What Happened in 1896

Major Events

  • Jan 1 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen announces his discovery of x-rays
  • Jan 29 American Emile Grubbe is the first doctor to use radiation treatment for breast cancer
  • May 26 Dow Jones index begins with an average of 12 industrial stocks (closing is 40.94)
  • May 30 Khodynka Tragedy: Stampeding crowd on Khodynka Field, Moscow, during the festivities for coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, results in the deaths of about 1,300 people
  • Jun 2 Italian engineer and inventor Guglielmo Marconi applies for the first ever patent for a system of wireless telegraphy in the United Kingdom
  • Jun 15 Tsunami strikes Shinto festival on beach at Sanriku, Japan; 27,000 are killed, 9,000 injured and 13,000 houses destroyed
  • Aug 16 Gold first discovered in Klondike, found at Bonanza Creek in the Yukon, Canada by George Carmack
  • Nov 14 Power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation
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1896 in Film & TV

  • Jul 26 Vitascope Hall, 1st permanent for-profit movie theatre, opens in New Orleans

1896 in Music

  • Feb 1 Giacomo Puccini's opera "La Boheme" premieres in Turin
  • Mar 28 Umberto Giordano's opera "Andrea Chenier" premieres at La Scala, Milan with Giuseppe Borgatti singing the title role; libretto by Luigi Illica
  • Apr 20 John Philip Sousa's operetta "El Capitan" premieres on Broadway at Broadway Theatre, NYC
  • Dec 25 "Stars & Stripes Forever" written by John Philip Sousa

1896 in Sport

  • Mar 22 Charilaos Vasilakos of Greece wins 1st modern marathon in 3:18 at the Panhellenic Games
  • Apr 6 First modern Summer Olympic Games open in Athens, Greece; American athlete James Connolly becomes first modern Olympic champion when he wins triple jump (then 2 hops and a jump); later 3rd in long jump, 2nd in high jump
  • Apr 10 Spyridon Louis of Greece wins inaugural Olympic marathon (2:58:50) in Athens; runs last lap accompanied by Constantine I
  • Apr 15 1st modern Summer Olympic Games close in Athens, Greece; USA wins gold medal count, 11; Greece wins total medal count, 46; IOC has retroactively assigned gold, silver & bronze medals to 3 best placed athletes in each event
  • Sep 7 A. H. Whiting wins the 1st automobile race held on a closed-circuit track in Cranston, Rhode Island

More People Born in 1896

Fun Fact About 1896

Samuel Pierpont Langley flies his unpiloted Number 5 aircraft using a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River, USA. The aircraft travels almost 3/4 of a mile - ten times further than any previous heavier-than-air flying machine.

May 6, 1896


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Famous Weddings in 1896


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