1908: On this day in history

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Home: On this Day: 1908

Famous birthdays, deaths and events of 1908

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Birthdays

January 5 - George Dolenz, American actor (d. 1963)
January 7 - Red Allen, American musician (d. 1967)
January 8 - William Hartnell, British actor (d. 1975)
January 9 - Simone de Beauvoir, French author (d. 1986)
January 10 - Paul Henreid, Austrian actor (d. 1993)
January 10 - Bernard Lee, English actor (d. 1981)
January 11 - Lionel Stander, American actor (d. 1994)
January 12 - Jean Delannoy, French film director
January 12 - Clement Hurd, American illustrator (d. 1988)
January 14 - Russ Columbo, American singer (d. 1934)
January 15 - Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (d. 2003)
January 16 - Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (d. 1984)
January 16 - Günther Prien, German World War II submarine captain (d. 1941)
January 17 - Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager (d. 1985)
January 18 - Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician
January 18 - Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, (d. 1972)
January 19 - Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician (d. 1971)
January 22 - Lev Landau, Soviet physicist
January 26 - Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist (d. 1997)
January 26 - Jill Esmond, English actress (d. 1990)
January 27 - Oran Page, American musician (d. 1954)
January 27 - William Randolph Hearst, Jr.
January 28 - Paul Misraki, French composer and songwriter (d. 1998)
February 1 - George Pál, Hungarian-born director and producer (d. 1980)
February 2 - Wes Ferrell, American baseball player (d. 1976)
February 4 - Julian Bell, British poet (d. 1937)
February 5 - Daisy and Violet Hilton, British conjoined twins (d. 1969)
February 6 - Amintore Fanfani, Italian politician (d. 1999)
February 7 - Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (d. 1983)
February 11 - Philip Dunne, American screenwriter
February 11 - Vivian Ernest Fuchs, English geologist (d. 1999)
February 12 - Jacques Herbrand, French logician and mathematician (d. 1931)
February 12 - Jean Effel, French painter and journalist (d. 1982)
February 12 - August Neo, Estonian wrestler (d. 1982)
February 15 - Sarto Fournier, Quebec politician (d. 1980)
February 17 - Red Barber, American baseball announcer (d. 1992)
February 17 - Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (d. 2005)
February 22 - Sir John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
February 23 - William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
February 25 - Frank G. Slaughter, American novelist (d. 2001)
February 26 - Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
February 26 - Leela Majumdar, Bengali writer (d. 2007)
February 26 - Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)
February 28 - Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002)
February 28 - Alexander Golitzen, American art director (d. 2005)
February 29 - Balthus, French-Polish painter (d. 2001)
February 29 - Dee Brown, American writer (d. 2002)
February 29 - Alf Gover, English cricketer (d. 2001)
March 2 - Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov, Yakut-born Soviet sniper (d. 1968)
March 2 - Walter Bruch, German engineer (d. 1990)
March 4 - T.R.M. Howard, American civil rights leader (d. 1976)
March 5 - Irving Fiske, American writer
March 5 - Sir Rex Harrison, English actor (d. 1990)
March 7 - Anna Magnani, Italian actress (d. 1973)
March 12 - Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (d. 1970)
March 12 - David Saul Marshall Singapore's first Chief Minister, (d. 1995)
March 13 - Walter Annenberg, American publisher and philanthropist (d. 2002)
March 14 - Ed Heinemann, American aircraft designer (Douglas Aircraft; d. 1991)
March 14 - Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French phenomenological philosopher (d. 1961)
March 16 - René Daumal, French Surrealist writer (d. 1944)
March 16 - Robert Rossen, American film director
March 17 - Brigitte Helm, German actress (d. 1996)
March 20 - Michael Redgrave, English actor (d. 1985)
March 22 - Jack Crawford, Australian tennis player (d. 1991)
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 26 - Franz Stangl, German concentration camp commandant (d. 1971)
March 29 - Arthur O'Connell, American actor (d. 1981)
March 29 - Dennis O'Keefe, American actor (d. 1968)
March 31 - Red Norvo, American jazz vibraphonist (d. 1999)
April 1 - Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (d. 1970)
April 2 - Buddy Ebsen, American actor and dancer (d. 2003)
April 4 - Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, American memoirist (Cheaper by the Dozen) (d. 2006)
April 5 - Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989)
April 5 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989)
April 5 - Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (d. 1986)
April 7 - Percy Faith, Canadian composer and musician (d. 1976)
April 8 - Hugo Fregonese, Argentine film director (d. 1987)
April 9 - Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-born painter (d. 1997)
April 11 - Jane Bolin, first African-American woman judge (d. 2007)
April 11 - Masaru Ibuka, Japanese industrialist (Sony) (d. 1997)
April 11 - Dan Maskell, English tennis commentator (d. 1992)
April 11 - Leo Rosten, American humorist and author (d. 1997)
April 12 - Robert Lee Scott, Jr.
April 15 - Eden Ahbez, American songwriter (d. 1995)
April 15 - Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
April 20 - Lionel Hampton, American musician (d. 2002)
April 23 - Myron Waldman, American animator (d. 2006)
April 24 - Marceline Day, American actor (d. 2000)
April 25 - Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
April 28 - Oskar Schindler, Austrian businessman (d. 1974)
April 29 - Jack Williamson, American writer (d. 2006)
April 30 - Eve Arden, American actress (d. 1990)
April 30 - Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic foreign and later prime minister (d. 1970)
May 1 - Giovanni Guareschi, Italian journalist (d. 1968)
May 4 - Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist (d. 1968)
May 5 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (d. 1989)
May 9 - Mary Goldsmith, American ceramist (d. 2007)
May 19 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982)
May 20 - James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997)
May 22 - Rattana Pestonji, Thai filmmaker (d. 1970)
May 22 - Horton Smith. American golfer, (d. 1963)
May 23 - John Bardeen, American physicist
May 23 - Hélène Boucher, French aviatrix (d. 1934)
May 25 - Theodore Roethke, American poet (d. 1963)
May 26 - Robert Morley, English actor (d. 1992)
May 26 - Nguyen Ngoc Tho, Prime Minister of South Vietnam
May 28 - Ian Fleming, English author (d. 1964)
May 30 - Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist
May 30 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)
May 31 - Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
May 31 - Nils Poppe, Swedish actor (d. 2000)
June 10 - Robert Cummings, American actor (d. 1990)
June 12 - Alphonse Ouimet, Canadian TV pioneer and president of the CBC (d. 1988)
June 12 - Marina Semenova, Russian ballerina
June 12 - Otto Skorzeny, Famous WWII German SS commando (d. 1975)
June 15 - Sam Giancana, American mafioso (d. 1975)
June 18 - Bud Collyer, American game show host (d. 1969)
June 18 - Nedra Volz, American actress (d. 2003)
June 18 - Stanley Knowles, Canadian politician (d. 1997)
June 20 - Billy Werber, American baseball player
June 21 - William Frankena, American philosopher (d. 1994)
June 24 - Hugo Distler, German composer (d. 1942)
June 24 - Guru Gopinath, Indian classical dancer (d 1987)
June 24 - Alfons Rebane, Estonian military officer (d. 1976)
June 25 - Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher (d. 2000)
June 26 - Salvador Allende, Former President of Chile (1970-1973) (d. 1973)
June 27 - João Guimarães Rosa, Brazilian writer (d. 1967)
June 29 - Leroy Anderson, American composer (d. 1975)
June 30 - Winston Graham, British writer (d. 2003)
July 1 - Peg Entwistle, Welsh actress (d. 1932)
July 2 - Thurgood Marshall, American Supreme Court Justice (d. 1993)
July 3 - M. F. K. Fisher, American writer (d. 1992)
July 3 - Robert B. Meyner, American politician (d. 1990)
July 7 - Revilo P. Oliver, American professor (d. 1994)
July 8 - Louis Jordan, American saxophonist (d. 1975)
July 8 - Nelson A. Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States (d. 1979)
July 9 - Allama Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar
July 12 - Milton Berle, American comedian (d. 2002)
July 18 - Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress (d. 1944)
July 18 - Mildred Lisette Norman, American peace activist
July 21 - Harold "Jug" McSpaden, American professional golfer (d. 1996)
July 22 - Amy Vanderbilt, American author (d. 1974)
July 24 - Cootie Williams, American trumpeter (d. 1985)
July 25 - Bill Bowes, English cricketer (d. 1987)
July 25 - Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Indian musician (d. 2003)
July 25 - Jack Gilford, American actor (d. 1990)
July 27 - Joseph Mitchell, American writer (d. 1996)
August 4 - Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (d. 1994)
August 5 - Harold Holt, 17th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
August 6 - Helen Jacobs, American tennis player (d. 1997)
August 6 - Will Lee, American actor (d. 1982)
August 8 - Arthur Goldberg, U.S. Supreme Court justice (d. 1980)
August 10 - Adelino ("Billy") Gonsalves, American soccer player (d. 1977)
August 13 - Gene Raymond, American actor (d. 1998)
August 14 - Manos Katrakis, Greek actor (d. 1984)
August 16 - William Maxwell, American novelist and editor (d. 2000)
August 18 - Edgar Faure, French politician and historian (d. 1988)
August 18 - Bill Merritt, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1977)
August 20 - Al Lopez, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
August 21 - M. M. Kaye, British writer (d. 2004)
August 21 - Oversight (nom de plume), American philosopher
August 22 - Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer (d. 2004)
August 23 - Hannah Frank, Scottish Artist and Sculptor
August 26 - W. B. Henning, Prussian-born Iranist (d. 1967)
August 26 - Aubrey Schenck, film producer (d. 1999)
August 26 - Bill Hunt, Australian cricketer (d. 1983)
August 27 - Don Bradman, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
August 27 - Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States (d. 1973)
August 27 - Kurt Wegner, German artist (d. 1985)
August 28 - Roger Tory Peterson, American ornithologist (d. 1996)
August 30 - Fred MacMurray, American actor (d. 1991)
August 31 - William Saroyan, American novelist (d. 1981)
September 1 - Amir Elahi, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1980)
September 3 - Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (d. 1988)
September 4 - Edward Dmytryk, American film director (d. 1999)
September 4 - Richard Wright, American writer (d. 1960)
September 5 - Gloria Holden, British actress (d. 1991)
September 7 - Paul Brown, American football coach and executive (d. 1991)
September 7 - Michael DeBakey, Internationally recognized pioneer of modern medicine. (d. 2008)
September 9 - Cesare Pavese, Italian poet and novelist (d. 1950)
September 10 - Waldo Wedel, American Archaeologist (d. 1996)
September 10 - Raymond Scott, American composer
September 15 - Penny Singleton, American actress (d. 2003)
September 19 - Tatsuo Shimabuku, founder of Isshinryu Karate (d. 1975)
September 19 - Robert Lecourt, French politician and president of the European Court of Justice (d. 2004)
September 19 - Mika Waltari, Finnish novelist (d. 1979)
September 29 - Eddie Tolan, American athlete (d. 1967)
September 30 - David Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist (d. 1974)
October 5 - Joshua Logan, American film director and writer (d. 1988)
October 6 - Carole Lombard, American actress (d. 1942)
October 6 - Sergei Lvovich Sobolev, Russian mathematician (d. 1989)
October 9 - Harry Hooton, Australian poet (d. 1961)
October 9 - Lee Wiley, American jazz singer (d. 1975)
October 10 - Johnny Green, American songwriter
October 10 - Mercè Rodoreda, Catalan novelist (d. 1983)
October 12 - Paul Engle, American writer (d. 1991)
October 12 - Ann Petry, American novelist (d. 1997)
October 14 - Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (d. 2003)
October 15 - John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian economist (d. 2006)
October 16 - Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (d. 1985)
October 17 - Red Rolfe, American baseball player (d. 1969)
October 19 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981)
October 22 - John Gould, American humorist
October 23 - Ilya Frank, Russian physicist
October 25 - Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (d. 2004)
October 27 - Lee Krasner, American painter (d. 1984)
October 28 - Arturo Frondizi, President of Argentina (d. 1995)
October 30 - U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, An Indian politician (d. 1963)
October 30 - Patsy Montana, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 1996)
November 2 - Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (d. 1983)
November 3 - Bronko Nagurski, American football player (d. 1990)
November 4 - Józef Rotblat, Polish physicist
November 4 - Stanley Cortez, American cinematographer (d. 1997)
November 8 - Martha Gellhorn, American writer (d. 1998)
November 10 - Charles Merritt, Canadian Army officer and Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2000)
November 12 - Harry Blackmun, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1999)
November 12 - Amon Göth, commandant of Nazi concentration camp (d. 1946)
November 13 - C. Vann Woodward, American historian (d. 1999)
November 14 - Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (d. 1957)
November 16 - Burgess Meredith, American actor (d. 1997)
November 18 - Imogene Coca, American actress and comedian (d. 2001)
November 20 - Alistair Cooke, British-born journalist (d. 2004)
November 21 - Elizabeth George Speare, American author (d. 1994)
November 23 - Nelson S. Bond, American science fiction writer (d. 2006)
November 24 - Libertad Lamarque, Argentine actress and singer (d. 2000)
November 26 - Charles Forte, Scottish hotelier (d. 2007)
November 26 - Lefty Gomez, American baseball player (d. 1989)
November 28 - Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist
November 29 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American civil rights leader and politician (d. 1972)
November 29 - N. S. Krishnan, Tamil film comedian (d. 1957)
December 1 - Georgios Kasassoglou, Greek musician (d. 1984)
December 3 - Edward Underdown, English actor (d. 1989)
December 4 - Alfred Hershey, American bacteriologist
December 6 - Pierre Graber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 2003)
December 6 - Baby Face Nelson, American bank robber (d. 1934)
December 8 - John A. Volpe, 61st and 63rd Governor of Massachusetts
December 10 - Olivier Messiaen, French composer and ornithologist (d. 1992)
December 11 - Elliott Carter, American composer
December 12 - Gustav Ernesaks, Estonian composer and conductor. (d. 1993)
December 14 - Morey Amsterdam, American comedian and actor (d. 1996)
December 14 - Claude Davey, Welsh rugby union footballer
December 14 - Mária Szepes, Hungarian authoress (d. 2007)
December 17 - Willard Frank Libby, American chemist
December 18 - Paul Siple, American Antarctic explorer (d. 1969)
December 20 - Dennis Morgan, American actor (d. 1994)
December 23 - Yousuf Karsh, Turkish-born
December 25 - Quentin Crisp, English author (d. 1999)
December 25 - Jo-Jo Moore, baseball player (d. 2001)
December 25 - Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-American automotive engineer (d. 1996)
December 28 - Lew Ayres, American actor (d. 1996)
December 29 - Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian (d. 1993)
December 31 - Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor (d. 2005)

Deaths

January 9 - Wilhelm Busch, German painter (b. 1832)
January 9 - Abraham Goldfaden, Russian-born actor (b. 1840)
January 14 - Holger Drachmann, Danish poet and dramatist (b. 1846)
January 17 - Ferdinand IV Grand Duke of Tuscany, (b. 1835)
January 25 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (b. 1850)
January 25 - Ouida, English writer (b. 1839)
February 1 - King Carlos I of Portugal, (b. 1863)
February 23 - Johannes Friedrich August von Esmarch, German surgeon (b. 1823)
February 29 - Pat Garrett, U.S. gunslinger
February 29 - John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow
March 11 - Revd Benjamin Waugh, American activist (b. 1839)
March 12 - Edmondo De Amicis, Italian children's writer (b. 1846)
March 25 - Durham Stevens, American diplomat (b. 1851)
April 11 - Henry Bird, English Chess player and author (b. 1829)
April 22 - Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1836)
May 23 - François Coppée, French poet and novelist (b. 1842)
May 24 - Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1821)
May 26 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam (b. 1835)
May 31 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette, French Canadian poet (b. 1839)
June 14 - Frederick Arthur Stanley, Governor general of Canada (b. 1841)
June 21 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (b. 1844)
June 24 - Grover Cleveland, President of the United States (heart failure) (b. 1837)
July 5 - Jonas Lie, Norwegian author (b. 1833)
July 10 - Phoebe Knapp, American hymn writer (b. 1839)
July 20 - Demetrius Vikelas, Greek author
July 22 - William Randal Cremer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1828)
July 24 - Vicente Acosta, Salvadoran poet (b. the same day 1867)
August 11 - Khudiram Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1889)
August 25 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist
August 26 - Tony Pastor, American vaudeville performer (b. 1837)
September 17 - Thomas Selfridge, First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army (b. 1882)
September 20 - Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (b. 1844)
September 29 - Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Brazilian writer (b. 1839)
October 16 - Father Ignatius, a restorer of religious life in the Church of England (b. 1837)
November 14 - The Guangxu Emperor of China, (b. 1871)
November 15 - Empress Dowager Cixi, Chinese ruler (b. 1835)
November 16 - Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, French-born Canadian politician (b. 1829)
November 20 - Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (b. 1868)
November 27 - Jean Albert Gaudry, French geologist (b. 1827)
December 30 - Thomas-Alfred Bernier, Canadian lawyer

Events

January 1 - For the first time, a ball is dropped in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year at midnight.
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 13 - Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, PA killing 171 people.
January 15 - The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women.
January 21 - New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
February 1 - King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon.
February 3 - Foundation of Panathinaikos in Athens, Greece.
March 4 - The Collinwood School Fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
March 9 - Inter Milan is founded.
March 12 - The Pan-Macedonian group is formed in Athens to support the Greek Struggle for Macedonia.
March 23 - American diplomat Durham Stevens is attacked by Korean assassins Jeon Myeong-un and Jang In-hwan, leading to his death in a hospital two days later.
March 25 - Clube Atletico Mineiro, Founded in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
April 7 - H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
April 8 - Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
April 20 - Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.
May 10 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
May 26 - At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان) 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.
May 27 - Maulana Hakeem Noor-ud-Din iss elected the first Khalifa of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
June 14 - Fourth German Navy Bill is passed authorising the financing the building of another four major warships.
June 18 - Japanese immigration to Brazil begins when 781 people arrive in Santos aboard the Kasato-Maru ship
June 30 - The Tunguska event occurs in Siberia.
July 1 - SOS is adopted as the international Distress signal.
July 6 - Robert Peary sets sail for the Arctic on the expedition on which he later reaches the North Pole.
July 19 - Dutch football club Feyenoord Rotterdam is founded.
July 25 - Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it.
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).
August 8 - Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers' first public flight.
August 12 - Ford builds the first Model T.
August 14 - The first beauty contest is held in Folkestone, England.
August 17 - Projection in Paris of the very first cartoon, Fantasmagorie realized by Émile Cohl.
September 16 - General Motors is founded.
September 17 - The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality.
September 22 - The independence of Bulgaria is proclaimed.
September 23 - University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, is founded.
September 26 - Ed Reulbach becomes the first and only pitcher to throw two shutouts in one day against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
September 27 - The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
October 1 - Ford puts the Model T car on the market at a price of US$825.
October 3 - The Pravda newspaper is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles in Vienna.
October 6 - Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.
October 18 - Belgium annexes the Congo Free State.
November 7 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are reportedly killed in San Vicente, Bolivia.
November 30 - A mine explosion in the mining town of Marianna, Pennsylvania kills 154.
December 2 - Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at the age of two
December 28 - An earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.

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This page uses material from the Wikipedia article "1908".