June 30 — at 7 a.m. local time, over a vast area of Central Siberia, in the interfluve of the Lower Tunguska and the Lena, a giant fireball-bolide flew by—the Tunguska meteorite. Its flight was accompanied by sound and light effects and ended in an explosion whose power is estimated at 40–50 megatons, corresponding to the energy of the most powerful (ever detonated) hydrogen bomb. The blast wave flattened the forest within a radius of 40 kilometers, killed animals, and injured people. Because of the intense flash of light and the flow of scorching gases, a forest fire broke out, completing the devastation of the area.
Across a huge expanse—from the Yenisei River to the Atlantic coast of Europe—over several consecutive nights, unprecedented in scale and utterly unusual luminous phenomena were observed, which went down in history as the “bright nights of the summer of 1908.” Scientists proposed many hypotheses about the explosion; today there are about a hundred. Supporters of the first believe that a giant meteorite fell to Earth. Beginning in 1927, the first Soviet scientific expeditions searched for its traces in the blast area. However, there was no familiar meteor crater at the site. Later expeditions noted that the area of felled forest has a characteristic “butterfly” shape, oriented from east–southeast to west–northwest. Study of this area showed that the explosion occurred not upon the body’s impact with the Earth’s surface, but earlier, in the air at an altitude of 5–10 kilometers. Astronomer V. Fesenkov proposed a version of the Earth colliding with a comet. According to another version, it was a body with great kinetic energy, low density, low strength, and high volatility, which led to its rapid disintegration and evaporation as a result of sharp deceleration in the lower dense layers of the atmosphere. However, the nature of the Tunguska phenomenon still has not been determined precisely. And in memory of this event, in 2016, by decision of the UN, a new international date was established—Asteroid Day.
January 4 — a charity concert was held at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. At the concert, the bright star of Russian ballet Anna Pavlova performed for the first time the choreographic miniature “The Dying Swan.” The piece was staged for Anna Pavlova by Mikhail Fokine to music by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns.
May 19 — on the stage of the Paris “Grand Opera,” Sergei Diaghilev staged M. Mussorgsky’s opera “Boris Godunov” with Fyodor Chaliapin in the title role.
May 22 — the Wright brothers received a patent for their flying machine.
May 26 — in Persia, the British businessman William D’Arcy began extracting the first oil in the Middle East.
October 28 — the first short narrative film in the history of the Russian Empire, “Stenka Razin (Ponizovaya Volnitsa),” was released in cinemas.
November 14 — Albert Einstein presented the quantum theory of light.
Ernest Rutherford and Hans Geiger invent a device later known as the Geiger counter.
D. E. Brandenberger patents the invention of cellophane in France.
In Japan, it was discovered that monosodium glutamate enhances the taste of various food products.
In the United States, the electric iron and disposable paper cups were invented.
March 7 — Cincinnati Mayor Mark Breit, speaking before the city council, stated that “women are physically incapable of driving a car.”
May 28 — Ian Fleming was born, the author of a series of novels about James Bond.
October 5 — Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin was born, a pilot, one of the first Heroes of the Soviet Union, a participant in the rescue of the crew of the “Chelyuskin”; he led the training of cosmonauts.
November 23 — Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov was born, a children’s writer, the creator of Neznayka.
December 13 — Rostislav Yanovich Plyatt was born, an actor of the Mossovet Theatre.