When was the 1900s

Go to teddy bear in A New Dictionary of Eponyms 1 ed. The first Aswan dam, at this time the world's largest, is completed on the Nile.

Joseph Conrad publishes a collection of stories including Heart of Darkness , a sinister tale based partly on his own journey up the Congo. The English painter G. Watts is made a founding member of the Order of Merit. Cuba is forced to accept a permanent US military presence in Guantanamo Bay. Lenin's supporters become known as the Bolsheviks 'majority' as opposed to the Mensheviks 'minority' after a split at the party's Second Congress.

Go to radiotherapy in A Dictionary of Physics 6 ed. Gertrude Stein leaves the USA to share with her brother an apartment in Paris that soon becomes a literary and artistic salon.

Go to Stein, Gertrude 3 Feb. Go to Pankhurst, Emmeline b. Erskine Childers has a best-seller in The Riddle of the Sands , a thriller about a planned German invasion of Britain. King Alexander and Queen Draga of Serbia are murdered in their palace by army officers. In a paper to a congress in Madrid, on the 'psychology and psychopathology of animals', Ivan Pavlov announces his discovery of the conditioned reflex.

Henry James publishes The Ambassadors , the second of his three last novels written in rapid succession. Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy identify the phenomenon of radioactive half-life. Go to half-life in World Encyclopedia 1 ed. Edwin S. Go to cinema in World Encyclopedia 1 ed. Giuseppe Sarto is elected pope and takes the name Pius X. British philosopher G. Moore publishes Principia Ethica , an attempt to apply logic to ethics. Go to Moore, G.

A US warship appears off the coast of Panama in support of rebels declaring an independent republic. William Harley and three Davidson brothers begin the commercial production in Milwaukee of motorcycles, but complete only three by the end of the year.

US author W. Go to Du Bois, W. Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven invents the galvanometer, or electrocardiograph, for recording the electrical impulses within the heart muscle. The Pit , the second volume of an uncompleted trilogy by US novelist Frank Norris, is published posthumously.

The first World Series is played between nine leading baseball teams from the National League and the American League. Britain's first national motor show is organized at the Crystal Palace, moving two years later to Olympia. The USA is granted exclusive control in perpetuity of a ten-mile corridor across Panama, suitable for a canal. Work begins on England's first garden city, at Letchworth, based on the theories of Ebenezer Howard.

Orville Wright travels 40 yards in the first successful powered flight, at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. The annual Prix Goncourt is established in France, in accordance with the will of Edmond de Goncourt. Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard , is staged by Stanislavsky just a few months before the author's death.

Finnish architect Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen wins the competition to build Helsinki's railway station. Charles Stewart Rolls, a keen driver, meets electrical engineer Henry Royce in a historic encounter in Manchester.

John Christian Watson becomes Australia's first Labor prime minister, leading a minority government that survives for only four months. Joseph Conrad publishes his novel Nostromo , about a revolution in South America and a fatal horde of silver. France and Britain sign an Entente Cordiale, resolving several colonial disputes and laying the foundation for a new alliance.

Go to entente cordiale in A Dictionary of World History 2 ed. The German general Lothar von Trotha drives Herrero people to slow death in the Kalahari desert. Henry James publishes his last completed novel, The Golden Bowl. Constantine Cavafy prints fourteen of his poems in a pamphlet for private distribution. British troops under Francis Younghusband enter Tibet's holy city of Lhasa.

Theodore Roosevelt wins the US presidential election in his own right. US inventor King C. Gillette receives a patent for a disposable safety razor. Go to safety razor noun in Oxford Dictionary of English 3 ed. Under the pseudonym Saki, H. Munro publishes Reginald , his first volume of short stories. Australian soprano Nellie Melba makes the first of a great many recordings.

Gwen John makes her home in Paris, where she becomes Rodin's model and mistress. Troops fire on a demonstration in St Petersburg, in the event which becomes known as Bloody Sunday. Industrial Workers of the World with its members later known as Wobblies is founded in Chicago as a radical union initiative. Albert Einstein explains the photoelectric effect as a flow of discreet particles quanta of electromagnetic radiation.

Go to photoelectric effect in World Encyclopedia 1 ed. More than , Norwegians vote to end the union with Sweden, with only against. English engineer Herbert Austin sets up a factory to manufacture cars at Longbridge, south of Birmingham. Kaiser Wilhelm II visits Tangier in support of Moroccan independence, causing a diplomatic crisis with the colonial powers France and Britain.

German biologists Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann discover the micro-organism Treponema pallidum which causes syphilis. Go to syphilis in A Dictionary of Public Health 1 ed. Two thirds of the Russian fleet is sunk after being ambushed by Japanese warships in the Tsushima Strait. The largest diamond yet known is found in a South African mine belonging to Thomas Cullinan. In his special theory of relativity Albert Einstein reconciles the apparent clash between relativity and electromagnetic theory.

Go to special theory of relativity in A Dictionary of Astronomy 2 rev ed. French psychologists Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon develop a scale by which to measure the 'mental age' of children. Go to mental age n. Pablo Picasso's palette becomes warmer as Blue evolves into Rose.

Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation, completing the 'prairie provinces'. Karol Szymanowski and other Polish composers form a group that soon becomes known as Young Poland. Edith Wharton publishes the novel that brings her fame and fortune, The House of Mirth. The first boat to be powered by a combustion engine, the ton vessel Venoga , is launched on Lake Geneva. A complaint about maggoty meat on the Russian battleship Potemkin leads to thousands of deaths after troops fire on a demonstration.

English physiologists William Bayliss and Ernest Starling coin the word 'hormone' for glandular secretions into the bloodstream. The first German submarine, or U-boat, is constructed in a programme to catch up with Britain and France in this area. Go to Tirpitz, Alfred von b. Wells publishes Kipps: the story of a simple soul , a comic novel about a bumbling draper's assistant.

The German commander in east Africa uses famine as a means of ending the Maji-Maji rising. Hitler moves to Vienna, hoping to be a painter, but is twice rejected as a student by the Academy of Fine Arts. Aristide Maillol has his first major success with a large sculpture at the Salon d'Automne in Paris. Britain's Automobile Association is founded, with patrol-men on bicycles to assist drivers.

Claude Debussy completes the three symphonic sketches forming La Mer. Matisse, Derain and others, exhibiting in Paris their shockingly colourful new works, are dubbed fauves "wild beasts" by a critic. The first soviet "council" of workers is set up in St Petersburg, introducing a word of great significance in Russian Communist history.

Tsar Nicholas II reluctantly signs the October Manifesto, authorizing an elected duma or legislature. Percival Lowell predicts the existence of an unknown planet, almost exactly where Pluto is discovered 25 years later. Gustav Mahler's cycle of five songs, Kindertotenlieder , is its first performance in Vienna. The monk Grigory Rasputin exercises a powerful influence over the Russian empress Alexandra. Conservative prime minister Balfour resigns and Henry Campbell-Bannerman forms an interim Liberal government in Britain.

Richard Strauss's Salome , based on Oscar Wilde's play, has wide success in spite of censorship difficulties. Henry Campbell-Bannerman leads the Liberals to a massive election victory in the UK on a promised programme of reform.

Britain's Labour Party achieves its first electoral success, winning twenty-nine seats at Westminster. Britain launches HMS Dreadnought , the first of a massive new class of battleship.

Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle , a hard-hitting novel about the Chicago meat-packing industry. More than French miners die in an underground explosion in the district of Calais. Go to mine safety in A Dictionary of Public Health 1 ed. English biologist William Bateson uses the word 'genetics' to describe the phenomenon of heredity and variation. An international conference at Algeciras effectively gives France informal control of Morocco.

The Grain Growers' Grain Company is established, soon becoming an important element in Canada's grain market. Frederick Soddy observes his first examples of chemically identical elements with differing atomic weights, to which he later gives the name isotopes.

Go to isotope in A Dictionary of Astronomy 2 rev ed. Fire destroys much of San Francisco following the most violent earthquake in the city's history. Go to San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. The Liberals win a majority in election for Russia's new duma and press ahead with proposals for land reform. Go to Stolypin, Piotr Arkadievich b. Istanbul cedes the Sinai Peninsula to British-controlled Egypt.

Go to Sinai in World Encyclopedia 1 ed. Go to Nicholas II b. In Charles Ives' composition The Unanswered Question the trumpet repeatedly asks 'the perennial question of existence'. German immunologist August von Wasserman develops a diagnostic test to reveal the presence of the syphilis spirochaete in the blood. The Naturalization Act provides definitive requirements for naturalization as a US citizen.

Nesbit publishes The Railway Children , the most successful of her books featuring the Bastable family. The Simplon rail tunnel, the longest in the world 20 km , is opened between Switzerland and Italy.

Go to railway in World Encyclopedia 1 ed. In direct response to Britain's new Dreadnought , Germany increases the production of battleships. The first Grand Prix of motor-racing is held near Le Mans over a mile course. Go to motor racing in World Encyclopedia 1 ed. Pablo Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein prefigures cubism in its mask-like treatment of her face.

Go to Pure Food and Drug Act. Alfred Dreyfus is reinstated in the army after the French supreme court overturns his conviction for treason. Belgian physiologists Jules Bordet and Octave Gengou identify Bacillus pertussis , the bacterium causing whooping cough.

Tsar Nicholas II summarily dismisses Russia's new duma when it has been sitting for only three months. Stuart Blackton, introduces the concept of the animated cartoon. Go to animation in A Dictionary of Media and Communication 1 ed. The Cunard company launches the Lusitania on the Clyde as a sister ship to the Mauretania.

A large retrospective exhibition in Paris gives Paul Gauguin a growing posthumous reputation. Mahatma Gandhi, confronted by racial discrimination in South Africa, launches a programme of passive resistance satyagraha. Go to satyagraha in A Dictionary of World History 2 ed. A paediatrician in Vienna, Clemens von Pirquet, describes a condition for which he coins the term 'allergy'. German physicist Walther Nernst establishes the Third Law of Thermodynamics, dealing with temperatures close to absolute zero.

Ethel Smyth's most successful opera, The Wreckers , is premiered in Leipzig. Roald Amundsen and his crew are the first to achieve the Northwest Passage, in a journey lasting three years in a ft fishing boat. The German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer identifies physical symptoms in the brain of a dead woman who had presenile dementia.

The Russian prime minister Pyotr Stolypin introduces land reform. The Story of the Kelly Gang , produced in Australia, is the first feature-length film, with a running time of nearly an hour. Transvaal is given the self-governing status promised in the treaty ending the Boer War. Synge's Playboy of the Western World provokes violent reactions at its Dublin premiere.

Go to Montessori schools in A Dictionary of Education 1 ed. President Roosevelt sends marines to protect US property during political unrest in Honduras. Edmund Gosse publishes Father and Son , an account of his difficult relationship with his fundamentalist father, Philip Gosse. Go to petroleum industry in The Oxford Companion to the Earth 1 ed.

Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev presents five concerts of Russian music in Paris. Gertrude Stein meets Alice B. Toklas, who becomes her secretary and lifelong companion. A separatist party in Spain, Solidaridad Catalana, makes electoral gains in Catalonia. Go to Catalonia in World Encyclopedia 1 ed.

Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon , a violent transition into cubism, is a turning point in western art. Go to detergent in Oxford Dictionary of English 3 ed. Austrian scientist Clemens von Pirquet discovers a diagnostic test to identify tuberculosis in a patient. Improve this answer. Chris Chris 1, 8 8 silver badges 10 10 bronze badges.

I would definitely say it is a misuse to use it to mean , like calling an attractive woman with no singing ability a diva or something. I've expanded my answer to include some results from corpus queries. To expand on this a tad, the further we get into the 21st century I suspect it will grow more and more common to refer to the 20th century as the s just as we do with the s, the s and so on.

In other words, you logical deduction is not just invalid but is the converse of what it should be. Hope that helps. I missed this post earlier. I'm not familiar with the concept a corpus query, I'm an english student abroad. Add a comment. It seems more likely to me that some people heard the word nineteen hundreds and started misusing it to mean the twentieth century.

I'm curious, on what basis? It still doesn't seem at all clear to me that its use in reference to the first decade of the twentieth century is any more correct than as a reference to the century as a whole. Claudiu Claudiu Coming from math, I would say that the nineteen-hundreds are all years that have a 19 on the spot of the hundreds in decimal representation or better a one on the thousands, and a nine on the hundreds.

You defeat your own logic in the last sentence, as taking the pattern would lead to nineteen hundred and ohs. Goodbye Stack Exchange Goodbye Stack Exchange 4, 2 2 gold badges 25 25 silver badges 37 37 bronze badges. There appears to be an astonishing lack of references as to which period the s refer to. While the Mnemonic Dictionary defines s as belonging to the first decade of the 20th century The 20th century is also referred to as the s by Wikipedia Early s Although this expression is commonly used to cover the first decade, I could find no authoritative source that actually defined the precise length of time or precluded the years to Community Bot 1.

GEdgar GEdgar I say the answer should be C; If you wanted to name you'd say "The twenty-hundreds," following the existing pattern. Realistically, we'll only find out in about a thousand year's time, so any answer given now will be either speculation or evidence of time travel. Bacon Bits Bacon Bits 3 3 silver badges 6 6 bronze badges. Manuela Tecusan Manuela Tecusan 1 1 1 bronze badge. Peter Burke Peter Burke 1.

This is new to me. Do you have any references that point to what you call an error in use of 's'? It was perfectly simple and logical until Americans screwed it up. The decade begining nineteen twenty is called the nineteen twenties. The decade begining nineteen ten is called the nineteen tens. The decade begining nineteen hundred is called the nineteen hundreds.

Simple, no confusion. What's the problem with this answer? A disagreement with the answer is certainly not a reason to down vote. It's not 'Two thousands', it's Twenty Hundreds. In regard to the decades, the Twenty Hundreds first decade is Because why?

You can't start on a zero. January 1: Australia's six colonies joined together, becoming a commonwealth. January Britain's Queen Victoria dies, marking the end of the Victorian era; her reign of more than 63 years had dominated the 19th century.

September 6: President William McKinley is assassinated , and at the age of 42, his vice president Theodore Roosevelt is inaugurated as the youngest U. November The first Nobel Prizes are awarded, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. December In Newfoundland, Guglielmo Marconi — receives a radio signal from Cornwall, England, consisting of the Morse code for the letter "S.

May 8: Mount Pelee on the West Indian island of Martinique erupts, producing one of the deadliest eruptions in history, obliterating the town of St. It proves a landmark event for vulcanology. November After President Teddy Roosevelt refuses to kill a tied-up bear during a hunting trip, Washington Post political cartoonist Clifford Berryman satirizes the event by drawing a cute fuzzy teddy bear. Morris Michtom and his wife soon decided to create a stuffed bear as a children's toy, calling it " Teddy's Bear.

The U. The first license plates are issued in the U. Plate No. Pittsburgh wins the best of nine games, October 10 : British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst — founds the Women's Social and Political Union, a militant organization that will campaign for women's suffrage until A short western, it was written, produced, and directed by Edwin S. Porter and starred Broncho Billy Anderson and others.

December The Wright Brothers succeed in making a powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, an event that would change the world and have a huge impact on the century to come.

Canal construction begins by the end of the year, as soon as the infrastructure is in place. It was one of the first of such schools for girls and would eventually become Bethune-Cookman University. October The first rapid transit subway line on the New York Subway makes its first run, running from the City Hall subway station to th street.

Petersburg is fired upon by imperial forces and hundreds are killed or wounded. It is the first event of the violent phase of the Revolution of in Russia. Freud publishes his famous Theory of Sexuality , in a collection of three essays in German that he will write and rewrite again and again during the rest of his career.

April The San Francisco earthquake devastates the city. Estimated at a 7. Kellogg opens a new factory in Battle Creek, Michigan and hires 44 employees to produce the initial production batch of Kellogg's Corn Flakes.