1896

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	18th century – 19th century – 20th century
Decades:	1860s  1870s  1880s  – 1890s –   1900s   1910s   1920s
Years:	1893 1894 1895 – 1896 – 1897 1898 1899

Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1896

January - March

• January 4 - Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
• January 5 - An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Röntgen 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 (Turin).
  • 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 - With the Battle of Adowa, Ethiopia defends its independence from Italy.
• 9 March - 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 - First edition of Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport is published.
• April 6 - Opening ceremonies of the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympic Games.
• April 9 - The official chartering of The National Farm School which later became Delaware Valley College 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 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson, introducing the " separate but equal" doctrine and upholding 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 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 - Earthquake and tsunami in Sanriku, Japan, kills 27,000.

July - September

• July 9 - William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of gold speech.
• July 11 - Wilfrid Laurier becomes Canada's seventh prime minister.
• July 27 - A causeway is opened between the islands of Saaremaa and Muhu in Estonia.
• 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 - Crash at Crush train wreck stunt.
• September 22 - Queen Victoria surpassed 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: Augusta High School corner stone laid marking the end of the Augusta Methodist College.
• November - William McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan in the U.S. presidential election.
• November 6 - Hale Johnson runs as vice-presidential candidate for Prohibition Party.
• November 30 - A large carcass, later postulated to be the remains of a gigantic octopus, is found washed ashore near St. Augustine, Florida.
• December 25 - John Philip Sousa composes magnum opus, " Stars and Stripes Forever" on Christmas Day.
• December 30 - Jose Rizal, Filipino scholar and poet, executed in the Philippines

Undated

• Nepalese archaeologists rediscover the great stone pillar of Ashoka at Lumbini, using Fa Xian's records.
• Pontifical University of Maynooth is established by decree of the Vatican
• France establishes an administrative post in Abengourou, Côte d'Ivoire.
• Formation of the New York Telephone Company
• The "Realignment" of the Republican Party of the United States of America.
• Clarkson University is founded in Potsdam, New York.
• Devonport High School for Boys is founded in Plymouth UK.
• The world's first escalator was built in Coney Island, New York.

Births

1896 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1896 MDCCCXCVI
Ab urbe condita	2649
Armenian calendar	1345 ԹՎ ՌՅԽԵ
Assyrian calendar	6646
Bahá'í calendar	52–53
Bengali calendar	1303
Berber calendar	2846
British Regnal year	59 Vict. 1 – 60 Vict. 1
Buddhist calendar	2440
Burmese calendar	1258
Byzantine calendar	7404–7405
Chinese calendar	乙未年十一月十七日 (4532/4592-11-17) — to — 丙申年十一月廿七日 (4533/4593-11-27)
Coptic calendar	1612–1613
Ethiopian calendar	1888–1889
Hebrew calendar	5656–5657
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1952–1953
- Shaka Samvat	1818–1819
- Kali Yuga	4997–4998
Holocene calendar	11896
Igbo calendar
- Ǹrí Ìgbò	896–897
Iranian calendar	1274–1275
Islamic calendar	1313–1314
Japanese calendar	Meiji 29 (明治29年)
Juche calendar	N/A (before 1912)
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 12 days
Korean calendar	4229
Minguo calendar	16 before ROC 民前16年
Thai solar calendar	2439

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)
• January 14 - John Dos Passos, American author (d. 1970)
• 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 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)
• April 15 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
• April 30
  • Hans List, founder of AVL List (d. 1996)
  • Gary Davis, American musician (d. 1972)
• May 7 - John Dunville, British Army officer (d. 1917)
• May 30 - Howard Hawks, American director (d. 1977)
• 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)
• June 26 - Henry Allingham, Oldest Surviving soldier of World War I

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, one of Israel's greatest painters (d. 1992)
• July 16 - Trygve Lie, first United Nations Secretary General (d. 1968)
• July 27 - Henri Longchambon, French politician (d. 1969)
• August 9 - Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist (d. 1980)
• August 9 - Leonide Massine, Renowned dancer and choreographer, worked with Diaghilev's Ballet Russes and the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo (d. 1979)
• August 15 - Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1957)
• August 15 - 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, Founder of Hare Krishna movement (d. 1977)
• 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, RMS 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, baseball player (d. 1977)
• November 10 - Jimmy Dykes, 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)
• 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 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 8 - Paul Verlaine, French lyric poet (b. 1844)
• May 1 - Naser ad-Din Qajar, Shah of Persia, King of Herat (b. 1831)
• 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 16 - Edmond de Goncourt, co-founder of the Académie Goncourt (born 1822)
• July 19 - Abraham H. Cannon, American Mormon apostle (b. 1859)
• August 10 - Otto Lilienthal, German aviation pioneer (b. 1848)
• August 17 - Bridget Driscoll, an early automobile fatality
• August 25 - Hamad bin Thuwaini of Zanzibar, sultan 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)