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Year 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar).

Table of contents

Events of 1906

January 31: Ecuador earthquake (8.6).

January - February

• January 1 - British India officially adopts Indian Standard Time.
• January 8 - Landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20.
• January 31 - earthquake in Ecuador (8.6 on the Richter scale).

February 28: The Jungle.

• 8 February - The Liberal Party led by Henry Campbell-Bannerman win the United Kingdom general election with a large majority.
• February 11 - Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos.
• February 15 - Representatives of the Labour Representation Committee in the UK parliament take the name Parliamentary Labour Party.
• February 28 - Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle, a novel depicting the life of an immigrant family in Chicago during the early 1900s.

March - April

• March 10 - Explosion in coal mine in Courrières, France kills 1060.
• March 15 - Rolls-Royce Ltd. is registered.
• March 17 - Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity founded at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
• March 18 - Traian Vuia flies a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft.

March 15: Rolls-Royce

• March 27 - The Alpine Club of Canada is founded in Winnipeg by Elizabeth Parker and Arthur Oliver Wheeler.
• April 7 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
• April 14 - First service held at African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, CA by W.J. Seymour in a series later known as the Azusa Street Revival.
• April 18 - The 1906 San Francisco earthquake (estimated magnitude 7.8) on the San Andreas Fault destroys much of San Francisco, California, killing at least 3000, with 225,000-300,000 left homeless, $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 is serialized in The Outing Magazine.
  • Club Deportivo Guadalajara is founded.
• June 6 - Durham and Southern Railway operates its first revenue train, Bonsal to Durham, North Carolina.
• June 7 - The RMS Lusitania is launched in Glasgow. It is the world's largest ship.
• June 8 - Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.
• June 9- June 10 - Riots in Stockholm, Ladugårsdgärden - 50 policemen injured.
• June 22 - Haakon VII and Maud of Wales are crowned rulers of Norway.
• June 25 - Harry K. Thaw shoots architect Stanford White.
• June 29 - Mesa Verde declared a National Park.
• June 30 - United States Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act.

July - August

• July 1 - Sporting Clube de Portugal founded.
• July 6 - Second Geneva Convention.
• July 12 - Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer hastily and wrongly convicted of treason in 1899, is exonerated. He is reinstalled in the French Army July 21, ending the "Dreyfus Affair" that exposed anti-Semitism in French society.
• 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 in the newly-formed Cuban republic, Pres. Tomás Estrada Palma requests U.S. intervention.

September - October

• September 5 - Brandbury Robinson throws the first legal forward pass in an American football game.
• September 18 - Typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 persons in Hong Kong.
• September 22 - Race riots in Atlanta, Georgia. At least 27 people are killed and the black-owned business district is severely damaged.
• September 24 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower the nation's first National Monument.
• September 26 - The first concert of the Telharmonium, the first music synthesizer, is presented at Telharmonic Hall, Broadway at 39th St., New York City.
• September 30 - The first Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning is held, starting in Paris. The winning team piloted the balloon "United States" landed in Fylingdales, Yorkshire.
• October 1
  • Grand Duchy of Finland becomes the first nation to adopt universal suffrage, giving women the right to vote.
  • The Madeira School, a private boarding school for girls, opens with twenty-eight students attending classes in two buildings on 19th Street just off Dupont Circle in downtown Washington, DC.
• October 6 - The Majlis of Iran convenes for the first time.
• October 11 - San Francisco public school board sparks United States diplomatic crisis with Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.
• October 16 - Imposter Wilhelm Voigt impersonates a Prussian officer and takes over city hall in Köpenick for a short time, amusing all of Germany and other countries.
• October 23 - Aeroplane of Alberto Santos-Dumont takes off on Bagatelle in France and flies 60 meters (200 feet).
• October 28 - Creation of the Union Minière du Haut Katanga, a Belgian mining trust in Congo.

November - December

• November 3 - SOS becomes an international distress signal.
• November 9 - US President Theodore Roosevelt leaves for a trip to Panama to inspect the construction progress of the Panama Canal (the first time a sitting President of the United States makes an official trip outside of the United States).
• November 22 - Russian Prime Min. Peter Stolypin introduces agrarian reforms aimed at creating a large class of land-owning peasants.
• December 2 - HMS Dreadnought commissioned. First all-big-gun warship.
• December 4 - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the first inter-collegiate Greek-letter organization established for African Americans, is founded at Cornell University.
• December 6 - Creation of district of Chimbote.
• December 8 - Petrified Forest, Arizona designated a National Monument.
• December 9 - Grace Murray Hopper, pioneer computer scientist, is born in New York City, New York.
• December 10 - Pres. Theodore Roosevelt is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in negotiating peace in the Russo-Japanese War (1905).
• December 14 - The world's first submarine, the Unterseeboot 1, enters the German navy.
• 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.
• December 30 - The All-India Muslim League, a political organization that represented the interests of Indian Muslims, is formed.

Undated

• Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunization for tuberculosis first developed.
• Richard Oldham argues that the Earth has a molten interior.
• Construction begins on the current Great Mosque of Djenné.
• The muffuletta sandwich is invented in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• Belgian shopkeeper Edgar Everaert creates Club Union Football(soccer) team.
• The Brown Dog statue is erected in Battersea.

Births

January-February

• January 11 - Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist (d. 2008)
• January 14 - William Bendix, American actor (d. 1964)
• January 15 - Edna Staebler, Canadian author (d. 2006)
• January 21 - Igor Moiseyev, Russian choreographer (d. 2007)
• January 22 - Robert E. Howard, American author (d. 1936)
• February 4
  • Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (d. 1997)
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German religious leader and resistance leader (d. 1945)
• February 10
  • Lon Chaney, Jr., American actor (d. 1973)
  • Erik Rhodes, American actor (d. 1990)
• February 18 - Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician (d. 1980)
• February 26 - Madeleine Carroll, British actress (d. 1987)
• February 28 - Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)

March-April

• March 1 - Pham Van Dong, Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2000)
• March 4
  • Meindert DeJong, American author (d. 1991)
  • Charles Rudolph Walgreen, Jr., American businessman (d. 2007)
• March 6 - Victor Hasselblad, Swedish inventor and photographer (d. 1978)
• March 7
  • Elmar Lipping, Estonian statesman and soldier (d. 1994)
  • Thomas Posey, doctor, medical scientist (d. 1990)
• March 12 - Yin Shun, Chinese Buddhist master (d. 2005)
• March 16
  • Henny Youngman, English-born comedian (d. 1998)
  • Francisco Ayala, Spanish writer
• March 19 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (d. 1962)
• March 20
  • Abraham Beame, mayor of New York (d. 2001)
  • Ozzie Nelson, American actor and band leader (d. 1975)
• March 26 - Rafael Méndez, Mexican-born trumpet virtuoso (d. 1981)
• March 31 - Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• April 1 - Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, Russian engineer and airplane designer (d. 1989)
• April 4 - John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (d. 1995)
• April 9 - Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor (d. 1988)
• April 13 - Samuel Beckett, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
• April 22 - Eddie Albert, American actor, gardener and humanitarian activist (d. 2005)
• April 25 - William J. Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1997)
• April 28
  • Kurt Gödel, Austrian logician, mathematician, and philosopher of mathematics (d. 1978)
  • Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor (d. 1999)

May-June

• May 2 - Philippe Halsman, Latvian-born American photographer (d. 1979)
• May 3 - Mary Astor, Academy Award winning American actress and writer (d. 1987)
• May 6 - André Weil, French mathematician (d. 1998)
• May 8 - Roberto Rossellini, Italian director (d. 1977)
• May 11 - Jacqueline Cochran, American aviatrix (d. 1980)
• May 12 - Maurice Ewing, American geophysicist and oceanographer (d. 1974)
• May 15 - Humberto Delgado, Portuguese general and politician (d. 1965)
• May 16
  • Alfred Pellan, Canadian painter (d. 1988)
  • Arturo Uslar-Pietri, Venezuelan writer (d. 2001)
• May 17 - Zinka Milanov, Croatian-born soprano (d. 1989)
• May 19 - Bruce Bennett, American athlete and actor (d. 2007)
• May 20 - Giuseppe Siri, Italilan Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1989)
• May 23
  • Allan Scott, American screenwriter (d. 1995)
  • Lucha Reyes, Mexican singer (d. 1944)
  • Willis Hudlin, baseball player (d. 2002)
• May 27 - Buddhadasa, Buddhist monk (d. 1993)
• May 28 - Phil Regan, American actor (d. 1996)
• May 29 - T. H. White, British writer (d. 1964)
• May 30 - Bruno Gröning, German faith healer (d. 1959)
• June 3 - Josephine Baker, American actress (d. 1975)
• June 4 - Ivan Knunyants, Soviet chemist (d. 1990)
• June 6 - Max August Zorn, German-born mathematician (d. 1993)
• June 12 - Sandro Penna, Italian poet (d. 1977)
• June 15 - Léon Degrelle, Belgian fascist (d. 1994)
• June 19
  • Earl W. Bascom, American rodeo pioneer, artist, inventor (d. 1995)
  • Ernst Boris Chain, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1979)
• June 20
  • Catherine Cookson, English author (d. 1998)
  • Robert Trent Jones, English-born golf course designer (d. 2000)
• June 22
  • Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and aviator (d. 2001)
  • Billy Wilder, Austrian-born screenwriter, film director and producer (d. 2002)
• June 24 - Pierre Fournier, French cellist (d. 1986)
• June 26 - Viktor Schreckengost, American industrial designer (d. 2008)
• June 28 - Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
• June 30 - Ralph Allen, English footballer (d. 1981)

July-August

• July 1 - Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 2004)
• July 2 - Hans Bethe, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
• July 2 - Oleg Antonov, Soviet aircraft designer (d. 1984)
• July 7 - William Feller, Croatian-born mathematician (d. 1970)
• July 7 - Satchel Paige, American baseball player (d. 1982)
• July 11 - Herbert Wehner, German politician (d. 1990)
• July 18 - S. I. Hayakawa, English academic and politician (d. 1992)
• July 23 - Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
• July 25 - José Figueres Ferrer, President of Costa Rica (d. 1990)
• August 6 - Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (d. 1984)
• August 9 - Robert Surtees, American cinematographer (d. 1985)
• August 12 - Tedd Pierce, American animator (d. 1972)
• August 14 - Horst P. Horst, German photographer (d. 1999)
• August 27 - Ed Gein, American serial killer (d. 1984)
• August 28 - John Betjeman, English poet (d. 1984)

September-October

• September 1
  • Joaquín Balaguer, Dominican politician and writer (d. 2002)
  • Franz Biebl, German composer (d. 2001)
• September 4 - Max Delbrück, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1981)
• September 6 - Luis Federico Leloir, French-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
• September 8 - Andrei Kirilenko (politician), Soviet politician (d. 1990)
• September 17 - Raymond D. Mindlin, American mechanician (d. 1987)
• September 17 - Edgar Wayburn, American environmentalist
• September 21 - Henry Beachell, American plant breeder (d. 2006)
• September 25 - Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer (d. 1975)
• October 6 - Janet Gaynor, American actress (d. 1984)
• October 9 - Léopold Sédar Senghor, first 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 15 - Hiram Fong, American businessman and politician (d. 2004)
• October 23 - Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (d. 2003)
• October 24 - Marie-Louise Von Motesiczky, Austrian painter (d. 1996)
• October 27
  • Kazuo Ohno, Japanese dancer
  • Earle Cabell, American politician (d. 1975)

November-December

• November 2 - Luchino Visconti, Italian theatre and cinema director and writer (d. 1976)
• November 5 - Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer (d. 2004)
• November 13 - Eva Zeisel, Hungarian-born industrial designer
• November 14 - Louise Brooks, American actress (d. 1985)
• November 16 - Henri Charrière, French author (d. 1973)
• November 17 - Soichiro Honda, Japanese industrialist (d. 1973)
• November 17 - Rollie Stiles, baseball player (d. 2007)
• November 18
  • Klaus Mann, German writer (d. 1949)
  • George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1997)
• December 5 - Otto Preminger, Austrian-born film director (d. 1986)
• December 6 - Ahn Eak-tae, Korean composer of classical music (d. 1965)
• December 9 - Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and naval officer (d. 1992)
• December 16 - Barbara Kent, Canadian actress
• December 17 - William McChesney Martin, Jr., Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve (d. 1986)
• December 19 - Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet leader (d. 1982)
• December 24 - James Hadley Chase, English writer (d. 1985)
• December 25 - Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
• December 26 - Imperio Argentina, Argentinian singer and actress (d. 2003)
• December 27
  • Andreas Feininger, French-born photographer (d. 1999)
  • Oscar Levant, American pianist, composer, author, comedian, and actor (d. 1972)

Deaths

January - June

• January 29 - King Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818)
• February 8 - Johanna Hiedler, grandmother of Adolf Hitler (b. 1830)
• February 9 - Paul Laurence Dunbar, American poet and publisher (b. 1872)
• February 27 - Samuel Pierpont Langley, American astronomer, physicist, and aeronautics pioneer (b. 1834)
• March 13 - Susan B. Anthony, American civil rights and women's suffrage activist (b. 1820)
• March 19 - Victor Fatio, zoologist (b. 1838)
• March 29 - Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (b. 1877)
• April 6 - Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author (b. 1849)
• April 8 - Auguste D, first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease (b. 1850)
• April 11 - Francis Pharcellus Church, American editor and publisher (b. 1839)
• April 19 - Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
• April 19 - Spencer Gore, British tennis player and cricketer (b. 1850)
• April 24 - Mary Hunt, American temperance activist (b. 1830)
• May 14 - Carl Schurz, German revolutionary and American statesman (b. 1829)
• May 23 - Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (b. 1828)
• June 20 - John Clayton Adams, British artist (b. 1840)

July - December

• August 26 - Victor, 5th duc de Broglie (b. 1846)
• September 1 - Giuseppe Giacosa, poet and librettist (b. 1847)
• September 5 - Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (b. 1844)
• October 8 - Adelaide Ristori, actress (b. 1822)
• October 22 - Paul Cézanne, French painter (b. 1839)
• October 24 - Vladimir Stasov, music critic (b. 1824)
• November 4 - John H. Ketcham, American politician (b. 1832)
• November 16 - Mother Veronica of the Passion, religious leader (b. 1823)

Saint Petersburg Institutions Building (1905-06).

• December 7 - Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1833)
• December 9 - Ferdinand Brunetière, critic (b. 1849)
• December 21-Acharya Rajendrasuri , (b. 1827 )

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Sir Joseph John Thomson
• Chemistry - Henri Moissan
• Medicine - Camillo Golgi, Santiago Ramón y Cajal
• Literature - Giosuè Carducci
• Peace - Theodore Roosevelt

Notes

External links

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