Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( äl ' fred bern ' härd nōbel ') () ( 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896 ) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer.

* 1896 – Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.

* 1896 – Hans List, Austrian inventor and entrepreneur ( d. 1996 )

* 1896 – Reverend Gary Davis, American singer and guitarist ( d. 1972 )

* 1896 – Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history ( 09: 00 to 09: 45 ) between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.

* 1896 – Faina Ranevskaya, Russian actress ( d. 1984 )

* 1844 – James Henry Greathead, English engineer ( d. 1896 )

* 1896 – Erich Hückel, German physicist ( d. 1980 )

* 1896 – Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist ( d. 1980 )

In 1896 England under the captaincy of W G Grace won the series 2 – 1, and this marked the end of England's longest period of Ashes dominance.

* 1896 – Lorenzo Herrera, Venezuelan singer and composer ( d. 1960 )

* 1988 – Jim Jordan, American actor ( b. 1896 )

* 1896 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American author ( d. 1953 )

* 1896 – Pat Clayton, English surveyor and explorer ( d. 1962 )

* 1896 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian poet and essayist ( d. 1963 )

* 1896 – Gerty Cori, Austrian biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1957 )

* 1896 – Catherine Doherty, Russian-Canadian activist ( d. 1985 )

* 1896 – Paul Outerbridge, American photographer ( d. 1958 )

* 1896 – Léon Theremin, Russian inventor, invented the Theremin ( d. 1993 )

* 1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.

* 1896 – Officially recognised date of the Cry of Pugad Lawin, the start of the Philippine Revolution is made in Pugad Lawin ( Quezon City ), in the province of Manila ( actual date and location is disputed ).

* 1896 – Philippine Revolution: After Spanish victory in the Battle of San Juan del Monte, eight provinces in the Philippines are declared under martial law by the Spanish Governor-General Ramón Blanco y Erenas.

* 1850 – Marcelo H. del Pilar, Filipino writer, journalist, and revolutionary ( d. 1896 )

* 1896 – Raymond Massey, Canadian actor ( d. 1983 )

Melos, long marked as a source of early objects but not systematically excavated until taken in hand by the British School at Athens in 1896, yielded at Phylakope remains of all the Aegean periods, except the Neolithic.

Although historically inaccurate, the legend of the Greek messenger Pheidippides running to Athens with news of the victory became the inspiration for this athletic event, introduced at the 1896 Athens Olympics, and originally run between Marathon and Athens.

The idea of organizing a ' marathon race ' came from Michel Bréal, who wanted the event to feature in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens.

Despite the bad financial situation, Athens staged the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896, which proved a great success.

The first Summer Olympics organized by the International Olympic Committee were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896 ; the first Winter Olympics were in Chamonix, France, in 1924.

However, Coubertin together with A. Mercatis, a close friend of Konstantinos, encouraged the Greek government to utilise part of Konstantinos ' legacy to fund the 1896 Athens Olympic Games separately and in addition to the legacy of Evangelis Zappas that Konstantinos had been executor of.

They also set the date and location for the first modern Olympic Games, the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and the second, the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The work of the IOC increasingly focused on the planning the 1896 Athens Games, and de Coubertin played a background role as Greek authorities took the lead in logistical organisation of the Games in Greece itself, offering technical advice such as a sketch of a design of a velodrome to be used in cycling competitions.

Questions have also been raised about the veracity of Coubertin's account of his role in the planning of the 1896 Athens Games.

He was portrayed by Louis Jourdan in the 1984 NBC miniseries, The First Olympics: Athens 1896.

Olympics in Athens 1896: The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games.

Although rowing's roots as a sport in the modern Olympics can be traced back to the original 1896 games in Athens, it was not until the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal that women were allowed to participate — well after their fellow athletes in similar sports such as swimming, athletics, cycling, and canoeing.

* April 6 – The opening ceremonies of the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympic Games, are held in Athens.

Then, Athens and Paris were chosen to host the 1896 and 1900 Games, respectively.

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was a multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to 15, 1896.

The stories surrounding the events and personalities of these Games were chronicled in the 1984 NBC miniseries, The First Olympics: Athens 1896 starring David Ogden Stiers as William Milligan Sloane and Louis Jourdan as Pierre de Coubertin.

The 1896 Athens Games was funded by the legacies of Evangelis Zappas and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas and by George Averoff who had been specifically requested by the Greek government, through crown prince Constantine, to sponsor the second refurbishment of the Panathinaiko Stadium.

The sport of Marathon was established during the first modern Olympics held in Athens in 1896.

The Olympics: Athens to Athens 1896 – 2004, Sterling Publishing.