1899

Events in 1899 55

• 1811 – 1899 Robert Bunsen (1811-1899) Died 16 August 1899, aged 88 German chemist who pioneered spectroscopy and co-discovered the elements caesium and rubidium. The gas burner used in laboratories worldwide bears his name, though he did not invent it himself. He spent most of his career at the University of Heidelberg.
• 1825 – 1899 Johann Strauss II Waltz King Austrian composer known as the Waltz King, famous for The Blue Danube and the operetta Die Fledermaus. He defined the sound of 19th-century Vienna.
• 1832 – 1899 Horatio Alger (1832-1899) Died 18 July 1899, aged 67 American author known for dozens of rags-to-riches novels aimed at young readers, including Ragged Dick. His stories popularized the myth of upward mobility through hard work and virtue in Gilded Age America. He wrote more than 100 books over his career.
• 1833 – 1899 Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) Died 21 July 1899, aged 65 American lawyer, Civil War veteran, and orator known as "The Great Agnostic" for his lectures promoting secularism and criticizing organized religion. He was one of the most popular public speakers in the United States during the late 19th century. He died of heart failure at his daughter's home in New York.
• 1839 – 1899 Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) Died 29 January 1899, aged 59 British-born painter and leading figure of French Impressionism, known for landscapes along the Seine and Loing rivers. He spent most of his career in France but never obtained French citizenship. He died in Moret-sur-Loing in poverty, only gaining wide recognition after his death.
• 1841 – 1899 Félix Faure (1841-1899) Died 16 February 1899, aged 58 President of France from 1895 until his death in 1899. He collapsed in the Élysée Palace on 16 February 1899 while meeting privately with his mistress Marguerite Steinheil, and died hours later. His sudden death made way for Émile Loubet's presidency during the height of the Dreyfus Affair.
• 1854 – 1899 Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854-1899) Died 28 October 1899, aged 45 German-born American inventor of the Linotype typesetting machine, patented in 1884. His machine revolutionized newspaper and book printing by mechanizing typesetting. He died of tuberculosis in Baltimore.
• 1899 – 1947 Al Capone (1899-1947) Died 25 January 1947, aged 48 Al Capone was an American gangster who led the Chicago Outfit during Prohibition. He was convicted of tax evasion in 1931 and served time in Alcatraz. He died at his home in Florida after years of illness caused by neurosyphilis.
• 1899 Bottling rights sold for $1 National bottling network established In 1899, Candler sold the exclusive rights to bottle Coca-Cola across most of the United States to Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead for just $1. He never collected the dollar. This contract had no fixed duration, locking in the 5-cent price until 1959.
• 1899 – 1936 Bruno Richard Hauptmann (1899-1936) Died 3 April 1936, aged 36 Bruno Richard Hauptmann was a German-born carpenter convicted of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of Charles Lindbergh. His trial was one of the most publicised of the century. He was executed in the electric chair in New Jersey.
• 1899 – 1933 Chaim Arlosoroff (1899-1933) Died 16 June 1933, aged 34 Labour Zionist leader and head of the Jewish Agency's political department. He was shot dead on a Tel Aviv beach, and the killing has never been solved.
• 1899 – 1962 Charles Laughton (1899-1962) Died 15 December 1962, aged 63 British-American actor Charles Laughton, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for "The Private Life of Henry VIII," died of cancer on December 15, 1962. He was known for character roles including Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty" and Quasimodo in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." He also directed the acclaimed film "The Night of the Hunter."
• 1899 – 1938 Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899-1938) Died 30 November 1938, aged 39 Codreanu founded Romania's fascist Iron Guard. He was killed in custody on the orders of King Carol II's government.
• 1899 – 1974 Duke Ellington (1899-1974) Died 24 May 1974, aged 75 Duke Ellington was an American composer and bandleader widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in jazz history. He led his orchestra for over fifty years and wrote thousands of compositions.
• 1899 – present Fiat Italian automotive giant founded Fiat was founded in Turin and became the dominant force in the Italian automotive industry. The company produced affordable mass-market cars while also influencing brands such as Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Lancia.
• 1899 – 1932 Hart Crane (1899-1932) Died 27 April 1932, aged 32 The American modernist poet, author of The Bridge, died after jumping from a steamship in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 1899 – 1957 Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) Died 14 January 1957, aged 57 American actor renowned for roles in Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and The African Queen, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He died of esophageal cancer in Los Angeles.
• 1899 – 1936 Irving Thalberg (1899-1936) Died 14 September 1936, aged 37 Irving Thalberg was the head of production at MGM, known as Hollywood's "boy wonder". He oversaw films including Grand Hotel and Mutiny on the Bounty. The Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is named after him.
• 1899 – 1943 Jean Moulin (1899-1943) Died 8 July 1943, aged 44 Jean Moulin was a French prefect whom Charles de Gaulle sent to unify the Resistance. He brought the movements together in the National Council of the Resistance. He was betrayed and arrested near Lyon, and died after torture by the Gestapo under Klaus Barbie.
• 1899 – 1953 Lavrentiy Beria (1899-1953) Died 23 December 1953, aged 54 Lavrentiy Beria was the head of the Soviet secret police under Stalin, responsible for overseeing mass repressions, deportations, and the Gulag system. Following Stalin's death he was arrested in a power struggle among Soviet leaders and secretly tried and executed on charges of treason. His downfall marked a turning point in the post-Stalin leadership transition.
• 1899 – 1973 Noël Coward (1899-1973) Died 26 March 1973, aged 73 English playwright, composer, and actor Noël Coward, known for works including Private Lives and Blithe Spirit, died at his home in Jamaica. He was knighted for his contribution to the arts the year before his death.
• 1899 Rutherford classifies alpha and beta radiation A foundation of nuclear physics Working at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, Ernest Rutherford determined that uranium radiation consisted of at least two distinct types, which he named alpha and beta rays according to their penetrating power. The classification became foundational to the emerging field of nuclear physics. Gamma rays were identified separately the following year.
• 1899 – 1940 Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) Died 5 October 1940, aged 40 Mexican composer and violinist whose works include "Sensemayá" and the score for "La noche de los Mayas". He died in Mexico City of pneumonia.
• 1899 – 1905 The First Period of Russification The February Manifesto An attempt by the Russian Empire to limit Finnish autonomy and integrate the country into Russia.
• 1899 – 1972 Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) Died 16 April 1972, aged 72 Kawabata was a Japanese novelist known for spare, lyrical works such as "Snow Country" and "Thousand Cranes," and became the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1968. He died by suicide in his seaside studio. He is regarded as one of the most important Japanese writers of the twentieth century.
• 1899 Anglo-Egyptian Condominium established over Sudan Joint British-Egyptian rule begins Britain and Egypt signed an agreement on 19 January 1899 establishing joint sovereignty over Sudan, following the reconquest of the territory the previous year. The arrangement gave Britain effective control while nominally sharing authority with Egypt. Sudan remained under this condominium until independence in 1956.
• 1899 Theory of the Leisure Class published Veblen coins "conspicuous consumption" Economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen published "The Theory of the Leisure Class" in February 1899, introducing the concept of "conspicuous consumption." The book critiqued the spending habits of the newly wealthy in Gilded Age America. It remains one of the most influential works of American social criticism.
• 1899 – 1902 The Philippine-American War The forgotten war Filipino forces who had fought Spain for independence find the islands handed to the United States instead, and fight on. The war formally ends in 1902 with American victory, though resistance in the Moro south continues for another decade. Estimates of Filipino civilian deaths from violence, famine and disease run into the hundreds of thousands. American conduct, including the reconcentration of civilians and the water cure, produces Senate hearings and the founding of the Anti-Imperialist League.
• 1899 – 1968 Ramon Novarro (1899-1968) Mexican-born actor, the silent-era Ben-Hur and one of Hollywood's great Latin lovers.
• 1899 Treaty of Paris ratified US Senate ends the Spanish-American War The US Senate ratified the Treaty of Paris on 6 February 1899, formally ending the Spanish-American War. Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States for $20 million. The treaty marked the emergence of the United States as a colonial power in the Pacific and Caribbean.
• 1899 – 1985 Gale Sondergaard (1899-1985) American actress, the first winner of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, later blacklisted.
• 1899 Aspirin trademark registered Bayer registers its new painkiller Bayer chemist Felix Hoffmann had synthesized a stable form of acetylsalicylic acid the previous year, and the company registered "Aspirin" as a trademark on 6 March 1899. It went on to become one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Bayer began marketing it as a powder before later producing it in tablet form.
• 1899 – 1983 Gloria Swanson (1899-1983) Died 4 April 1983, aged 84 Gloria Swanson was an American actress who was one of the most prominent stars of silent film before achieving a late-career triumph as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Her career spanned over five decades in Hollywood. She remained an enduring icon of the silent film era.
• 1899 Marconi transmits across the English Channel An early milestone for wireless telegraphy Guglielmo Marconi sent a wireless telegraph signal across the English Channel, from Wimereux, France, to South Foreland Lighthouse in England, on 27 March 1899. It was the first international wireless transmission and demonstrated the practical potential of radio communication.
• 1899 – 1977 Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) Died 2 July 1977, aged 77 Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian-American novelist best known for Lolita and Pale Fire. He died in Montreux, Switzerland, where he had lived for the last years of his life.
• 1899 La Jamais Contente breaks 100 km/h First vehicle to exceed 100 kilometers per hour On 29 April 1899, Belgian driver Camille Jenatzy drove the electric car "La Jamais Contente" to a speed of 105.88 km/h at Achères, France, becoming the first vehicle to exceed 100 km/h. The torpedo-shaped car was built specifically to break land speed records. Jenatzy's record stood for several years before gasoline-powered cars surpassed it.
• 1899 – 1992 Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992) Died 23 March 1992, aged 92 Friedrich Hayek was an Austrian-British economist and philosopher whose defense of free markets and critique of central planning, notably in "The Road to Serfdom," shaped conservative and libertarian thought. He shared the 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. His ideas influenced policymakers including Margaret Thatcher.
• 1899 – 1987 Fred Astaire (1899-1987) Died 22 June 1987, aged 88 Astaire was an American dancer, actor and choreographer renowned for his partnership with Ginger Rogers in a series of Hollywood musicals during the 1930s. He is widely regarded as the most influential dancer in the history of film. He died in Los Angeles.
• 1899 First Hague Peace Conference Nations meet to codify the laws of war Representatives from 26 nations met at the initiative of Tsar Nicholas II to discuss disarmament and the laws of war. The conference produced the Hague Conventions of 1899, governing the conduct of war and the peaceful settlement of disputes, and established the Permanent Court of Arbitration. It was the first major multilateral effort to codify international law on warfare.
• 1899 – 1963 Francis Poulenc French modernist composer French composer of the group Les Six, known for his songs, chamber music and the opera Dialogues of the Carmelites.
• 1899 Enigma Variations premieres Edward Elgar's breakthrough orchestral work Edward Elgar's "Variations on an Original Theme," known as the Enigma Variations, premiered in London on 19 June 1899 under conductor Hans Richter. Each variation musically portrays one of Elgar's friends, referred to only by initials or nicknames. The work established Elgar's reputation as a leading composer.
• 1899 – 1985 E.B. White (1899-1985) Died 1 October 1985, aged 86 White was an American writer and longtime New Yorker contributor best known for the children's books Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. He also co-wrote The Elements of Style, a widely used guide to English usage. He died in Maine on 1 October 1985.
• 1899 – 1986 James Cagney (1899-1986) Died 30 March 1986, aged 86 American actor famed for tough-guy roles in gangster films such as The Public Enemy and White Heat, and for his Oscar-winning performance in Yankee Doodle Dandy. He was one of the most versatile stars of Hollywood's golden age. He died at his farm in New York state.
• 1899 – 1961 Ernest Hemingway American novelist Hemingway developed a spare writing style focusing on courage, loss, and human endurance.
• 1899 Dreyfus retried and pardoned The Rennes court-martial and presidential pardon A military court-martial in Rennes retried Captain Alfred Dreyfus on charges of treason, again finding him guilty but with "extenuating circumstances" on 9 September 1899. President Émile Loubet pardoned Dreyfus ten days later, though he was not formally exonerated until 1906. The case had bitterly divided French society for years.
• 1899 – 1980 Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) Died 29 April 1980, aged 80 British-American film director renowned as the "Master of Suspense," known for films including Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, and North by Northwest. His innovative visual storytelling and mastery of tension shaped modern thriller filmmaking. He was knighted shortly before his death.
• 1899 – 1988 Colleen Moore (1899-1988) American actress, the bobbed-haired flapper of the 1920s and creator of a famous dollhouse castle.
• 1899 – 1986 Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Died 14 June 1986, aged 86 Argentine writer whose short stories and essays on labyrinths, infinity and mirrors made him one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century. Though never awarded the Nobel Prize, he shaped generations of Latin American and world literature. He died in Geneva, Switzerland.
• 1899 – 1978 Charles Boyer (1899-1978) Died 26 August 1978, aged 78 Boyer was a French leading man of Hollywood's golden age, nominated for four Academy Awards including for "Gaslight". He died by suicide two days after the death of his wife of 44 years.
• 1899 Maple Leaf Rag published Scott Joplin launches the ragtime era Publisher John Stark released Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" in Sedalia, Missouri, on 18 September 1899. It became the first ragtime composition to sell over a million copies of sheet music and established ragtime as a major American musical genre. Joplin earned a modest royalty on every copy sold, an unusual arrangement for the time.
• 1899 – 1902 The Second Boer War Where the concentration camp got its name The British Empire takes nearly three years and close to half a million troops to defeat two small Afrikaner republics. After losing the conventional war the Boers turn to commando raids, and Kitchener answers with blockhouses, farm burning and the internment of civilians in camps where around 28,000 Boers, most of them children, and at least 20,000 black Africans die of disease and hunger. Emily Hobhouse's reporting on the camps causes a scandal in Britain. The war ends at Vereeniging with annexation, and lays the groundwork for the Union of South Africa.
• 1899 – 1901 The Boxer Rebellion Eight armies in Peking A movement of village martial artists the foreign press calls Boxers rises against Christian missionaries and foreign concessions, and the Qing court under Empress Dowager Cixi throws its weight behind them. The legations in Peking are besieged for fifty-five days until an eight-nation expedition — Japanese, Russian, British, French, American, German, Italian and Austro-Hungarian — fights its way in and loots the city. The Boxer Protocol imposes an indemnity of 450 million taels, roughly the Qing government's annual revenue several times over, and the dynasty never recovers its authority.
• 1899 – 1983 Pat O'Brien (1899-1983) American actor, the Irish priest, cop and coach of Warner Bros. films, including Knute Rockne, All American.
• 1899 Tripartite Convention partitions Samoa The US, Germany, and Britain divide the islands The United States, Germany, and Britain signed a convention dividing the Samoan Islands, with Germany taking the western islands and the United States the eastern islands including Pago Pago. Britain withdrew its claims in exchange for concessions elsewhere. The agreement ended years of rivalry among the three powers over the archipelago.
• 1899 Churchill escapes Boer POW camp A daring escape that made him famous Winston Churchill, then a war correspondent captured by Boer forces, escaped from the State Model School prison in Pretoria on 12 December 1899. He made his way roughly 480 kilometers to Portuguese East Africa, evading capture. The escape made him a celebrity in Britain and helped launch his political career.