1904

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s - 1900s - 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s

Years: 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 - 1904 - 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909

Events:

• January 7 - The distress signal[?] "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS."
• February 7 - A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
• February 8 - Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur (Lushun)[?] starts Russo-Japanese War
• February 23 - For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
• March 3 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a political recording of a document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.
• March 4 - Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
• April 30 - Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in Saint Louis, Missouri (closes December 1)
• November - Theodore Roosevelt defeats Alton B. Parker in the U.S. presidential election
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Joseph F. Smith issues a "Second Manifesto" against polygamy

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1904 in film
  • The Great Train Robbery, by Siegmund Lubin[?] (a remake of the 1903 classic...)
  • The giant French film company Pathé Freres[?] opens offices in Brussels, Belgium, New York City and Moscow, Russia, with an inventory of 12,000 titles.
• 1904 in literature
• 1904 in music
• 1904 in sports
  • The second Summer Olympic Games are held in St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Births:

• January 5 - Jeane Dixon[?], astrologer (+ 1997)
• January 10 - Ray Bolger, actor, singer, dancer (+ 1987)
• January 18 - Cary Grant, actor (+ 1986)
• January 22 - George Balanchine, choreographer (+ 1983)
• January 26 - Ancel Keys, scientist
• February 1 - S. J. Perelman[?], humorist, author
• February 4 - MacKinlay Kantor[?], historian (+ 1977)
• February 5 - Walter Gross[?], cabaretist (+ 1989)
• February 7 - Ernst Ginsberg[?], actor and film director (+ 1964)
• February 11 - Henry LaBouisse[?], head of UNICEF (1965-1979)
• February 11 - Sir Keith Holyoake, New Zealand Prime Minister (1960-1972)
• February 20 - Alexei Kosygin[?], Premier of the Soviet Union[?] (+ 1980)
• February 25 - Adelle Davis[?], nutritionist, writer (+ 1974)
• February 29 - Jimmy Dorsey, bandleader (+ 1957)
• March 1 - Glenn Miller, bandleader (+ 1944)
• March 2 - Dr. Seuss, author (+ 1991)
• March 8 - Victor de Kowa[?], actor (+ 1973)
• March 6 - Joseph Schmidt[?], tenor (+ 1942)
• March 7 - Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi official
• March 20 - B. F. Skinner, behavioral psychologist (+ 1990)
• March 23 - Joan Crawford, actress
• March 26 - Joseph Campbell, author and expert on mythology
• March 28 - Werner Bahlsen[?], biscuit[?] producer (+ 1985)
• April 3 - Sally Rand[?], dancer (+ 1979)
• April 7 - Ralph Bunche[?], diplomat, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
• April 16 - Fifi D'Orsay, actress (+ 1983)
• April 22 - Robert Oppenheimer, physicist (+ 1967)
• May 6 - Harry Martinson, swedish author, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature
• May 11 - Salvador Dalí, artist
• May 17 - Jean Gabin[?], actor (+ 1976)
• May 21 - Fats Waller, pianist (+ 1943)
• May 21 - Robert Montgomery, actor (+ 1981)
• June 2 - Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor
• July 12 - Deng Xiaoping, Chinese politician and leader
• July 13 - Pablo Neruda, poet
• August 28 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer
• November 30 - Clyfford Still, painter

Deaths:

• January 20 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Russian chemist and inventor of the Periodic table
• May 19 - Auguste Molinier, French historian
• July 14 - Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer
• July 22 - Wilson Barrett, actor
• August 22 - Kate Chopin, author
• August 25 - Henri Fantin-Latour, painter
• August 29 - Murat V, deposed Ottoman sultan
• September 26 - John F. Stairs, businessman, statesman
• October 4 - Frédéric Bartholdi, sculptor

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Lord John William Strutt Rayleigh[?]
• Chemistry - Sir William Ramsay
• Medicine - Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
• Literature - Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray Y Eizaguirre[?]
• Peace - Institut De Droit International[?]