1906 births

Events

January–February

* January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, and establish a national assembly, the Majlis.
* January 16– April 7 – The Algeciras Conference convenes, to resolve the First Moroccan Crisis between France and Germany.
* January 22 – The strikes a reef off Vancouver Island, Canada, killing over 100 (officially 136) in the ensuing disaster.
* January 31 – The Ecuador–Colombia earthquake (8.8 on the Moment magnitude scale), and associated tsunami, cause at least 500 deaths.
* February 7 – is launched, sparking a naval race between Britain and Germany.
* February 11
** Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical '' Vehementer Nos'', denouncing the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State.
** Two British members of a poll tax collecting expedition are killed near Richmond, Natal, sparking the Bambatha Rebellion.

March–April

* March 4 – Native American tribal governments are terminated in Indian Territory, a prerequisite for creating the US state of Oklahoma in 1907.
* March 10 – Courrières mine disaster: An explosion in a coal mine in France kills 1,060.
* March 18 – In France, Romanian inventor Traian Vuia becomes the first person to achieve an unassisted takeoff in a heavier-than-air powered monoplane, but it is incapable of sustained flight.
* April 14 – The Azusa Street Revival, the primary catalyst for the revival of Pentecostalism this century, opens in Los Angeles.
* April 18
** The San Francisco Earthquake (estimated magnitude 7.8) on the San Andreas Fault destroys much of San Francisco, California, killing at least 3,000, with 225,000–300,000 left homeless, and $350 million in damages.
** Xerox, the global digital office machine brand, is founded in Rochester, New York as the Haloid Photographic Company.Online Fact Book: Xerox at a Glance
, xerox.com. Article retrieved December 13, 2006.
* April 23 – In the Russian Empire, the Fundamental Laws are announced at the first state Duma.

May–June

* May 27 – The first inmates are moved to the Culion leper colony, by the American Insular Government of the Philippine Islands.
* May 29 – Karl Staaff steps down as Prime Minister of Sweden, over the issue of expanded voting rights. He is replaced by right-wing naval officer and public official Arvid Lindman.
* June 7 – Cunard liner is launched in Glasgow, as the world's largest ship.
* June 26 – The first Grand Prix is held in Le Mans, France.

July–August

* July 6 – The Second Geneva Convention meets.
* July 12 – Alfred Dreyfus is exonerated. He is reinstalled in the French Army on July 21, thus ending the Dreyfus affair.
* July 20 – In Finland, a new electoral law is ratified, guaranteeing the country the first and equal right to vote in the world. Finnish women become the first in Europe to receive the right to vote.
* August 4 – The first Imperial German Navy submarine, ''U-1'', is launched.
* August 16 – 1906 Valparaíso earthquake: A magnitude 8.2 earthquake in Valparaíso, Chile leaves approximately 20,000 injured.
* August 22 – The first Victor Victrola phonographic record player is manufactured.
* August 23 – Unable to control a rebellion, Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma requests United States intervention. This leads to the Second Occupation of Cuba, which lasts until 1909.

September–October

* September 11 – Mahatma Gandhi coins the term ''Satyagraha'', to characterize the nonviolence movement in South Africa.
* September 18 – A typhoon and tsunami kill an estimated 10,000 in Hong Kong.
* September 30 – The first Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning is held, starting in Paris. The winning team, piloting the balloon ''United States'', lands in Fylingdales, Yorkshire, England.
* October 1 – The Grand Duchy of Finland becomes the first nation to include the right of women to stand as candidates, when it adopts universal suffrage.
* October 6 – The Majlis of Iran convenes for the first time.
* October 11 – A United States diplomatic crisis with Japan arises, when the San Francisco public school board orders Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools ( it is resolved by next year).
* October 16 – Imposter Wilhelm Voigt impersonates a Prussian officer, and takes over the city hall in Köpenick for a short time.
* October 23 – An aeroplane of Alberto Santos-Dumont takes off at Bagatelle in France, and flies 60 meters (200 feet). This is the first officially recorded powered flight in Europe.
* October 28 – The Union Minière du Haut Katanga, a Belgian mining trust, is created in the Congo.

November–December

* November 1 – International Exhibition opens in Christchurch, New Zealand.
* November 3 – '' SOS'' becomes an international distress signal.
* November 22 – Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin introduces agrarian reforms, aimed at creating a large class of land-owning peasants.
* December 4 – Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity forms at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; it is the first Black Greek-lettered collegiate order of its kind.
* December 15 – The London Underground's Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.
* December 22 – The 7.9 1906 Manasi earthquake in Xinjiang, China kills nearly 300 people.
* December 24 – Reginald Fessenden makes the first radio broadcast: a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech, from Brant Rock, Massachusetts.
* December 26 – The world's first feature film, '' The Story of the Kelly Gang'', is first shown, at the Melbourne Athenaeum in Australia.
* December 30 – The All-India Muslim League is founded as a political party in Dhaka in the British Raj; it becomes a driving force for the creation of an independent Pakistan.

Date unknown

* The BCG vaccine for tuberculosis is first developed.
* Richard Oldham argues that the Earth has a molten interior.
* Construction begins on the modern-day Great Mosque of Djenné.
* The Simplo Filler Pen Company is founded, later to become the Montblanc Company in Germany.
* HaRishon Le Zion-Yafo Association is officially founded as a sports club in Palestine, predecessor of Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel).

Births

January–February

* January 6 – Walter Battiss, South African artist (d. 1982)
* January 11 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist (d. 2008)
* January 12 – Eric Birley, British historian and archaeologist (d. 1995)
* January 13 – Zhou Youguang, Chinese linguist (d. 2017)
* January 14 – William Bendix, American film, radio, and television actor (d. 1964)
* January 15 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)
* January 16 – Diana Wynyard, English actress (d. 1964)
* January 21 – Igor Moiseyev, Russian choreographer (d. 2007)
* January 22 – Robert E. Howard, American author (d. 1936)
* January 28 – Pat O'Callaghan, Irish athlete (d. 1991)
* February 4
** Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German religious, resistance leader (d. 1945)
** Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (d. 1997)
* February 5 – John Carradine, American actor (d. 1988)
* February 7
** Oleg Antonov, Soviet aircraft designer (d. 1984)
** Puyi, Last Emperor of China (d. 1967)
* February 8 – Chester Carlson, American physicist, inventor (d. 1968)
* February 10
** Lon Chaney Jr., American actor (d. 1973)
** Erik Rhodes, American actor and singer (d. 1990)
* February 14 – Nazim al-Kudsi, 26th Prime Minister of Syria and 14th President of Syria (d. 1998)
* February 17
** Mary Brian, American actress (d. 2002)
** Galo Plaza, 29th President of Ecuador (d. 1987)
* February 18 – Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician (d. 1980)
* February 22 – Helge Kjærulff-Schmidt, Danish actor (d. 1982)
* February 26 – Madeleine Carroll, British actress (d. 1987)
* February 28 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)

March–April

* March 1
** Phạm Văn Đồng, Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2000)
** Abdus Sattar, 8th President of Bangladesh (d. 1985)
* March 6 – Lou Costello, American actor (d. 1959)
* March 7 – Elmar Lipping, Estonian statesman, soldier (d. 1994)
* March 8 – Victor Hasselblad, Swedish inventor, photographer (d. 1978)
* March 12 – Yin Shun, Chinese Buddhist master (d. 2005)
* March 13 – Dave Kaye, British pianist (d. 1996)''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007'' atabase on-line London, England: General Register Office.
* March 16 – Francisco Ayala, Spanish writer (d. 2009)
* March 17
** Brigitte Helm, German film actress (d. 1996)
** Ermance Rejebian, Armenian American book reviewer, lecturer, broadcaster, and writer (d. 1989)
* March 19
** Adolf Eichmann