Dashed left edge = started before December 1901 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond December 1901
Events in December 1901 5
1901First paper publishedCapillarity, in Annalen der PhysikEinstein's first publication examined the forces between molecules in liquids. He later dismissed it as worthless. It did establish him in print with the journal that would carry the 1905 papers.
1901 – 1976Werner HeisenbergPhysicist, 1901-1976 - matrix mechanics, the uncertainty principle, the UranvereinWerner Heisenberg, the German theoretical physicist who formulated the uncertainty principle, died in Munich. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 for the creation of quantum mechanics. He also led Nazi Germany's nuclear research programme during the Second World War.
1901 – presentNobel Peace Prize CeremonyOslo TraditionBy Alfred Nobel's will, the Peace Prize is the only one awarded in Oslo rather than Stockholm.
1901Marconi's Transatlantic Radio SignalFirst wireless message sent across the Atlantic OceanOn 12 December 1901 Guglielmo Marconi received the Morse code letter "S" transmitted from Poldhu, Cornwall, at a receiving station in St. John's, Newfoundland. The transmission demonstrated that radio waves could travel beyond the horizon, contradicting expectations that they traveled only in straight lines. It opened the way for transoceanic wireless communication.
1901 – 1992Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)Died 6 May 1992, aged 90Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer who rose to fame in "The Blue Angel" and became a Hollywood icon of the 1930s and 1940s. She was noted for her androgynous style and for entertaining Allied troops during the Second World War. She died in Paris, having lived as a recluse in her final years.