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

Culture, religion

• Emergence of Cubist and Futurist art

People

World Leaders

• Emperor Franz Josef (Austria-Hungary)
• Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Canada)
• Emperor Wilhelm II (Germany)
• King Victor Emmanuel III (Italy)
• Pope Leo XIII
• Pope Pius X
• Emperor Nicholas II (Russia)
• Queen Victoria (United Kingdom)
• King Edward VII (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Lord Salisbury (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (United Kingdom)
• President William McKinley (United States)
• President Theodore Roosevelt (United States)

Important Personalities

• Sigmund Freud

Entertainers

• Eugen d'Albert.
• Hugo Alfvén.
• Egbert Van Alstyne.
• Broncho Billy Anderson.
• Fatty Arbuckle.
• Kurt Atterberg.
• Béla Bartók.
• Nora Bayes.
• Irving Berlin.
• Francis Boggs.
• Frank Bridge.
• Alfred Bryan.
• Vincent P. Bryan.
• Ferruccio Busoni.
• Enrico Caruso.
• Gustave Charpentier.
• Thurland Chattaway.
• Francesco Cilea.
• Will D. Cobb.
• George M. Cohan.
• Bob Cole.
• Frederick Converse.
• Henry Creamer.
• Walford Davies.
• Peter Dawson.
• Claude Debussy.
• Frederick Delius.
• Paul Dresser.
• Antonin Dvorak.
• Gus Edwards.
• Edward Elgar.
• August Enna.
• Manuel de Falla.
• Geraldine Farrar.
• Fred Fisher.
• Paul Le Flem.
• Rudolf Friml.
• Julius Fucik.
• Amelita Galli-Curci.
• Mary Garden.
• Edward German.
• Alexander Glazunov.
• Emilio de Gogorza.
• Percy Grainger.
• Enrique Granados.
• D. W. Griffith.
• Guy d'Hardelot.
• Hamilton Harty.
• The Haydn Quartet.
• Anna Held.
• Victor Herbert.
• Max Hoffmann.
• Gustav Holst.
• Abe Holzmann.
• David Horsley.
• Mississippi John Hurt.
• Jenö Huszka.
• Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov.
• Carrie Jacobs-Bond.
• William Jerome.
• J. Rosamond Johnson.
• James Weldon Johnson.
• Scott Joplin.
• Gus Kahn.
• Jerome Kern.
• Rudyard Kipling.
• Carl Laemmle.
• Harry Lauder.
• Leadbelly.
• Franz Lehár.
• Ruggiero Leoncavallo.
• Paul Lincke.
• Gustav Mahler.
• Arthur Marshall.
• Jules Massenet.
• Nikolai Karlovich Medtner.
• Nellie Melba.
• Georges Méliès.
• Kerry Mills.
• Billy Murray.
• Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin.
• Carl Nielsen.
• Jack Norworth.
• Vitezslav Novák.
• Maude Nugent.
• Sidney Olcott.
• Charles Pathé.
• Edwin S. Porter.
• Giacomo Puccini.
• Sergei Rachmaninoff.
• Maurice Ravel.
• Ottorino Respighi.
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
• Landon Ronald.
• Paul Sarebresole.
• Arnold Schoenberg.
• Jean Schwartz.
• James Scott.
• Alexander Scriabin.
• William Selig.
• Chris Smith.
• Harry B. Smith.
• Ethel Smyth.
• John Philip Sousa.
• George K. Spoor.
• Charles Villiers Stanford.
• Andrew B. Sterling.
• Oscar Strauss.
• Richard Strauss.
• Igor Stravinsky.
• Leslie Stuart.
• Josef Suk.
• Sergei Taneyev.
• Albert Von Tilzer.
• Harry Von Tilzer.
• Tom Turpin.
• Edgar Varèse.
• Vesta Victoria.
• Anton Webern.
• Percy Wenrich.
• Bert Williams.
• Harry Williams.
• Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari.
• Amy Woodforde-Finden.
• Israel Zangwill.
• Charles A. Zimmerman.