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.

• February 1

• *The opera La bohème premieres in Turin, Italy.

• *Walter Arnold, of Kent, England, is fined for speeding in excess of the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph.

• 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.

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 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.

• A rebellion erupts in the Philippines.

• 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 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 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)