1905

Albert Einstein’s “Theory of Special Relativity.” See, “Elektrodynamik Bewegter Korper,” 17 Annalen der Physik, pp. 891-921. (1905).

Robert Sterling Clark – still in the Army – travels to the West Indies to begin preparations for an ambitious undertaking: an expedition to a remote area of northern China.

The beginning of the 20th century saw eugenicists questioning the health of the German race. The ‘poorer’ specimens of the race – the ‘ill-educated, disease-ridden lower classes’ in particular – were tending to breed more than the ‘better’ specimens. Social reforms and improved medical care only exacerbated the problem by helping the less fit survive and therefore stopping what Charles Darwin had termed ‘natural selection’. With such fears in mind, the Society for Racial Hygiene was founded by Alfred Ploetz in 1905. It would be fair to say that initially the Society was not overtly racist. Indeed, Ploetz himself applauded the Jewish race as being equal in merit to the Nordic. Although never large in numbers, the Society grew in influence, particularly in the years following World War I.

Franklin Roosevelt marries Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, his 6th cousin, on March 17th. President Theodore Roosevelt comes to New York City to give the bride away. His liberal ideas and strong leadership will help Franklin decide on a career in public service.

Rumania, Bucovina . During the evening a retired doctor saw a brightly glowing elongated, saucer-shaped object bigger than the moon traveling steadily westwards.