Major Events
- Jan 1 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen announces his discovery of x-rays
- Jan 29 American Emile Grubbe is the first doctor to use radiation treatment for breast cancer
- May 18 Khodynka Tragedy: A stampeding crowd on Khodynka Field, Moscow, during the festivities for coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, causes the deaths of an estimated 1,300 people
- May 26 Dow Jones index begins with an average of 12 industrial stocks (closing is 40.94)
- Jun 2 Italian engineer and inventor Guglielmo Marconi applies for the first ever patent for a system of wireless telegraphy in the United Kingdom
- Jun 15 Tsunami strikes Shinto festival on beach at Sanriku, Japan; 27,000 are killed, 9,000 injured and 13,000 houses destroyed
- Aug 16 Gold first discovered in Klondike, found at Bonanza Creek in the Yukon, Canada by George Carmack
- Nov 14 Power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation
- More 1896 Events
1896 in Film & TV
- Jul 26 Vitascope Hall, 1st permanent for-profit movie theatre, opens in New Orleans
1896 in Music
- Feb 1 Giacomo Puccini's opera "La Boheme" premieres in Turin
- Mar 28 Umberto Giordano's opera "Andrea Chenier" premieres at La Scala, Milan with Giuseppe Borgatti singing the title role; libretto by Luigi Illica
- Apr 20 John Philip Sousa's operetta "El Capitan" premieres on Broadway at Broadway Theatre, NYC
- Dec 25 "Stars & Stripes Forever" written by John Philip Sousa
1896 in Sport
- Mar 22 Charilaos Vasilakos of Greece wins 1st modern marathon in 3:18 at the Panhellenic Games
- Apr 6 First modern Summer Olympic Games open in Athens, Greece; American athlete James Connolly becomes first modern Olympic champion when he wins triple jump (then 2 hops and a jump); later 3rd in long jump, 2nd in high jump
- Apr 10 Spyridon Louis of Greece wins inaugural Olympic marathon (2:58:50) in Athens; runs last lap accompanied by Constantine I
- Apr 15 1st modern Summer Olympic Games close in Athens, Greece; USA wins gold medal count, 11; Greece wins total medal count, 46; IOC has retroactively assigned gold, silver & bronze medals to 3 best placed athletes in each event
- Sep 7 A. H. Whiting wins the 1st automobile race held on a closed-circuit track in Cranston, Rhode Island
Did You Know?
The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others
Wallis Simpson
Leslie Groves
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Charles "Lucky" Luciano
Georgy Zhukov
Jimmy Doolittle
Howard Hanson
Ira Gershwin
Roger Sessions
Rogers Hornsby
Bucky HarrisMore People Born in 1896
Fun Fact About 1896
Samuel Pierpont Langley flies his unpiloted Number 5 aircraft using a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River, USA. The aircraft travels almost 3/4 of a mile - ten times further than any previous heavier-than-air flying machine.
H. H. Holmes
Clara Schumann
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Anton Bruckner
Alfred Nobel
José RizalMore 1896 Deaths
Articles About 1896
Explosive Background to the Nobel Prize
Albert Nobel died on this day. His unique Nobel Prize legacy rewarded pioneers in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, peace, and economics.December 10
Marconi's Dream: Telegraphy Without Wires
Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi's career received a big boost on this day with backing from the British Post Office.December 11
Famous Weddings in 1896
- Jan 1 1st Filipino President Emilio Aguinaldo (26) weds first wife Hilaria del Rosario
- Mar 24 Writer "Heart of Darkness" Joseph Conrad (39) marries Englishwoman Jessie George (23)
- Apr 6 23rd US President Benjamin Harrison (63) weds Mary Scott (37) at St Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City
More Weddings in 1896
Grover Cleveland
Nicholas II
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Wilhelm II