December 14, 1900: Max Planck presents the first paper on quantum mechanics, to the German Physical SocietyDecember 19, 1900: Edmund Barton selected to become first Prime Minister of Australia
The following events occurred in December 1900:
December 1, 1900 (Saturday)
A census of the German Empire was taken. Data released on February 26, 1901, showed a population of 56,345,014 "of which number 27,731,067 were males". The growth rate of 7.70% in five years was the highest increase in 30 years.[1][2][3]
2,200 Filipino rebels took an oath of allegiance to the United States at Vigan; they were the largest group to do so to that time.[6]
John Hossack, a farmer near Indianola, Iowa, was killed with an axe while he slept in bed. His wife Margaret was charged with the murder and convicted on April 11, 1901, but the verdict was overturned and a second trial ended with a hung jury. Susan Glaspell, who covered the case for the Des Moines Daily News, later fictionalized it in her 1916 one-act play Trifles and a 1917 short story, "A Jury of Her Peers".[7]
December 3, 1900 (Monday)
The U.S. Supreme Court released its decision in Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company v. Kentucky. By an 8–1 margin, the Court upheld a state law requiring racial segregation even on interstate transportation. Since Kentucky's law provided that non-white passengers had to move to cars separate from white passengers after a train entered the state, the ruling effectively made separate cars a requirement on all trains.[8]
The census was taken in Norway, at that time a part of a union with Sweden. Its population in 1900 was 2,221,477.[9]
Oscar L. Booz, 21, a first-year cadet at the U.S. Military Academy, died from internal injuries sustained four days earlier during hazing. Booz refused to name his tormentors, and the public outcry over his death resulted in a U.S. Congressional investigation that ultimately led to the cadets pledging to discontinue the long-time practice of hazing of newly admitted cadets.[10]
General Auguste Mercier, formerly Minister of War for France, warned the French Senate about "the possibility of war with Great Britain" and his strategy for an invasion, adding that "a landing in England is not beyond realization". Mercier suggested that his invasion plan "could be held over the head of England, like the sword of Damocles".[11]
Born:John Axon, British train driver, celebrated in song for his heroism in a fatal 1957 accident; in Stockport, Cheshire (d. 1957)
In the American war in the Philippines, rebel leader General Emilio Verdeflor was killed in battle after being surprised by troops led by Major H.B. McCoy.[16]
Pope Leo issued Conditae a Christo, redefining the rights of Catholic nuns.[19]
The United States called off scheduled plans to send a warship to Morocco to force the sultanate to pay its debts. "The great annual religious festival of the Moors is about to begin", reported The New York Times, referring to Ramadan, adding "it is the height of impropriety for any truly orthodox person to conduct business. The Sultan could not, without risking his soul, pay any debts, or even receive an infidel who came on diplomatic business." The State Department called off the operation until the middle of February.[20]
Carl Jung passed up a career in internal medicine to take up psychiatry, starting a position at the Burgholzli Mental Hospital, as an assistant to Eugen Bleuler.[23]
At a dinner in his honor at the University Club in Manhattan, Charles M. Schwab outlined a vision for a steel company that would handle everything from mining coal and iron, to the sale of steel products. J. P. Morgan was intrigued enough that he joined, along with Andrew Carnegie, John Warne Gates and other industrialists, in creating U.S. Steel.[26]
The city of Washington, D.C., marked its centennial as the nation's capital with elaborate ceremonies, including a proposed $1.1 million dollar addition to the White House.[27]
Albert Einstein submitted what would become his first published article in an academic journal, "Folgerungen aus der Kapillaritatserscheinungen" ("Deductions from the Phenomena of Capillarity"), to the Annalen der Physik.[28] The paper would be accepted and published on March 1, 1901.[29]
Terry McGovern became undisputed lightweight boxing champion of the world in a bout in Chicago against Joe Gans, knocking him out in the second round, in a fight that many observers thought was fixed.[30]
On a date now considered to be the birthday of quantum mechanics, Max Planck presented his paper Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im Normalspektrum (On the Theory of the Law of Energy Distribution in Normal Spectrum) at a meeting of the German Physical Society in Berlin.[32]
Soon after Lord Roberts declared that the Second Boer War was over, British troops in South Africa suffered a surprise defeat and the capture of hundreds of their men by the Boer attackers led by General P.H. Kritzinger.[34] A total of 573 men in four companies of the Northumberland Fusiliers were taken prisoner at the battle of Magaliesberg.[35] At Zastron on December 13, 120 British soldiers stationed there were captured by the Boers.[36]
In one of the earliest "bad trades" in baseball, the Cincinnati Reds sent rookie pitcher Christy Mathewson to the New York Giants in return for legendary pitcher Amos Rusie. Both were future Hall of Fame stars, one rising (Mathewson went on to win 373 games) and the other falling (Rusie pitched only 22 innings for Cincinnati).[37]
December 16, 1900 (Sunday)
The German training frigateGneisenau, with 450 naval cadets on board, sank in a storm during exercises off of the Spanish coast at Málaga, drowning 136.[38]
The Guzman Prize, first and only prize ever offered for communication with extraterrestrials, was announced in Paris. A prize of 100,000 francs was provided, except for communication with Mars, which was considered too easy.[41]
Ellis Island's processing center reopened, after an 1897 fire. The Kaiser Wilhelm III brought 654 Italian immigrants, who were first of the 2,251 who come through on that day.[42]
December 18, 1900 (Tuesday)
Fifteen-year-old Edward Cudahy Jr., whose father was an official at the Cudahy Meatpacking Company, was kidnapped by two men in front of his home at Omaha, Nebraska. Eddie was released on December 20 after his father paid $25,000 in gold.[43]
GeneralArthur MacArthur declared martial law over the Philippines under General Order 100. Philippine civilians who supported the rebels or stayed neutral would be subject to arrest, along with exile and even the death penalty.[48]
In Havana, John J. Moran volunteered to infect himself with yellow fever in order to confirm that the disease was spread by blood and not by air. At noon, Moran went into a room filled with infected mosquitoes and stayed for 30 minutes, getting bitten 7 times. Two other volunteers in the same room were protected by a mosquito-proof screen, breathed the same air, and stayed well. Moran became seriously ill, but survived and lived until 1950.[50]
In Beijing, at 11:00, the ministers of the Western nations and Japan signed the diplomatic note setting out conditions for China to accept.[52]
Born:Alan Bush, British composer, pianist and conductor; in London (d. 1995)
December 23, 1900 (Sunday)
Reginald Fessenden made the first use of amplitude modulation (the basis for AM radio) for wireless transmission of the human voice in Maryland. Two towers, set a mile apart on Cobb Island in the Potomac River, were used for the experiment. Fessenden said "One, two, three, four. Is it snowing where you are, Mr. Thiessen? If it is, would telegraph back to me?" Alfred Thiessen telegraphed back that it was snowing.[53]
Foot binding in China was officially outlawed by decree of the Empress Dowager Cixi, after centuries of the practice of stunting the growth of girls' feet, and years of lobbying against it.[54]
With the encouragement of the American government, prominent Philippine citizens founded the Partido Federal, which advocated American statehood for the Philippines.[55]
December 24, 1900 (Monday)
The foreign powers presented their 12 conditions for reform to the Chinese Imperial government. In return for allowing the Emperor to come back to Beijing, China was to reduce its military, punish Boxer rebels, and pay $500,000,000 to the eight nations over a period of 60 years.[56][57]
Pope Leo conducted ceremonies to close the Holy Year, with the closing of the holy door in St. Peter's Basilica a year after it had been opened. The event was witnessed by 80,000 and not done again until 1925.[59]
The National Basket Ball League was the first professional basketball circuit in the United States, founded in 1898. In an NBBL game on Christmas night in Trenton, New Jersey, referee L.P. Pratt was attacked by an angry mob of Trenton Nationals fans, upset when he declared a forfeit in a game against the visiting Penn Bikers of Philadelphia. The Bikers were leading 23–11 at the half. Trenton's Harry Stout called Pratt a "stiff" and a "lobster" and was ejected from the game, then came out during the second half. Pratt declared a 4–0 forfeit in favor of Penn and, according to the Trenton paper, the mob was chanting "Kill him!". Three city policemen escorting Pratt were also injured.[62] The Nationals, defending NBBL champs, went on to finish second to the New York Wanderers in the 1900–01 season.[63]
A strange disappearance in the Flannan Isles of Scotland was realized when the lighthouse supply ship Hesperus stopped at the Scottish island of Eilean Mòr. The three men in charge of keeping the lighthouse at this remote location had vanished without explanation. The last entry in the logbook had been for December 15, and there was no sign of a crime, but the three men were not found after a search of the island. An official investigation concluded later that the three were probably washed off a precipice by a high wave.[64] The mystery was later the subject of a 1980 chamber opera by Peter Maxwell Davies, The Lighthouse.
Died:
William George Beers, 57, Canadian dentist sports executive, known as the "father of modern lacrosse" for codifying the rules and establishing league play, died of heart disease (b. 1843) "Beers, William George", by J. Thomas West, in Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Carrie Nation destroyed the elaborate bar at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas, including a crystal chandelier, the Venetian mirror behind the bar, and a large and provocative painting, Cleopatra at the Bath.[65]
Morning newspapers across United States ran the horrifying news that forty-nine school children had drowned the night before while ice skating near What Cheer, Iowa,[67][68] though many emphasized that it was unconfirmed.[69] By afternoon, the story was confirmed to have been a macabre practical joke.[70]
The first steel produced by electrometallurgy (from an electric furnace) was delivered, 9,000 kg of bars from the Heroult Company to Schneider & Co.[72]
Died:Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, 54, Portuguese explorer, died from heart failure at his home. The city of Serpa Pinto in Angola had been named in his honor until that nation became independent in 1975, and the name was changed to Menongue. (b. 1846);
December 29, 1900 (Saturday)
In a milestone for medical ethics, a regulation from the Prussian Ministry for Religious, Educational, and Medical Affairs was the first known law requiring that medical experiments be done only with "informed consent" of a patient.[73]
The bankruptcy of the London and Globe Finance Corporation led to panic on the London Stock Exchange and led to the suspension of stock sales of thirteen smaller companies.[51]
On the last Sunday of the century, the New York Herald published Mark Twain's "A Greeting from the 19th Century to the 20th Century", while the New York World published the article "New York as It Will Be in 1999".
An imperial edict proclaimed an armistice and designated Chinese representatives authorized to negotiate with the Great Powers.[51]
December 31, 1900 (Monday)
At 3:00 in the afternoon in Beijing, Su-Hai, identified as the man who had killed Clemens von Ketteler, Germany's minister to China, on June 20, became the last prominent person to die in the 19th century. Su-Hai was beheaded at the scene of the crime.[77]
Christian churches around the world welcomed in the new century with special services beginning an hour before midnight, and the ringing of bells.[78]
Purists celebrated the arrival of the 20th century. In New York City, crowds gathered at City Hall Park in view of the big clock at City Hall. John Philip Sousa's band began playing at 10:45 pm, and at 11:59, the city was darkened for a minute, before the 20th century was welcomed in with fireworks.[79]
^Annual Reports of the War Department, 1901, pt. 5. pp. 3693–94.
^Ronald William Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times (HarperCollins, 1984), p. 66
^Arthur J. Miller, Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time and the Beauty That Causes Havoc (Basic Books, 2008) p. 71
^Elliott J. Gorn, Sports in Chicago (University of Illinois Press, 2008) p. 45
^The New Century Book of Facts: A Handbook of Ready Reference (The King-Richardson company, 1910), p. 250
^Jagdish Mehra and Helmut Rechenberg, The Historical Development of Quantum Theory: The Quantum Theory of Planck, Einstein, Bohr, and Sommerfeld: Its Foundation and the Rise of Its Difficulties 1900–1925 (Springer, 2000), pp. 50–53
^Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements (Taylor & Francis, 2003), p. 994
^Birgit Seibold, Emily Hobhouse and the Reports on the Concentration Camps during the Boer War, 1899–1902: Two Different Perspectives (Columbia University Press, 2011) p. 37
^"British Lost Hundreds", New York Times, December 16, 1900, p1
^"More British Captured", New York Times, December 16, 1900, p. 1
^Dan Schlossberg, "Trading Players Still A Risky Venture In Majors", Baseball Digest (May 1991), pp. 63–64
^"The Loss of the Gneisenau", New York Times, December 18, 1900, p. 1
^Dennis E. Showalter, Tannenberg: Clash of Empires (1914, reprinted by Brassey's, 2004) p. 50
^Judith Evans, The Politics and Plays of Bernard Shaw (McFarland, 2002) pp. 44–45
^"Canal Treaty is Ratified", New York Times, December 21, 1900, p. 1; Marion Mills Miller, Great Debates in American History: Foreign Relations (Current Literature Pub. Co., 1913), pp. 382–383
^"China's Emperor Agrees to Terms". The New York Times. December 15, 1900. p. 1.
^Nimmo, William F. (2001). Stars and Stripes Across the Pacific: the United States, Japan, and the Asia/Pacific Region, 1895–1945. Greenwood Publishing Group.
^"Affairs in Europe". The Cyclopedic Review of Current History. March 1901. p. 62.
^Official Journal, Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, January 1906
^Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell (2004). Boston's Back Bay in the Victorian Era. Arcadia Publishing. p. 117.
^"Mob Nearly Kills a Referee", New York Times, December 26, 1900, p. 1; "Trenton-Pennsylvania Bicycle Club Contest Ended in a Riot", Trenton Times, December 26, 1900, p. 2
