1896

1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January – April

• 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).
• February 11 – Oscar Wilde's play Salomé premieres in Paris.
• March 1 – With the Battle of Adowa, Ethiopia defended its independence from Italy.
• 6 April – Opening ceremonies of the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympic Games.

May – August

• May 8 – 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.
• 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 9 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of gold speech.
• July 11 – Wilfrid Laurier becomes Canada's seventh prime minister.
• August 16 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in the Klondike.
• August 27 – The shortest war in the world – 9.02 – 9.40 between Britain and Zanzibar

September – October

• October 3 ? Dalton brothers try to rob two banks but only Emmet Dalton survives the shootout
• November – William McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan in the U.S. presidential election.

Unknown date

• 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, Ivory Coast.

Births

• January 2 – Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (d. 1954)
• January 4 – Everett Dirksen, American politician (d. 1969)
• January 4 – André Masson, French artist (d. 1987)
• 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 23 – Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg (d. 1985)
• February 18 – André Breton, French writer (d. 1966)
• March 1 – Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor, pianist, and composer (d. 1960)
• March 20 – Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May, Canadian World War I pilot (d. 1952)
• March 29 – Wilhelm Ackermann, German mathematician (d. 1962)
• April 30 – Gary Davis, American musician (d. 1972)
• May 11 – Mari Sandoz, writer (d. 1966)
• May 30 – Howard Hawks, American director (d. 1977)
• June 19 – Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (d. 1986)
• July 2 – Quirino Cristiani, Argentine animated film director (d. 1984)
• July 16 – Trygve Lie, first United Nations Secretary General (d. 1968)
• August 18 – Jack Pickford, American actor (d. 1933)
• August 30 – Raymond Massey, Canadian-born actor (d. 1983)
• September 24 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (d. 1940)
• October 1 – Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 1951)
• October 28 – Howard Hanson, American composer (d. 1981)
• October 31 – Ethel Waters, American singer and actress (d. 1977)
• November 8 – Bucky Harris, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1977)
• November 10 – Jimmy Dykes, Major League Baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
• November 14 – Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States of America (d. 1979)
• November 16 – Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists (d. 1980)
• December 6 – Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (d. 1983)
• December 14 – Jimmy Doolittle, American World War II general (d. 1993)
• December 24 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (d. 1940)

Deaths

• January 4 – Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)
• January 8 – Paul Verlaine, French lyric poet (b. 1844)
• April 30 – Hamilton Disston, Floridan developer (b. 1844)
• May 20 – Clara Schumann, German composer (b. 1819)
• August 10 – Otto Lilienthal, German aviation pioneer (b. 1848)
• August 17 – Bridget Driscoll, world's first automobile fatality
• October 11 – Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (b. 1824)
• October 11 – Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1829)
• October 23 ? Columbus Delano, American statesman (b. 1809)
• 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)