1903

1903 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1903; MCMIII
Ab urbe condita	2656
Armenian calendar	1352; ԹՎ ՌՅԾԲ
Assyrian calendar	6653
Baháʼí calendar	59–60
Balinese saka calendar	1824–1825
Bengali calendar	1310
Berber calendar	2853
British Regnal year	2 Edw. 7 – 3 Edw. 7
Buddhist calendar	2447
Burmese calendar	1265
Byzantine calendar	7411–7412
Chinese calendar	壬寅年 (Water Tiger); 4600 or 4393; — to —; 癸卯年 (Water Rabbit); 4601 or 4394
Coptic calendar	1619–1620
Discordian calendar	3069
Ethiopian calendar	1895–1896
Hebrew calendar	5663–5664
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1959–1960
- Shaka Samvat	1824–1825
- Kali Yuga	5003–5004
Holocene calendar	11903
Igbo calendar	903–904
Iranian calendar	1281–1282
Islamic calendar	1320–1321
Japanese calendar	Meiji 36; (明治３６年)
Javanese calendar	1832–1833
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4236
Minguo calendar	9 before ROC; 民前9年
Nanakshahi calendar	435
Thai solar calendar	2445–2446
Tibetan calendar	阳水虎年; (male Water-Tiger); 2029 or 1648 or 876; — to —; 阴水兔年; (female Water-Rabbit); 2030 or 1649 or 877

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century; 20th century ; 21st century;
Decades:	1880s; 1890s; 1900s ; 1910s; 1920s;
Years:	1900; 1901; 1902; 1903 ; 1904; 1905; 1906;

1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. Template:C20YearTOC

Events of 1903

January–February

January 1 – Edward VII of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Emperor of India.
January 19 – The first west-east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east-west broadcast having been made in 1901).
February 11 – The Oxnard Strike of 1903 becomes the first time in U.S. history that a labor union is formed from members of different races.
February 15 – Morris and Rose Mitchom introduce the first teddy bear in America.
February 17 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
February 23 – Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".

March–April

March 2 – In New York City, the Martha Washington Hotel, the first hotel exclusively for women, opens.
March 3 – The British admiralty announces plans to build a naval base at Rosyth.
March 5 – The Ottoman Empire and the German Empire sign an agreement to build the Constantinople-Baghdad Railway.
March 12 – The University of Puerto Rico is founded.
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 later rejects the treaty.
March 19 – The oldest Turkish football club, Besiktas JK, is founded in Istanbul.
April 7 – Fredrikstad Football Club (FFK) is founded in Norway
April 29 – A 30-million-m³ landslide kills 70 in Frank, Alberta.

May–June

May 4 – The Bulgarian revolutionary Gotse Delchev is killed in a skirmish with the Turkish police, after which a Bulgarian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire begins but is soon crushed.
May 18 – The port of Burgas, Bulgaria opens.
May 22 – The White Star Liner, SS Ionic, is launched.
May 24 – The Paris-Madrid race begins, and during the race killing about 9 people.
June 11 – Serbian King Alexander Obrenović and Queen Draga are assassinated.
June 12 – The Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity is founded at the University of Michigan School of Music.
June 14 – The town of Heppner, Oregon, is nearly destroyed by a cloud burst that resulted in a flash flood.

July–August

July 1–July 19 – Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.
July 7 – The British take over the Fulani Empire.
July 23 – Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago becomes the first owner of a Ford Model A.
July 30–August 23 (July 17–August 10, O.S.) – Second Congress of the All-Russian Social Democratic Labour Party held in exile in Brussels, transferring to London.
August 2 – The Ilinden Uprising of the Macedonian Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire breaks out.
August 4 – Pope Pius X succeeds Pope Leo XIII as the 257th pope.
August 10 – Paris Metro train fire takes place.
August 25 – Judiciary Act passed.

September–October

September 11 – The first stock car event is held at the Milwaukee Mile.
September 14 – Joseph Chamberlain resigns as British Colonial Secretary, in order to campaign publicly for "Imperial Preference".
September 15 – Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto-Alegrense is founded in Porto Alegre, Brazil
September 24 – Edmund Barton steps down as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by Alfred Deakin.
September 27 – The Wreck of the Old 97 engine at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia, which kills 9 people, inspires a ballad and song.
September 29 – Prussia becomes the first locality to require mandatory drivers licenses for operators of motor vehicles.
October – Frank Nelson Cole proves that 2⁶⁷-1 is composite by factoring it as 193,707,721 * 761,838,257,287 after trying every Sunday for 3 years.
October 1 – The first modern World Series pits the National League's Pittsburgh against Boston of the American League.
October 6 – The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
October 10 – The Women's Social and Political Union is founded.

November–December

November 3 – Founding of Argentinian football team, Newell's Old Boys in the city of Rosario.
November 4 – With the encouragement of the United States, Panama proclaims itself independent from Colombia.
November 13 – The United States recognizes the independence of Panama.
November 17 – The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits into two groups; the Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").
November 18 – The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the U.S. 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 an aircraft with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the first documented, successful, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight.
December 30 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago kills 600.

Undated

The Lincoln-Lee Legion is established to promote the temperance movement and signing of alcohol abstinence pledges by children.
The first box of Crayola crayons was made and sold for 5 cents. It contained 8 colors; brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and black.
Osea Island in Maldon, Essex, England was bought by Mr. Frederick Charrington.

Ongoing

Philippine-American War (1899–1913)

Births

January

January 6 – Maurice Abravanel, Greek-born conductor (d. 1993)
January 7 – Warren Hull, American actor (d. 1974)
January 10 – Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor (d. 1975)
January 11 – Hans Redlich, Austrian composer (d. 1968)
January 12 – Igor Kurchatov, Soviet physicist (d. 1960)
January 16 – William Grover-Williams, French race car driver and war hero (d. 1945)
January 22 – Fritz Houtermans, Polish physicist (d. 1966)
January 27 – John Carew Eccles, Australian neuropsychologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1997)

February

February 2 – Bartel Leendert van der Waerden, Dutch mathematician (d. 1996)
February 6 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (d. 1991)
February 8 – Greta Keller, Vienna-born cabaret singer and actress (d. 1977)
February 8 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, first Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
February 10 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (d. 1939)
February 11
- Rex Lease, American actor (d. 1966)
- 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)
- Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist (d. 1976)
February 22 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer and media personality (d. 1990)
February 22 – Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (d. 1969)
February 22 – Frank P. Ramsey, English mathematician (d. 1930)
February 26 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
February 27 – Grethe Weiser, German actress (d. 1970)
February 28 – Vincente Minnelli, American director (d. 1986)

March

March 4 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish statesman (d. 1973)
March 4 – William C. Boyd, American immunochemist (d. 1983)
March 4 – Dorothy Mackaill, British-born American actress (d. 1990)
March 4 – John Scarne, American magician and card expert (d. 1985)
March 6 – Empress Kōjun, Empress consort of Japan (d. 2000)
March 10 – Bix Beiderbecke, American jazz musician (d. 1931)
March 11
- Ronald Syme, New Zealand-born classicist and historian (d. 1989)
- Lawrence Welk, American television musician (d. 1992)
March 14 – Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish politician (d. 1979)
March 20 – Edgar Buchanan, American actor (d. 1979)
March 24 – Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
March 25 – Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Jewish-American scholar (d. 1990)
March 28 – Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (d. 1991)
March 31 – H. J. Blackham, British humanist and author (d. 2009)

April

April 5 – Hilda Bruce, British zoologist (d. 1974)
April 6
- Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player (d. 1962)
- Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineering (d. 1990)
April 10 – Clare Boothe Luce, American publisher and writer (d. 1987)
April 12 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
April 15 – John Williams, English-born actor (d. 1983)
April 17
- Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (d. 1976)
- 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)
April 28 – Johan Borgen, Norwegian author (d. 1979)

May

May 2 – Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician (d. 1998)
May 3 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
May 4 – Luther Adler, American actor (d. 1984)
May 6 – Toots Shor, New York restaurateur (d. 1977)
May 8 – Fernandel, French actor (d. 1971)
May 10 – Hans Jonas, German-born philosopher(d. 1993)
May 11 – Charlie Gehringer, baseball player (d. 1993)
May 21 – Frank Sargeson, New Zealand writer (d. 1982)
May 29 – Bob Hope, English-born American comedian and actor (d. 2003)

June

June 1 – Vasyl Velychkovsky Ukrainian bishop (d. 1973)
June 6 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (d. 1978)
June 8 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian-French author (d. 1987)
June 10 – Theo Lingen, German actor (d. 1978)
June 12 – Emmett Hardy, American musician (d. 1925)
June 16
- Helen Traubel, American soprano (d. 1972)
- Huldreich Georg Früh, Swiss composer (d. 1945)
June 18
- Jeanette MacDonald, American singer and actress (d. 1965)
- Raymond Radiguet, French author (d. 1923)
June 19
- Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (d. 1941)
- Wally Hammond, English cricketer (d. 1965)
June 21 – Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist (d. 2003)
June 22 – John Dillinger, American bank robber (d. 1934)
June 25
- Pierre Brossolette, French journalist and resistance fighter (d. 1944)
- George Orwell, English author (d. 1950)
June 29 – Alan Blumlein, British electronics engineer (d. 1942)

July

July 1 – Amy Johnson, English aviator (d. 1941)
July 2
- Harwell Hamilton Harris, American architect (d. 1990)
- Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
- King Olav V of Norway (d. 1991)
July 3 – Ace Bailey, Canadian hockey player (d. 1992)
July 4 – Corrado Bafile, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 2005)
July 6 – Hugo Theorell, Swedish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1982)
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 (d. 2010)

August

August 3
- Habib Bourguiba, former President of Tunisia (d. 2000)
- Fahri Koruturk, former President of Turkey (d. 1987)
August 6 – Virginia Foster Durr, American civil rights activist (d. 1999)
August 7 – Rudolph Ising, cartoon animator (d. 1992)
August 7 – Louis Leakey, British archaeologist (d. 1972)
August 18 – Lucienne Boyer, French singer (d. 1983)
August 19 – James Gould Cozzens, American writer (d. 1978)
August 23 – William Primrose, Scottish violist (d. 1982)
August 31 – Hugh Harman, cartoon animator (d. 1982)

September

September 7
- Shimaki Kensaku, Japanese author (d. 1945)
- John Kloza, Polish professional baseball player and manager (d. 1962)
September 9
- Phyllis Whitney, American mystery writer (d. 2008)
- Edward Upward, British author (d. 2009)
September 11 – Theodor Adorno, German philosopher (d. 1969)
September 13 – Claudette Colbert, American actress (d. 1996)
September 15 – Roy Acuff, American country musician (d. 1992)
September 17 – Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (d. 1984)
September 21 – Preston Tucker, American automobile designer (d. 1956)
September 25
- Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, Pakistani journalist, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1979)
- 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 6 – Ernest Walton, Irish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
October 9 – Walter O'Malley, American baseball executive (d. 1979)
October 10 – Bei Shizhang, Chinese biologist and educator (d. 2009)
October 16 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (d. 2003)
October 18 – Lina Radke, German athlete (d. 1983)
October 22
- George Wells Beadle, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1989)
- Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Bulgarian painter (d. 1976)
- Jerome "Curly Howard" Horwitz, American comedian and actor (The Three Stooges) (d. 1952)
October 25
- Katharine Byron, American politician (d. 1976)
- Harry Shoulberg, American painter (d. 1995)
October 26 – Bill Allington, American baseball player and manager (d. 1966)
October 28 – Evelyn Waugh, English writer (d. 1966)

November

November 1 – Max Adrian, Northern Irish actor (d. 1973)
November 2 – Edgard Potier, Belgian spy (d. 1944)
November 3 – Walker Evans, American photographer (d. 1975)
November 4 – Watchman Nee, Chinese preacher, local church planter (d. 1972)
November 6 – Carl Rakosi, German-born poet (d. 2004)
November 7 – Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1989)
November 19 – Nancy Carroll, American actress (d. 1965)
November 27 – Lars Onsager, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
November 29 – E. Harold Munn, American temperance movement leader and presidential candidate (d. 1992)

December

December 5
- Johannes Heesters, Dutch singer and actor
- Cecil Frank Powell, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
December 4
- Lazar Lagin, Soviet writer (d. 1979)
- A. L. Rowse, English historian (d. 1997)
December 12
- Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer and pianist (d. 1976)
- Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese film director (d. 1963)
December 13
- Ella Baker, American civil rights activist (d. 1986)
December 17 – Erskine Caldwell, American author (d. 1987)
December 19 – George Davis Snell, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1996)
December 22 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
December 24 – Joseph Cornell, American sculptor (d. 1972)
December 26 – Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
December 28
- Earl Hines, American jazz pianist (d. 1983)
- John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1957)
December 31
- Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (d. 1992)
- Will Mastin, American vaudevillian (d. 1975)

Deaths

January–June

January 3 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant, father of Adolf Hitler (b. 1837)
January 17 – Quintin Hogg, British philanthropist (b. 1845)
January 28
- Augusta Holmès, French composer (b. 1847)
- Robert Planquette, French composer (b. 1850)
February 1 – Sir George Gabriel Stokes, Irish mathematician and physicist (b. 1819)
February 7 – James Glaisher, English meteorologist and aeronaut (b. 1809)
February 14 – Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria (b. 1831)
February 22 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
February 26 – Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
March 4 – Joseph Henry Shorthouse, English novelist (b. 1834)
March 6 – Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris, French scholar (b. 1839)
March 13 – George Granville Bradley, English vicar and scholar (b. 1821)
March 16 – Roy Bean, American pioneer (b. 1825)
March 28 – Emile Baudot, French telegraph engineer (b. 1845)
April 3 – Margaret Ann Neve, supercentenarian (b. 1792)
April 19 – Oliver Mowat, Canadian politician (b. 1820)
April 28 – Willard Gibbs, American physical chemist (b. 1839)
May 4 – Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1872)
May 8 – Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1848)
May 13 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino political theoretician and Prime Minister (b. 1864)
June 11
- Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician (b. 1837)
- Draga Mašin, Serbian queen consort (b. 1861)
- Aleksandar Obrenović, Serbian king (b. 1876)
June 19 – Herbert Vaughan, English Catholic cardinal and archbishop (b. 1832)

July–December

July 2 – Ed Delahanty, American baseball player (b. 1867)
July 11 – William Ernest Henley, English poet, critic, and editor (b. 1849)
July 13 – Béni Kállay, Austro-Hungarian statesman (b. 1839)
July 17 – James McNeill Whistler, American painter (b. 1834)
July 20 – Pope Leo XIII, Italian Roman Catholic Pope (b. 1810)
August 1 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman (b. 1852)
August 5 – Phil May, English artist (b. 1864)
August 17 – Hans Gude, Norwegian painter (b. 1825)
August 22 – Lord Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1830)
September 18 – Alexander Bain, Scottish philosopher (b. 1818)
October 4 – Otto Weininger, Austrian-Jewish author (b. 1880)
October 20 – Thomas Vincent Welch, American politician (b. 1850)
November 1 – Theodor Mommsen, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1817)
November 13 – Camille Pissarro, French painter (b. 1830)
November 25 – Sabino Arana, Spanish Basque writer and nationalist (b. 1865)
December 8 – Herbert Spencer, English philosopher (b. 1820)

Nobel Prizes

Physics – Antoine Henri Becquerel, Pierre Curie, and Marie Curie
Chemistry – Svante August Arrhenius
Medicine – Niels Ryberg Finsen
Literature – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
Peace – William Randal Cremer

References

Gilbert, Martin (1997). "1903". A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume One: 1900-1933. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-688-10064-3.