January 1903

• King Edward VII of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Emperor of India, a title first established during the reign of his mother, Queen Victoria.[1]

Tsiolokovsky

• Konstantin Tsiolkovski's article, Explorations of outer space with the help of reaction apparatuses, is published, describing his Basic Rocket Equation.[2]
• In the United States, Syracuse Athletic Club defeats Orange Athletic Club 36–0 at Madison Square Garden, to win the 1902–03 World Series of Football.

• Born: Kane Tanaka, oldest living person in the world

• The Norwegian ship Remittant is towed into quarantine in Queenstown, Ireland, as a result of an outbreak of beriberi among the crew.

Herr Oberoffizial Hitler

• Died: Alois Hitler, 65, Austrian civil servant, father of Adolf Hitler (suspected pleural hemorrhage)

• Died: Alexandr Aksakov, 70, Russian writer

• Died: Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, 77, Spanish politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1825)

• Born: Maurice Abravanel, Greek conductor, in Thessaloniki (died 1993)

• The Irish cargo ship SS Palmas is last sighted whilst on a voyage from Liverpool, England, to Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The vessel is never seen again and is presumed to have sunk in the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of all 39 crew.[3]

• Born: Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor, in Wakefield (died 1975)

• Born: Alan Paton, South African author and anti-apartheid activist, in Pietermaritzburg (died 1988)

• Born: Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist, in Simsky Zavod (died 1960)
• Born: Andrew J. Transue, American Congressman and attorney (Morissette v. United States) died 1995

• The Hotel National, Moscow, designed by Alexander Ivanov and financed by The Varvarinskoe Joint-Stock Company of Householders,[4] opens to customers.

• Born: William Grover-Williams, French racing driver and war hero, in Montrouge (died 1945)

• 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).

• In the New York election to the United States Senate, incumbent Republican Senator Thomas C. Platt is re-elected by the New York State Senate.[5]

• The American tugboat Leyden founders in heavy fog in the Atlantic Ocean off Block Island, Rhode Island, while returning from Puerto Rico.
• Robert Reid is appointed to the Australian Senate for Victoria to replace the recently deceased Senator Sir Frederick Sargood.[6]

• Born: Fritz Houtermans, Polish physicist (d. 1966)

• Born: Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician, in Cucunubá or Manta[7] (assassinated 1948)

• Born: John Eccles, Australian neuropsychologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, in Melbourne (died 1997)

• Esmond Train Wreck: Fourteen people lose their lives when the Crescent City Express, bound for Benson, Arizona, US, collides head-on with the Pacific Coast Express, bound for Tucson, Arizona. The accident was caused by a communication failure.[8]
• Died:
  • Augusta Holmès, 55, French composer (cardiac arrest)
  • Robert Planquette, 54, French composer[9]

An inaugural concert is held at the newly-opened Palais des Fêtes (then called "Sängerhaus") in Strasbourg - then in Germany, now in France.[10]