office 23
Charles Fort: A Fortean Chronology, 1903.
The year 1903 had the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar has not had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600.
January
- January 1: Edward VII of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Emperor of India.
- January 19: The first west-east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east-west broadcast having been made in 1901).
February
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February 3: The first of a series of outrages occurs when a valuable horse is attacked, Wyrley, Staffordshire, England. By way of anonymous letters suspicion falls upon George Edalji, a young lawyer and son of a Hindu. (Books878)
- February 11: The Oxnard Strike of 1903 becomes the first time in U.S. history that a labor union is formed from members of different races.
- February 12 - March 1: Dust and discoloured rains fall along the western coast of Africa, upon Europe and England. (Books805)
- February 23: Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
March
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March 1: A light like a little star, flashing intermittently in the lunar crater Aristarchus. (Books495)
- March 2: In New York City, the Martha Washington Hotel, the first hotel exclusively for women, opens.
- March 3: In the lunar crater of Aistarchus, a light flashing intermittently is seen by M. Rey of Marseille. (Books495)
- March 5: Turkey and Germany sign an agreement to build the Constantinople-Baghdad Railway.
- March 14: The Hay-Herran Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate later rejects the treaty.
- March 19: The oldest Turkish football club Besiktas JK is founded in Istanbul.
April
- April 29: A 30-million-m3 landslide kills 70 in Frank, Alberta.
May
- May 18: The port of Burgas, Bulgaria opens.
- May 22: The White Star Liner, SS Ionic, is launched.
June
- June 11: Serbian King Alexander Obrenovic and Queen Draga are assassinated.
- June 14: The town of Heppner, Oregon, was nearly destoyed by a cloud burst that resulted in a flash flood.
July
- July 1-19: Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.
- July 7: The British take over the Fulani Empire.
August
- August 2: The Ilinden Uprising of the Macedonians in the Ottoman Empire breaks out.
- August 4: Pope Pius X succeeds Pope Leo XIII as the 257th pope.
- August 10: The Paris Metro train fire takes place.
September
- September 11: The first stock car event is held at the Milwaukee Mile.
- September 14: Joseph Chamberlain resigns as British Colonial Secretary, in order to campaign publicly for "Imperial Preference".
- September 24: Edmund Barton steps down as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by Alfred Deakin.
- September 27: The wreck of the Old 97 engine at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia, which kills 9 people, inspires a ballad and song.
October
- October 6: The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
November
- November 4: With the encouragement of the United States, Panama proclaims itself independent from Colombia.
- November 13: The United States recognizes the independence of Panama.
- November 17: The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits into two groups; the Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").
- November 18: The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the U.S. exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
- November 23: Colorado Governor James Hamilton Peabody sends the state militia into the town of Cripple Creek to break up a miners' strike.
December
- December 17 – Orville Wright flies an aircraft with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the first documented, successful, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight.
- December 30 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago kills 600.