1908

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 on the expedition on
     stunk the world yo North Pole.
   * July 22 - Albert Fisher establishes the Fisher Body Company to
     manufacture carriage and automobile bodies.
   * July 26 - United States Attorney General Charles 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 there ass.
   * November - George Howard Taft defeats William Jennings Bryan in the
     U.S. presidential election
   * Change of Emperor of Qing Dynasty from Emperor Guangshui (1875-1908) to
     Pu-yi (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.

Art, Culture & Fashion

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

Births:

   * 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 - StŽphane Grappelli, musician, composer (+ 1997)
   * January 27 - Oran "Hot Lips" Page, jazz trumpet (+ 1954)
   * February 1 - George Pal, director, producer (+ 1980)
   * February 5 - Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins, actresses (+
     1969)
   * February 7 - Buster Crabbe, Olympic Games swimming gold medalist, actor
   * February 8 - Emil Staiger, scientist of literature (+ 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 (+ 1981)
   * February 17 - Red Barber, baseball announcer, sports journalist (+
     1992)
   * February 22 - John Mills, actor
   * February 26 - Tex Avery, cartoonist (+ 1980)
   * February 26 - Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver (+ 1949)
   * February 29 - Balthus, painter (+ 2001)
   * February 29 - Dee Brown, writer, historian (+ 2002)
   * March 2 - Walter Bruch, engineer (+ 1990)
   * March 5 - Rex Harrison, actor (+ 1990)
   * March 8 - Claire Trevor, actress
   * March 7 - Anna Magnani, actress (+ 1973)
   * March 13 - Walter Annenberg, publisher, philanthropist (+ 2002)
   * March 17 - Brigitte Helm, actress (+ 1996)
   * March 20 - Sir Michael Redgrave, actor (+ 1985)
   * March 22 - Louis L'Amour, author (+ 1988)
   * March 23 - Joan Crawford, actor (+ 1977)
   * March 25 - Helmut KŠutner, actor and film director (+ 1980)
   * March 25 - David Lean, film director (+ 1991)
   * March 29 - Arthur O'Connell, actor (+ 1981)
   * April 2 - Buddy Ebsen, actor, dancer
   * April 5 - Bette Davis, US-american actress (+ 1989)
   * April 5 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (+ 1989)
   * April 7 - Percy Faith, composer, musician (+ 1976)
   * April 25 - Edward R. Murrow, journalist (+ 1965)
   * May 7 - Max Grundig, industrialist (+ 1989)
   * May 19 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (+ 1982)
   * May 20 - Jimmy Stewart, American actor
   * May 23 - John Bardeen, physicist (+ 1991)
   * May 25 - Theodore Roethke, American poet
   * May 28 - Ian Fleming, author of James Bond books (+ 1964)
   * May 30 - Mel Blanc, voice actor
   * May 31 - Don Ameche (actor)
   * August 27 - Don Bradman, cricket player
   * August 27 - Lyndon Johnson, 36th president of the United States
   * November 28 - Claude Levi-Strauss
   * October 16 - Enver Hoxha, dictator of Albania
   * December 6 - Pierre Graber, member of the Swiss Federal Council (+
     2003)
   * December 10 - Olivier Messiaen, composer

Deaths:

   * January 25 - Ouida, writer
   * February 1 - King Charles of Portugal
   * April 20 - Henry Chadwick, baseball writer and historian
   * August 25 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist
   * November 15 1-3 pm - Empress Dowager Cixi
   * November 14 5-7 pm - Emperor Guangshui

Nobel Prizes:

   * Physics - Gabriel Lippmann
   * Chemistry - Ernest Rutherford
   * Medicine - Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Paul Ehrlich
   * Literature - Rudolf Christoph Eucken
   * Peace - Klas Pontus Arnoldson Fredrik Bajer

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