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

* 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1, 500 years after the original games are banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.

* 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 )

* 1968 – Trygve Lie, Norwegian politician, first United Nations Secretary General ( b. 1896 )

** Trygve Lie, Norwegian United Nations Secretary General ( the first ) ( b. 1896 )

Trygve Halvdan Lie (; 16 July 1896 – 30 December 1968 ) was a Norwegian politician, labour leader, government official and author.

Lie was born in Kristiania on 16 July 1896.

Early expressions of Lie theory are found in books composed by Lie with Friedrich Engel and Georg Scheffers from 1888 to 1896.

Ivar Andreas Aasen ( 5 August 1813 – 23 September 1896 ) was a Norwegian philologist, lexicographer, playwright and poet.

Whilst leading this expedition, Jackson and his men were contacted on 17 June 1896, by the Norwegian arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen and his companion Hjalmar Johansen, whom had not been heard of for three years and were presumed dead, who were trying to reach Spitsbergen by kayak.

According to the book Tromsø City History () written by Nils Andreas Ytreberg ( 1896 – 1987 ) ( published in Norwegian ), during the mid-19th century, Balsfjord became the religious home of a group of " mindekirken " or " freechurch dissenters " who split from the state church parish in Tromsø.

In 1937 the Norwegian pathologist Leiv Kreyberg ( 1896 – 1984 ) was allowed to examine one of Reich's bion preparations under the microscope.

* FC Lyn Oslo, Norwegian football club from Oslo established in 1896

Furthermore as an interesting example of the back-and-forth dynamic that exists between literary ekphrasis and art, in 1896 ( eight years after the play was written ) Norwegian painter Edvard Munch painted an image similar to the one described by Ibsen in a painting he entitled ( unsurprisingly enough ) Lady from the Sea.

In August 7, 1896 the Norwegian ship " Seladon " was wrecked against the barrier.

In 1896, Ringnes became a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Ringnes was decorated as Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1896, and upgraded to Commander of the First Class in 1908.

The Krag-Petersson remained in use in the Royal Norwegian Navy for almost 25 years, alongside the Jarmann, and, from 1896, the Krag-Jørgensen.

He was appointed a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1877, Commander Grand Cross 1890 and 1896.

32, No. 3 ( Rustle of Spring ) is a solo piano piece written by the Norwegian composer Christian Sinding ( 1856 – 1941 ) in 1896.

Erik Jørgensen ( 17 May 1848 – 1896 ) was a Norwegian master gunsmith, well known for his cooperation with Ole Herman Johannes Krag in developing the successful Krag-Jørgensen rifle.

The deflection of surface currents was first noticed by the Norwegian oceanographer Fridtjof Nansen during the Fram expedition ( 1893 – 1896 ).

* Norwegian Olympic Museum-Represents all Olympic Games since 1896.

Wilhelm von Tangen Hansteen ( 11 May 1896 – 6 September 1980 ) was a Norwegian Army officer.

Holmes was the daughter of Norwegian immigrant Louis A. Holmes ( born in Norway in October 1862 ), a railroad clerk employed by the Illinois Central Railroad, who had migrated to the United States in 1867, and his wife Sophia ( born April 1869 in Indiana ), and was the sister of Frank O. Holmes ( born June 1889 in Illinois ) and Florence ( born in May 1896 in Illinois ), and two other siblings who died in infancy.

He was one of just three students to be examined in Norwegian and German in late 1896, and had been the only candidate in history the previous year.