1907

Events in 1907 48

• 1824 – 1907 William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) Died 17 December 1907, aged 83 Scottish-Irish physicist and engineer who established the absolute temperature scale that bears his name and contributed to thermodynamics and the transatlantic telegraph cable. He served as president of the Royal Society and was the first scientist elevated to the British peerage. He died at his home in Scotland.
• 1827 – 1907 Marcellin Berthelot (1827-1907) Died 18 March 1907, aged 79 French chemist who synthesized numerous organic compounds and helped found the field of thermochemistry. He also served as France's foreign minister and minister of public instruction. He died in Paris hours after his wife, and the couple were buried together in the Pantheon.
• 1829 – 1907 Asaph Hall (1829-1907) Died 22 November 1907, aged 78 American astronomer who discovered the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, in 1877 while working at the US Naval Observatory. He made his discovery using the observatory's newly completed 26-inch refracting telescope. He died in Goodwin, Connecticut.
• 1829 – 1907 Oscar II The End of the Union The last Swedish king to also be King of Norway. Overseer of the peaceful union dissolution in 1905.
• 1831 – 1907 Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) Died 15 August 1907, aged 76 Hungarian-born violinist and composer regarded as one of the most significant of the nineteenth century, closely associated with Johannes Brahms, who dedicated his Violin Concerto to him. He led the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik and shaped generations of violinists. He died in Berlin.
• 1834 – 1907 Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1907) Died 2 February 1907, aged 72 Russian chemist who created the periodic table of elements, arranging them by atomic weight and predicting the properties of then-undiscovered elements. His system became the foundation of modern chemistry. He died in Saint Petersburg.
• 1835 – 1907 Giosue Carducci (1835-1907) Died 16 February 1907, aged 71 Italian poet and the first Italian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in 1906 for his mastery of classical and civic verse. He was also a scholar and professor at the University of Bologna. He died in Bologna.
• 1839 – 1907 Sully Prudhomme (1839-1907) Died 6 September 1907, aged 68 French poet who became the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, honored for his combination of poetic feeling and intellectual rigor. He was a founding figure of the Parnassian movement in French poetry. He died in Chatenay-Malabry near Paris.
• 1843 – 1907 Edvard Grieg Norwegian national composer Norwegian composer whose Piano Concerto and Peer Gynt Suite made him the most celebrated Scandinavian composer of the 19th century.
• 1848 – 1907 Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907) Died 12 May 1907, aged 59 French novelist best known for A Rebours (Against Nature), a landmark of the Decadent movement, and for his later conversion to Catholicism reflected in works like La-Bas. He died in Paris after a long illness. His writing influenced Oscar Wilde and the wider fin de siecle aesthetic movement.
• 1873 – 1907 Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) Died 1 November 1907, aged 34 French writer and dramatist whose play Ubu Roi scandalized Parisian audiences in 1896 and anticipated absurdist and surrealist theater. He invented pataphysics, a parody of science and philosophy that influenced later avant-garde movements. He died in poverty in Paris.
• 1904 – 1907 The 1905 Russian Revolution The dress rehearsal Defeat by Japan cracked the autocracy open. A peaceful procession to the Winter Palace was fired on, and within months the Russian Empire had general strikes, a naval mutiny, workers' councils and armed fighting in the streets of Moscow. Nicholas II conceded a constitution and a parliament, then spent the next two years taking most of it back. Lenin, watching from exile, called it the dress rehearsal — without it, he said, 1917 would have been impossible.
• 1907 – 1931 Bhagat Singh (1907-1931) Died 23 March 1931, aged 23 Indian revolutionary who was convicted of killing the British police officer John Saunders. He was hanged in Lahore together with Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru. He is remembered in India as one of the most celebrated martyrs of the independence movement.
• 1907 – 1944 Claus von Stauffenberg (1907-1944) Died 21 July 1944, aged 36 German army officer who planted the bomb at the Wolf's Lair in the 20 July attempt to kill Hitler. He was a leading figure in the military resistance. He was shot by firing squad in Berlin shortly after midnight when the coup failed.
• 1907 – 1930 Horst Wessel (1907-1930) Died 23 February 1930, aged 22 Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA) leader in Berlin who was shot by communists and died of his wounds. Joseph Goebbels turned him into a martyr for the Nazi movement. A song Wessel wrote became the party anthem.
• 1907 Picasso paints Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Radical canvas breaks with traditional perspective, launching Cubism Pablo Picasso completed this large painting of five nude figures in Paris in 1907, depicting them with fractured, angular forms influenced by Iberian and African art. Its rejection of single-point perspective is widely regarded as a founding moment of Cubism. The work was not publicly exhibited until 1916.
• 1907 – 1964 Rachel Carson (1907-1964) Died 14 April 1964, aged 56 Carson was an American marine biologist and author whose book "Silent Spring" exposed the environmental harm of pesticides. Her work is widely credited with helping launch the modern environmental movement.
• 1907 Scouting movement founded Scouting movement founded Robert Baden-Powell ran an experimental camp for twenty boys on Brownsea Island in August 1907, testing ideas he published the following year as Scouting for Boys. Troops formed spontaneously across Britain before any organisation existed to run them. The Girl Guides followed in 1910, and Scouting became the largest youth movement in the world.
• 1907 – 1973 W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Died 29 September 1973, aged 66 British-American poet W. H. Auden, regarded as one of the great English-language poets of the 20th century, died in Vienna. His work spanned political, religious, and love poetry across five decades.
• 1907 – 1986 Ray Milland (1907-1986) Welsh actor who won the Oscar for The Lost Weekend and starred in Dial M for Murder.
• 1907 The Romanian Peasants' Revolt Suppressed by the army Peasants across Moldavia and Wallachia rise against the arendasi, the leaseholders who worked estates on the landowners' behalf, and against terms of tenancy that had barely moved since serfdom. The government calls out the army and shells villages. Contemporary accounts put the dead at around eleven thousand, though the figure is disputed and may be considerably lower. Land reform is promised and largely not delivered until after the First World War.
• 1907 – 1994 Cesar Romero (1907-1994) American actor and dancer, the Cisco Kid and the Joker in Batman.
• 1907 – 1998 Robert Young (1907-1998) American actor, the father in Father Knows Best and the doctor in Marcus Welby, M.D.
• 1907 First women elected to a national parliament Nineteen women win seats in Finland's Eduskunta In elections held in March 1907, Finland became the first country in the world to elect women to its national legislature, after granting universal suffrage in 1906. Nineteen women won seats in the new unicameral Eduskunta. The result was widely reported as a milestone for women's political representation.
• 1907 – 2003 Katharine Hepburn Actress, 1907-2003 - four Academy Awards, still the record Katharine Hepburn was one of the defining stars of American cinema, with a career spanning 60 years and a record four Academy Awards for Best Actress. Known for her independence and refusal to conform to Hollywood convention, her films included 'The Philadelphia Story', 'The African Queen' and 'On Golden Pond'.
• 1907 – 1989 Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) Died 11 July 1989, aged 82 Laurence Olivier was an English actor and director widely regarded as one of the greatest performers of the twentieth century. He was celebrated for both Shakespearean stage roles and films such as Hamlet, which he also directed. He received numerous Academy Awards and a life peerage for his contributions to theatre.
• 1907 – 1979 John Wayne (1907-1979) Died 11 June 1979, aged 72 American actor John Wayne, star of dozens of Western and war films including Stagecoach and True Grit, died of stomach cancer in Los Angeles. He had won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1970 and remained one of Hollywood's most enduring symbols of American masculinity. He died on 11 June 1979.
• 1907 Lumiere Autochrome color photography launched First commercially viable color photographic process goes on sale Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere began commercial marketing of the Autochrome plate in June 1907, using dyed potato starch grains to capture color. It was the first practical color photography process widely available to the public. Autochrome remained the leading color process until the introduction of Kodachrome in the 1930s.
• 1907 – 1996 Frank Whittle (1907-1996) Died 9 August 1996, aged 89 Frank Whittle was a British Royal Air Force engineer who independently invented and patented the turbojet engine in the 1930s, laying the foundation for the jet age. His engine designs powered Britain's first jet aircraft during the Second World War. He later emigrated to the United States and taught at the US Naval Academy.
• 1907 – 1976 Rosalind Russell (1907-1976) American actress known for fast-talking comedy in His Girl Friday and Auntie Mame.
• 1907 Second Hague Peace Conference International delegates negotiate laws of war at The Hague Representatives of 44 nations met at The Hague to expand rules governing warfare and the peaceful settlement of disputes, building on the 1899 conference. The conference produced several conventions on the conduct of land and naval warfare, though efforts toward disarmament failed. It set precedents later drawn on for the League of Nations and United Nations.
• 1907 – 1954 Frida Kahlo Surrealism / Folk Art · Mexico Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter whose intensely autobiographical work explored identity, pain and the human body. She has become a global feminist icon. She was married to Diego Rivera.
• 1907 – 1990 Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990) Died 20 January 1990, aged 82 Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress known for films including "Double Indemnity" and "The Lady Eve" and the television series "The Big Valley." She was one of the most versatile leading actresses of Hollywood's golden age. She died in Santa Monica, California, on 20 January 1990.
• 1907 – 1983 Earl Tupper (1907-1983) Died 5 October 1983, aged 76 Earl Tupper was an American businessman who invented Tupperware, the airtight plastic food storage containers that became a household staple worldwide. He built a sales phenomenon around the "Tupperware party" marketing model. His products remain in common use decades later.
• 1907 French bombardment of Casablanca French warships shell the Moroccan port amid colonial unrest Following the killing of European workers during unrest in Casablanca, French naval forces bombarded the city in August 1907 and landed troops to occupy it. The intervention marked a major step toward the French colonization of Morocco. It provoked protest from Germany, heightening pre-war tensions between the two powers.
• 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention signed Britain and Russia divide spheres of influence in Asia, forming the Triple Entente The agreement settled long-standing rivalry between the British and Russian empires by dividing Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet into spheres of influence. Combined with earlier Anglo-French and Franco-Russian alliances, it completed the Triple Entente that would face the Central Powers in the First World War. It was signed in Saint Petersburg on 31 August 1907.
• 1907 – 2004 Fay Wray (1907-2004) Died 8 August 2004, aged 96 Wray was an actress best remembered for her role as Ann Darrow in the original 1933 film "King Kong." She worked in Hollywood across seven decades, spanning silent film through television.
• 1907 New Zealand becomes a Dominion Colony gains Dominion status within the British Empire On 26 September 1907, New Zealand's status changed from a colony to a Dominion, granting it greater self-governance while remaining part of the British Empire. The change was largely symbolic but reflected growing national identity. Australia had achieved similar status in 1901 as the Commonwealth.
• 1907 – 1998 Gene Autry (1907-1998) Died 2 October 1998, aged 91 Gene Autry, the singing cowboy who starred in dozens of Western films and recorded classics including "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," died on 2 October 1998. He later became a successful businessman and owner of the California Angels baseball team.
• 1907 Panic of 1907 Wall Street banking crisis triggers global financial panic A sharp stock market decline and bank runs in New York in October 1907 pushed the US financial system to the brink of collapse. Financier J. P. Morgan organized a group of bankers to shore up failing trust companies and restore confidence. The crisis exposed the lack of a central bank and led directly to the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913.
• 1907 – 2002 Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) Died 28 January 2002, aged 94 The Swedish author Astrid Lindgren created Pippi Longstocking, the super-strong, unruly girl who first appeared in 1945, along with Emil, the Bullerby children and many other characters. Her books have sold well over 150 million copies and been translated into around 100 languages. She was also a forceful campaigner for children's rights and animal welfare.
• 1907 – 1997 Burgess Meredith (1907-1997) American actor whose career ran from Broadway's Winterset to the Penguin in Batman and Mickey in Rocky.
• 1907 Oklahoma admitted as the 46th US state Indian and Oklahoma Territories merge into a single state Oklahoma joined the United States on 16 November 1907, combining Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. Statehood followed decades of land runs and the dissolution of tribal governments under the Dawes Commission. Guthrie served as the first state capital.
• 1907 – 2003 Compay Segundo (1907-2003) Died 13 July 2003, aged 95 Compay Segundo was a Cuban guitarist, singer and composer whose career revived in his late eighties through the Buena Vista Social Club project and Wim Wenders's 1999 film. His best-known composition is 'Chan Chan'.
• 1907 Rudyard Kipling awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature First English-language writer to win the prize Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature, cited for his powers of observation, imagination, and narrative skill. He was the first writer in the English language to receive the honor and, at 41, remains its youngest literature laureate. The prize was awarded in Stockholm on 10 December 1907.
• 1907 Great White Fleet departs on world cruise US Navy battleships begin voyage to project American naval power Sixteen battleships of the United States Navy, painted white, departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 16 December 1907 on a voyage around the world. President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the cruise to demonstrate American naval strength, particularly to Japan. The fleet returned in February 1909 after visiting ports on six continents.
• 1907 Central American Court of Justice established Washington conference creates regional tribunal to settle disputes Delegates from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica signed conventions in Washington in December 1907 creating the Central American Court of Justice, the first permanent international court. The court, seated in Cartago, Costa Rica, was meant to peacefully resolve disputes among the five republics. It operated until 1918.
• 1907 – 1994 Cab Calloway (1907-1994) Died 18 November 1994, aged 86 Cab Calloway, the jazz bandleader and singer famed for "Minnie the Moocher" and his Cotton Club performances, died in Delaware after suffering a stroke. He was a central figure of the swing era and a major influence on American popular music.