1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1908th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 908th year of the 2nd millennium, the 8th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1900s decade. As of the start of 1908, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

1908 Baby New Year on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.

Events

January

January 24: Boy Scout movement.

• January 1 – The British Nimrod Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the Nimrod for Antarctica.
• January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in Pacific Ocean, and is the 46th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.
• January 12 – A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
• January 13 – The Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 170.
• January 15 – Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is founded on the campus of Howard University, in Washington, D.C.
• 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.^[1]
• January 24 – Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys begins publication in London. The book eventually sold over 100 million copies, and effectively begins the worldwide Boy Scout movement.

February

• February 1 – Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Prince Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.
• February 3 – Panathinaikos, a well known professional multi-sports club of Greece, is founded in Athens.^[2]
• February 12 – The first around-the-world car race, the 1908 New York to Paris Race, begins.
• February 18 – Japanese emigration to the United States is forbidden, under terms of the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907.

March

• March – The Children's Encyclopædia begins publication in London.
• March 4
  • The Pretoria branch of the Transvaal University College, precursor to the University of Pretoria, is established.
  • The Collinwood school fire near Cleveland, Ohio kills 174.
• March 9 – Inter Milan, a well-known football club in Italy, is founded.^[3]
• March 23 – American diplomat Durham Stevens, an employee of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is assassinated in San Francisco by two Korean immigrants, unhappy with his recent support for the increasing Japanese presence in Korea.
• March 27 – The first Scout troop outside the U.K. is formed in Gibraltar.
• March 29 – French aviator Henri Farman made the world's first flight with a passenger, Léon Delagrange.

April

• April 8 – H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.^[4]
• April 20 – Sunshine rail disaster: A rear-end collision of two trains in Melbourne, Australia kills 44 people, and injures more than 400.^[5]
• April 21 – Frederick Cook claims to have reached the North Pole on this date.

May

• May 14–October 31 – The Franco-British Exhibition (1908) is held in London.
• May 26 – At Masjed Soleyman 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

June 30: Tunguska event (evidence photographed 19 years later.)

• June 28 – An annular solar eclipse was visible from Central America, North America, Atlantic Ocean and Africa, and was the 33rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 135.
• June 30 (June 17 OS) – The Tunguska event or "Russian explosion" near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russian Empire, is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment, at an altitude of 5-10 kilometres (3-6 mi) above the Earth's surface.^[6][7][8]

July

July: 1908 Summer Olympics.

• 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 8 – French aviator Léon Delagrange makes the world's first flight with a female passenger, his partner and fellow sculptor Thérèse Peltier.^[9]
• July 11–12 – The steamship Amalthea, housing 80 British strikebreakers in Malmö harbour, Sweden, is bombed by Anton Nilson; 1 is killed, 20 injured.
• July 13–25 – The 1908 Summer Olympics are held in London, originally scheduled to be in Rome, but changed due to the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 1906.^[10] (Figure skating events are held in London from October 28–29.)
• July 19 – Feyenoord, the first Dutch football club to win the UEFA Champions League, is founded at Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• 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 – Italian Dorando Pietri wins the Olympic marathon (run from Windsor Castle to London) in one of the most dramatic arrivals in Olympic history, only to be disqualified soon afterwards for receiving assistance; victory is awarded to Irish-American Johnny Hayes.
• July 27–28 – The 1908 Hong Kong typhoon sinks the passenger steamer Ying King, causing 421 deaths.

August

• August 8
  • Wilbur Wright flies in France for the first time, demonstrating true controlled powered flight in Europe.
  • The Hoover Company of Canton, Ohio, acquires manufacturing rights to the upright portable vacuum cleaner just invented by James M. Spangler.
• August 17 – Émile Cohl makes the first fully animated film, Fantasmagorie.
• August 24 – After an intense power struggle, Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco is deposed, and is succeeded by his brother Abd al-Hafid.
• August 28 – American Messenger Company, as predecessor of United Parcel Service founded in Washington State, United States.^{[page needed]}
• August 31 – The Great Storm of 1908 starts to pound the Bristol Channel, lasting into the morning of September 2.^[11]

September

• September 10 – The first Minas Geraes-class Dreadnought battleship for Brazil, Minas Geraes is launched at Armstrong Whitworth's yard on the River Tyne in England, catalysing the "South American dreadnought race".
• September 17 – At Fort Myer, Virginia, Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in an airplane crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, is severely injured in the crash but recovers.

October

October 1: Ford Model T launch.

• October 1
  • Official launch of Henry Ford's Ford Model T automobile, the first having left the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan, on September 27.^[12] The initial price is set at US$850.^[13]
  • Penny Post is established between the United Kingdom and United States.^[14]
• October 5
  • Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire; Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar.
  • The Melting Pot, a play by Israel Zangwill, opens in Washington, D.C. The title quickly becomes a widely used symbol for assimilation of immigrants to the United States.
• October 6 – The Bosnian crisis begins, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire.
• October 29 – Olivetti, the well known typewriter and business equipments company, is founded in Italy.^[]

November

• November 3 – 1908 United States presidential election: Republican candidate William Howard Taft defeats William Jennings Bryan, 321 electoral votes to 162.
• 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.
• November 15 – King Leopold II of Belgium formally relinquishes his personal control of the Congo Free State (becoming Belgian Congo) to Belgium, following evidence collected by Roger Casement of maladministration.
• November 25
  • The Christian Science Monitor newspaper is first published, in the United States.
  • A fire breaks out on SS Sardinia as it leaves Malta's Grand Harbour, resulting in the ship's grounding and the deaths of at least 118 people.^[15]
• November 28 – A mine explosion in Marianna, Pennsylvania, kills 154 men, leaving only one survivor.

December

• December 2 – Young Emperor Puyi ascends the Chinese throne at age 2.
• December 16 – Construction begins on the RMS Olympic, at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast.
• December 23 – A hybrid solar eclipse is visible from Atlantic Ocean, and is the 23rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 140.
• December 28 – The 7.1 M_w  Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 75,000 and 200,000.

Date unknown

• According to NASA reports, 1908 was the coldest recorded year since 1880.^[16]
• A 40,000-year-old Neanderthal boy skeleton is found at Le Moustier in southwest France, by Otto Hauser.
• The Western University of Pennsylvania is renamed the University of Pittsburgh.
• The State Normal and Industrial School for Women, precursor to James Madison University, is founded in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
• The University of Omaha, precursor of the University of Nebraska Omaha is founded as a private non-sectarian college.
• Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts, is established under the terms of Franklin's will.
• Hitachi, an electromechanics company, is founded as a mining machine repair factory in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.^[17]

Births

January

Simone de Beauvoir

Edward Teller

• January 8
  • William Hartnell, British actor (d. 1975)
  • Fearless Nadia (Mary Evans), Indian Actress (d.1996)
• January 9 – Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (d. 1986)
• January 10 – Paul Henreid, Austrian-born American actor (d. 1992)
• January 11 – Lionel Stander, American actor (d. 1994)
• 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 16 – Günther Prien, German submarine commander (d. 1941)
• January 17 – Cus D'Amato, American boxing trainer (d. 1985)
• January 22 – Lev Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
• January 24 – Duncan Sandys, British politician (d. 1987)
• January 26
  • Rupprecht Geiger, German painter (d. 2009)
  • Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist, composer (d. 1997)
• January 27 – Hot Lips Page, American jazz singer, trumpeter, and bandleader (d. 1954)

February

Amintore Fanfani

Buster Crabbe

Rómulo Betancourt

William McMahon

• February 1 – George Pal, Hungarian-born American animator (d. 1980)
• February 5
  • Peg Entwistle, English actress (d. 1932)
  • Eugen Weidmann, German serial killer, last person publicly executed in France (d. 1939)
• February 6
  • Amintore Fanfani, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1999)
  • Michael Maltese, American screenwriter (d. 1981)
• February 7 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer, actor (d. 1983)
• February 11
  • Philip Dunne, American screenwriter, director, and producer (d. 1992)
  • Vivian Fuchs, English geologist, explorer (d. 1999)
• February 12 – Jean Effel, French painter, journalist (d. 1982)
• February 17 – Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (d. 2007)
• February 19 – Qin Hanzhang, Chinese engineer (d. 2019)
• February 22
  • Rómulo Betancourt, President of Venezuela (d. 1981)
  • John Mills, British actor (d. 2005)
• February 23 – William McMahon, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
• February 25 – George Duning, American film composer (d. 2000)
• February 26
  • Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
  • Nestor Mesta Chayres, Mexican operatic tenor and bolero vocalist (d. 1971)
  • Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)
• February 29
  • Balthus, French painter (d. 2001)
  • Dee Brown, American writer, historian (d. 2002)

March

Walter Bruch behind camera

Rex Harrison

Michael Redgrave

David Lean

• March 2 – Walter Bruch, German engineer (d. 1990)
• March 5 – Rex Harrison, English actor (d. 1990)
• March 5 –Irving Fiske, American playwright, WPA writer, and speaker; co-founder of Quarry Hill Creative Center (Died 1990),^[18]
• March 7 – Anna Magnani, Italian actress (d. 1973)
• March 14 – Ed Heinemann, American aircraft designer (d. 1991)
• March 19 – George Rodger, British photojournalist (d. 1995)
• March 20
  • Kermit Murdock, American actor (d. 1981)
  • Michael Redgrave, English actor, playwright (d. 1985)
  • Frank Stanton, American businessman (d. 2006)
• March 22 – Louis L'Amour, American author (d. 1988)
• March 25
  • Helmut Käutner, German actor, director (d. 1980)
  • David Lean, English film director (d. 1991)
• March 29 – Arthur O'Connell, American actor (d. 1981)

April

Bette Davis

Herbert von Karajan

Bjarni Benediktsson

• April 1 – Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (d. 1970)
• April 2 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor, dancer (d. 2003)
• April 5
  • Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989)
  • Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989)
• April 7 – Percy Faith, Canadian-born American composer, musician (d. 1976)
• April 8 – Tito Guízar, Mexican singer, film actor (d. 1999)
• April 9 – Paula Nenette Pepin, French composer, pianist and lyricist (d. 1990)
• April 11
  • Masaru Ibuka, Japanese electronics industrialist (d. 1997)
  • Dan Maskell, British tennis coach, commentator (d. 1992)
• April 12
  • Ida Pollock, British writer (d. 2013)
  • Carlos Lleras Restrepo, President of Colombia (d. 1994)
• April 15 – Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
• April 20 – Lionel Hampton, African-American musician, bandleader (d. 2002)
• April 24 – Józef Gos?awski, Polish sculptor, medallic artist (d. 1963)
• April 25 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
• April 26 – Fred Phillips, American make-up artist (d. 1993)
• April 28 – Oskar Schindler, Austro-Hungarian (Sudeten German) industrialist (d. 1974)
• April 29 – Jack Williamson, American science fiction author (d. 2006)
• April 30
  • Eve Arden, American actress (d. 1990)
  • Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic prime minister (d. 1970)

May

Percy Williams

James Stewart

John Bardeen

Mel Blanc

Don Ameche

• May 1 – Krystyna Skarbek, Polish-born World War II heroine (d. 1952)
• May 5 – Kurt Böhme, German bass (d. 1989)
• May 7 – Max Grundig, German inventor, industrialist (d. 1989)
• May 8
  • Cristian Vasile, Romanian singer (d. 1974)
  • Carlo Romano, Italian actor, voice actor and screenwriter (d. 1975)
• May 10 – Helen Elsie Austin, American attorney (d. 2004)
• May 11 – Hide Hyodo Shimizu, Japanese-Canadian educator, activist (d. 1999)
• May 17 – Muhammad Ahmad Mahgoub, Sudanese author, 6th Prime Minister of Sudan (d. 1976)
• May 19 – Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982)
• May 20
  • Aleksei Arbuzov, Soviet playwright (d. 1986)
  • James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997)
• May 23
  • Max Abramovitz, American architect (d. 2004)
  • John Bardeen, American physicist, twice awarded the Nobel Prize (d. 1991)
  • Hélène Boucher, French aviator (d. 1934)
• May 25 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (d. 1963)
• May 26
  • Robert Morley, British actor (d. 1992)
  • Nguy?n Ng?c Th?, 1st Prime Minister of South Vietnam (d. 1976)
• May 25 – Barbara Luddy, American voice actress (d. 1979)
• May 28 – Ian Fleming, English writer (d. 1964)
• May 30
  • Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
  • Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)
  • Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk, English peer and Earl Marshal (d. 1975)
• May 31 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)

June

Salvador Allende

Estrellita Castro

• June 5 – Bill Fraser, Scottish actor (d. 1987)
• June 11 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese, beatified (d. 1919)
• June 12 – Marina Semyonova, Russian ballerina (d. 2010)
• June 13 – Marjorie F. Lambert, American archaeologist & anthropologist (d. 2006)
• June 21
  • Yun Bong-gil, Korean resister against the Japanese occupation of Korea (d. 1932)
  • William Frankena, American moral philosopher (d. 1994)
  • Marjorie Gladman, American amateur tennis player (d. 1999)
  • Luis Oliva, Argentine athlete (d. 2009)
• June 23
  • Gwyn Davies, Welsh rugby footballer (d. 1992)
  • Karl Warner, American athlete (d. 1995)
• June 24
  • Hugo Distler, German composer (d. 1942)
  • Tullio Pinelli, Italian screenwriter (d. 2009)
  • Alfons Rebane, Estonian military commander (d. 1976)
• June 25
  • Joe Becker, American baseball player (d. 1998)
  • Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher, academic (d. 2000)
• June 26
  • Salvador Allende, President of Chile (d. 1973)
  • William F. Knowland, American politician (d. 1974)
  • Estrellita Castro, Spanish singer and actress (d. 1983)
• June 27
  • Bill Kennedy, American actor (d. 1997)
  • Charles Stevenson, American philosopher (d. 1979)
• June 28 – Norman Lewis, British journalist, author (d. 2003)
• June 29
  • Leroy Anderson, American composer (d. 1975)
  • Sally Haley, American painter (d. 2007)
  • Oliver Tomkins, Anglican Bishop of Bristol (d. 1992)
• June 30
  • Winston Graham, English writer (d. 2003)
  • Rob Nieuwenhuys, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
  • Eunice Norton, American pianist (d. 2005)
  • Luigi Rovere, Italian film producer (d. 1996)

July

Thurgood Marshall

Nelson Rockefeller

Milton Berle

• July 1
  • Luis Regueiro, Spanish footballer (d. 1995)
  • Alvino Rey, American swing era musician, bandleader (d. 2004)
  • Raúl de Anda, Mexican actor, screenwriter, film producer and director (d. 1997)
• July 2 – Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1993)
• July 3 – Héctor Croxatto, Chilean physiologist (d. 2010)
• July 5
  • Lyman S. Ayres II, American businessman (d. 1996)
  • Don Dunphy, American television, radio sports announcer (d. 1998)
  • Henri of Orléans, Count of Paris, French claimant to the throne (d. 1999)
• July 6
  • Sam Vanni, Finnish painter (d. 1992)
  • Anton Muttukumaru, Ceylonese Army officer (d. 2001)
  • John Price, English cricketer (d. 1995)
• July 7
  • Laurie Fitzhardinge, Australian historian, librarian (d. 1993)
  • Spiro Koleka, Albanian statesman, communist politician and military officer (d. 2001)
• July 8 – Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman, philanthropist, public servant and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (d. 1979)
• July 9
  • Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, Somali politician (d. 2007)
• July 10
  • Carl Richard Jacobi, American journalist, author (d. 1997)
  • Wally Hayward, South African athlete (d. 2006)
  • Kourkène Medzadourian, Armenian activist (d. 1996)
• July 11 – Gérard Légaré, Canadian politician (d. 1997)
• July 12
  • Alois Hudec, Czechoslovak gymnast, Olympic champion (d. 1997)
  • Milton Berle, American comedian (d. 2002)
• July 13 – Garfield Todd, 5th Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia (d. 2002)
• July 16 – Gerd Achgelis, German aviator, test pilot and pioneer in the development of helicopters (d. 1991)
• July 17
  • Enzo Fiermonte, Italian actor, boxer (d. 1993)
  • Mohammad Natsir, Indonesian scholar and politician; 5th Prime Minister of Indonesia (d. 1993)
• July 19 – Daniel Fry, American contactee (d. 1992)
• July 21
  • Magruder Tuttle, American rear admiral, football player (d. 1998)
  • Jug McSpaden, American professional golfer (d. 1996)
• July 22
  • Ljerko Spiller, Croat-Argentine violinist (d. 2008)
  • Claire Falkenstein, American sculptor, painter, printmaker, jewelry designer and teacher (d. 1997)
• July 23
  • Karl Swenson, American actor (d. 1978)
  • James C. Tison, Jr., American admiral and civil engineer (d. 1991)

August

Harold Holt

Edgar Faure

Sir Don Bradman

Lyndon B. Johnson

• 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 and commander (d. 1997)^[19]
  • Will Lee, American actor and comedian (d. 1982)
• August 8
  • Arthur Goldberg, American politician, diplomat, and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1990)
  • Chivu Stoica, 48th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1975)
• August 9 – A. I. Bezzerides, American screenwriter (d. 2007)
• August 10
  • Rica Erickson, Australian naturalist, botanical artist (d. 2009)
  • Lauri Lehtinen, Finnish Olympic athlete (d. 1973)
• August 13 – Gene Raymond, American actor (d. 1998)
• August 18 – Edgar Faure, 2-time Prime Minister of France (d. 1988)
• August 21
  • M. M. Kaye, British writer (d. 2004)
  • Tom Tully, American actor (d. 1982)
• August 22 – Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer (d. 2004)
• August 27
  • Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
  • Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States (d. 1973)
• August 28 – Robert Merle, French writer (d. 2004)
• August 30
  • Leonor Fini, Argentine artist (d. 1996)
  • Fred MacMurray, American actor (d. 1991)
• August 31 – William Saroyan, American writer (d. 1981)

September

Richard Wright

Raymond Scott

Penny Singleton

Mika Waltari

• September 2
  • Ruth Bancroft, American landscape, garden designer (d. 2017)
  • Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev, Russian astronomer, astrophysicist (d. 1983)
  • Dorothea Leighton, American social psychiatrist, founded the field of medical anthropology (d. 1989)
• September 3 – Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (d. 1988)
• September 4 – Richard Wright, African-American author (d. 1960)
• September 5
  • Ahmed Balafrej, Moroccan politician, Foreign Minister and 2nd Prime Minister of Morocco (d. 1990)
  • Josué de Castro, Brazilian activist against hunger (d. 1973)
  • Cecilia Seghizzi, Italian composer, painter (d. 2019)
• September 6
  • Louis Essen, English physicist (d. 1997)
  • Anthony Wagner, British herald at the College of Arms (d. 1995)
• September 7 – Michael E. DeBakey, American surgeon, medical researcher (d. 2008)
• September 10 – Raymond Scott, American composer, bandleader, and electronic music pioneer (d. 1994)
• September 13 – Mae Questel, American actress (d. 1998)
• September 15
  • Mi?ko Kranjec, Slovenian writer (d. 1983)
  • Penny Singleton, American film actress (d. 2003)
• September 16 – Neil Reagan, American radio station manager, and CBS senior producer (d. 1996)
• September 18 – Victor Ambartsumian, Soviet Armenian scientist (d. 1996)
• September 19
  • Paul Bénichou, French intellectual (d. 2001)
  • Mika Waltari, Finnish author (d. 1979)^[20]
• September 21 – Charles Upham, New Zealand soldier (d. 1994)
• September 25 – Eugen Sucho?, Slovak composer (d. 1993)
• September 29 – Eddie Tolan, American athlete (d. 1967)
• September 30 – David Oistrakh, Ukrainian-born violinist (d. 1974)

October

Carole Lombard

Baek Du-jin

John Kenneth Galbraith

• October 1 – Umar Dimayev, Chechen folk singer (d. 1972)
• October 6 – Carole Lombard, American actress (d. 1942)
• October 7 – Baek Du-jin, Korean politician, 4th Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) (d. 1993)
• October 10 – Min Chueh Chang, Chinese-born American reproductive biologist (d. 1991)
• October 15 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian economist (d. 2006)
• October 16 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian communist dictator (d. 1985)
• October 17 – Kenji Miyamoto, Japanese politician (d. 2007)
• October 19 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981)
• October 20 – Geraldine Branch, American gynecologist (d. 2016)
• October 21 – Jorge Oteiza, Spanish painter (d. 2003)
• October 23
  • Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov, Chechen historian (d. 1997)
  • Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
• October 25
  • Tauno Palo, Finnish actor (d. 1982)
  • Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (d. 2004)
  • Polly Ann Young, American actress (d. 1997)
• October 27 – Lee Krasner, American painter (d. 1984)
• October 28 – Arturo Frondizi, 35th President of Argentina (d. 1995)
• October 30 – Dmitriy Ustinov, Soviet Army officer, Minister of Defense (d. 1984)
• October 31 – Muriel Duckworth, Canadian pacifist, social activist (d. 2009)

November

Giovanni Leone

• November 1 – Felix Knight, American actor, tenor, and vocal coach (Babes in Toyland (1934)) (d. 1998)
• November 3 – Giovanni Leone, 68th Prime Minister of Italy, 6th President of Italy (d. 2001)
• November 4 – Joseph Rotblat, Polish physicist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 2005)
• November 12 – Harry Blackmun, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1999)
• November 14 – Joseph McCarthy, American politician (d. 1957)
• November 16 – Soeur Emmanuelle, French nun (d. 2008)
• November 18 – Imogene Coca, American actress (d. 2001)
• November 20 – Alistair Cooke, English-born American journalist (d. 2004)
• November 23 – Nelson S. Bond, American author, playwright (d. 2006)
• November 24 – Libertad Lamarque, Argentine-Mexican actress, singer (d. 2000)
• November 28 – Claude Lévi-Strauss, Belgian-born French anthropologist (d. 2009)

December

Carlos Arias Navarro

Morey Amsterdam

Simon Wiesenthal

• December 2 – Aron Schvartzman, Argentine chess player (d. 2013)
• December 4 – Alfred Hershey, American bacteriologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
• December 6
  • Pierre Graber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 2003)
  • Baby Face Nelson, American gangster (d. 1934)
  • Trudy Späth-Schweizer, Swiss politician (d. 1990)
• December 7 – Phyllis Barry, English actress (d. 1954)
• December 10 – Olivier Messiaen, French composer (d. 1992)
• December 11
  • Carlos Arias Navarro, Spanish politician, 71st President of Spain (d. 1989)
  • Elliott Carter, American composer (d. 2012)
  • Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese film director (d. 2015)
  • Hákun Djurhuus, 4th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1987)
  • Alfred Proksch, Austrian Olympic athlete (d. 2011)
• December 14
  • Morey Amsterdam, American actor, comedian (d. 1996)
  • Laurence Naismith, English actor (d. 1992)
• December 16
  • Frances Day, American actress, singer (d. 1984)
  • Hans Schaffner, 69th President of Switzerland (d. 2004)
• December 17 – Willard Libby, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
• December 22
  • Giovanni Luigi Bonelli, Italian comic book author, writer (d. 2001)
  • Ko?o Racin, Macedonian poet, revolutionary (d. 1943)
• December 25 – Quentin Crisp, English gay icon, author and raconteur (d. 1999)
• December 28 – Lew Ayres, American actor (d. 1996)
• December 31 – Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Nazi-hunter (d. 2005)

Date Unknown

• Takieddin el-Solh, 2-Time Prime Minister of Lebanon (d. 1988)
• Suleiman Nabulsi, 12th Prime Minister of Jordan (d. 1976)

Deaths

January

Wilhelm Busch

Carlos I of Portugal

Henry Campbell-Bannerman

Prince Yamashina Kikumaro

Grover Cleveland

• January 9 – Wilhelm Busch, German painter, poet (b. 1832)
• January 14 – Holger Drachmann, Danish poet (b. 1846)
• January 17 – Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
• January 23 – Edward MacDowell, American composer (b. 1860)
• January 25 – Ouida, English writer (b. 1839)

February

• February 1
  • King Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863)
  • Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal (b. 1887)
• February 7 – Manuel Curros Enríquez, Spanish Galician writer (b. 1851)
• February 17
  • Annie Ryder Gracey, American missionary (b. 1836)
  • Baron Ignaz von Plener, 3rd Minister-President of Cisleithania (b. 1810)
• February 22 – Eliza A. Pittsinger, "The California Poetess" (b. 1837)
• February 29
  • John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 1st Governor-General of Australia (b. 1860)
  • Pat Garrett, Sheriff in the Old West; shot Billy the Kid in 1881 (b. 1850)

March

• March 11 – Edmondo De Amicis, Italian novelist (b. 1846)
• March 12 – Susan Marr Spalding, American poet (b. 1841)
• March 24 – Eduard von Pestel, Prussian military officer and German general (b. 1821)
• March 27 – Charles N. Sims, American Methodist preacher, third chancellor of Syracuse University (b. 1835)
• March 29
  • Eliza Trask Hill, American journalist and activist (b. 1840)
  • Esther Pugh, American temperance reformer (b. 1834)
• March 30 – Chester Gillette, American murderer (executed) (b. 1883)

April

• April 20 – Henry Chadwick, English-born American baseball writer (b. 1824)
• April 22
  • Qasim Amin, Egyptian writer (b. 1863)
  • Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1836)
• April 26 – Karl Möbius, German ecologist (b. 1825)

May

• May 2 – Prince Yamashina Kikumaro, Japanese Prince (b. 1873)
• May 17 – Carl Koldewey, German explorer (b. 1837)
• May 23 – François Coppée, French poet, novelist (b. 1842)
• May 24 – Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1821)
• May 26 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Sikh Empire-born founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam (b. 1835)
• May 29 – Eliza Trask Hill, American activist, journalist, philanthropist (b. 1840)

June

• June 2 – Sir Redvers Buller, British general, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1839)
• June 5 – Jef Lambeaux, Belgian sculptor (b. 1852)
• June 13 – Henry Lomb, German-American optician, founder of Bausch & Lomb (b. 1828)
• June 14 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor-General of Canada, founder of the Stanley Cup (b. 1841)
• June 20 – Federico Chueca, Spanish composer (b. 1846)
• June 21 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (b. 1844)
• June 24 – Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (b. 1837)

July

Demetrius Vikelas

Henri Becquerel

Servant of God John Berthier

Tomas Estrada Palma

Emperor Guangxu of China

• July 3 – Joel Chandler Harris, American author (b. 1848)
• July 5 – Jonas Lie, Norwegian writer (b. 1833)
• July 6 – Felipe Calderón y Roca, Filipino politician (b. 1868)
• July 19 – Ignacio de Veintemilla, 11th President of Ecuador (b. 1828)
• July 20 – Demetrius Vikelas, 1st President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1835)
• July 22 – Sir Randal Cremer, English politician and pacifist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1828)
• July 24 – Sigismondo Savona, Maltese educator and politician (b. 1835)^[21]
• July 29 – Estelle M. H. Merrill, American journalist and editor (b. 1858)

August

• August 4 – Radoje Domanovi?, Serbian writer (b. 1873)
• August 7 – Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì, 12th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1839)
• August 10 – Louise Chandler Moulton, American author and critic (b. 1835)
• August 24 – Éleuthère Mascart, French physicist (b. 1837)
• August 25 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
• August 26 – Tony Pastor, American theater impresario (b. 1837)
• August 31 – Leslie Green, British architect (b. 1875)

September

• September 17 – Thomas Selfridge, United States Army officer, first person killed in an airplane crash (b. 1882)
• September 20 – Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist, composer (b. 1844)
• September 21
  • Ernest Fenollosa, Spanish-born American art historian and philosopher (d. 1908)
  • Sir Arnold Kemball, British army officer and diplomat (b. 1820)
  • Nicolás Salmerón y Alonso, 3rd President of Spain (b. 1838)
• September 25 – Frank Robison, American baseball executive, early owner of the St. Louis Cardinals (b. 1852)
• September 29 – Machado de Assis, Brazilian author (b. 1839)

October

• October 11 – Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, Mexican educator, poet and activist (b. 1846)
• October 16 – John Berthier, French Roman Catholic priest, missionary and servant of God (b. 1840)
• October 18 – Nozu Michitsura, Japanese general (b. 1840)
• October 26 – Enomoto Takeaki, Japanese samurai, admiral (b. 1836)
• October 30 – Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, American socialite (b. 1830)

November

• November 1 – Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney, American writer of poems, many of which were set to music (b. 1823)
• November 3 – Harro Magnussen, German sculptor (b. 1861)
• November 4
  • Richard Gerstl, Austrian artist (b. 1883)
  • Tomás Estrada Palma, 1st President of Cuba (b. 1832)
• November 7
  • Butch Cassidy, American outlaw (b. 1866)
  • Sundance Kid, American outlaw (b. 1867)
• November 8
  • Josephine E. Keating, American literary critic and musician (b. 1838)
  • Victorien Sardou, French dramatist (b. 1831)
• November 14 – Emperor Guangxu of China (b. 1871)
• November 15 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China (b. 1835)^[22]
• November 17 – Lydia Thompson, English dancer, actress (b. 1838)
• November 22 – Paul Taffanel, French flautist, composer (b. 1844)

December

• December 5 – Mary H. Graves, American minister, literary editor, writer (b. 1839)
• December 13 – Augustus Le Plongeon, American archaeologist (b. 1825)

Date unknown

• Jacob W. Davis, Latvian American tailor, inventor of jeans (b. 1831)
• Eleanor Kirk, American publisher (b. 1831)

Nobel Prizes

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

References

Further reading

• The Annual Register for 1908, British and world events online
• Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume 1 1900-1933 (1997); global coverage of politics, diplomacy and warfare; pp 105 - 22.