Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s - 1900s - 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
Years: 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 - 1909 - 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914
Events January 5 - Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. January 16 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole. January 28 - United States troops leave Cuba after being there since the Spanish-American War. February 12 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded. February 24 - The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded. March 18 - Einar Dessau uses a short-wave radio transmitter becoming the first to broadcast as a ham radio operator. March 23 - Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society. March 31 - Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina. April 6 - Robert Peary allegedly reaches the North Pole. April 27 - Sultan of Turkey Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Murat V. June 1 - The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition opens in Seattle. July 13 - Gold discovered near Cochrane, Ontario. July 25 - Louis Bleriot is the first man to fly across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air craft. September 9 - Comet Halley first becomes visible on a photographic plate. November 13 - Ballinger-Pinchot scandal begins: Colliers magazine accuses US Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger of questionable dealings in Alaskan coal fields. November 18 - Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of dictator Jose Santos Zelaya. Change of US president from Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) to William Howard Taft (1909-1913). Albert I of Belgium succeeds Leopold II. The Boy Scouts of America is founded. Construction begins on the Cape Cod Canal. Karl Landsteiner develops system of blood groups. Britian introduces Minimum Wage Laws. Year in topic Sophie Tucker first appears in the Ziegfield Follies. 1909 in film Thomas Edison formed the Motion Picture Patents Company. Mary Pickford first appears in a film (The Lonely Villa). 1909 in literature 1909 in music 1909 in science 1909 in sports Births January 1 - Barry Goldwater, American politician († 1998) January 3 - Victor Borge, Danish entertainer († 2000) January 5 - Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician († 1994) January 8 - Willy Millowitsch, actor († 1999) January 15 - Gene Krupa, drummer († 1973) January 16 - Ethel Merman, singer, actress († 1984) January 22 - U Thant, 3rd United Nations Secretary General († 1974) January 22 - Ann Sothern, actress († 2001) February 3 - Simone Weil, philosopher († 1943) February 9 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State († 1994) February 9 - Carmen Miranda, actress, singer († 1955) February 11 - Joseph Mankiewicz, filmmaker († 1993) February 11 - Max Baer (The Livermore Larruper), American boxer/actor († 1959) February 15 - Guillermo Gorostiza Paredes, Spanish football player († 1966) February 15 - Miep Gies (Hermine Santrouschitz), Anne Frank friend, biographer February 24 - August Derleth, American writer († 1971) February 26 - King Talal, King of Jordan (†1972) March 1 - David Niven, actor († 1983) March 2 - Mel Ott, Baseball Hall of Famer March 4 - Harry Helmsley, real estate entrepreneur († 1997) March 19 - Louis Hayward, actor († 1985) March 22 - Gabrielle Roy, author († 1983) March 24 - Clyde Barrow, half of American criminal duo († 1934) March 27 - Golo Mann, historian and publicist († 1994) April 13 - Stanislaw Marcin Ulam, Polish/American mathematician († 1984) April 30 - Juliana of the Netherlands May 7 - Edwin H. Land, inventor and founder of Polaroid († 1991) May 10 - Mother Maybelle Carter, country musician May 15 - James Mason, British actor († 1984) May 19 - Bruce Bennett, actor May 30 - Benny Goodman, American jazz musician († 1986) June 20 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor († 1959) July 18 - Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghan president († 1978) July 28 - Malcolm Lowry, British novelist († 1957) July 30 - C. Northcote Parkinson, British historian and author († 1993) August 25 - Ruby Keeler, singer, actress († 1993) August 26 - Jim Davis, actor († 1981) September 14 - Peter Scott, British ornithologist and painter († 1989) September 21 - Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanian politician († 1972) September 28 - Al Capp, American cartoonist († 1979) October 28 - Francis Bacon, British painter († 1992) November 10 - Paweł Jasienica, Polish historian († 1970) November 18 - Johnny Mercer, American songwriter († 1976) November 24 - Gerhard Gentzen, German mathematician († 1945) December 23 - Barney Ross, American boxing champion († 1967) Giulio Racah, Italian mathematician and physicist († 1965) Deaths January 12 - Hermann Minkowski, German mathematician January 14 - Arthur William a Beckett, British journalist April 12 - Algernon Charles Swinburne, British poet May 19 - Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer August 27 - Emil Christian Hansen, Danish fermentation physiologist December 17 - Leopold II of Belgium Nobel Prizes Physics - Guglielmo Marconi, Carl Ferdinand Braun Chemistry - Wilhelm Ostwald Medicine - Emil Theodor Kocher Literature - Selma Lagerlöf Peace - Auguste Marie Francois Beernaert and Paul Henribenjamin Balluet D'estournelles De Constant, Baron De Constant De Rebecque