Guglielmo Marconi reports receiving a radio signal in Newfoundland transmitted from Cornwall across the Atlantic.
The first Nobel Prizes are awarded on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death; Wilhelm Röntgen receives the first Nobel Prize in Physics.
Max Planck presents the hypothesis that energy is emitted in discrete quanta, marking the birth of quantum physics.
The British Empire fought the Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State; the war ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging, after tens of thousands of civilians died in concentration camps.
At Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers make the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight.
Marie and Pierre Curie discover two new radioactive elements, polonium and radium, advancing the study of radioactivity.
The United States defeats Spain, gaining Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, while Cuba is freed from Spanish rule.