1906

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1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (dominical letter G) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday (dominical letter A) of the Julian calendar, the 1906th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 906th year of the 2nd millennium, the 6th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1900s decade. As of the start of 1906, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1918.

Events

January–February

• January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: a nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah to grant a constitution and establish a national assembly, the Majlis.
• January 16–April 7 – Algeciras Conference to resolve the First Moroccan Crisis between France and Germany.
• January 22 – The SS Valencia strikes a reef off Vancouver Island, Canada, killing over 100 (officially 136) in the ensuing disaster.
• January 31 – Ecuador–Colombia earthquake (8.8 on the Moment magnitude scale) and associated tsunami.
• February 10 – HMS Dreadnought is launched and sparks the naval race between Britain and Germany.
• February 11 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos denouncing the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State.
• February 11 – Two British £1-per-head tax collectors are killed near Richmond, Natal, sparking the Bambatha Rebellion.^[1]

January 31: Ecuador earthquake (8.6).

March–April

• March 10 – Courrières mine disaster: an explosion in a coal mine in France kills 1,060.
• March 18 – In France, Romanian inventor Traian Vuia becomes the first person to achieve an unassisted takeoff in a heavier-than-air powered monoplane, but it is incapable of sustained flight.
• April 7 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
• April 14 – The Azusa Street Revival, the primary catalyst for the revival of Pentecostalism this century, opens in Los Angeles.
• April 18 – San Francisco earthquake (estimated magnitude 7.8) on the San Andreas Fault destroys much of San Francisco, California, USA, killing at least 3,000, with 225,000–300,000 left homeless, and $350 million in damages.
• April 23 – In Tsarist Russia, the Fundamental Laws are announced at the first state Duma.

The ruins of San Francisco following the April 18 earthquake and later fires

May–June

• May – Jack London's novel White Fang begins serialization in the American magazine Outing.
• May 29 – Karl Staaff steps down as Prime Minister of Sweden over the issue of expanded voting rights. He is replaced by the right-wing naval officer and public official, Arvid Lindman .
• June 7 – Cunard liner RMS Lusitania is launched in Glasgow as the world's largest ship.

July–August

• July 1 – Sporting Lisbon, as well known football club in Portugal, founded.
• July 6 – The Second Geneva Convention meets.
• July 12 – Alfred Dreyfus is exonerated. He is reinstalled in the French Army on July 21, thus ending the Dreyfus affair.
• August 4 – The first Imperial German Navy submarine, U-1, is launched.
• August 16 – A magnitude 8.2 earthquake in Valparaíso, Chile leaves approximately 20,000 dead.
• August 22 – The first Victor Victrola, a phonographic record player, is manufactured.
• August 23 – Unable to control a rebellion Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma requests United States intervention. The subsequent provisional occupation administration lasts until 1909.

September–October

• September 11 – Mahatma Gandhi coins the term Satyagraha to characterize the Non-Violence movement in South Africa.
• September 18 – A typhoon and tsunami kill an estimated 10,000 in Hong Kong.^[2]
• September 30 – The first Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning is held, starting in Paris. The winning team, piloting the balloon United States, lands in Fylingdales, Yorkshire, England.
• October 1 – The Grand Duchy of Finland becomes the first nation to include the right of women to stand as candidates when it adopts universal suffrage.
• October 6 – The Majlis of Iran convenes for the first time.
• October 11 – A United States diplomatic crisis with Japan arises when the San Francisco public school board orders Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.
• October 16 – Imposter Wilhelm Voigt impersonates a Prussian officer and takes over the city hall in Köpenick for a short time.
• October 23 – An aeroplane of Alberto Santos-Dumont takes off at Bagatelle in France and flies 60 meters (200 feet). This is the first officially recorded powered flight in Europe.
• October 28 – The Union Minière du Haut Katanga, a Belgian mining trust, is created in the Congo.

November–December

• November 3 – SOS becomes an international distress signal.
• November 22 – Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin introduces agrarian reforms aimed at creating a large class of land-owning peasants.
• December 4 – Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity forms at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. The first Black Greek-lettered collegiate order of its kind.
• December 24 – Reginald Fessenden makes the first radio broadcast: a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
• December 26 – The world's first feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, is released.

Date unknown

• The Bacillus Calmette–Guérin immunization for tuberculosis is first developed.
• Richard Oldham argues that the Earth has a molten interior.
• Construction begins on the current Great Mosque of Djenné.
• The Simplo Filler Pen company is founded, later to become the Montblanc company.

Births

January–February

Puyi, Last Emperor of China

• January 6 – Walter Battiss, South African artist (d. 1982)
• January 11 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist (d. 2008)
• January 13 – Zhou Youguang, Chinese linguist
• January 14 – William Bendix, American film, radio, and television actor (d. 1964)
• January 15 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)
• January 21 – Igor Moiseyev, Russian choreographer (d. 2007)
• January 22 – Robert E. Howard, American author (d. 1936)
• February 4
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German religious leader and resistance leader (d. 1945)
  • Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (d. 1997)
• February 5 – John Carradine, American actor (d. 1988)
• February 7
  • Puyi, Last Emperor of China (d. 1967)
  • Oleg Antonov, Soviet aircraft designer (d. 1984)
• February 8 – Chester Carlson, American physicist and inventor (d. 1968)
• February 10
  • Lon Chaney, Jr., American actor (d. 1973)
  • Erik Rhodes, American actor and singer (d. 1990)
• February 17 – Mary Brian, American actress (d. 2002)
• February 18 – Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician (d. 1980)
• February 22 – Helge Kjærulff-Schmidt, Danish actor (d. 1982)
• February 26 – Madeleine Carroll, British actress (d. 1987)
• February 28 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)

March–April

Samuel Beckett

• March 1 – Phạm Văn Đồng, Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2000)
• March 6 – Lou Costello, American actor (d. 1959)
• March 7 – Elmar Lipping, Estonian statesman and soldier (d. 1994)
• March 8 – Victor Hasselblad, Swedish inventor and photographer (d. 1978)
• March 12 – Yin Shun, Chinese Buddhist master (d. 2005)
• March 16 – Francisco Ayala, Spanish writer (d. 2009)
• March 17 – Brigitte Helm, German film actress (d. 1996)
• March 19
  • Adolf Eichmann, German war criminal (d. 1962)
  • Roy Roberts, American actor (d. 1975)
• March 21 – Jim Thompson, American businessman (disappeared 1967)
• March 25 – A. J. P. Taylor, English historian (d. 1990)
• March 26
  • Rafael Méndez, Mexican trumpet player (d. 1981)
  • Ronald Urquhart, British general (d. 1968)
• March 31 – Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)
• April 1 – Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, Russian engineer and airplane designer (d. 1989)
• April 4 – Bea Benaderet, American actress (d. 1968)
• April 6 – Luis Alberti, Dominican Republic musician (d. 1976)
• April 9 – Antal Doráti, Hungarian conductor (d. 1988)
• April 13 – Samuel Beckett, Irish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1989)
• April 22 – Eddie Albert, American actor (d. 2005)
• April 24 – William Joyce, Irish-American World War II Nazi propaganda broadcaster ("Lord Haw-Haw") (d. 1946)
• April 25
  • Joel Brand, Hungarian rescue worker (d. 1964)
  • William J. Brennan Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1997)
  • A. W. Haydon, American inventor (d. 1982)
• April 28
  • Kurt Gödel, Austrian logician, mathematician, and philosopher of mathematics (d. 1978)
  • Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor (d. 1999)

May–June

Roberto Rossellini

Ernst Boris Chain

Josephine Baker

Maria Goeppert-Mayer

• May 2 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-born American photographer (d. 1979)
• May 3 – Mary Astor, American actress and writer (d. 1987)
• May 6 – André Weil, French mathematician (d. 1998)
• May 7 – Jon Lormer, American actor (d. 1986)
• May 8 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian director (d. 1977)
• May 11
  • Jacqueline Cochran, American aviator (d. 1980)
  • Richard Arvine Overton, oldest surviving American veteran (World War II)
  • Ethel Weed, American promoter of Japanese women's rights (d. 1975)
• May 15 – Humberto Delgado, Portuguese general and politician (d. 1965)
• May 16 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (d. 2001)
• May 19
  • Bruce Bennett, American athlete and actor (d. 2007)
  • Jimmy MacDonald, Scottish-American sound effects artist, voice actor (d. 1991)
• May 20 – Giuseppe Siri, Italilan Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1989)
• May 23 – Lucha Reyes, Mexican singer (d. 1944)
• May 27 – Buddhadasa, Buddhist monk (d. 1993)
• May 29 – T. H. White, British writer (d. 1964)
• May 30 – Bruno Gröning, German faith healer (d. 1959)
• June 3 – Josephine Baker, American-born French entertainer (d. 1975)
• June 4 – Ivan Knunyants, Soviet chemist (d. 1990)
• June 6 – Max August Zorn, German-born American mathematician (d. 1993)
• June 12 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet (d. 1977)
• June 15 – Léon Degrelle, Belgian fascist (d. 1994)
• June 17 – James H. Flatley, American admiral and aviator (d. 1958)
• June 19 – Ernst Boris Chain, German-born British biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)
• June 22
  • Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and aviator (d. 2001)
  • Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American screenwriter, film director and producer (d. 2002)
• June 24 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist (d. 1986)
• June 28 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)

July–August

Hans Bethe

• July 2 – Hans Bethe, German-born American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
• July 3 – George Sanders, British actor (d. 1972)
• July 6 – Juan Salvador Rizzo, Argentinian football player
• July 7
  • William Feller, Croatian-born mathematician (d. 1970)
  • Satchel Paige, American baseball player (d. 1982)
• July 11 – Herbert Wehner, German politician (d. 1990)
• July 12 – Pietro Tordi, Italian actor (d. 1990)
• July 23 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
• August 5
  • Joan Hickson, British actress (d. 1998)
  • Wassily Leontief, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
• August 14 – Horst P. Horst, German photographer (d. 1999)
• August 17 – Marcelo Caetano, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1980)
• August 19 – Philo Farnsworth, American inventor (d. 1971)
• August 21 – Friz Freleng, American cartoon director (d. 1995)
• August 26 – Albert Sabin, Polish-American medical researcher (d. 1993)
• August 27 – Ed Gein, American serial killer (d. 1984)
• August 28 – John Betjeman, English poet (d. 1984)
• August 30 – Joan Blondell, American actress (d. 1979)

Joaquín Balaguer

September

Max Delbrück

• September 1
  • Joaquín Balaguer, Dominican politician and writer (d. 2002)
  • Franz Biebl, German composer (d. 2001)
  • Eleanor Burford, English writer (d. 1993)
• September 2 – Barbara Jo Allen, American actress (d. 1974)
• September 4 – Max Delbrück, German biologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1981)
• September 6 – Luis Federico Leloir, French-born Argentine chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1987)
• September 8 – Andrei Kirilenko, Soviet politician (d. 1990)
• September 12 – Lee Erwin, television writer (d. 1972)
• September 17 – Junius Richard Jayewardene, President of Sri Lanka (d. 1996)
• September 25
  • José Figueres Ferrer, President of Costa Rica (d. 1990)
  • Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer (d. 1975)
• September 27 – William Empson, English poet and critic (d. 1984)

October

Janet Gaynor

Léopold Sédar Senghor

• October 6 – Janet Gaynor, American Academy Award winning actress (d. 1984)
• October 9 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, President of Senegal (d. 2001)
• October 10 – Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Narayan, Indian novelist (d. 2001)
• October 14
  • Imam Hassan al-Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (d. 1949)
  • Hannah Arendt, German political theorist (d. 1975)
• October 23 – Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (d. 2003)
• October 24 – Marie-Louise von Motesiczky, Austrian painter (d. 1996)
• October 26 – Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (d. 1967)
• October 27 – Kazuo Ohno, Japanese dancer (d. 2010)
• October 29 – Fredric Brown, American writer (d. 1972)

November–December

Luchino Visconti

Louise Brooks

Leonid Brezhnev

• November 2 – Luchino Visconti, Italian theatre and cinema director and writer (d. 1976)
• November 5
  • George Philip Bradley "Pip" Roberts, British general (d. 1997)
  • Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer (d. 2004)
• November 9 – Arthur Rudolph, German rocket engineer (d. 1996)
• November 10 – Josef Kramer, German Nazi concentration camp commandant (d. 1945)
• November 13 – Hermione Baddeley, English character actress (d. 1986)
• November 14 – Louise Brooks, American actress (d. 1985)
• November 15 – Curtis LeMay, United States Air Force general (d. 1990)
• November 16 – Henri Charrière, French author (d. 1973)
• November 17 – Soichiro Honda, Japanese industrialist (d. 1991)
• November 18
  • Alec Issigonis, Greek-born British automobile designer (d. 1988)
  • Klaus Mann, German writer (d. 1949)
  • George Wald, American scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1997)
• December 2 – Peter Carl Goldmark, Hungarian-born American engineer (d. 1977)
• December 5 – Ahn Eak-tai, Korean composer (d. 1965)
• December 9 – Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and naval officer (d. 1992)
• December 13
  • Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (d. 1968)
  • Laurens van der Post, South African author and journalist (d. 1996)
• December 19 – Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet leader (d. 1982)
• December 24 – James Hadley Chase, English writer (d. 1985)
• December 25 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
• December 26 – Imperio Argentina, Argentinian singer and actress (d. 2003)
• December 27 – Oscar Levant, American pianist, composer, author, comedian, and actor (d. 1972)

Deaths

January–June

Bartolome Mitre

Pierre Curie

King Christian IX of Denmark

Manuel Quintana

• January 6 – William Forbes Gatacre, British general (b. 1843)
• January 19 – Bartolomé Mitre, Argentine statesman, military figure, and author, 6th President of Argentina (b. 1821)
• January 25 – Joseph Wheeler, American general and politician (b. 1836)
• January 29 – King Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818)
• February 13 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (b. 1866)
• February 27 – Samuel Pierpont Langley, American astronomer, physicist, and aeronautics pioneer (b. 1834)
• March 1 – José María de Pereda, Spanish writer (b. 1833)
• March 4 – John Schofield, American general (b. 1831)
• March 8 – Henry Baker Tristram, English clergyman, and ornithologist (b. 1822)
• March 12 – Manuel Quintana, 15th President of the Argentina (b. 1835)
• March 13
  • Susan B. Anthony, American civil rights and women's suffrage activist (b. 1820)
  • Joseph Monier, French gardener and inventor (b. 1823)
• March 19 – Victor Fatio, Swiss zoologist (b. 1838)
• March 23 – Thomas Lake Harris, American poet (b. 1823)
• March 29
  • Slava Raškaj, Croatian painter (b. 1877)
  • Albert Sorel, French historian (b. 1842)
• April 6 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author (b. 1849)
• April 19
  • Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
  • Spencer Gore, British tennis player and cricketer (b. 1850)
• April 25 – John Knowles Paine, American composer (b. 1839)
• May 14 – Carl Schurz, German revolutionary and American statesman (b. 1829)
• May 23 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (b. 1828)
• May ? – Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin, Sultan of Brunei (b. 1825)
• June 5 – Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher (b. 1842)
• June 17 – Harry Nelson Pillsbury, American chess champion (b. 1872)
• June 25 – Stanford White, American architect (b. 1853)

July–December

Carlos Pellegrini

Aniceto Arce

Paul Cézanne

Otto Franz of Austria

Todor Burmov

Blessed Veronica of the Passion

• July 1 – Manuel García, Spanish opera singer, music educator and vocal pedagogue (b. 1805)
• July 17 – Carlos Pellegrini, 11th President of Argentina (b. 1846)
• August 14 – Aniceto Arce, 27th President of Bolivia (b. 1824)
• September 1 – Giuseppe Giacosa, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1847)
• September 5 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (b. 1854)
• September 23 – August Bondeson, Swedish author (b. 1844)
• October 9 – Adelaide Ristori, Italian actress (b. 1822)
• October 16 – Varina Davis, First Lady of the Confederate States of America (b. 1826)
• October 22 – Paul Cézanne, French painter (b. 1839)
• October 23 – Vladimir Stasov, Russian music critic (b. 1824)
• November 1 – Archduke Otto Franz of Austria (b. 1865)
• November 7 – Todor Burmov, 1st Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1834)
• November 12 – William R. Shafter, American general (b. 1835)
• November 16 – Mother Veronica of the Passion, Ottoman-born religious leader (b. 1823)
• November 28 – Jennie Yeamans, Australian born American actress (b. 1862)
• November 30 – Edward James Reed, British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate (b. 1830)
• December 7 – Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and activist, Nobel laureate (b. 1833)
• December 8 – Sylvia Gerrish, American musical theatre star (b. 1860)
• December 13 – Jan Gerard Palm, Dutch composer (b. 1831)
• December 30 – Josephine Butler, British feminist and social reformer (b. 1828)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – J. J. Thomson
• Chemistry – Henri Moissan
• Medicine – Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal
• Literature – Giosuè Carducci
• Peace – Theodore Roosevelt

References

• The Annual Register of World Events: A Review of the Year: 1906. Longmans, Green. 1907. , comprehensive guide to political events worldwide; emphasis on Britain