1902
| Years: 1899 1900 1901 – 1902 – 1903 1904 1905 | |
| Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s – 1900s – 1910s 1920s 1930s | |
| Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century 1902 in topic: Lists of leaders: | |
1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).
Table of contents |
Events
January-April
- January 28 – The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, DC with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.
- France, Loisy's L'évangile et l'Eglise which inaugurates the Modernist Crisis
- February 11 – Police beat up universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels.
- February 15 – Berlin underground opened.
- February 18 – US President Roosevelt prosecutes the Northern Securities Company for violation of the Sherman Act.
- March 7 – Boer War: South African Boers win their last battle over British forces, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.
- March 10 – Circuit Court's decision disallows Thomas Edison from having a monopoly on motion picture technology.
- March 31 – Disputed first powered heavier-than-air flight; most date it 1903 if at all
- April 2 – "Electric Theatre", the first movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.
- The Irish National Theatre Society is founded by W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, J. M. Synge and George Russell.
May-August
- May 8 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroys the town of St. Pierre, and kills over 30,000 people. Only a small handful of St. Pierre's residents survived the blast.
- May 13 – Alfonso XIII of Spain formally begins his reign
- May 15 – In a field outside Grass Valley, California, Lyman Gilmore reportedly becomes the first person to fly a powered airplane (a steam-powered glider).
- May 17 – Archaeologist Spyridon Stais finds the Antikythera mechanism
- May 20 – Cuba gains independence from the United States
- May 29 – Lord Rosebery opens London School of Economics
- May 31 – Peace of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War
- June 2 – The Anthracite Coal Strike begins in the United States.
- June 15 – The New York Central railroad inaugurates the 20th Century Limited passenger train between Chicago and New York City.
- June 16 – Australia: Female British subjects (with the exception of Asians, Aborigines and Africans) won the vote with the Uniform Franchise Act.
- June 26 – Edward VII institutes The Order of Merit.
- July 10 – Rolling Mill Mine disaster in Johnstown, PA, kills 112 miners.
- July 11 – Retirement of Lord Salisbury as British prime minister.
- July 11 – Order of the Garter conferred on Archduke Ferdinand.
- July 14 – St Mark's Campanile in Venice collapses.
- August 9 – Edward VII is crowned King of the United Kingdom.
- August 22 – Theodore Roosevelt became the first American President to ride in an automobile when he rode in a Columbia Electric Victoria through Hartford, Connecticut.
September-December
- September 3 – Popular author Sarah Orne Jewett is thrown out of a carriage, virtually ending her writing career.
- October 21 – In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
- November 30 – American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, Kid Curry Logan, is sentenced to 20 years hard labor.
- December 31 – Scott, Shackleton and Wilson reach the furthest southern point thus far by man at 82°17'S
Births
January-February
- January 6 – Max Güde, attorney (d. 1984)
- January 9 – Rudolph Bing, Austrian-born opera manager (d. 1997)
- January 9 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and founder of Opus Dei (d. 1975)
- January 11 – Maurice Duruflé, French composer (d. 1986)
- January 16 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)
- January 22 – Daniel Kinsey, American hurdler (d. 1970)
- January 31 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1986)
- January 31 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
- February 1 – Langston Hughes, American writer (d. 1967)
- February 4 – Charles Lindbergh, American aviator (d. 1974)
- February 6 – George Brunies, American jazz trombonist (d. 1974)
- February 8 – Lyle Talbot, actor (d. 1996)
- February 10 – Walter Houser Brattain, scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (d. 1987)
- February 11 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect and designer (d. 1971)
- February 20 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)
- February 27 – John Steinbeck American writer (d. 1968)
- February 27 – Gene Sarazen, golfer (d. 1999)
March-April
- March 7 – Heinz Rühmann, actor (d. 1994)
- March 9 – Elisabeth Pelletier de Chambure, wife of Philippe de Rothschild (d. 1945)
- March 9 – Will Geer, American actor (d. 1978)
- March 16 – Leon Roppolo, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1943)
- March 17 – Bobby Jones, American golfer (d. 1971)
- March 21 – Son House, American blues musician (d. 1988)
- March 24 – Thomas Dewey, American politician (d. 1971)
- March 28 – Dame Flora Robson, English actress (d. 1984)
- March 29 – William Walton, English composer (d. 1983)
- March 29 – Marcel Aymé, French writer (d. 1967)
- April 4 – Louise Leveque de Vilmorin, French actress (d. 1969)
- April 12 – Louis Beel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
- April 23 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author (d. 1998)
- April 25 – Werner Heyde, German military psychiatrist
May-October
- May 6 – Max Ophüls, German-born director (d. 1957)
- May 6 – Harry Golden, American journalist (d. 1981)
- May 10 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-born film director (d. 1974)
- May 10 – David O. Selznick, Hollywood film producer (d. 1965)
- May 15 – Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1976)
- May 18 – Meredith Willson, American composer (d. 1984)
- May 21 – Earl Averill, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1983)
- May 21 – Marcel Lajos Breuer, architect (d. 1981)
- May 22 – Al Simmons, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1956)
- July 4 – George Murphy, American dancer, actor, Senator from California (d. 1992)
- July 4 – Meyer Lansky, Russian-born mobster (d. 1983)
- July 10 – Kurt Alder, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- July 28 – Karl Raimund Popper, Austrian philosopher (d. 1994)
- July 26 – Gracie Allen, American actress and comedienne (d. 1964)
- August 8 – Paul Dirac, English physicist (d. 1984)
- August 9 – Zino Francescatti, French violinist (d. 1991)
- August 10 – Norma Shearer, Academy Award-winning Canadian actress (d. 1983)
- August 11 – Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (d. 1986)
- August 19 – Ogden Nash, American poet (d. 1971)
- August 22 – Leni Riefenstahl, German film director (d. 2003)
- August 25 – Stefan Wolpe, German-born composer (d. 1972)
- September 21 – Luis Cernuda, Spanish poet (d. 1963)
- September 22 – John Houseman, Romanian-born actor and producer (d. 1988)
- October 5 – Ray Kroc, American founder of McDonald's Corporation
- October 25 – Eddie Lang, American jazz guitarist (d. 1933)
November-December
- November 1 – Eugen Jochum, German conductor (d. 1987)
- November 2 – Mafalda Maria Elisabetta of Savoy, (d. 1944)
- November 9 – Anthony Asquith British film director, (d. 1968)
- November 23 – Victor Jory, Canadian actor (d. 1982)
- December 2 – Wilfredo Lam, Cuban artist (d. 1982)
- December 5 – Strom Thurmond, United States senator (d. 2003)
- December 20 – Prince George, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
- December 28 – Mortimer Adler, American philosopher (d. 2001)
Deaths
- January 11 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer (b. 1862)
- March 26 – Cecil Rhodes, British imperialist (b. 1853)
- April 2 – Esther Morris, suffragist and the first woman judge in U.S. history (b. 1814)
- May 26 – Almon Strowger, American inventor (b. 1839)
- June 10 – Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan poet (b. 1845)
- June 18 – Samuel Butler, British author (b. 1835)
- July 4 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian religious leader (b. 1863)
- July 6 – Maria Goretti, Italian Roman Catholic saint (b. 1890)
- August 8 – James Tissot, French artist (b. 1836)
- September 5 – Rudolf Virchow, German doctor, pathologist, biologist, and politician (b. 1821)
- September 6 – Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, British chemist (b. 1827)
- September 29 – Emile Zola, French author (b. 1840)
- October 26 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women's rights activist (b. 1815)
- December 22 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German sexologist (b. 1840)
- Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1821)
Nobel Prizes
- Physics – Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, Pieter Zeeman
- Chemistry – Hermann Emil Fischer
- Medicine – Ronald Ross
- Literature – Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen
- Peace – Élie Ducommun, Charles Albert Gobat
Categories: 1902