Major Events
- Jan 15 Abdulaziz Ibn Saud leads 40 men over the walls of Riyadh and takes the city, marking the beginning of the Third Saudi State
- Jan 30 Britain and Japan sign a treaty after months of negotiating which commits each country to supporting an independent China and Korea, although it acknowledges Japan's 'special interest' in Korea
- Mar 4 American Automobile Association (AAA) founded in Chicago
- Apr 20 Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride
- May 8 Mount Pelée on the French overseas island of Martinique erupts, wiping out the city of Saint-Pierre, killing 30,000 and leaving only two survivors
- May 31 Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal
- More 1902 Events
1902 in Music
- Mar 8 1st performance of Jean Sibelius' 2nd Symphony, his most popular, by the Helsinki Philharmonic Society
- Mar 18 Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso becomes 1st well-known performer to make a record
- Apr 30 Claude Debussy's only completed opera "Pelléas et Mélisande" premieres at the Salle Favart in Paris by the Opéra-Comique, conducted by André Messager
- Jun 16 "The Wizard of Oz" musical first opens in Chicago, Illinois
- Dec 29 Scot Joplin copyrights "The Entertainer" and several other piano rag compositions through the US Copyright Office
1902 in Sport
- Jan 1 1st Rose Bowl, Tournament Park, Pasadena, California: Michigan beats Stanford, 49-0; MVP: Neil Snow, Michigan, FB
- Nov 20 Geo Lefevre and Henri Desgrange create Tour de France bicycle race
Did You Know?
Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" is published by Frederick Warne & Co. in London
Georgy Malenkov
Charles Lindbergh
John Steinbeck
Carlo Gambino
Ayatollah Khomeini
Albert Anastasia
William Wyler
George Murphy
Norma Shearer
Leni Riefenstahl
Margaret Hamilton
Ralph Richardson
Langston Hughes
Richard Rodgers
Gene Sarazen
Ethelda Bleibtrey
Bobby Jones
Howie Morenz
Ray Kroc
Eddie ShoreMore People Born in 1902
Fun Fact About 1902
In Australia, the whole nation observes a 'day of humiliation' and prays for rain, as a terrible drought kills livestock and threatens crops; rain begins to appear on 10 September
Charles Lewis Tiffany
Cecil Rhodes
Rudolf Virchow
Levi Strauss
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Thomas NastMore 1902 Deaths
Famous Weddings in 1902
- Feb 11 US military leader George Marshall (22) weds Elizabeth Carter Coles in San Antonio, Texas
- Mar 9 Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (41) marries Alma Schindler (22) in Vienna, Austria
- Apr 10 Physicist Robert A. Millikan (34) weds Greta Blanchard
More Weddings in 1902
Nicholas II
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Theodore Roosevelt
Wilhelm II