1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday
of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1904

January–February

• January 7 – The distress signal CQD is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by SOS.

• January 12 – Henry Ford sets a new automobile land speed record of 91.37 mph.

• January 16 – The first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

• February 7 – The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.

• February 8 – A Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur (Lushun) starts the Russo-Japanese War.

• February 10 – Roger Casement publishes his account of Belgian atrocities in the Congo.

• February 23 – For $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.

• February 28 – Sport Lisboa e Benfica is founded in Portugal.

March–April

• 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.

• March 31 – British expedition to Tibet – Battle of Guru: British troops under Colonel Francis Younghusband defeat ill-equipped Tibetan troops.

• April 8

• *The Entente Cordiale is signed between the UK and France.

• *Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.

• *Aleister Crowley begins writing Liber Al vel Legis, better known as The Book of the Law, a text central to Thelema. He completes this task on April 10.

• April 19 – The Great Toronto Fire destroys much of that city's downtown, but there are no fatalities.

• April 27 – The Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson.

• April 30 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri (closes December 1).

May–June

• May 4 – U.S. Army engineers begin work on The Panama Canal.

• May 4 – German football club FC Schalke 04 is established.

• May 5 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.

• May 9 – GWR 3440 City of Truro becomes the first railway locomotive to exceed 100 mph.

• May 21 – The International Federation of Association Football, FIFA, is established.

• June 10 – Irish author James Joyce meets his future wife Nora Barnacle.

• June 15 – A fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1,021.

• June 16 – Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.

• June 16 – James Joyce walks to Ringsend with Nora Barnacle; he later uses this date (Bloomsday) as the setting for his novel Ulysses.

• June 28 – The Danish ocean liner SS Norge runs aground and sinks close to Rockall, killing 635, including 225 Norwegian emigrants.

• June 29 – The 1904 Moscow tornado occurs.

July–August

• July 1 – The third Modern Olympic Games opens in St. Louis, Missouri, United States as part of the World's Fair.

• July 21 – The Trans-Siberian railway is completed.

• August 3 – British expedition to Tibet: The British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa in Tibet.

• August 14 – Ismael Montes becomes President of Bolivia.

• August 17 – Russo-Japanese War: A Japanese infantry charge fails to take Port Arthur.

• August 18 – Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by George Reid.

September–October

• September 7 – British expedition to Tibet: The Dalai Lama signs the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty with Colonel Francis Younghusband.

• September 26 – New Zealand dolphin Pelorus Jack is individually protected by Order in Council under the Sea Fisheries Act.

• October 1 – Phi Delta Epsilon, the international medical fraternity, is founded by Aaron Brown and eight of his friends at Cornell University Medical College.

• October 5 – Alpha Kappa Psi, the co-ed Professsional Business Fraternity, is founded on the campus of New York University

• October 15 – Theta Tau, the Professional Engineering Fraternity, is founded at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

• October 19 – Polytechnic University of the Philippines is founded as Manila Business School through the superintendence of the American C.A. O'Reilley.

• October 21 – Russo-Japanese War – Dogger Bank incident: The Russian Baltic Fleet fires on British trawlers it mistakes for Japanese torpedo boats in the North Sea.

• October 27 – The first underground line of the New York City Subway opens.

November–December

• November 8 – U.S. presidential election, 1904: Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt defeats Democrat Alton B. Parker.

• November 24 – The first successful caterpillar track is made (it later revolutionizes construction vehicles and land warfare).

• December 2 – The St. Petersburg Soviet urges a run on the banks: the attempt fails and the executive committee is arrested.

• December 3 – Charles Dillon Perrine discovers Jupiter's largest irregular satellite, Himalia.

• December 4 – The K.U. or Konservativ Ungdom (Young Conservatives) is founded by Carl F. Herman von Rosen in Denmark .

• December 10 – The Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity is founded.

• December 27 – The stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premieres in London.

• December 30 – The East Boston Tunnel opens.

• December 31 – In New York City, the first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square.

Undated

• The Herero Wars begin.

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Joseph F. Smith issues a Second Manifesto against polygamy.

• The subject of alcohol and heart attacks is first investigated.

• The Loftus Road and Griffin Park football stadiums open.

• Stuyvesant High School is founded in New York City.

• The Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, now Bethune-Cookman University, is founded.

• Halford Mackinder presents a paper on "The Geographical Pivot of History" to the Royal Geographical Society of London in which he formulates the Heartland Theory, originating the study of geopolitics.

Ongoing

• Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)

• 1904-1905 Welsh Revival

Births

January–February

• January 1 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (d. 1982)

• January 5 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (d. 1997)

• January 10 – Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (The Wizard of Oz)(d. 1987)

• January 13 – Richard Addinsell, British composer (d. 1977)

• January 14 – Cecil Beaton, English photographer (d. 1980)

• January 18 – Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)

• January 22

• *George Balanchine, Russian-born choreographer (d. 1983)

• *Arkady Gaidar, Russian children's writer (d. 1941)

• January 26

• *Ancel Keys, American scientist (d. 2004)

• *Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1988)

• January 27 – J. J. Gibson, American psychologist (d. 1979)

• January 28 – Canuplin, Filipino magician and bodabil entertainer (d. 1979)

• January 29 – Arnold Gehlen, German philosopher (d. 1976)

• February 1 – S. J. Perelman, American humorist and author (d. 1979)

• February 3

• *Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (d. 1975)

• *Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)

• February 4 – MacKinlay Kantor, American writer and historian (d. 1977)

• February 10 – John Farrow, Australian film director (d. 1963)

• February 11 – Sir Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1983)

• February 16

• *George F. Kennan, American diplomat (d. 2005)

• *Philip Rabinowitz (runner), South African record breaking sprinter (d. 2008)

• February 20 – Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)

• February 29 – Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)

March–April

• March 1 – Glenn Miller, American bandleader (d. 1944)

• March 2 – Dr. Seuss, American children's author (The Cat in the Hat) (d. 1991)

• March 4

• *George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (d. 1968)

• *Joseph Schmidt, Austrian-Hungarian tenor and actor (d. 1942)

• *Chief Tahachee (actor), American-born stage and film actor (d. 1978)

• March 7 – Reinhard Heydrich, German Nazi official (d. 1942)

• March 14 – Doris Eaton Travis, American actress (d. 2010)

• March 20 – B. F. Skinner, American behavioral psychologist (d. 1990)

• March 22 – Itche Goldberg, Yiddish author (d. 2006)

• March 26

• *Gustave Biéler, Swiss-born hero of World War II (executed) (d. 1944)

• *Joseph Campbell, American author on mythology (d. 1987)

• *Xenophon Zolotas, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)

• April 1 – Nikolai Berzarin, Russian Red Army General (d. 1945)

• April 3 – Sally Rand, American dancer and actress (d. 1979)

• April 8 – John Hicks, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)

• April 9 – Sharkey Bonano, American jazz musician (d. 1972)

• April 14 – Sir John Gielgud, English actor (d. 2000)

• April 15 – Arshile Gorky, Armenian-born painter (d. 1948)

• April 16 – Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian actress (d. 1983)

• April 22 – Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (d. 1967)

• April 24 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (d. 1997)

• April 26 – Jimmy McGrory, Scottish footballer (d. 1982)

• April 27 – Cecil Day-Lewis, English poet (d. 1972)

• April 29 – Pedro Vargas, Mexican singer and actor (d. 1989)

May–June

• May 6

• *Moshe Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-born engineer (d. 1984)

• *Harry Martinson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)

• May 8 – John Snagge, British radio personality (d. 1996)

• May 11 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (d. 1989)

• May 17 – Jean Gabin, French actor (d. 1976)

• May 21

• May 22 – Anne de Vries, Dutch writer (d. 1964)

• *Fats Waller, American pianist and comedian (d. 1943)

• *Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (d. 1981)

• May 26 – George Formby, English singer and comedian (d. 1961)

• May 27 – Chuhei Nambu, Japanese athlete (d. 1997)

• June 2

• *Frantisek Planicka, Czech footballer (d. 1996)

• *Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (Tarzan) (d. 1984)

• June 3 – Jan Peerce, American tenor (d. 1984)

• June 6 – Francisco López Merino, Argentine poet (d. 1928)

• June 26 – Peter Lorre, Hungarian-born film actor (d. 1964)

July–August

• July 5 – Ernst Mayr, German-born biologist and author (d. 2005)

• July 6 – Erik Wickberg, General of The Salvation Army (d. 1996)

• July 8 – Henri Cartan, French mathematician (d. 2008)

• July 12 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)

• July 15 – Rudolf Arnheim, German-born author (d. 2007)

• July 28 – Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)

• August 4 – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (d. 1969)

• August 4 – Helen Kane, American singer, dancer, comedienne, and actress (d. 1966)

• August 7 – Ralph Bunche, American diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1971)

• August 12 – Tsarevich Alexei of Russia (d. 1918)

• August 16 – Wendell Meredith Stanley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)

• August 17

• *Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)

• *Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)

• August 21 – Count Basie, American musician and bandleader (d. 1984)

• August 22 – Deng Xiaoping, Chinese leader (d. 1997)

• August 23

• *Viscountess Furness, American socialite twin (d. 1970)

• *Gloria Morgan-Vanderbilt, American socialite twin (d. 1965)

• August 28 – Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer (d. 1980)

• August 29 – Werner Forssmann, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1979)

September–October

• September 9 – Feroze Khan, Pakistani field hockey player (d. 2005)

• September 22 – Joseph Valachi, American gangster (d. 1971)

• September 29 – Greer Garson, English actress (d. 1996)

• October 1

• *A.K. Gopalan, Indian communist leader (d. 1977)

• *Irene Craigmile Bolam, American Amelia Earhart look-alike/believed alias(d. 1982)

• October 3 – Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)

• October 9 – Wally Brown, American actor and comedian (d. 1961)

• October 20 – Tommy Douglas, Canadian politician (d. 1986)

• October 23 – Harvey Penick, American golfer (d. 1995)

• October 25 – Vladimir Peter Tytla, American animator (d. 1968)

• October 27 – Erno Schwarz, Hungarian American soccer player (d. 1974)

November–December

• November 1 – Laura LaPlante, American silent film actress (d. 1996)

• November 2 – Louis Néel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)

• November 4 – Tadeusz Żyliński, Polish technician and textilist (d. 1967)

• November 11 – J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (d. 1960) and Alger Hiss, American Government official

• November 12 – Jacques Tourneur, French director (d. 1977)

• November 14

• *Dick Powell, American actor and singer (d. 1963)

• *Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1988)

• November 16 – Nnamdi Azikiwe, President of Nigeria (d. 1996)

• November 18 – Masao Koga, Japanese composer (d. 1978)

• November 25

• *Lillian Copeland, American athlete (d. 1964)

• *Toni Ortelli, Italian composer and alpinist (d. 2000)

• November 30 – Clyfford Still, American painter (d. 1980)

• December 6 – Eve Curie, French author (d. 2007)

• December 7 – Clarence Nash, American voice actor (d. 1985)

• December 12 – Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, French-born magazine editor and socialite (d. 1981)

• December 18 – George Stevens, American film director (d. 1975)

• December 24 – Joseph M. Juran, American engineer and philanthropist (d. 2008)

• December 25 – Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)

• December 26 – Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (d. 1980)

• December 30 – Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky, Russian composer (d. 1987)

• December 31 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer and actress (d. 1975)

• date unknown

• *Bernard Castro, Italian inventor (d. 1991)

• *Tevfik Esenç, Turkish-born last speaker of the Ubykh language (d. 1992)

Deaths

January–June

• January 2 – James Longstreet, Confederate Civil War general (b. 1821)

• January 10 – Jean-Léon Gérôme, French painter (b. 1824)

• February 8 – Alfred Ainger, English biographer (b. 1837)

• February 15 – Mark Hanna, United States Senator from Ohio (b. 1837)

• February 22 – Leslie Stephen, English writer and critic (b. 1832)

• March 5 – John Lowther du Plat Taylor, British founder of the Army Post Office Corps (b. 1829)

• March 17 – Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, grandson of King George III (b. 1819)

• April 10 – Queen Isabella II of Spain (b. 1830)

• May 1 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (b. 1841)

• May 8 – Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer and motion picture pioneer (b. 1830)

• May 10 – Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh explorer and journalist (b. 1841)

• May 19 – Auguste Molinier, French historian (b. 1851)

• June 4 – George Frederick Phillips, Canadian-born military hero (b. 1862)

• June 12 – Camille de Renesse, Belgian Count (b. 1836)

July–December

• July 3 – Theodor Herzl, Austrian founder of Zionism (b. 1860)

• July 5 – Abai Kunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet (b. 1845)

• July 14

• *Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (b. 1860)

• *Paul Kruger, South African resistance leader (b. 1825)

• July 22 – Wilson Barrett, English actor (b. 1846)

• August 6 – Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music critic (b. 1825)

• August 12 – William Renshaw, British tennis player (b. 1861)

• August 16 – Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, American author of dime fiction (b. 1843)

• August 22 – Kate Chopin, American author (b. 1851)

• August 25 – Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter (b. 1836)

• August 29 – Ottoman Sultan Murad V (b. 1840)

• September 24 – Niels Ryberg Finsen, Icelandic/Faroese/Danish physician and scientist (b. 1860)

• September 26

• *Lafcadio Hearn, American-Japanese author (b. 1850)

• *John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (b. 1848)

• October 4

• *Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (b. 1834)

• *Laurence Hope, English poetess (b. 1865)

• October 18 – Haim Shirman, Russsian-born Israeli professor of medieval Spanish Jewish poetry (d. 1981)

• October 21 – Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss-Algerian explorer (b. 1877)

• November 28 – Fanny Janauschek, Czech actress (b. 1830)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – The Lord Rayleigh

• Chemistry – Sir William Ramsay

• Physiology or Medicine – Ivan Petrovich Pavlov

• Literature – Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray Y Eizaguirre

• Peace – Institut De Droit International