1903

align="center" colspan=2 | Years:
1900 1901 1902 - 1903 - 1904 1905 1906

align="center" colspan=2 | Decades:
1870s 1880s 1890s - 1900s - 1910s 1920s 1930s

align="center" | Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasn't had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. See 1696. It was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).

Events

January 1 - Edward VII of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Emperor of India
February 11 - The Oxnard Strike of 1903 represents the first time in U.S. history that a labor union was formed from members of different races.
February 15 - Morris Michtom and his wife Rose introduce the first teddy bear in America.
February 23 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity"
March 2 - In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
March 3 – British admiralty announces plans to build naval base at Rosyth
March 5 – Turkey and Germany signs 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 would later reject the treaty.
March 22 - the US side of the Niagara Falls runs short of water
March 31 - Possible first powered heavier-than-air flight, Richard Pearse, New Zealand (some date it to 1902)
May 18 - Opening of Port of Burgas, Bulgaria.
June 10-11 – Assassination of Serbian King Alexander Obrenović and Queen Draga
July 1-19 - First Tour de France – Maurice Garin wins
July 23 - Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago, Illinois becomes the first owner of a Ford Model A.
April 29 - 30,000,000 cubic metre landslide kills 70 in Frank, Alberta
August 3 - The Ilinden Uprising of the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire breaks out
August 4 - Pope Pius X elected
September 8 - Massacre of Bulgarians by Turkish troops at Monastir is reported.
September 14 - Joseph Chamberlain resigns as Colonial Secretary.
September 24 - Edmund Barton steps down as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeded by Alfred Deakin.
October - Frank Nelson Cole proved that 2^67-1 is composite by factoring it as 193,707,727 * 761,838,257,287 after trying every Sunday for 3 years.
October 6 - The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
October 10 - Foundation of the Women's Social and Political Union
November 3 - With the encouragement of the United States, Panama proclaims itself independent from Colombia. US President Theodore Roosevelt wanted the United States to build the Panama Canal but were blocked by Colombia.
November 6 - USA recognizes independence of Panama
November 17 - The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits into two groups; the Bolsheviks (Russian for "minority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "majority"). (NOTE: Later the Bolsheviks became the majority party).
November 18 - The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the Americans 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 17 - Orville Wright flies aircraft with a petrol engine in first documented successful controlled powered heavier-than-air flight.
December 30 - A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago kills 600.