1903

This article is about the year 1903. For the rifle, see M1903 Springfield.

1903

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century 20th century 21st century
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
Years:	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906

1903 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1903 MCMIII
Ab urbe condita	2656
Armenian calendar	1352 ԹՎ ՌՅԾԲ
Assyrian calendar	6653
Baháʼí calendar	59–60
Balinese saka calendar	1824–1825
Bengali calendar	1310
Berber calendar	2853
British Regnal year	2 Edw. 7 – 3 Edw. 7
Buddhist calendar	2447
Burmese calendar	1265
Byzantine calendar	7411–7412
Chinese calendar	壬寅年 (Water Tiger) 4600 or 4393     — to — 癸卯年 (Water Rabbit) 4601 or 4394
Coptic calendar	1619–1620
Discordian calendar	3069
Ethiopian calendar	1895–1896
Hebrew calendar	5663–5664
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1959–1960
- Shaka Samvat	1824–1825
- Kali Yuga	5003–5004
Holocene calendar	11903
Igbo calendar	903–904
Iranian calendar	1281–1282
Islamic calendar	1320–1321
Japanese calendar	Meiji 36 (明治３６年)
Javanese calendar	1832–1833
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4236
Minguo calendar	9 before ROC 民前9年
Nanakshahi calendar	435
Thai solar calendar	2445–2446
Tibetan calendar	阳水虎年 (male Water-Tiger) 2029 or 1648 or 876     — to — 阴水兔年 (female Water-Rabbit) 2030 or 1649 or 877

1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1903rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 903rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 3rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1900s decade. As of the start of 1903, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

January

Main article: January 1903

January 1: Edward VII becomes Emperor of India.

February 15: first teddy bear.

• January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India.
• January 17 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System, as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
• January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been made in 1901).

February

Main article: February 1903

• February 11 – The Oxnard strike of 1903 becomes the first time in U.S. history, that a labor union is formed from members of different races.
• February 13 – Venezuelan crisis: After agreeing to arbitration in Washington, Britain, Germany and Italy reach a settlement with Venezuela, resulting in the Washington Protocols. The naval blockade that began in 1902 will end.
• February 23 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".

March

Main article: March 1903

• March 2 – In New York City, the Martha Washington Hotel, the first hotel exclusively for women, opens.
• March 3 – The British Admiralty announces plans to build a naval base at Rosyth.
• March 4 – The Beşiktaş J.K. multi-sport club is founded in the Ottoman Empire.
• March 5 – The Ottoman Empire and the German Empire sign an agreement to build the Constantinople–Baghdad Railway.
• March 12 – The University of Puerto Rico is founded.
• March 13 – Having abolished the Sokoto Caliphate in West Africa, the new British administration accepts the concession of its last Vizier.
• March 14 – The Hay–Herrán Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate later rejects the treaty.

April

Main article: April 1903

April 29: The Frank Slide occurs

• April 26 – Atletico Madrid, a well known professional football club, is officially founded in Spain.
• April 29
  • A 30-million-m³ landslide kills 70-90 in Frank, Alberta.
  • The 7.0 M_s  Manzikert earthquake affects eastern Turkey, leaving 3,500 dead.

May

• May 4 – Leading Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Gotse Delchev is killed in a skirmish, with the Turkish army.
• May 18 – The port of Burgas, Bulgaria opens.
• May 24 – The Paris–Madrid race for automobiles begins, during which at least 8 people are killed; the French government stops the event at Bordeaux, and impounds all the competitors' cars.

June

Main article: June 1903

June 11: Alexander I

• June 11 (May 29 O.S.) – Serbian King Alexander Obrenović and Queen Draga are assassinated in Belgrade, by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
• June 14 – The town of Heppner, Oregon is nearly destroyed by a cloud burst, that results in a flash flood, that kills an estimated 238 people.
• June 27 – American socialite Aida de Acosta, 19, becomes the first woman to fly a powered aircraft solo, when she pilots Santos-Dumont's motorized dirigible, "No. 9", from Paris to Château de Bagatelle in France.

July 23: 1903 Ford Model A.

July

• July 1–19 – The first Tour de France bicycle race is held; Maurice Garin wins it.
• July 7 – The British take over the Fulani Empire.
• July 23 – Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago becomes the first owner of a Ford Model A.
• July 29 – The explosion of a United States Cartridge Company magazine destroys 70 homes, killing 22 residents of Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
• July 30–August 23 (July 17–August 10, O.S.) – The Second Congress of the All-Russian Social Democratic Labour Party is held in exile in Brussels, transferring to London.

August

• August 2 – The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, organized by the Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization, breaks out in the Ottoman provinces of Macedonia and Adrianople.
• August 3 – The Kruševo Republic is proclaimed in Ottoman Macedonia; it is crushed 10 days later.
• August 4 – Pope Pius X succeeds Pope Leo XIII, as the 257th pope.
• August 10 – The Paris Métro train fire, at Couronnes, results in 84 deaths.
• August 25 – The Judiciary Act is passed, in the Australian Parliament.

September

• September – Texas State University in San Marcos, TX opens its doors, as Southwest Texas Normal School.
• September 11 – The first stock car event is held at the Milwaukee Mile.
• September 14 – Joseph Chamberlain resigns as British Colonial Secretary, in order to campaign publicly for Imperial Preference.
• September 15 – Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense is founded in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
• September 24 – Edmund Barton steps down as Prime Minister of Australia, and is succeeded by Alfred Deakin.
• September 27 – The Wreck of the Old 97 Fast Mail train at Stillhouse Trestle, near Danville, Virginia, kills 11 people and inspires a ballad.
• September 29 – Prussia becomes the first locality to require mandatory driver's licenses, for operators of motor vehicles.

October

• October – Frank Nelson Cole proves that 2⁶⁷-1 is composite, by factoring it as 193,707,721 * 761,838,257,287, after trying every Sunday for 3 years.
• October 1-13 – First modern World Series: The Boston Red Sox defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates, in 8 games.
• October 6 – The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
• October 10 – The Women's Social and Political Union is founded in the U.K.

November

December 17: The first flight by Orville Wright.

• November 3 – With the encouragement of the United States, Panama proclaims itself independent of Colombia.
• November 13 – The United States recognizes the independence of Panama.
• November 17 – The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party splits into two groups: the Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").
• November 18 – The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the U.S. exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
• November 23 – Colorado Governor James Hamilton Peabody sends the state militia into the town of Cripple Creek, to break up a miners' strike.

December

• December 16 – The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Bombay, India opens its doors to guests.
• December 17 – Orville Wright flies an aircraft with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in the first documented, successful, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight.
• December 30 – The Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago kills 600.
• December 31 – The National Association for Women's Suffrage (Sweden) is founded.

Date unknown

• The Lincoln–Lee Legion is established to promote the American temperance movement, and the signing of alcohol abstinence pledges by children.
• The first box of Crayola crayons is made and sold for 5 cents. It contains 8 colors; brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and black.
• Osea Island off Maldon, Essex, England, is bought by Frederick Nicholas Charrington, to provide an addiction treatment centre.

Births

January

Alan Paton

File:Eccles lab.jpg

John Eccles

• January 2 — Kane Tanaka, Japanese supercentenarian and world's oldest living person
• January 6 – Maurice Abravanel, Greek-born conductor (d. 1993)
• January 10 – Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor (d. 1975)
• January 11 – Alan Paton, South African author, anti-apartheid activist (d. 1988)
• January 12 – Igor Kurchatov, Soviet physicist (d. 1960)
• January 16
  • Peter Brocco, American actor (d. 1992)
  • William Grover-Williams, French race car driver, war hero (d. 1945)
• January 17 – Warren Hull, American actor (d. 1974)
• January 18 – Gladys Hooper, British supercentenarian (d. 2016)
• January 22 – Fritz Houtermans, Polish physicist (d. 1966)
• January 23 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (d. 1948)
• January 27 – John Eccles, Australian neuropsychologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1997)

February

Claudio Arrau

Tunku Abdul Rahman

Giulio Natta

• February 2 – Bartel Leendert van der Waerden, Dutch mathematician (d. 1996)
• February 3 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish nobleman, aviation pioneer (d. 1973)
• February 4 – Alexander Imich, American parapsychologist, chemist (d. 2014)
• February 6 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (d. 1991)
• February 8
  • Greta Keller, Vienna-born cabaret singer, actress (d. 1977)
  • Tunku Abdul Rahman, first Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
• February 10
  • Waldemar Hoven, German physician (d. 1948)
  • Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (d. 1939)
• February 11
  • Rex Lease, American actor (d. 1966)
  • Hans Redlich, Austrian composer (d. 1968)
• February 13 – Georges Simenon, French writer (d. 1989)
• February 14 – Stuart Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)
• February 16 – Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist (d. 1978)
• February 21
  • Anaïs Nin, French writer (d. 1977)
  • Raymond Queneau, French poet, novelist (d. 1976)
• February 22
  • Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer, media personality (d. 1990)
  • Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (d. 1969)
  • Frank P. Ramsey, English mathematician (d. 1930)
• February 24 – Vladimir Bartol, Slovenian author (d. 1967)
• February 26 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• February 27 – Grethe Weiser, German actress (d. 1970)
• February 28 – Vincente Minnelli, American director (d. 1986)

March

Clare Boothe Luce

Lawrence Welk

Adolf Butenandt

• March 4
  • William C. Boyd, American immunochemist (d. 1983)
  • Dorothy Mackaill, British-born American actress (d. 1990)
  • John Scarne, American magician, card expert (d. 1985)
• March 6 – Empress Kōjun, empress consort of Japan (d. 2000)
• March 10
  • Bix Beiderbecke, American jazz musician (d. 1931)
  • Clare Boothe Luce, American publisher, writer (d. 1987)
• March 11
  • Ronald Syme, New Zealand-born classicist, historian (d. 1989)
  • Lawrence Welk, American television musician, bandleader (d. 1992)
• March 14 – Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish politician (d. 1979)
• March 18 – Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari, Italian aristocrat and diplomat (d. 1944)
• March 20
  • Edgar Buchanan, American actor (d. 1979)
  • Maria Giuseppa Robucci, Italian supercentenarian
• March 21 – Frank Sargeson, New Zealand writer (d. 1982)
• March 24
  • Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
  • Malcolm Muggeridge, English journalist (d. 1990)
• March 25 – Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Jewish-American scholar (d. 1990)
• March 27 – Betty Balfour, English screen actress (d. 1977)
• March 28 – Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (d. 1991)
• March 31 – H. J. Blackham, British humanist, author (d. 2009)

April

• April 3 – Lola Alvarez Bravo, Mexican photographer (d. 1993)
• April 5 – Hilda Bruce, British zoologist (d. 1974)
• April 6
  • Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player (d. 1962)
  • Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineer (d. 1990)
• April 9 – Gregory Goodwin Pincus, American biologist, researcher (b. 1967)
• April 12 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
• April 15 – John Williams, English-born actor (d. 1983)
• April 17
  • Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (d. 1976)
  • Morgan Taylor, American athlete (d. 1975)
• April 19 – Eliot Ness, American treasury agent (d. 1957)
• April 24 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician (d. 1936)
• April 25 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1987)

May

Bing Crosby

Bob Hope

• May 2 – Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician (d. 1998)
• May 3 – Bing Crosby, American singer, actor (d. 1977)
• May 4
  • Luther Adler, American actor (d. 1984)
  • Paul Demel, Czech actor (d. 1951)
• May 6 – Toots Shor, New York restaurateur (d. 1977)
• May 8 – Fernandel, French actor (d. 1971)
• May 10 – Hans Jonas, German-born philosopher (d. 1993)
• May 11 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player (d. 1993)
• May 12 – Faith Bennett, British actress, WWII ATA pilot (d. 1969)
• May 14 – Billie Dove, American actress (d. 1997)
• May 18 – Frits Warmolt Went, Dutch botanist (d. 1990)
• May 19 – Shimoe Akiyama, Japanese supercentenarian
• May 24 – Lofton R. Henderson, American naval aviator (killed in the Battle of Midway) (d. 1942)
• May 25 – Binnie Barnes, English actress (d. 1998)
• May 29 – Bob Hope, English-born American comedian, actor (d. 2003)

June

George Orwell

• June 1 – Vasyl Velychkovsky, Ukrainian bishop (d. 1973)
• June 6
  • Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (d. 1978)
  • Bakht Singh, Indian evangelist, well-known Bible teacher, preacher (d. 2000)
• June 8 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian-French author (d. 1987)
• June 10 – Theo Lingen, German actor (d. 1978)
• June 12 – Emmett Hardy, American musician (d. 1925)
• June 15 – Huldreich Georg Früh, Swiss composer (d. 1945)
• June 18
  • Jeanette MacDonald, American singer, actress (d. 1965)
  • Raymond Radiguet, French author (d. 1923)
• June 19
  • Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (d. 1941)
  • Wally Hammond, English cricketer (d. 1965)
• June 20 – Eddie Laughton, British-born American film actor (d. 1952)
• June 21 – Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist (d. 2003)
• June 22
  • John Dillinger, American bank robber (d. 1934)
  • Jiro Horikoshi, Japanese aircraft designer (d. 1982)
  • Carl Hubbell, American baseball player (d. 1988)
  • Ben Pollack, American jazz drummer, bandleader (d. 1971)
  • Ben Robertson, American novelist, journalist, and war correspondent (d. 1943)
• June 23
  • Louis Seigner, French actor (d. 1991)
  • Frances Dewey Wormser, American stage actress, entertainer and vaudeville performer (d. 2008)
  • Paul Joseph James Martin, Canadian politician (d. 1992)
• June 25
  • Pierre Brossolette, French journalist, resistance fighter (d. 1944)
  • George Orwell, English author (d. 1950)
  • Anne Revere, American actress (d. 1990)
• June 26
  • Harry DeWolf, Canadian naval officer (d. 2000)
  • Big Bill Broonzy, American blues singer, composer (d. 1958) (some sources give his year of birth as 1893)
• June 29
  • Max Winter, American businessman, sport executive (d. 1996)
  • Alan Blumlein, British electronics engineer (d. 1942)

July

Alec Douglas-Home

Olav V of Norway

• July 1
  • Don Beddoe, American character actor (d. 1991)
  • Amy Johnson, English aviator (d. 1941)
• July 2
  • Harwell Hamilton Harris, American architect (d. 1990)
  • Charles Poletti, American lawyer and politician (d. 2002)
  • Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
  • King Olav V of Norway (d. 1991)
• July 3 – Ace Bailey, Canadian hockey player (d. 1992)
• July 4
  • Corrado Bafile, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 2005)
  • Walter Trohan, American journalist (d. 2003)
  • Howard Hobson, American basketball player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball (d. 1991)
• July 5
  • Edward Woods, American actor (d. 1989)
  • Willem Peters, Dutch athlete (d. 1995)
• July 6 – Hugo Theorell, Swedish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1982)
• July 7
  • Ralph Tarrant, British supercentenarian (d. 2013)
  • Gustaf Jonsson, Swedish cross country skier (d. 1990)
  • Steven Runciman, English historian (d. 2000)
• July 10 – Werner Best, German SS officer, jurist (d. 1989)
• July 12 – Judith Hare, Countess of Listowel, Hungarian-born journalist, writer (d. 2003)
• July 13
  • Olle Hallberg, Swedish long jumper (d. 1996)
  • Kenneth Clark, English art historian (d. 1983)
• July 14
  • Thomas D. Clark, American historian (d. 2005)
  • Henricus Cockuyt, Belgian sprinter (d. 1993)
• July 16 – Mary Philbin, American notable film actress of the silent film era (d. 1993)
• July 21 – Roy Neuberger, American financier, art collector (d. 2010)
• July 26 – Estes Kefauver, American politician (d. 1963)
• July 27 – Michail Stasinopoulos, 1st President of Greece (d. 2002)

August

Habib Bourguiba

Fahri Korutürk

• August 3
  • Habib Bourguiba, 1st President of Tunisia (d. 2000)
  • Fahri Korutürk, 6th President of Turkey (d. 1987)
• August 5 – Prince Nicholas of Romania (d. 1978)
• August 6 – Virginia Foster Durr, American civil rights activist (d. 1999)
• August 7
  • Rudolph Ising, American cartoon animator (d. 1992)
  • Louis Leakey, British archaeologist (d. 1972)
• August 13 – Chubby Johnson, American actor (d. 1974)
• August 14 – Lodewijk Bruckman, Dutch painter (d. 1995)
• August 17 – Delphine Gibson, former oldest living American (d. 2018)
• August 19 – James Gould Cozzens, American writer (d. 1978)
• August 24 – Graham Sutherland, English artist (d. 1980)
• August 26 – Ian Dalrymple, British screenwriter, film director and producer (d. 1989)
• August 31
  • Arthur Godfrey, American radio, television host (d. 1983)
  • Hugh Harman, American cartoon animator (d. 1982)

September

Theodor W. Adorno

Claudette Colbert

• September 2 – Fred Pratt Green, British Methodist minister, hymn writer (d. 2000)
• September 7
  • Dorothy Marie Donnelly, American poet (d. 1994)
  • Shimaki Kensaku, Japanese author (d. 1945)
  • John Kloza, Polish professional baseball player, manager (d. 1962)
• September 8 – Jane Arbor, British writer (d. 1994)
• September 9
  • Lev Shankovsky, Ukrainian military historian (d. 1995)
  • Edward Upward, English author (d. 2009)
  • Phyllis Whitney, American mystery writer (d. 2008)
• September 10 – Cyril Connolly, English critic, writer (d. 1974)
• September 11 – Theodor W. Adorno, German philosopher (d. 1969)
• September 13 – Claudette Colbert, American actress (d. 1996)
• September 15
  • Roy Acuff, American country musician (d. 1992)
  • Yisrael Kristal, Polish-born Israeli supercentenarian, Holocaust survivor, and former world's oldest living man (d. 2017)
• September 17 – Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (d. 1984)
• September 21 – Preston Tucker, American automobile designer (d. 1956)
• September 25
  • Abul A'la Maududi, Pakistani journalist, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1979)
  • Mark Rothko, Latvian-born painter (d. 1970)
• September 28 – Tateo Katō, Japanese fighter ace (d. 1942)
• September 30 – Lyle Goodhue, American chemist, inventor and entomologist (d. 1981)

October

• October 1 – Vladimir Horowitz, Russian pianist (d. 1989)
• October 4 – John Vincent Atanasoff, American computer engineer (d. 1995)
• October 5 – M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (d. 1989)
• October 6 – Ernest Walton, Irish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
• October 8 – Ferenc Nagy, 40th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1979)
• October 9 – Walter O'Malley, American baseball executive (d. 1979)
• October 10 – Bei Shizhang, Chinese biologist, educator (d. 2009)
• October 16
  • Rex Bell, American actor and politician (d. 1962)
  • Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (d. 2003)
• October 18 – Lina Radke, German athlete (d. 1983)
• October 22
  • George Beadle, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1989)
  • Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Bulgarian painter (d. 1976)
  • Jerome "Curly Howard" Horwitz, American comedian, actor (The Three Stooges) (d. 1952)
• October 23 – Thaddeus B. Hurd, American architect, historian (d. 1989)
• October 25
  • Katharine Byron, American politician (d. 1976)
  • Harry Shoulberg, American painter (d. 1995)
• October 26 – Bill Allington, American baseball player, manager (d. 1966)
• October 28 – Evelyn Waugh, English writer (d. 1966)
• October 29 – Vivian Ellis, English composer, lyricist (d. 1996)

November

Charles Rigoulot

Konrad Lorenz

• November 1 – Max Adrian, Northern Irish actor (d. 1973)
• November 2 – Edgard Potier, Belgian spy (d. 1944)
• November 3
  • Walker Evans, American photographer (d. 1975)
  • Charles Rigoulot, French weightlifter (d. 1962)
• November 4 – Watchman Nee, Chinese Christian preacher, church leader (d. 1972)
• November 6 – Carl Rakosi, German-born poet (d. 2004)
• November 7
  • Dean Jagger, American actor (d. 1991)
  • Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1989)
• November 8 – Alfred Thambiayah, Ceylon Tamil businessman, politician (d.?)
• November 11 – Blessed Victoria Díez Bustos de Molina, Spanish teacher, religious woman (d. 1936)
• November 12 – Jack Oakie, American actor (d. 1978)
• November 19 – Nancy Carroll, American actress (d. 1965)
• November 25 – DeHart Hubbard, American Olympic athlete (d. 1976)
• November 27 – Lars Onsager, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
• November 29 – E. Harold Munn, American temperance movement leader, presidential candidate (d. 1992)

December

Una Merkel

Erskine Caldwell

John von Neumann

• December 4
  • Lazar Lagin, Soviet writer (d. 1979)
  • A. L. Rowse, English historian (d. 1997)
• December 5
  • Johannes Heesters, Dutch singer, actor (d. 2011)
  • Cecil Frank Powell, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
• December 10 – Una Merkel, American actress (d. 1986)
• December 12
  • Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer, pianist (d. 1976)
  • Yasujirō Ozu, Japanese film director (d. 1963)
• December 13 – Ella Baker, American civil rights activist (d. 1986)
• December 16 – Harold Whitlock, British Olympic athlete (d. 1985)
• December 17 – Erskine Caldwell, American author (d. 1987)
• December 19 – George Davis Snell, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1996)
• December 22 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
• December 24 – Joseph Cornell, American sculptor (d. 1972)
• December 26 – Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
• December 28
  • Earl Hines, American jazz pianist (d. 1983)
  • John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1957)
• December 31 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (d. 1992)

Deaths

January–June

Saint Gemma Galgani

Josiah Willard Gibbs

Paul Gauguin

Apolinario Mabini

King Alexander I of Serbia

• January 3 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant, father of Adolf Hitler (b. 1837)
• January 4 – Alexandr Aksakov, Russian writer (b. 1832)
• January 5 – Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, Spanish politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1825)
• January 17 – Quintin Hogg, British philanthropist (b. 1845)
• January 24 – Petko Karavelov, 4th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1843)
• January 28
  • Augusta Holmès, French composer (b. 1847)
  • Robert Planquette, French composer (b. 1850)
• February 1 – Sir George Gabriel Stokes, Irish mathematician, physicist (b. 1819)
• February 7 – James Glaisher, English meteorologist, aeronaut (b. 1809)
• February 14 – Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria (b. 1831)
• February 17 – Joseph Parry, Welsh composer (b. 1841)
• February 22 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
• February 26 – Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
• March 4 – Joseph Henry Shorthouse, English novelist (b. 1834)
• March 5 – Gaston Paris, French scholar (b. 1839)
• March 7 – István Bittó, 7th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1822)
• March 13 – George Granville Bradley, English vicar, scholar (b. 1821)
• March 16 – Roy Bean, American pioneer (b. 1825)
• March 28 – Émile Baudot, French telegraph engineer (b. 1845)
• April 4 – Margaret Ann Neve, English supercentenarian (b. 1792)
• April 11 – Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic, Catholic saint (b. 1878)
• April 13 – Moritz Lazarus, German philosopher (b. 1824)
• April 19 – Oliver Mowat, Canadian politician (b. 1820)
• April 28
  • Frances Augusta Hemingway Conant, American journalist (b. 1841)
  • Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physical chemist (b. 1839)
• April 29 – Stuart Robson, American stage actor, comedian (b. 1836)
• May 4 – Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1872)
• May 8 – Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1848)
• May 13 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino political theoretician, Prime Minister of the Philippines (b. 1864)
• June 9 – Gaspar Núñez de Arce, Spanish poet (b. 1834)
• June 11
  • Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician (b. 1837)
  • Draga Mašin, Serbian queen consort (b. 1861)
  • Alexander I, King of Serbia (b. 1876)
• June 19 – Herbert Vaughan, English Catholic cardinal, archbishop (b. 1832)

July–December

Pope Leo XIII

Lord Salisbury

Theodor Mommsen

Camille Pissarro

• July 2 – Ed Delahanty, American baseball player, MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1867)
• July 3 – Harriet Lane, Acting First Lady of the United States (b. 1830)
• July 11 – William Ernest Henley, English poet, critic, and editor (b. 1849)
• July 13 – Béni Kállay, Austro-Hungarian statesman (b. 1839)
• July 17 – James McNeill Whistler, American painter (b. 1834)
• July 20 – Pope Leo XIII, Italian Roman Catholic Pope (b. 1810)
• August 1 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman (b. 1852)
• August 3 – Édouard Pottier, French admiral (b. 1839)
• August 5 – Phil May, English artist (b. 1864)
• August 8 – Adolf Schiel, German-born Boer army officer (b. 1858)
• August 11 – Eugenio María de Hostos, Puerto Rican philosopher, sociologist (b. 1839)
• August 17 – Hans Gude, Norwegian painter (b. 1825)
• August 22 – Lord Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1830)
• August 23 – Fray Mocho, Argentine writer (b. 1858)
• September 13 – Carl Schuch, Austrian painter (b. 1846)
• September 18 – Alexander Bain, Scottish philosopher (b. 1818)
• October 4 – Otto Weininger, Austrian-Jewish author (b. 1880)
• October 20 – Thomas Vincent Welch, American politician (b. 1850)
• October 22 – William Edward Hartpole Lecky, Irish historian, member of the House of Commons (b. 1838)
• November 1 – Theodor Mommsen, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1817)
• November 11 – Lavilla Esther Allen, American author (b. 1834)
• November 13 – Camille Pissarro, French painter (b. 1830)
• November 25 – Sabino Arana, Spanish Basque writer, nationalist (b. 1865)
• December 8 – Herbert Spencer, English philosopher (b. 1820)

Unknown datae

• Mary Elizabeth Beauchamp, American educator and author (b. 1825)
• Margaret Frances Sullivan, Irish-born American author, journalist, and editor (b. 1847)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Antoine Henri Becquerel, Pierre Curie, and Marie Curie
• Chemistry – Svante August Arrhenius
• Medicine – Niels Ryberg Finsen
• Literature – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
• Peace – William Randal Cremer

Sources

• Gilbert, Martin (1997). "1903". A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume One: 1900-1933. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 69–88. ISBN 0-688-10064-3.