1902

Events in 1902 57

• 1821 – 1902 Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) Died 5 September 1902, aged 80 Virchow was a German physician and pathologist often called the father of modern pathology for his work on cellular theory, including the principle that all cells arise from other cells. He was also a pioneering figure in public health and anthropology.
• 1829 – 1902 Levi Strauss (1829-1902) Died 26 September 1902, aged 73 Strauss was a German-born American businessman who co-invented riveted denim work pants with Jacob Davis and founded the company that became Levi Strauss & Co. His blue jeans became a global clothing staple in the decades after his death.
• 1835 – 1902 Samuel Butler (1835-1902) Died 18 June 1902, aged 66 Butler was an English novelist and satirist best known for his utopian novel "Erewhon" and his autobiographical novel "The Way of All Flesh," published posthumously. His work influenced later writers with its skepticism toward Victorian social conventions.
• 1836 – 1902 Bret Harte (1836-1902) Died 5 May 1902, aged 65 Harte was an American writer and poet known for short stories depicting life in the California Gold Rush, such as "The Luck of Roaring Camp." He later lived in Europe and helped shape the literary image of the American West.
• 1840 – 1902 Emile Zola French novelist Zola led the Naturalist movement, depicting social conditions with scientific realism and political critique.
• 1851 – 1902 Walter Reed (1851-1902) Died 22 November 1902, aged 51 Reed was a US Army physician who led the research confirming that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes rather than direct contact. His findings enabled effective mosquito-control measures that dramatically reduced yellow fever outbreaks, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center was later named in his honor.
• 1853 – 1902 Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902) Died 26 March 1902, aged 48 Rhodes was a British-born businessman and politician who founded the diamond company De Beers and served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. He was a driving force behind British colonial expansion in southern Africa, and the territories of Rhodesia were named after him.
• 1870 – 1902 Frank Norris (1870-1902) Died 25 October 1902, aged 32 Norris was an American novelist associated with literary naturalism, best known for "McTeague" and "The Octopus: A Story of California," a novel about railroad power over wheat farmers. He died suddenly of complications from appendicitis at age 32.
• 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 – 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.
• 1902 – 1971 Bobby Jones (1902-1971) Died 18 December 1971, aged 69 Bobby Jones was an American amateur golfer who won 13 major championships and completed the sport's only Grand Slam in 1930 before retiring from competition. He co-founded the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament. He remained an influential figure in golf despite a debilitating spinal disease in his later years.
• 1902 – 1965 David O. Selznick (1902-1965) Died 22 June 1965, aged 63 David O. Selznick was an American film producer best known for producing Gone with the Wind and Rebecca, both of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He was one of the most influential independent producers of Hollywood's studio era. He died of a heart attack in Hollywood on 22 June 1965.
• 1902 First Rose Bowl game First Rose Bowl game The first Rose Bowl was played in Pasadena on 1 January 1902 as an attraction alongside the Tournament of Roses parade. Michigan beat Stanford 49-0 in a game so lopsided that organisers replaced football with chariot races for the next fourteen years. It returned in 1916 and is now the oldest bowl game in college football.
• 1902 – 1968 John Steinbeck (1902-1968) Died 20 December 1968, aged 66 The American novelist, author of "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men," died of heart disease at his home in New York City. He had won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. His writing chronicled the struggles of working-class Americans during the Great Depression.
• 1902 – 1967 Langston Hughes (1902-1967) Died 22 May 1967, aged 65 The poet and writer was a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance, known for works including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." He died in New York following complications from abdominal surgery.
• 1902 – 1975 Larry Fine (1902-1975) Died 24 January 1975, aged 72 Larry Fine was an American actor and comedian best known as a member of the Three Stooges slapstick comedy team. He performed with the group for over four decades across film and television. A stroke in 1970 had already ended his performing career before his death.
• 1902 – 1942 Prince George, Duke of Kent (1902-1942) Died 25 August 1942, aged 39 Prince George, Duke of Kent, was the fourth son of King George V and a younger brother of George VI. He was killed when an RAF Sunderland flying boat crashed in Caithness, Scotland, while he was on active service. He was the first member of the British royal family in centuries to die on military duty.
• 1902 – 1968 Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968) Died 12 December 1968, aged 66 The American stage and film actress, known for her deep voice and flamboyant public persona, died of complications from influenza and emphysema in New York City. She was celebrated for her Broadway performances, including in "The Little Foxes." Her outsized personality made her a fixture of American celebrity culture for decades.
• 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance Signed Britain and Japan form a mutual defense pact The United Kingdom and the Empire of Japan signed a military alliance in London on January 30, primarily aimed at countering Russian expansion in East Asia. It marked the first alliance between a European power and a non-European nation on equal terms and helped enable Japan's later war with Russia.
• 1902 – 1986 Alva Myrdal (1902-1986) Died 1 February 1986, aged 84 Swedish sociologist and diplomat who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 for her work on nuclear disarmament negotiations. She served as a government minister and ambassador, and was a leading voice in international arms-control diplomacy. She died in Stockholm.
• 1902 – 1974 Lindbergh Transatlantic solo flight Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in 1927, flying from New York to Paris in 33.5 hours.
• 1902 – 1969 Thelma Ritter (1902-1969) American character actress with six Oscar nominations, from All About Eve to Pillow Talk.
• 1902 – 1984 Ansel Adams (1902-1984) Died 22 April 1984, aged 82 American photographer Ansel Adams, renowned for his black-and-white images of the American West and his advocacy for wilderness conservation, died in Carmel, California.
• 1902 The Hound of the Baskervilles Published Arthur Conan Doyle revives Sherlock Holmes in book form Arthur Conan Doyle's novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles," serialized in The Strand Magazine since 1901, was published in book form on March 25. It became one of the most famous Sherlock Holmes stories and remains widely read and adapted today.
• 1902 – 1984 Flora Robson (1902-1984) English actress, twice Queen Elizabeth I on film and a Dame of the British stage.
• 1902 – 1998 Halldor Laxness (1902-1998) Died 8 February 1998, aged 95 Halldor Laxness, the Icelandic novelist awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955 for works including Independent People, died on 8 February 1998. He remains Iceland's most celebrated writer.
• 1902 Pelléas et Mélisande Premieres Debussy's only completed opera opens in Paris Claude Debussy's opera "Pelléas et Mélisande," based on Maurice Maeterlinck's play, premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on April 30. Its impressionistic score influenced the course of 20th-century opera and orchestral music.
• 1902 – 1986 Brian Aherne (1902-1986) English actor of stage and film, Oscar-nominated as Emperor Maximilian in Juarez.
• 1902 Eruption of Mount Pelée Volcanic eruption destroys Saint-Pierre, Martinique Mount Pelée erupted violently on the morning of May 8, killing nearly all of the roughly 28,000 residents of Saint-Pierre in a pyroclastic flow. It remains the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century and prompted the scientific classification of Peléan eruptions.
• 1902 Great Anthracite Coal Strike Resolved Roosevelt brokers end to US mining strike A strike by anthracite coal miners in Pennsylvania that began in May ended on October 23 after President Theodore Roosevelt intervened and pushed for arbitration. It was the first time the US federal government mediated a labor dispute as a neutral party rather than siding with employers.
• 1902 Republic of Cuba Established US military government ends, Cuban republic begins The United States ended its military occupation of Cuba on May 20, and Tomás Estrada Palma was inaugurated as the island's first president. The new republic remained constrained by the Platt Amendment, which gave the US the right to intervene in Cuban affairs.
• 1902 Treaty of Vereeniging Ends Boer War Boer republics surrender to British rule Representatives of the Transvaal and Orange Free State signed the Treaty of Vereeniging on May 31, ending the Second Boer War. The Boer republics were absorbed into the British Empire, with Britain promising eventual self-government and funds for reconstruction.
• 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act Passed Australia grants women the federal vote The Australian Parliament passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act on June 12, giving most women the right to vote and stand for federal office. Australia became one of the first countries in the world to extend suffrage to women nationally, though the law excluded Aboriginal and other non-white Australians.
• 1902 – 1992 Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) Died 2 September 1992, aged 90 Barbara McClintock was an American geneticist who discovered transposable genetic elements, or "jumping genes," through her work on maize. She won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983, the only woman to win that prize unshared. Her research reshaped understanding of genome structure and regulation.
• 1902 – 1977 Guy Lombardo (1902-1977) Died 5 November 1977, aged 75 Guy Lombardo was a Canadian-American bandleader whose orchestra, the Royal Canadians, became synonymous with New Year's Eve broadcasts of Auld Lang Syne for decades. His recordings sold in the tens of millions.
• 1902 Spooner Act Authorizes Panama Canal US Congress chooses the Panama route The US Congress passed the Spooner Act on June 28, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia to build a canal across Panama rather than Nicaragua. It set in motion the negotiations that led to Panamanian independence and construction of the Panama Canal.
• 1902 – 1994 Karl Popper (1902-1994) Died 17 September 1994, aged 92 Karl Popper, the Austrian-British philosopher of science known for his theory of falsifiability, died in London. His work on The Open Society and Its Enemies profoundly shaped 20th-century political and scientific thought.
• 1902 – 1984 Paul Dirac (1902-1984) Died 20 October 1984, aged 82 British theoretical physicist Paul Dirac, who shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics for his foundational work in quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter, died in Tallahassee, Florida.
• 1902 Coronation of King Edward VII British monarch crowned after appendicitis delay Edward VII was crowned King of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey on August 9, after the ceremony was postponed from June when he required emergency surgery for appendicitis. The coronation marked the formal start of the Edwardian era following the death of Queen Victoria.
• 1902 – 1983 Norma Shearer (1902-1983) Canadian-American actress, MGM's first lady in the late 1920s and 1930s and wife of Irving Thalberg.
• 1902 – 2003 Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) Died 8 September 2003, aged 101 Leni Riefenstahl was a film-maker whose technically innovative documentaries 'Triumph of the Will' and 'Olympia' glorified Nazi Germany. After the war she was widely shunned and spent decades defending herself against charges of complicity. She later worked as a stills and underwater photographer.
• 1902 A Trip to the Moon Released Georges Méliès premieres pioneering science-fiction film French filmmaker Georges Méliès released "Le Voyage dans la Lune" on September 1, a groundbreaking science-fiction film featuring the iconic image of a capsule striking the Man in the Moon's eye. It is regarded as one of the first narrative films to use extensive special effects.
• 1902 – 1988 John Houseman (1902-1988) Died 31 October 1988, aged 86 John Houseman was a Romanian-born American actor and producer who co-founded the Mercury Theatre with Orson Welles. He won an Academy Award for his role as a law professor in the 1973 film The Paper Chase. He later reprised the role in a long-running television series.
• 1902 – 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989) Died 3 June 1989, aged 86 Ruhollah Khomeini led the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew the Shah and founded the Islamic Republic of Iran. He served as the country's Supreme Leader until his death. His decade in power reshaped Iranian society and regional politics.
• 1902 The Tale of Peter Rabbit Published Beatrix Potter's debut children's book released commercially Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" was published commercially by Frederick Warne & Co in October, after she had it privately printed the previous year. It became one of the best-selling children's books ever written.
• 1902 – 1984 Ray Kroc (1902-1984) Died 14 January 1984, aged 81 Ray Kroc, the businessman who built McDonald's into a global fast-food chain after acquiring the franchise rights in the 1950s, died in San Diego, California.
• 1902 – 1972 Miriam Hopkins (1902-1972) American actress, a sharp star of pre-Code comedies and the first Technicolor feature, Becky Sharp.
• 1902 Thousand Days' War Ends Colombian civil war concludes with peace treaties Colombia's brutal civil war between Liberals and Conservatives ended with the treaties of Neerlandia and Wisconsin, signed in October and November. The conflict had killed over 100,000 people and left Panama, then a Colombian province, in a weakened state that helped pave the way for its separation the following year.
• 1902 – 1986 Elsa Lanchester (1902-1986) English actress, the Bride of Frankenstein and wife of Charles Laughton.
• 1902 Heart of Darkness Published in Book Form Joseph Conrad novella appears in Youth and Two Other Stories Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness," previously serialized in Blackwood's Magazine, was published as part of the collection "Youth: a Narrative, and Two Other Stories" in November. The work later became one of the most widely studied novellas in English literature.
• 1902 The Teddy Bear Is Created Stuffed toy named after Theodore Roosevelt Following a widely published cartoon showing President Theodore Roosevelt declining to shoot a captured bear on a Mississippi hunting trip, Brooklyn shopkeepers Morris and Rose Michtom created a stuffed bear toy and named it the "Teddy bear." The toy became an enduring children's product sold worldwide.
• 1902 – 2003 Strom Thurmond (1902-2003) Died 26 June 2003, aged 100 Strom Thurmond represented South Carolina in the US Senate for 48 years and ran for president in 1948 on a segregationist platform. He held the record for the longest speaking filibuster, against the 1957 Civil Rights Act. He retired at 100, the oldest person ever to serve in the Senate.
• 1902 – 1985 Margaret Hamilton (1902-1985) American actress and former kindergarten teacher, forever the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
• 1902 Venezuela Blockaded by European Powers Britain, Germany and Italy enforce debt claims Britain, Germany, and Italy imposed a naval blockade on Venezuela beginning December 9, seeking repayment of debts owed by President Cipriano Castro's government. The crisis drew in the United States and contributed to the later Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
• 1902 Aswan Low Dam Completed Major irrigation dam finished on the Nile Construction of the Aswan Low Dam on the Nile River was completed on December 10 after four years of work under engineer William Willcocks. It was the largest masonry dam in the world at the time and reshaped irrigation across Egypt.
• 1902 – 1983 Ralph Richardson (1902-1983) English actor, one of the great stage actors of his generation alongside Olivier and Gielgud.
• 1902 Discovery Expedition Reaches Furthest South Scott, Shackleton and Wilson set new Antarctic record Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, and Edward Wilson reached 82°17'S on December 30, a new furthest-south record during the British National Antarctic Expedition. The sledging journey pushed the men to the brink of scurvy and exhaustion and helped launch the "Heroic Age" of Antarctic exploration.