1903
1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasn't had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. See 1696.
It was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).
Events
- January 1 - Edward VII of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Emperor of India
- February 11 - The Oxnard Strike of 1903 represents the first time in U.S. history that a labor union was formed from members of different races.
- February 15 - Morris Michtom and his wife Rose introduce the first teddy bear in America.
- February 23 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity"
- March 2 - In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
- March 3 – British admiralty announces plans to build naval base at Rosyth
- March 5 – Turkey and Germany signs an agreement to build the Constantinople-Baghdad Railway
- March 14 - The Hay-Herran Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate would later reject the treaty.
- March 22 - the US side of the Niagara Falls runs short of water
- March 31 - Possible first powered heavier-than-air flight, Richard Pearse, New Zealand (some date it to 1902)
- May 18 - Opening of Port of Burgas, Bulgaria.
- June 10-11 – Assassination of Serbian King Alexander Obrenović and Queen Draga
- July 1-19 - First Tour de France – Maurice Garin wins
- July 23 - Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago becomes the first owner of a Ford Model A.
- April 29 - 30,000,000 cubic metre landslide kills 70 in Frank, Alberta
- August 3 - The Ilinden Uprising of the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire breaks out
- August 4 - Pope Pius X elected
- September 8 - Massacre of Bulgarians by Turkish troops at Monastir is reported.
- September 14 - Joseph Chamberlain resigns as Colonial Secretary.
- September 24 - Edmund Barton steps down as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeded by Alfred Deakin.
- October - Frank Nelson Cole proved that 2^67-1 is composite by factoring it as 193,707,727 * 761,838,257,287 after trying every Sunday for 3 years.
- October 6 - The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
- October 10 - Foundation of the Women's Social and Political Union
- November 3 - With the encouragement of the United States, Panama proclaims itself independent from Colombia. US President Theodore Roosevelt wanted the United States to build the Panama Canal but were blocked by Colombia.
- November 6 - USA recognizes independence of Panama
- November 17 - The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits into two groups; the Bolsheviks (Russian for "minority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "majority"). (NOTE: Later the Bolsheviks became the majority party).
- November 18 - The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the Americans exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
- November 23 - Colorado Governor James Hamilton Peabody sends the state militia into the town of Cripple Creek to break up a miners' strike.
- December 17 - Orville Wright flies aircraft with a petrol engine in first documented successful controlled powered heavier-than-air flight.
- December 30 - A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago kills 600.
Births
January
- January 6 - Maurice Abravanel, Greek-born conductor (d. 1993)
- January 7 - Warren Hull, American actor (d. 1974)
- January 11 - Hans Redlich, Austrian composer (d. 1968)
- January 16 - William Grover-Williams, French race car driver and war hero (d. 1945)
- January 18 - Werner Hinz, actor (d. 1985)
- January 22 - Fritz Houtermans, physicist (d. 1966)
- January 23 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (d. 1948)
- January 27 - John Carew Eccles, Australian psychologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1997)
February
- February 2 - Bartel Leendert van der Waerden, Dutch mathematician (d. 1996)
- February 5 - Eugen Weidmann, French murderer (d. 1939, last public guillotine execution in France)
- February 6 - Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (d. 1991)
- February 11 - Rex Lease, American actor (d. 1966)
- February 11 - Alan Paton, South-African writer (d. 1988)
- February 13 - Georges Simenon, French writer (d. 1989)
- February 16 - Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist (d. 1978)
- February 21 - Anaïs Nin, French writer (d. 1977)
- February 21 - Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist (d. 1976)
- February 22 - Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer and media personality (d. 1990)
- February 22 - Frank P. Ramsey, English mathematician (d. 1930)
- February 24 - Franz Burda, German publisher (d. 1986)
- February 27 - Grethe Weiser, actress (d. 1970)
- February 28 - Vincente Minnelli, American director (d. 1986)
March
- March 10 - Bix Beiderbecke, American jazz cornetist (d. 1931)
- March 11 - Ronald Syme, New Zealand-born classicist and historian (d. 1989)
- March 11 - Lawrence Welk, American television musician (d. 1992)
- March 14 - Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish politician (d. 1979)
- March 18 - O. E. Plauen, English-born illustrator and cartoonist (d. 1944)
- March 28 - Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (d. 1991)
April
- April 3 - Peter Huchel, lyricist and author of radio plays (d. 1981)
- April 6 - Mickey Cochrane, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1962)
- April 6 - Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineering (d. 1990)
- April 10 - Clare Boothe Luce, American publisher and writer (d. 1987)
- April 15 - John Williams, English-born actor (d. 1983)
- April 17 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (d. 1976)
- April 17 - Morgan Taylor, American athlete (d. 1975)
- April 19 - Eliot Ness, American treasury agent (d. 1957)
- April 24 - José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician (d. 1936)
- April 25 - Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1987)
May
- May 2 - Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician (d. 1998)
- May 3 - Bing Crosby, American singer, actor (d. 1977)
- May 8 - Fernandel, French actor (d. 1971)
- May 11 - Charlie Gehringer, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1993)
- May 20 - Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor (d. 1975)
- May 21 - Frank Sargeson, New Zealand writer (d. 1982)
- May 29 - Bob Hope, English-born comedian (d. 2003)
June
- June 6 - Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (d. 1978)
- June 8 - Marguerite Yourcenar, French writer (d. 1987)
- June 12 - Emmett Hardy, American jazz musician (d. 1925)
- June 16 - Helen Traubel, American soprano (d. 1972)
- June 18 - Jeanette MacDonald, American singer, actress (d. 1965)
- June 18 - Raymond Radiguet, French author (d. 1923)
- June 19 - Lou Gehrig, baseball player (d. 1941)
- June 19 - Wally Hammond, English cricketer (d. 1965)
- June 21 - Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist (d. 2003)
- June 22 - John Dillinger, American bank robber
- June 25 - Pierre Brossolette, French journalist and Resistance fighter (d. 1944)
- June 25 - George Orwell, English author (d. 1950)
July
- July 1 - Amy Johnson, English aviator (d. 1941)
- July 2 - Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
- July 2 - King Olav V of Norway (d. 1991)
- July 4 - Corrado Cardinal Bafile, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal
- July 10 - John Wyndham, British author (d. 1969)
- July 13 - Kenneth Clark, English art historian (d. 1983)
- July 21 - Roy Neuberger, American financier and art collector
August
- August 7 - Louis Leakey, British archaeologist (d. 1972)
- August 18 - Lucienne Boyer, French singer (d. 1983)
- August 23 - William Primrose, Scottish violist {d. 1982)
September
- September 7 - Shimaki Kensaku, Japanese author (d. 1945)
- September 9 - Phyllis Whitney, American mystery writer
- September 11 - Theodor Adorno, German philosopher (d. 1969)
- September 13 - Claudette Colbert, French actress (d. 1996)
- September 21 - Preston Tucker, American auto designer (d. 1956)
- September 25 - Mark Rothko, Latvian-born painter (d. 1970)
October
- October 1 - Vladimir Horowitz, Russian pianist (d. 1989)
- October 4 - John Vincent Atanasoff, American computer engineer (d. 1995)
- October 5 - M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (d. 1989)
- October 18 - Lina Radke, German athlete (d. 1983)
- October 22 - Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Bulgarian painter (d. 1976)
- October 28 - Evelyn Waugh, English writer (d. 1966)
November
- November 2 - Edgard Potier, Belgian spy (d. 1944)
- November 3 - Walker Evans, American photographer (d. 1975)
- November 6 - Carl Rakosi, German-born poet (d. 2004)
- November 7 - Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist (d. 1989)
- November 19 - Nancy Carroll, actress (d. 1965)
- November 27 - Lars Onsager, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1976)
December
- December 5 - Johannes Heesters, singer, actor, entertainer
- December 12:
- Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese film director (d. 1963)
- A. L. Rowse, historian (d. 1997)
- December 24 - Joseph Cornell, sculptor (d. 1972)
- December 28 - John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician (d. 1957)
- December 28 - Earl "Fatha" Hines, jazz musician (d. 1983)
- December 31 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinst (d. 1992)
- unknown - Will Mastin, vaudevillian
Deaths
January-June
- January 3 - Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (b. 1837)
- January 28:
- Augusta Holmès, French composer (b. 1847)
- Robert Planquette, French musical composer (b. 1850)
- January 30 - Giustina Pecori-Suárez, third wife of Jerome Bonaparte (b. 1811)
- February 7 - James Glaisher, meteorologist and aeronaut (b. 1809)
- February 11 - Henryk Szulc, composer (b. 1836)
- February 22 - Hugo Wolf, composer (b. 1860)
- February 26 - Richard Jordan Gatling, inventor (b. 1818)
- March 6 - Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris, French scholar (b. 1839)
- March 13 - George Granville Bradley (b. 1821)
- March 16 - Judge Roy Bean, Old West pioneer
- March 28 - Emile Baudot, telegraph engineer (b. 1845)
- April 19 - Oliver Mowat, Premier of Ontario (b. 1820)
- April 28 - Willard Gibbs, physical chemist (b. 1839)
- May 4 - Goce Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1872)
- May 9 - Paul Gauguin, Impressionist painter (b. 1848)
- June 19 - Herbert Vaughan, cardinal and Archbishop of Westminster (b. 1832)
July-December
- July 11 - William Ernest Henley, poet, critic, and editor (b. 1849)
- July 17 - James McNeill Whistler, painter (b. 1834)
- July 20 - Pope Leo XIII (b. 1810)
- August 22 - Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1830)
- September 18 - Alexander Bain, Scottish philosopher (b. 1818)
- November 1 - Theodor Mommsen, German classical scholar/historian (b. 1817)
- November 12 or November 13 - Camille Pissarro, painter (b. 1830)
- December 8 - Herbert Spencer, English philosopher (b. 1820)