1900s

Events and Trends

Technology

• Lawrence Hargrave makes the first stable wing design for a heavier-than-air aircraft
• Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first documented flight in a powered heavier-than-air aircraft
• Mass production of automobile
• Wide popularity of home phonograph
• Panama Canal is built by the United States

Science

• Planck's law of black body radiation
• Einstein's theory of special relativity
• Einstein explains Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect

War, peace and politics

• The New Imperialism
• Demand for Home Rule for Ireland
• Second Boer War ends
• British colonies in Australia federate, forming the Commonwealth of Australia
• Russo-Japanese War establishes Japan as a world power
• UK and France sign Entente Cordiale
• The Russian Revolution of 1905

Culture, religion

• Emergence of Cubist and Futurist art