List of Famous people who died in 1908

Andrew Graham, born in Irvinestown County Fermanagh, Ireland, was an Irish astronomer, orbit computer and discoverer of the asteroid 9 Metis.

Victorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play. He also wrote several plays that were made into popular 19th-century operas such as La Tosca (1887) on which Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca (1900) is based, and Fédora (1882) and Madame Sans-Gêne (1893) that provided the subjects for the lyrical dramas Fedora (1898) and Madame Sans-Gêne (1915) by Umberto Giordano.

Ivan Romanovich Tarkhanov or Ivane Tarkhnishvili was a Georgian physiologist and science populariser from the Tarkhan-Mouravi noble family. He led the Department of Physiology at the Academy of Military Medicine from 1877 to 1895 and authored a slew of articles on physiology for the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. Among his numerous contributions was the discovery of the skin galvanic reflex (1889). However, Tarkhnishvili's most significant contribution was the discovery of the influence of X-rays on the central nervous system, animal behavior, the heart and circulation, and embryonic development (1896-1903). Indeed, these works have given rise to a new field in science as Radiobiology.

Lawrence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse, KP, FRS was a member of the Irish peerage and an amateur astronomer. His name is often given as Laurence Parsons.

John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, was a British aristocrat and statesman who served as the first governor-general of Australia, in office from 1901 to 1902. He was previously Governor of Victoria from 1889 to 1895.

Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire, styled Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1834 and 1858 and Marquess of Hartington between 1858 and 1891, was a British statesman. He has the distinction of having served as leader of three political parties: as Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons (1875–1880), of the Liberal Unionist Party (1886–1903) and of the Unionists in the House of Lords (1902–1903). After 1886 he increasingly voted with the Conservatives. He declined to become prime minister on three occasions, because the circumstances were never right. Historian Roy Jenkins said he was "too easy-going and too little of a party man." He held some passions, but he rarely displayed them regarding the most controversial issues of the day.