Timeline May 1905

Events in May 1905 7

• 1905 Brownian motion Proof that atoms are real By treating the jittering of pollen grains in water as the result of molecular collisions, Einstein produced testable predictions about their displacement. Jean Perrin confirmed them experimentally. The paper ended serious scientific doubt that atoms exist.
• 1905 – 1994 Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) American actor from Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre, star of Citizen Kane, Shadow of a Doubt and The Third Man.
• 1905 Joseph Cotten born in Petersburg Joseph Cotten is born in Petersburg.
• 1905 Las Vegas founded Railroad land auction creates a new Nevada town The San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad auctioned off lots in the Nevada desert, founding the townsite of Las Vegas as a railroad stop and water source. The settlement grew slowly for decades before later becoming a center for gambling and entertainment. The auction date is traditionally marked as the city's founding.
• 1905 – 1982 Henry Fonda (1905-1982) Died 12 August 1982, aged 77 American film actor known for The Grapes of Wrath and 12 Angry Men. He died of heart disease months after winning his only competitive Oscar for On Golden Pond.
• 1905 Battle of Tsushima Japan annihilates Russia's Baltic Fleet The Imperial Japanese Navy under Admiral Togo Heihachiro destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Tsushima Strait after its seven-month voyage from Europe. Nearly the entire Russian fleet was sunk or captured, while Japan lost only a handful of torpedo boats. The victory confirmed Japan's rise as a modern naval power and forced Russia to seek peace.
• 1905 The Battle of Tsushima A fleet that sailed round the world to be sunk The Russian Baltic Fleet, having sailed eighteen thousand miles round Africa over seven months, meets Admiral Togo in the Tsushima Strait and is annihilated in an afternoon. Russia loses most of its battleships. It is the first time in the modern era that an Asian power has decisively beaten a European empire at sea, and the news reverberates from Persia to India to Turkey. At home it removes the last argument for continuing the war.