. 1968) January 26 - Stéphane Grappelli, musician, composer (d. 1997) January 27 - Oran "Hot Lips" Page, jazz trumpet (d. 1954) February February 1 - George Pál, director, producer (d. 1980) February 5 - Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins, actresses (d. 1969) February 7 - Buster Crabbe, Olympic Games swimming gold medalist, actor February 8 - Emil Staiger, scientist of literature (d. 1987) February 11 - Sutan Takdir Alishahbana, Indonesian linguistic/author/novelist. February 11 - Vivian Ernest Fuchs, geologist/explorer. February 11 - Josh White, musician February 15 - HAP Grieshaber, painter and graphic artist (d. 1981) February 17 - Red Barber, baseball announcer, sports journalist (d. 1992) February 22 - John Mills, actor February 23 - William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia, (d. 1988) February 26 - Tex Avery, cartoonist (d. 1980) February 26 - Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver (d. 1949) February 29 - Balthus, painter (d. 2001) February 29 - Dee Brown, writer, historian (d. 2002) March March 2 - Walter Bruch, engineer (d. 1990) March 5 - Rex Harrison, actor (d. 1990) March 7 - Anna Magnani, actress (d. 1973) March 8 - Claire Trevor, actress March 13 - Walter Annenberg, publisher, philanthropist (d. 2002) March 17 - Brigitte Helm, actress (d. 1996) March 20 - Sir Michael Redgrave, actor (d. 1985) March 22 - Louis L'Amour, author (d. 1988) March 23 - Joan Crawford, actor (d. 1977) March 25 - Helmut Käutner, actor and film director (d. 1980) March 25 - David Lean, film director (d. 1991) March 29 - Arthur O'Connell, actor (d. 1981) April April 1 - Abraham Maslow, psychologist April 2 - Buddy Ebsen, actor, dancer April 5 - Bette Davis, US-American actress (d. 1989) April 5 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989) April 7 - Percy Faith, composer, musician (d. 1976) April 15 - Eden Ahbez, hermit, musician April 20 - Lionel Hampton, jazz musician, bandleader (d. 2002) April 25 - Edward R. Murrow, journalist (d. 1965) May May 5 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (d. 1989) May 7 - Max Grundig, industrialist (d. 1989) May 8 - Cristian Vasile, Romanian tango singer (d. 1974) May 19 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982) May 20 - Jimmy Stewart, American actor May 23 - John Bardeen, physicist (d. 1991) May 25 - Theodore Roethke, American poet May 28 - Ian Fleming, author of James Bond books (d. 1964) May 30 - Mel Blanc, voice actor (d. 1989) May 31 - Don Ameche (actor) June-July June 18 - Bud Collyer, voice actor, game show host (d. 1969) June 29 - Leroy Anderson, composer July 5 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989) July 12 - Milton Berle, comedian (d. 2002) August-September August 4 - Kurt Eichhorn, conductor August 5 - Harold Holt, seventeenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967) August 27 - Don Bradman, cricket player August 27 - Lyndon Johnson, 36th president of the United States August 28 - Roger Tory Peterson, naturalist, artist, and educator August 30 Leonor Fini, Argentinian/Italian artist (d. 1996) September 6 - Louis Essen, physicist (d. 1997) September 7 - Michael E. DeBakey, inventor of the MASH September 29 - Eddie Tolan, American athlete September 30 - David Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinst (d. 1974) October-December October 14 - Allan Jones, actor, singer (d. 1992) October 16 - Enver Hoxha, dictator of Albania October 19 - Sydney MacEwan, Scottish singer October 19 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer November 20 - Alistair Cooke, television host (d. 2004) November 28 - Claude Levi-Strauss December 6 - Pierre Graber, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 2003) December 10 - Olivier Messiaen, composer December 31 - Simon Wiesenthal, Nazi hunter Deaths January 25 - Ouida, writer February 1 - King Charles of Portugal April 20 - Henry Chadwick, baseball writer and historian April 22 - Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. May 26 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Who claimed to be the Messiah and Mahdi died.(b. 1835) June 21 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composer (b. 1844) July 5 - Jonas Lie, Norwegian author July 20 - Demetrius Vikelas, Greek IOC president May 26 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadi sect August 25 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist August 26 Tony Pastor, vaudeville founder & theater impresario September 20 - Pablo de Sarasate, violinist October 30 Caroline Astor, American socialite November 14 5-7 pm - Guangxu Emperor of China November 15 1-3 pm - Empress Dowager Cixi Abd al-Aziz IV, sultan of Morocco. Nobel Prizes Physics - Gabriel Lippmann Chemistry - Ernest Rutherford Medicine - Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Paul Ehrlich Literature - Rudolf Christoph Eucken Peace - Klas Pontus Arnoldson Fredrik Bajer ast:1908 FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/1908