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January 2 - Russo-Japanese War: The Russian Army surrenders at Port Arthur, China; an event which shocked the world.

January 22 (January 9 on the Julian calandard is use at the time) - Bloody Sunday massacre of Russian demonstrators at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, one of the triggers of the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905.

January 26 - The Cullinan Diamond is found near Pretoria, South Africa at the Premier Mine.

February 23 - Foundation of Rotary International

March 1 - Australian Conservative leader Richard Butler takes office as Premier of South Australia

March 3 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly (the Duma).

March 4 - US. President Theodore Roosevelt begins full term.

March 5 - Russian troops begin to retreat from Mukden, Manchuria after losing 100,000 troops in 3 days.

March 10 Japanese capture of Mukden (now Shenyang) completes rout of Russian armies in Manchuria.

March 10 ? Cassie Chadwick sentenced for 14 years in Cleveland for fraud

March 17 - Albert Einstein publishes his paper "On a heuristic viewpoint concerning the production and transformation of light" in which he explains the photoelectric effect using the notion of light quanta

March 31 German emperor William II asserts German equality with France in Morocco, triggering the Tangier (or First Moroccan) Crisis.

April 4 - In India, an earthquake near Kangra, kills 20,000.

April - Albert Einstein works on the special theory of relativity as well as the theory of Brownian motion

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May 11 - Albert Einstein submits his doctoral dissertation "On the Motion of Small Particles..." where he explains the Brownian motion

May 13 - Mata Hari debuts in Paris

May 15 - Las Vegas, Nevada is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.

May 27-28 - Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Tsushima - The Japanese fleet under Admiral Heihachiro Togo destroys Russian fleet under Admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rozhdestvenski in this two day battle

June 7 - The Norwegian Parliament declares the union with Sweden dissolved, thus Norway achieves its indepence.

June 14 ? Mutiny in the Russian ironclad Potemkin

June 15 - Princess Margaret of Connaught marries Gustav, Crown Prince of Sweden.

June 30 - Albert Einstein publishes the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" where he discovers special relativity

July 6 - Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the second time.

August 13 - Norway holds referendum in favour of dissolving the union with Sweden.

September 1 - The Canadian province of Alberta is established from the southwestern part of the Northwest Territories.

September 4 - The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is established

September 5 - Russo-Japanese War: Treaty of Portsmouth signed - In New Hampshire a treaty mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt, is signed by victor Japan and defeated party Russia. In the agreement, Russia cedes the island of Sakhalin and port and rail rights in Manchuria to Japan.

October 3 - HMS ''Dreadnought'' is laid down, revolutionizing battleship design and triggering a naval arms race.

October 26 - Sweden agreed to the repeal of the union with Norway.

October 30 - Tsar Nicholas II is forced to grant Russia's first constitution, conceding a national assembly (Duma) with limited powers.

70 Onion Johnnies die when the steamer Hilda sinks off France.

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November 9 - The Province of Alberta, Canada holds its 1st General Election.

November 18 - Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.

November 28 - Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founds Sinn Féin in Dublin as a political party whose goal was the independence for all of Ireland.

December 30 - Bomb kills Frank Steunenberg, ex-governor of Idaho. Case leads to a trial against leaders of the Western Federation of Miners

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Einstein publishes four papers. In particular, he formulates the theory of special relativity and explains the photoelectric effect by quantization. 1905 is regarded as his "miracle year".

The Butcharts begin working on their Japanese Garden addition to their Butchart Gardens.

The title Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is officially recognized by King Edward VII.

Pathé Frères colors black and white films by machine.

Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer banned from Brooklyn Public Library for "bad example"

Druidic rituals begin in Stonehenge

Albert Einhorn introduces novocaine

The first U-boat

The Ancient Egyptian Order of Sciots is formed.

The Fauve art form is formed with leaders such as Henri Matisse and others.

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January-April

January 2 - Michael Tippett, English composer (d. 1998)
January 3 - Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961)
January 8 - Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer (d. 1988)
January 12 - James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist (d. 1997)
January 12 - Tex Ritter, American actor and singer (d. 1974)
January 18 - Joseph Bonanno, American gangster (d. 2002)
January 21 - Christian Dior, French couturier (d. 1957)
January 26 - Charles Lane, American actor
January 26 - Maria von Trapp, Austrian singer (d. 1987)
January 29 - Barnett Newman, American painter (d. 1970)
January 31 - John O'Hara, American writer (d. 1970)
February 1 - Emilio G. Segrè, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
February 2 - Ayn Rand, American author (d. 1982)
February 7 - Paul Nizan, French author (d. 1940)
February 14 - Thelma Ritter, American actress (d. 1969)
February 15 - Harold Arlen, American composer of popular music (d. 1986)
February 23 - Derrick Henry Lehmer, American mathematician (d. 1991)
February 27 - Franchot Tone, American actor (d. 1968)
March 3 - Marie Glory, French Silent Screen Actress
March 6 - Bob Wills, American singer (d. 1975)
March 15 - Berthold Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, German lawyer and Nazi opponent (d. 1944)
March 16 - Elisabeth Flickenschildt, German actress (d. 1977)
March 18 - Thomas Townsend Brown, American scientist (d. 1985)
March 18 - Robert Donat, English actor (d. 1958)
March 18 - Benny Friedman, American football player (d. 1982)
March 19 - Albert Speer, Nazi official (d. 1981)
March 23 - Lale Andersen, German singer (d. 1972)
March 23 - Joan Crawford, American actress (d. 1977)
March 27 - Elsie MacGill, Canadian aeronautical engineer (d. 1980)
April 21 - Edmund G. Brown, Govenor of California (d. 1996)

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May-August

May 3 - Sebastian Shaw, English actor (d. 1994)
May 8 - Red Nichols, American jazz musician (d. 1965)
May 15 - Joseph Cotten, American actor (d. 1994)
May 16 - Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
May 20 - Gerrit Achterberg, Dutch poet (d. 1962)
June 12 - Ray Barbuti, American athlete (d. 1975)
June 23 - Mary Livingstone, American radio comedian & married to Jack Benny (d. 1983)
July 4 - Irving Johnson, American sail training pioneer (d. 1991)
July 5 - Jock Cameron, South African cricketer (d. 1935)
July 12 - Edward Bernds, American director (d. 2000)
Prince John of the United Kingdom (d. 1919)
July 15 - Dorothy Fields, American songwriter (d. 1988)
July 22 - Doc Cramer, Major League Baseball player (d. 1990)
July 23 - Leopold Engleitner, Holocaust Survivor
July 25 - Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born British writer (d. 1994)
July 29 - Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish United Nations Secretary-General (d. 1961)
August 2 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (d. 1963)
August 5 - Wassily Leontief, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
August 3 - Franz König, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (d. 2004)
August 8 - André Jolivet, French composer (d. 1974)
August 11 - Erwin Chargaff, Austrian biochemist (d. 2002)
August 16 - Marian Rejewski, Polish mathematician and cryptologist (d. 1980)
August 20 - Jean Gebser, author, linguist and poet (d. 1973)
August 21 - Friz Freleng, American animator (d. 1995)
August 23 - Constant Lambert, British composer (d. 1951)
August 29 - Dhyan Chand, Indian hockey legend. (d. 1979)
August 31 - Dore Schary, American film writer, director, and producer (d. 1980)

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September-December

September 1 - Elvera Sanchez, Puerto Rican dancer (d.2000)
September 3 - Carl David Anderson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
September 18 - Eddie Anderson, American actor (d. 1977)
September 18 - Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (d. 1990)
September 22 - Eugen Sänger, Austrian aerospace engineer (d. 1964)
September 22 - Haakon Lie, Norwegian Politician
September 24 - Severo Ochoa, Spanish–American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
September 26 - Emilio Navarro, Puerto Rican Baseball Player
September 30 - Savitri Devi, Greek writer and National Socialist philosopher (d. 1982)
September 30 - Nevill Francis Mott, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
September 30 - Michael Powell, British director (d. 1990)
October 5 - Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (d. 1998)
October 23 - Felix Bloch, Swiss-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
November 4 - Dragutin Tadijanović, Croatian Poet
November 7 - William Alwyn, English composer (d. 1985)
November 9 - Erika Mann, oldest daughter of Thomas Mann (d. 1969)
November 15 - Mantovani, Italian-born conductor and arranger (d. 1980)
November 17 - Queen Astrid of Belgium (d. 1935)
November 26 - Bob Johnson, baseball player (d. 1982)
December 11 - Gilbert Rowland, Mexican-born American actor (d. 1994)
December 17 - Simo Häyhä, The most sucessfull sniper of all time. (d. 2002)
December 24 - Howard Hughes, American film maker, industrialist, aircraft designer, and airline founder (d. 1976)
December 27 - Leonard Goldenson, American television executive (d. 1999)
December 30 - Jule Styne, English-born composer (d. 1994)

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Unknown dates

Sada Abe, Japanese actress (d. 1970)
Jacob Gens, head of Vilna Ghetto Judenrat (d. 1943)

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Deaths

January 14 - Ernst Abbe, German physicist (b. 1840)
January 19 - Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher (b. 1817)
February 4 - Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor (b. 1841)
March 6 - John Henninger Reagan, American Confederate politician (b. 1818)
March 24 - Jules Verne, French author (b. 1828)
May 9 - Mrs. Jarvis, model for Mother's Day
June 3 - James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission (b. 1832)
June 22 - Francis Lubbock, Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
July 8 - Walter Kittredge, American musician and composer (b. 1834)
August 14 - Simeon Solomon, British artist (b. 1840)
September 18 - George MacDonald, Scottish author and poet, Christian minister (b. 1824)
October 13 - Henry Irving, English actor (b. 1838)
October 29 - Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (b. 1873)
Muhammad Abduh, Egyptian philosopher and jurist (b. 1849)

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Marriages

January 24 - Gordon Kahn & Barbara Brodie
January 26 - John J. Pershing & Helen Frances Warren
March 16 - Guglielmo Marconi & Beatrice O'Brien
March 17 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt & Eleanor Roosevelt
April 4 - Evelyn Nesbit & Harry Kendall Thaw
April 16 - Viola Allen & Peter C. Duryea
May 2 - Anne Sullivan & John Macy
June 6 - Prince Hohenzollern & Cecilie Auguste Marie Herzogin von Mecklenburg-Schwerin
August 15 - Decima Moore & Frederick Gordon Guggisberg
October 4 - Grace Coolidge & Calvin Coolidge
November 19 - Charmian London & Jack London
November 21 - Zane Grey & Lina Elise Roth
November 28 - Gus Edwards & Lillian Boulanger
December 24 - Max Fleischer & Essie Goldstein

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Nobel Prizes

Physics - Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard

Chemistry - Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer

Medicine - Robert Koch

Literature - Henryk Sienkiewicz

Peace - Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita Von Suttner