Title: 1901 Content: 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar, and starting on a Monday in the Julian calendar. It was also the first year of the 20th century. == Big Events of 1901 == * On January 1, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and Tasmania form the Commonwealth of Australia. John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow becomes the first Governor-General and Edmund Barton becomes the 1st Prime Minister of Australia. The first Australian parliament meets in Melbourne on May 9. * In the United Kingdom, on January 22, Queen Victoria dies at the age of 81, having reigned for 63 years, 7 months and 2 days, longer than any British monarch before her. In the United Kingdom and the British Empire, her death marks the end of the Victorian era. Her 59-year-old son succeeds her as King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. * In China, the Boxer Rebellion is crushed and China is forced to accept Peace terms decided by Western Powers, Japan and Russia. * 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, is shot by Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American exposition in Buffalo, New York and dies 8 days later. Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him as president. * The first Nobel Prizes are given in Stockholm on December 10, the 5th anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen wins the Prize in Physics for the discovery of X-rays, and the Nobel Peace Prize is shared between Frederic Passy and Jean-Henri Dunant, founder of the International Red Cross. == Events == === January - June === * January 1 First day of the 20th century. * January 1 Australia becomes a country, as New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania form the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 1 Nigeria becomes a British Protectorate. * January 5 A typhoid outbreak occurs in a Seattle jail. * January 10 China accepts Peace terms by Western Powers, Japan and Russia, as the Boxer Rebellion is crushed. * January 22 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom dies on the Isle of Wight at the age of 81. Her son, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, succeeds her. * January 28 Baseball's American League declares itself a Major League. * February 2 The funeral of Queen Victoria takes place. * February 6 The first public telephones are installed at railway stations in Paris. * February 14 Edward VII of the United Kingdom opens his first parliament. * February 22 A Pacific Mail Steamer sinks in the Golden Gate Harbor, killing 128 people. * February 23 The United Kingdom and Germany agree on the border between German East Africa (present-day Tanzania) and the British colony of Nyasaland (present-day Malawi). * March 4 William McKinley starts his second term as President of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt becomes Vice President of the United States. * March 6 Wilhelm II of Germany survives an assassination attempt in Bremen. * March 17 The showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris creates a sensation. * March 31 The United Kingdom's 1901 census is held. * April 25 The State of New York becomes the first to require automobile license plates. * April 29 Hirohito is born. He later becomes the longest- reigning Japanese Emperor, dying in 1989. * May 3 Jacksonville, Florida is destroyed by fire, as 10,000 people are made homeless. * May 9 Australia opens its first Parliament in Melbourne. * May 17 The US Stock Market crashes. * May 24 78 miners die in the Caerphilly pit disaster in South Wales. * May 25 River Plate football club, in Buenos Aires, is founded. * June 2 Katsura Taro becomes Prime Minister of Japan. * June 12 Cuba becomes a US protectorate. === July - December === * July 4 The Covered Bridge at Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada, is opened. At 390 metres long, it is the longest covered bridge in the world. * July 4 William Taft becomes Governor-General of the Philippines. * August 6 Robert Falcon Scott, on board the RRS Discovery, sets sail on his expedition to the Ross Sea in Antarctica. * August 11 Under Erich von Drygalski, Germany's first Antarctic expedition begins. * August 30 Hubert Cecil Booth patents an electric vacuum cleaner. * September 6 Assassination of William McKinley: US President William McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. * September 7 The Boxer Rebellion officially ends in China. * September 14 William McKinley, 8 days after being shot, dies of his injuries. Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the United States. * October 2 The first Royal Navy submarine is launched. * October 24 Michigan school teacher Annie Taylor goes down Niagara Falls in a barrel, and survives. * October 29 Leon Czolgosz is executed at Auburn State Prison, New York, for the assassination of William McKinley. * November 9 Future King George V of the United Kingdom is made Prince of Wales. * November 25 Auguste Deter is first examined by Alois Alzheimer in Germany. She becomes the first-known sufferer of what is later called Alzheimer's disease. * December 10 The first Nobel Prizes are given in Stockholm on the 5th anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. * December 12 Guglielmo Marconi receives the first Trans-Atlantic radio signal, sent from Poldhu, England to Newfoundland, Canada. * December 13 Modern 32-bit computers will incorrectly set their clocks to this time on January 19, 2038 * December 20 The final spike is driven into the Mombasa-Victoria-Uganda railway in what is now Kisumu, Kenya. === Other Events === * Boer War (1899 - 1902) * Norway allows women to vote in local elections. * Pablo Picasso creates the first paintings of his Blue Period. * Rudyard Kipling's Kim (book) published. == Births == === January === * January 3 Ngo Dinh Diem, 1st President of South Vietnam (d. 1963) * January 9 Chic Young, American cartoonist (d. 1973) * January 9 Ishman Bracey, American blues singer and guitarist (d. 1970) * January 10 Toshio Irie, Japanese politician and bureaucrat (d. 1972) * January 14 Bebe Daniels, American actress (d. 1971) * January 14 Alfred Tarski, Polish logician and mathematician (d. 1983) * January 16 Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988) * January 16 Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973) * January 21 Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer (d. 1979) * January 24 A. M. Cassandre, Ukrainian-born artist, designer and teacher (d. 1968) * January 29 Arcady Aris, Russian Chuvash writer and literary critic (d. 1941) * January 30 Rudolf Caracciola, German racing driver (d. 1959) === February === * February 1 Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960) * February 1 Frank Buckles, last-surviving American World War I veteran (d. 2011) * February 10 Stella Adler, American actress (d. 1992) * February 17 Philotheus Boehner, German monk and medieval scholar (d. 1955) * February 19 Florence Green, British supercentenarian and last-surviving World War I service veteran (d. 2012) * February 20 Mohamed Naguib, President of Egypt (d. 1984) * February 22 Ken G. Hall, Australian movie director (d. 1994) * February 25 Zeppo Marx, American comedian (d. 1979) * February 28 Linus Pauling, American chemist (d. 1994) === March === * March 3 Claude Choules, British-Australian supercentenarian and last-surviving World War I combat veteran (d. 2011) * March 3 Gino Cervi, Italian movie actor (d. 1974) * March 7 Beatrice Roberts, American actress (d. 1970) * March 18 Helmut Fink, German World War I veteran (d. 2009) * March 18 Manly Hall, Canadian writer (d. 1990) * March 21 Karl Arnold, German politician (d. 1958) * March 24 Ub Iwerks, American cartoonist (d. 1971) * March 25 Ed Begley, American actor (d. 1970) * March 27 Carl Barks, American cartoonist (d. 2000) * March 27 Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963) * March 27 Eisaku Satō, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1975) * March 27 Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet (d. 1971) * March 28 Martha of Sweden, mother of King Harald V of Norway (d. 1954) === April === * April 1 Francisco Ascaso, Spanish anarcho-syndicalist (d. 1936) * April 13 Jacques Lacan, French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist (d. 1981) * April 18 Elene Akhvlediani, Georgian painter (d. 1975) * April 18 Al Lewis, American songwriter (d. 1967) * April 23 E.B. Ford, British ecological geneticist (d. 1988) * April 29 Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (d. 1989) * April 30 Simon Kuznets, Ukrainian-born economist (d. 1985) === May === * May 5 Blind Willie McTell, American musician (d. 1959) * May 7 Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961) * May 9 Fuzzy Knight, American actor (d. 1976) * May 17 Werner Egk, German composer (d. 1983) * May 18 Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist (d. 1978) * May 20 Max Euwe, Dutch chess player (d. 1981) * May 21 Manfred Aschner, German-born Israeli microbiologist and entomologist (d. 1989) * May 21 Sam Jaffe, American movie producer (d. 2000) * May 21 Suzanne Lilar, Belgian writer (d. 1992) * May 24 Jose Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1968) === June === * June 6 Sukarno, 1st President of Indonesia (d. 1970) * June 8 Salustiano Sánchez, The world's oldest living man (d. 2013) * June 10 Frederick Loewe, German-born composer (d. 1988) * June 13 Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1985) * June 16 Henri Lefebvre, French sociologist and philosopher (d. 1991) * June 18 Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918) * June 19 Piero Gobetti, Italian publicist and political activist (d. 1926) * June 24 Harry Partch, American composer (d. 1974) === July === * July 9 Barbara Cartland, British novelist (d. 2000) * July 28 Rudy Vallee, American singer, actor, bandleader and entertainer (d. 1986) === August === * August 4 Louis Armstrong, American jazz musician (d. 1971) * August 5 Thomas Ryan, American naval officer (d. 1970) * August 8 Ernest Lawrence, American physicist (d. 1958) * August 10 Franco Dino Rasetti, Italian scientist (d. 2001) * August 18 Jean Guitton, French writer and philosopher (d. 1999) * August 20 Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer (d. 1968) * August 26 Chen Yi, Chinese military commander and politician (d. 1972) === September === * September 2 Adolph Rupp, college basketball coach (d. 1977) * September 9 Agostinho Fortes Filho, Brazilian footballer (d. 1966) * September 9 Hendrik Verwoerd, South African politician (d. 1966) * September 17 Francis Chichester, British adventurer (d. 1979) * September 22 Charles B. Huggins, Canadian cancer researcher and Nobel Prize winner (d. 1997) * September 23 Jaroslav Seifert, Czech politician (d. 1986) * September 28 Ed Sullivan, American television personality (d. 1974) * September 28 William S. Paley, American businessman (d. 1990) * September 29 Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist (d. 1954) === October === * October 1 Jose Leandro Andrade, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1957) * October 6 Aslak Brekke, Norwegian singer (d. 1978) * October 7 Souvanna Phouma, Laotian leader (d. 1984) * October 7 Frank Boucher, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1977) * October 10 Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (d. 1966) * October 24 Gilda Gray, Polish-born dancer and actress (d. 1959) === November === * November 3 Leopold III of Belgium (d. 1983) * November 4 Masako Nashimoto, Crown Princess of Korea (d. 1989) * November 4 Max Wagner, Mexican-born American actor (d. 1975) * November 9 Marvel Rea, American actress (d. 1937) * November 11 Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph Goebbels (d. 1945) * November 15 Bunny Roser, American baseball player (d. 1979) * November 16 Ernest Nagel, Czech-born philosopher (d. 1985) * November 17 Lee Strasberg, Austrian-American actor (d. 1982) * November 18 George Gallup, American statistician and opinion pollster (d. 1984) * November 22 Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (d. 1999) * November 29 Mildred Harris, American actress (d. 1944) === December === * December 2 Raimundo Orsi, Argentine-Italian footballer (d. 1986) * December 5 Walt Disney, American animator and movie producer (d. 1966) * December 5 Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976) * December 9 Odon von Horvath, Austro-Hungarian writer (d. 1938) * December 14 King Paul of Greece (d. 1964) * December 16 Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (d. 1978) * December 19 Rudolf Hell, German inventor (d. 2002) * December 25 Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, British royal (d. 2004) * December 27 Marlene Dietrich, German actress (d. 1992) * December 31 Karl-August Fagerholm, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1984) == Deaths == === January - June === * January 11 Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866) * January 14 Victor Balaguer, Spanish politician and writer (b. 1824) * January 17 Frederic William Henry Myers, English scholar, poet, philosopher and psychologist (b. 1843) * January 20 Zenobe Gramme, Belgian electrical engineer (b. 1826) * January 21 Elisha Gray, American inventor (b. 1835) * January 22 Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India (b. 1819) * January 27 Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813) * February 11 Milan I of Serbia (b. 1854) * February 17 Ethelbert Nevin, American pianist and composer (b. 1862) * March 13 Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833) * April 3 Richard D'Oyly Carte, English impresario (b. 1844) * April 4 George T. Anderson, American Confederate general (b. 1824) * May 1 Lewis Waterman, American inventor and businessman (b. 1837) * May 5 Mariano Ignacio Prado, former President of Peru (b. 1826) * May 13 Leopoldo Alas, Spanish writer (b. 1851) * May 22 Gaetano Bresci, Italian anarchist (b. 1869) * May 24 Charlotte Mary Yonge, English novelist (b. 1823) * June 15 Max Weber, German-American general (b. 1824) === July - December === * July 6 Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe- Schillingsfuerst, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1819) * July 7 Johanna Spyri, Swiss writer (b. 1827) * August 5 Victoria, Princess Royal (b. 1840) * August 12 Francesco Crispi, former Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1819) * August 12 Adolf Erik Nordenskiold, Swedish explorer (b. 1832) * September 9 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (b. 1864) * September 14 William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (assassinated) (b. 1843) * October 1 Abdor Rahman Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (b. 1844) * October 10 Lorenzo Snow, American Mormon leader (b. 1814) * October 29 Leon Czolgosz, Polish-American assassin (b. 1873) * November 6 Kate Greenaway, English writer (b. 1846) * November 30 Edward John Eyre, English explorer of Australia and colonial Governor of Jamaica (b. 1815) * December 12 Nawab Muhammad Hayat Khan, British Indian administrator (b. 1833) * December 16 William Gregory, American politician (b. 1849) * December 17 Josep Manyanet i Vives, Catalan Saint and priest (b. 1833) * December 24 Lev Ivanov, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1834) == Nobel Prizes == * Physics Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen * Chemistry Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff * Physiology or Medicine Emil Adolf von Behring * Literature Sully Prudhomme * Peace Jean-Henri Dunant and Frederic Passy