1901

1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Monday in the Julian calendar. It was the first year of the 20th century.

• On January 1, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and Tasmania form the Commonwealth of Australia. John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow becomes the first Governor-General and Edmund Barton becomes the 1st Prime Minister of Australia. The first Australian parliament meets in Melbourne on May 9.
• In the United Kingdom, on January 22, Queen Victoria dies at the age of 81, having reigned for 63 years, 7 months and 2 days, longer than any British monarch before her. In the United Kingdom and the British Empire, her death marks the end of the Victorian era. Her 59-year-old son succeeds her as King Edward VII of the United Kingdom.
• In China, the Boxer Rebellion is crushed and China is forced to accept Peace terms decided by Western Powers, Japan and Russia.
• 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, is shot by Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American exposition in Buffalo, New York and dies 8 days later. Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him as president.
• The first Nobel Prizes are given in Stockholm on December 10, the 5th anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen wins the Prize in Physics for the discovery of X-rays, and the Nobel Peace Prize is shared between Frederic Passy and Jean-Henri Dunant, founder of the International Red Cross.

• January 1 – First day of the 20th century.
• January 1 – Australia becomes a country, as New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania form the Commonwealth of Australia.
• January 1 – Nigeria becomes a British Protectorate.
• January 5 – A typhoid outbreak occurs in a Seattle jail.
• January 10 – China accepts Peace terms by Western Powers, United States, Japan and Russia, as the Boxer Rebellion is crushed.
• January 22 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom dies on the Isle of Wight at the age of 81. Her son, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, succeeds her.
• January 28 – Baseball's American League declares itself a Major League.
• February 2 – The funeral of Queen Victoria takes place.
• February 6 – The first public telephones are installed at railway stations in Paris.
• February 14 – Edward VII of the United Kingdom opens his first parliament.
• February 22 – A Pacific Mail Steamer sinks in the Golden Gate Harbor, killing 128 people.
• February 23 – The United Kingdom and Germany agree on the border between German East Africa (present-day Tanzania) and the British colony of Nyasaland (present-day Malawi).
• March 4 – William McKinley starts his second term as President of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt becomes Vice President of the United States.
• March 6 – Wilhelm II of Germany survives an assassination attempt in Bremen.
• March 17 – The showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris creates a sensation.
• March 31 – The United Kingdom's 1901 census is held.
• April 25 – The State of New York becomes the first to require automobile license plates.
• April 29 – Hirohito is born. He later becomes the longest-reigning Japanese Emperor, dying in 1989.
• May 3 – Jacksonville, Florida is destroyed by fire, as 10,000 people are made homeless.
• May 9 – Australia opens its first Parliament in Melbourne.
• May 17 – The US Stock Market crashes.
• May 24 – 78 miners die in the Caerphilly pit disaster in South Wales.
• May 25 – River Plate football club, in Buenos Aires, is founded.
• June 2 – Katsura Taro becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
• June 12 – Cuba becomes a US protectorate.

• July 4 – The Covered Bridge at Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada, is opened. At 390 metres long, it is the longest covered bridge in the world.
• July 4 – William Taft becomes Governor-General of the Philippines.
• August 6 – Robert Falcon Scott, on board the RRS Discovery, sets sail on his expedition to the Ross Sea in Antarctica.
• August 11 – Under Erich von Drygalski, Germany's first Antarctic expedition begins.
• August 30 – Hubert Cecil Booth patents an electric vacuum cleaner.
• September 6 – Assassination of William McKinley: US President William McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
• September 7 – The Boxer Rebellion officially ends in China.
• September 14 – William McKinley, 8 days after being shot, dies of his injuries. Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the United States.
• October 2 – The first Royal Navy submarine is launched.
• October 24 – Michigan school teacher Annie Taylor goes down Niagara Falls in a barrel, and survives.
• October 29 – Leon Czolgosz is executed at Auburn State Prison, New York, for the assassination of William McKinley.
• November 9 – Future King George V of the United Kingdom is made Prince of Wales.
• November 25 – Auguste Deter is first examined by Alois Alzheimer in Germany. She becomes the first-known sufferer of what is later called Alzheimer's disease.
• December 10 – The first Nobel Prizes are given in Stockholm on the 5th anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
• December 12 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first Trans-Atlantic radio signal, sent from Poldhu, England to Newfoundland, Canada.
• December 13 – Modern 32-bit computers will incorrectly set their clocks to this time on January 19, 2038
• December 20 – The final spike is driven into the Mombasa-Victoria-Uganda railway in what is now Kisumu, Kenya.

• Boer War (1899 - 1902)
• Norway allows women to vote in local elections.
• Pablo Picasso creates the first paintings of his Blue Period.
• Rudyard Kipling's Kim (book) published.

• January 3 – Ngo Dinh Diem, 1st President of South Vietnam (d. 1963)
• January 9 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (d. 1973)
• January 9 – Ishman Bracey, American blues singer and guitarist (d. 1970)
• January 10 – Toshio Irie, Japanese politician and bureaucrat (d. 1972)
• January 14 – Bebe Daniels, American actress (d. 1971)
• January 14 – Alfred Tarski, Polish logician and mathematician (d. 1983)
• January 16 – Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)
• January 16 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)
• January 21 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer (d. 1979)
• January 24 – A. M. Cassandre, Ukrainian-born artist, designer and teacher (d. 1968)
• January 29 – Arcady Aris, Russian Chuvash writer and literary critic (d. 1941)
• January 30 – Rudolf Caracciola, German racing driver (d. 1959)

• February 1 – Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
• February 1 – Frank Buckles, last-surviving American World War I veteran (d. 2011)
• February 10 – Stella Adler, American actress (d. 1992)
• February 17 – Philotheus Boehner, German monk and medieval scholar (d. 1955)
• February 19 – Florence Green, British supercentenarian and last-surviving World War I service veteran (d. 2012)
• February 20 – Mohamed Naguib, President of Egypt (d. 1984)
• February 22 – Ken G. Hall, Australian movie director (d. 1994)
• February 25 – Zeppo Marx, American comedian (d. 1979)
• February 28 – Linus Pauling, American chemist (d. 1994)

• March 3 – Claude Choules, British-Australian supercentenarian and last-surviving World War I combat veteran (d. 2011)
• March 3 – Gino Cervi, Italian movie actor (d. 1974)
• March 7 – Beatrice Roberts, American actress (d. 1970)
• March 18 – Helmut Fink, German World War I veteran (d. 2009)
• March 18 – Manly Hall, Canadian writer (d. 1990)
• March 21 – Karl Arnold, German politician (d. 1958)
• March 24 – Ub Iwerks, American cartoonist (d. 1971)
• March 25 – Ed Begley, American actor (d. 1970)
• March 27 – Carl Barks, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
• March 27 – Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963)
• March 27 – Eisaku Satō, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1975)
• March 27 – Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet (d. 1971)
• March 28 – Martha of Sweden, mother of King Harald V of Norway (d. 1954)

• April 1 – Francisco Ascaso, Spanish anarcho-syndicalist (d. 1936)
• April 13 – Jacques Lacan, French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist (d. 1981)
• April 18 – Elene Akhvlediani, Georgian painter (d. 1975)
• April 18 – Al Lewis, American songwriter (d. 1967)
• April 23 – E.B. Ford, British ecological geneticist (d. 1988)
• April 29 – Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (d. 1989)
• April 30 – Simon Kuznets, Ukrainian-born economist (d. 1985)

• May 5 – Blind Willie McTell, American musician (d. 1959)
• May 7 – Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
• May 9 – Fuzzy Knight, American actor (d. 1976)
• May 17 – Werner Egk, German composer (d. 1983)
• May 18 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist (d. 1978)
• May 20 – Max Euwe, Dutch chess player (d. 1981)
• May 21 – Manfred Aschner, German-born Israeli microbiologist and entomologist (d. 1989)
• May 21 – Sam Jaffe, American movie producer (d. 2000)
• May 21 – Suzanne Lilar, Belgian writer (d. 1992)
• May 24 – Jose Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1968)

• June 6 – Sukarno, 1st President of Indonesia (d. 1970)
• June 8 – Salustiano Sánchez, The world's oldest living man (d. 2013)
• June 10 – Frederick Loewe, German-born composer (d. 1988)
• June 13 – Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1985)
• June 16 – Henri Lefebvre, French sociologist and philosopher (d. 1991)
• June 18 – Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
• June 19 – Piero Gobetti, Italian publicist and political activist (d. 1926)
• June 24 – Harry Partch, American composer (d. 1974)

• July 9 – Barbara Cartland, British novelist (d. 2000)
• July 28 – Rudy Vallee, American singer, actor, bandleader and entertainer (d. 1986)

• August 4 – Louis Armstrong, American jazz musician (d. 1971)
• August 5 – Thomas Ryan, American naval officer (d. 1970)
• August 8 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist (d. 1958)
• August 10 – Franco Dino Rasetti, Italian scientist (d. 2001)
• August 18 – Jean Guitton, French writer and philosopher (d. 1999)
• August 20 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer (d. 1968)
• August 26 – Chen Yi, Chinese military commander and politician (d. 1972)

• September 2 – Adolph Rupp, college basketball coach (d. 1977)
• September 9 – Agostinho Fortes Filho, Brazilian footballer (d. 1966)
• September 9 – Hendrik Verwoerd, South African politician (d. 1966)
• September 17 – Francis Chichester, British adventurer (d. 1979)
• September 22 – Charles B. Huggins, Canadian cancer researcher and Nobel Prize winner (d. 1997)
• September 23 – Jaroslav Seifert, Czech politician (d. 1986)
• September 28 – Ed Sullivan, American television personality (d. 1974)
• September 28 – William S. Paley, American businessman (d. 1990)
• September 29 – Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist (d. 1954)

• October 1 – Jose Leandro Andrade, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1957)
• October 6 – Aslak Brekke, Norwegian singer (d. 1978)
• October 7 – Souvanna Phouma, Laotian leader (d. 1984)
• October 7 – Frank Boucher, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1977)
• October 10 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (d. 1966)
• October 24 – Gilda Gray, Polish-born dancer and actress (d. 1959)

• November 3 – Leopold III of Belgium (d. 1983)
• November 4 – Masako Nashimoto, Crown Princess of Korea (d. 1989)
• November 4 – Max Wagner, Mexican-born American actor (d. 1975)
• November 9 – Marvel Rea, American actress (d. 1937)
• November 11 – Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph Goebbels (d. 1945)
• November 15 – Bunny Roser, American baseball player (d. 1979)
• November 16 – Ernest Nagel, Czech-born philosopher (d. 1985)
• November 17 – Lee Strasberg, Austrian-American actor (d. 1982)
• November 18 – George Gallup, American statistician and opinion pollster (d. 1984)
• November 22 – Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (d. 1999)
• November 29 – Mildred Harris, American actress (d. 1944)

• December 2 – Raimundo Orsi, Argentine-Italian footballer (d. 1986)
• December 5 – Walt Disney, American animator and movie producer (d. 1966)
• December 5 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
• December 9 – Odon von Horvath, Austro-Hungarian writer (d. 1938)
• December 14 – King Paul of Greece (d. 1964)
• December 16 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (d. 1978)
• December 19 – Rudolf Hell, German inventor (d. 2002)
• December 25 – Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, British royal (d. 2004)
• December 27 – Marlene Dietrich, German actress (d. 1992)
• December 31 – Karl-August Fagerholm, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1984)

• January 11 – Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866)
• January 14 – Victor Balaguer, Spanish politician and writer (b. 1824)
• January 17 – Frederic William Henry Myers, English scholar, poet, philosopher and psychologist (b. 1843)
• January 20 – Zenobe Gramme, Belgian electrical engineer (b. 1826)
• January 21 – Elisha Gray, American inventor (b. 1835)
• January 22 – Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India (b. 1819)
• January 27 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
• February 11 – Milan I of Serbia (b. 1854)
• February 17 – Ethelbert Nevin, American pianist and composer (b. 1862)
• March 13 – Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833)
• April 3 – Richard D'Oyly Carte, English impresario (b. 1844)
• April 4 – George T. Anderson, American Confederate general (b. 1824)
• May 1 – Lewis Waterman, American inventor and businessman (b. 1837)
• May 5 – Mariano Ignacio Prado, former President of Peru (b. 1826)
• May 13 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish writer (b. 1851)
• May 22 – Gaetano Bresci, Italian anarchist (b. 1869)
• May 24 – Charlotte Mary Yonge, English novelist (b. 1823)
• June 15 – Max Weber, German-American general (b. 1824)

• July 6 – Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1819)
• July 7 – Johanna Spyri, Swiss writer (b. 1827)
• August 5 – Victoria, Princess Royal (b. 1840)
• August 12 – Francesco Crispi, former Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1819)
• August 12 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiold, Swedish explorer (b. 1832)
• September 9 – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (b. 1864)
• September 14 – William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (assassinated) (b. 1843)
• October 1 – Abdor Rahman Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (b. 1844)
• October 10 – Lorenzo Snow, American Mormon leader (b. 1814)
• October 29 – Leon Czolgosz, Polish-American assassin (b. 1873)
• November 6 – Kate Greenaway, English writer (b. 1846)
• November 30 – Edward John Eyre, English explorer of Australia and colonial Governor of Jamaica (b. 1815)
• December 12 – Nawab Muhammad Hayat Khan, British Indian administrator (b. 1833)
• December 16 – William Gregory, American politician (b. 1849)
• December 17 – Josep Manyanet i Vives, Catalan Saint and priest (b. 1833)
• December 24 – Lev Ivanov, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1834)

• Physics – Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
• Chemistry – Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff
• Physiology or Medicine – Emil Adolf von Behring
• Literature – Sully Prudhomme
• Peace – Jean-Henri Dunant and Frederic Passy