1908

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s - 1900s - 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s

Years: 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 - 1908 - 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913

Events

January 1 - A ball signifying New Year's Day drops in New York City's Times Square for the first time
January 8 - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
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 21 - New York City passes a law, the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public only to be vetoed by the mayor.
January 24 - Robert Baden-Powell begins the Boy Scout movement
February 11 - Australia regain The Ashes with a 308 run cricket victory over England.
First Ideal Home Exhibition held.
April 27 - The 1908 Summer Olympics open in London.
May 10 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time (Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virgina).
May 26 - At Masjid-al-Salaman 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.
June 30 - The Tunguska impact event occurs in Siberia.
July 6 - Robert Peary sets sail for the Arctic North Pole.
July 22 - Albert Fisher establishes the Fisher Body Company to manufacture carriage and automobile bodies.
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).
December 28 - An earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.
De Meester's Dutch government resigns.
November - George Howard Taft defeats William Jennings Bryan in the U.S. presidential election
Change of Emperor of Qing Dynasty from Guangxu Emperor of China (1875-1908) to Henry Puyi (1909-1911)
Henry Ford produces its first Model T automobile.
A 40,000-year-old Neanderthal boy skeleton is found at Le Moustier in southwest France.
The Child Labour Act of Ontario is passed.

Year in topic

1908 in aviation
1908 in film
1908 in literature
1908 in music
1908 in science
1908 in sports
- The third Summer Olympic Games are held in London, England.
- September 23 - Baseball/History: the "Merkle incident"
- December 26 - Jack Johnson becomes the first African American heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia

Births

January 7 - Red Allen, jazz musician (d. 1967)
January 9 - Simone de Beauvoir, feminist philosopher
January 12 - Jean Delannoy, film director
January 14 - Rus Columbo, singer, bandleader, composer
January 15 - Edward Teller
January 26 - Stéphane Grappelli, musician, composer (d. 1997)
January 27 - Oran "Hot Lips" Page, jazz trumpet (d. 1954)
February 1 - George Pal, director, producer (d. 1980)
February 5 - Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins, actresses (d. 1969)
February 7 - Buster Crabbe, Olympic Games swimming gold medalist, actor
February 8 - Emil Staiger, scientist of literature (d. 1987)
February 11 - Sutan Takdir Alishahbana, Indonesian linguistic/author/novelist.
February 11 - Vivian Ernest Fuchs, geologist/explorer.
February 11 - Josh White, musician
February 15 - HAP Grieshaber, painter and graphic artist (d. 1981)
February 17 - Red Barber, baseball announcer, sports journalist (d. 1992)
February 22 - John Mills, actor
February 23 - William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia, (d. 1988)
February 26 - Tex Avery, cartoonist (d. 1980)
February 26 - Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver (d. 1949)
February 29 - Balthus, painter (d. 2001)
February 29 - Dee Brown, writer, historian (d. 2002)
March 2 - Walter Bruch, engineer (d. 1990)
March 5 - Rex Harrison, actor (d. 1990)
March 8 - Claire Trevor, actress
March 7 - Anna Magnani, actress (d. 1973)
March 13 - Walter Annenberg, publisher, philanthropist (d. 2002)
March 17 - Brigitte Helm, actress (d. 1996)
March 20 - Sir Michael Redgrave, actor (d. 1985)
March 22 - Louis L'Amour, author (d. 1988)
March 23 - Joan Crawford, actor (d. 1977)
March 25 - Helmut Käutner, actor and film director (d. 1980)
March 25 - David Lean, film director (d. 1991)
March 29 - Arthur O'Connell, actor (d. 1981)
April 1 - Abraham Maslow, psychologist
April 2 - Buddy Ebsen, actor, dancer
April 5 - Bette Davis, US-american actress (d. 1989)
April 5 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989)
April 7 - Percy Faith, composer, musician (d. 1976)
April 15 - Eden Ahbez, hermit, musician
April 20 - Lionel Hampton, jazz musician, bandleader (d. 2002)
April 25 - Edward R. Murrow, journalist (d. 1965)
May 7 - Max Grundig, industrialist (d. 1989)
May 8 - Cristian Vasile, Romanian tango singer (d. 1974)
May 19 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982)
May 20 - Jimmy Stewart, American actor
May 23 - John Bardeen, physicist (d. 1991)
May 25 - Theodore Roethke, American poet
May 28 - Ian Fleming, author of James Bond books (d. 1964)
May 30 - Mel Blanc, voice actor
May 31 - Don Ameche (actor)
August 4 - Kurt Eichhorn, conductor
August 5 - Harold Holt, seventeenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
August 27 - Don Bradman, cricket player
August 27 - Lyndon Johnson, 36th president of the United States
August 28 - Roger Tory Peterson, naturalist, artist, and educator
September 6 - Louis Essen, physicist (d. 1997)
October 14 - Allan Jones, actor, singer (d. 1992)
October 16 - Enver Hoxha, dictator of Albania
November 20 - Alistair Cooke, television host (d. 2004)
November 28 - Claude Levi-Strauss
December 6 - Pierre Graber, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 2003)
December 10 - Olivier Messiaen, composer
December 31 - Simon Wiesenthal, Nazi hunter

Deaths

January 25 - Ouida, writer
February 1 - King Charles of Portugal
April 20 - Henry Chadwick, baseball writer and historian
April 22 - Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
July 20 - Demetrius Vikelas, Greek IOC president
May 26 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadi sect
August 25 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist
September 20 - Pablo de Sarasate, violinist
October 30 – Caroline Astor, American socialite
November 14 5-7 pm - Guangxu Emperor of China
November 15 1-3 pm - Empress Dowager Cixi

Nobel Prizes

Heads of State

China -
1. Guāngxù Emperor of China, Qing Dynasty (1875-1908)
2. Xuantong Emperor of China, Qing Qynasty (1908-1912)
Denmark - Frederick VIII, King of Denmark (1906-1912)
France - Armand Fallières, President of France (1906-1913)
Germany - Wilhelm II, German Kaiser (1888-1918)
Holy See - Pope Pius X, Bishop of Rome (1903-1914)
Japan - Mutsuhito, Meiji Emperor (1867-1912)
Norway - Haakon VII, King of Norway (1905-1957)
Ottoman Empire - Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1909)
Russia - Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia (1894-1917)
Spain - Alfonso XIII of Spain, King of Spain (1886-1931)
United States - Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States (1901-1909)