1908

1845–1958	Germany [earth sciences]	German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt lays the basis of modern geography with the publication of Kosmos/Cosmos, in which he arranges geographic knowledge in a systematic fashion.
1908	[fiction]	The Scottish writer Kenneth Grahame publishes his children's novel The Wind in the Willows.
1908	Japan [food and drink]	Monosodium glutamate is identified in Japan as a taste enhancer.
1908	United Kingdom [food and drink]	The British confectionery company Cadbury launches the Cadbury's Bournville chocolate bar.
1908	[biology]	English mathematician Godfrey Hardy and German physician Wilhelm Weinberg establish the mathematical basis for population genetics.
1908	USA [materials]	Belgian-born US chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland invents the plastic Bakelite; its insulating and malleable properties, combined with the fact that it does not bend when heated, ensures it has many uses.
1908	Switzerland [materials]	Swiss chemist Jacques Brandenberger creates cellophane, which becomes invaluable in food packaging.
1908	[media and communication]	The Morse code for SOS is formally introduced as the international distress signal - three dashes, three dots, and three dashes.
1908	[painting]	The French artist Henri (Le Douanier) Rousseau paints Football Players.
1908	[painting]	The French artist Pierre Auguste Renoir paints Portrait of Ambroise Vollard.
1908	[painting]	The French artist Georges Braque paints the cubist landscape Trees at L'Estaques, one of a series painted at L'Estaques in France.
1908	[philosophy]	French social philosopher Georges Sorel publishes Réflexions sur la violence/Reflections on Violence.
1908	[physics]	German physicist Hans Geiger and New Zealand-born British physicist Ernest Rutherford develop the Geiger counter, which counts individual alpha particles emitted by radioactive substances.
1908	[physics]	US physicist Percy Williams Bridgman invents equipment that can create atmospheric pressures of 100,000 atmospheres (later 400,000), creating a new field of investigation.
1908	USA [consumer products]	Smith Richardson relaunches Vicks VapoRub in the USA, with the slogan ‘Rub it on, sniff it in, it's good for you, it's made by Presbyterians.’
1908	USA [consumer products]	The US Eck Dynamo & Electric Co. produces the first oscillating electric fan.
1908	Germany [consumer products]	The German company Rowenta launches the first commercial electric iron.
1908	[sculpture]	The Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi sculpts the first of several versions of his work Mademoiselle Pogany.
1908	[solo and chamber music]	The French composer Claude Debussy completes his six piano pieces Children's Corner, which includes Golliwog's Cake Walk.
1908	[sports]	The game of darts is legalized in British public houses.
1908	United Kingdom [unions and associations]	Sir Robert Baden-Powell founds the Scouts, a religious youth organization, in Britain, and publishes the magazine Scouting for Boys.
1908	USA [railways]	The subway system in New York City is expanded, as two further lines are opened.
9 January 1908	[births and deaths]	Simone de Beauvoir, French existentialist writer, philosopher, and feminist, born in Paris, France (–1986).
1 February 1908	Portugal [law and government]	King Carlos I of Portugal and the crown prince are murdered in Lisbon, Portugal, by republicans, and Prince Manuel becomes King Manuel II (–1910).
20 May 1908	[births and deaths]	James Stewart, US actor, born in Indiana, Pennsylvania (–1997).
23 June 1908	Persia [revolution]	In a Russian-backed counter-revolutionary coup, Shah Mohammed Ali overthrows the Persian constitution of December 1906.
30 June 1908	Russian Empire [natural disasters]	An aerial explosion equivalent to 10–15 megatons of TNT flattens approximately 2,000 sq km/1,243 mi of forest near the Tunguska River, Siberia, Russian Empire. No meteorite fragments are discovered but it is thought to have been a fragment of a comet disintegrating in the atmosphere.
24 July 1908	Ottoman Empire [law and government]	Following the revolt of the Young Turk nationalists in Macedonia, the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II restores the Ottoman constitution of 1876.
12 August 1908	USA [motor vehicles]	US car manufacturer Henry Ford of the Ford Motor Company introduces the Model T. Inexpensive (sold for $850), easy to maintain, and mass-produced after 1913, it revolutionizes transportation.
20 August 1908	Belgium [colonies and mandate]	King Leopold II of Belgium transfers the Congo to Belgium, having previously exploited it through a private company.
27 August 1908	[births and deaths]	Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th president of the USA 1963–69, a Democrat, born in Gillespie County, Texas (–1973).
14 September 1908	USA [companies and organizations]	William C Durant of the Buick Motor Company forms the General Motors Company in Detroit, Michigan, as the basis for establishing a conglomerate of car-building companies.
16 September 1908	Austria-Hungary, Russian Empire [diplomacy]	The foreign ministers of Austria and Russia, Count Alois Aehrenthal and Alexander Izvolsky, hold the Buchlau conference. Austria undertakes not to oppose the opening of the Dardanelles to Russian warships and Russia agrees to Austria's proposed annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
5 October 1908	Bulgaria [political events]	King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria declares Bulgaria's independence from the Ottoman Empire and assumes the title of tsar.
6 October 1908	Austria-Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina [colonies and mandate]	Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire, by decree.
7 October 1908	Crete [political events]	In response to events in Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ottoman possession of Crete announces its union with Greece.
15 October 1908	[births and deaths]	John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-born US economist known for his liberal ideas, born in Iona Station, Ontario, Canada.
27 October 1908	United Kingdom, Germany [diplomacy]	The British Daily Telegraph publishes remarks by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in which he states that the German people are hostile to Britain, though he remains a friend. The statement arouses strong feelings in Germany against Britain, and also against the Kaiser for making policy pronouncements without consulting the German chancellor.
November 1908	USA [Christianity]	The Gideon Society, an interdenominational Christian society, begins distributing Bibles in hotel rooms in the USA.
3 November 1908	USA [elections]	The Republican William Howard Taft wins the US presidential election with 321 electoral votes, defeating the Democrat William Jennings Bryan, who polls 162 votes. In the popular vote, Taft polls 7,678,908 votes and Bryan 6,409,104.
14 November 1908	China [law and government]	Emperor Guangxu of China dies, to be followed on 15 November by the Dowager Empress Cixi. P'u-i becomes emperor, with the reactionary Prince Ch'un as regent.
10 December 1908	[births and deaths]	Olivier Messiaen, French composer and organist, born in Avignon, France (–1992).
26 December 1908	USA, Australia, Canada [boxing]	Jack Johnson of the USA becomes the first black fighter to win the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship, beating the defending champion, Tommy Burns of Canada, in 14 rounds in Sydney, Australia.
28 December 1908	Italy [natural disasters]	An earthquake hits the region of the Strait of Messina, between Sicily and South Calabria, Italy, estimated to measure 7.5 on the Richter scale. The towns of Messina in Sicily and Reggio di Calabria on the mainland are the worst hit, and are both devastated, with Reggio di Calabria suffering a tidal wave following the earthquake. Estimates of the death toll vary between 75,000 and 200,000, most deaths occurring in the two towns. It is Europe's worst earthquake.