Japanese torpedo boats launched a surprise night attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur, opening the Russo-Japanese War without a formal declaration.

The U.S. Senate ratified the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, granting the United States control over a strip of land through Panama to build the canal.

French astronomers used cannon-fire timing experiments to refine the accepted speed of sound in air with newly precise instrumentation.

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened in St. Louis, a sprawling world's fair that introduced ice cream cones, iced tea, and the 1904 Olympic Games to American culture.

The United States formally purchased French assets and equipment for the Panama Canal project, inheriting a colossal engineering effort that had already killed thousands.

Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain, later famous for melting clocks and a waxed, upturned mustache.

Salvador Dalí, the Spanish surrealist painter behind melting clocks and dreamlike landscapes, was born in Figueres, Catalonia.

American engineers formally began construction of the Panama Canal, resuming a project that had already claimed thousands of lives under French management.

New York's first underground rapid transit line opened, carrying 150,000 passengers on its first day and transforming the growing metropolis.