The first Nobel Prizes are awarded on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death; Wilhelm Röntgen receives the first Nobel Prize in Physics.
Guglielmo Marconi reports receiving a radio signal in Newfoundland transmitted from Cornwall across the Atlantic.
Max Planck presents the hypothesis that energy is emitted in discrete quanta, marking the birth of quantum physics.
Marie and Pierre Curie discover two new radioactive elements, polonium and radium, advancing the study of radioactivity.
Albert Einstein publishes four papers on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity and mass–energy equivalence.
Soldiers fire on peaceful workers marching to the Winter Palace, sparking the Russian Revolution of 1905.
The first Summer Olympics of the modern era are held in Athens, organised by the International Olympic Committee.