1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).

Events

January-April

• January 22 - Massacre of Russian demonstrators at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, one of the triggers of the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905.
• January 26 - The Cullinan Diamond is found near Pretoria, South Africa at the Premier Mine .
• February 23 - Foundation of Rotary International
• March 1 - Australian Conservative leader Richard Butler takes office as Premier of South Australia
• March 3 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly (the Duma).
• March 5 - Russian troops begin to retreat from Mukden, Manchuria after losing 100,000 troops in 3 days.
• March 10 Japanese capture of Mukden (now Shenyang) completes rout of Russian armies in Manchuria.
• March 10 ? Cassie Chadwick sentenced for 14 years in Cleveland for fraud
• March 17 - Albert Einstein publishes his paper "On a heuristic viewpoint concerning the production and transformation of light" in which he explains the photoelectric effect using the notion of light quanta
• March 31 German emperor William II asserts German equality with France in Morocco, triggering Tangier (or First Morocco) Crisis.
• April 4 - In India, an earthquake near Kangra, kills 20,000.
• April - Albert Einstein works on the special theory of relativity as well as the theory of Brownian motion

May-October

• May 11 - Albert Einstein submits his doctoral dissertation "On the Motion of Small Particles..." where he explains the Brownian motion
• May 13 - Mata Hari debuts in Paris
• May 15 - Las Vegas, Nevada is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
• May 27-28 - Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Tsushima - The Japanese fleet under Admiral Heihachiro Togo destroys Russian fleet under Admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rozhdestvenski in this two day battle
• June 7 - The Norwegian Parliament declares the union with Sweden dissolved.
• June 14 ? Mutiny in the Russian ironclad Potemkin
• June 15 - Princess Margaret of Connaught marries Gustav, Crown Prince of Sweden.
• June 30 - Albert Einstein publishes the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" where he discovers special relativity
• July 6 - Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the second time.
• August 13 - Norway holds referendum in favour of dissolving the union with Sweden.
• September 1 - The Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta are established from the southwestern part of the Northwest Territories.
• September 5 - Russo-Japanese War: Treaty of Portsmouth signed - In New Hampshire a treaty mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt, is signed by victor Japan and defeated party Russia. In the agreement, Russia cedes the island of Sakhalin and port and rail rights in Manchuria to Japan.
• October 3 - HMS Dreadnought is laid down, revolutionizing battleship design and triggering a naval arms race.
• October 26 - Sweden agreed to the repeal of the union with Norway.
• October 30 - Tsar Nicholas II is forced to grant Russia's first constitution, conceding a national assembly (Duma) with limited powers.
• 70 Onion Johnnies die when the steamer Hilda sinks off France.

November-December

• November 18 - Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.
• November 28 - Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founds Sinn Féin in Dublin as a political party whose goal was the independence for all of Ireland.
• December 30 - Bomb kills Frank Steunenberg, ex-governor of Idaho. Case leads to a trial against leaders of the Western Federation of Miners

Unknown dates

• Einstein publishes four papers. In particular, he formulates the theory of special relativity and explains the photoelectric effect by quantization. 1905 is regarded as his "miracle year".
• The Butcharts begin working on their Japanese Garden addition to their Butchart Gardens.
• The title Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is officially recognized by King Edward VII.
• Pathé Frères colors black and white films by machine.
• Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer banned from Brooklyn Public Library for "bad example"
• Druidic rituals begin in Stonehenge
• Norway gains independence from Sweden
• Albert Einhorn introduces novocaine
• The first U-boat

Births

January-February

• January 2 - Michael Tippett, composer (d. 1998)
• January 3 - Anna May Wong, actress (d. 1961)
• January 12 - Tex Ritter, actor, singer (d. 1974)
• January 18 - Joseph Bonanno, gangster (d. 2002)
• January 21 - Christian Dior, couturier (d. 1957)
• January 26 - Charles Lane, actor
• January 26 - Bernhard Minetti , actor
• January 26 - Maria von Trapp, singer (d. 1987)
• January 29 - Barnett Newman, painter (d. 1970)
• January 31 - John O'Hara, writer (d. 1970)
• February 2 - Ayn Rand, Author (d. 1982)
• February 7 - Paul Nizan, author (d. 1940)
• February 11 - Elizabeth Vuyk , Dutch/Indonesian writer (d. 1991)
• February 14 - Thelma Ritter, actress (d. 1969)
• February 23 - Derrick Henry Lehmer, mathematician (d. 1991)
• February 27 - Franchot Tone, actor (d. 1968)

March-August

• March 5 - Günther Lüders , actor and film director (d. 1975)
• March 6 - Bob Wills, country music singer (d. 1975)
• March 15 - Berthold Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, lawyer and Nazi opponent (d. 1944)
• March 16 - Elisabeth Flickenschildt, actress (d. 1977)
• March 18 - Thomas Townsend Brown, scientist (d. 1985)
• March 18 - Robert Donat, actor (d. 1958)
• March 19 - Albert Speer, Nazi official (d. 1981)
• March 23 - Lale Andersen, singer and cabaretist (d. 1972)
• March 27 - Elsie MacGill, aeronautical engineer, "Queen of the Hurricanes" (d. 1980)
• May 3 - Sebastian Shaw, actor (d. 1994)
• May 8 - Red Nichols, jazz musician (d. 1965)
• May 15 - Joseph Cotten, actor (d. 1994)
• May 16 - Henry Fonda, actor (d. 1982)
• May 20 - Gerrit Achterberg , Dutch poet
• June 12 - Ray Barbuti, American athlete (d. 1988)
• July 12 - Prince John of the United Kingdom (d. 1919)
• July 22 - Doc Cramer, Major League Baseball center fielder (d. 1990)
• July 29 - Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1961)
• August 2 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, composer (d. 1963)
• August 3 - Franz König, Roman Catholic archbishop of Vienna, important thinker at Vatican II and ultimately last surviving cardinal of John XXIII (d. 2004).
• August 11 - Erwin Chargaff, biochemist (d. 2002)
• August 16 - Marian Rejewski, mathematician, cryptologist (d. 1980)
• August 23 - Constant Lambert, composer (d. 1951)
• August 31 - Dore Schary, stage/motion picture personality (d. 1980)

September-December

• September 18 - Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (d. 1990)
• September 22 - Eugen Sänger, Austrian aerospace engineer (d. 1964)
• September 30 - Michael Powell, British director (d. 1990)
• September 30 - Savitri Devi, Greek author and ideologist (d. 1982)
• November 7 - William Alwyn, English composer (d. 1985)
• November 9 - Erika Mann, oldest daughter of Thomas Mann (d. 1969)
• November 15 - Mantovani, conductor and arranger (d. 1980)
• November 17 - Queen Astrid of Belgium (d. 1935)
• November 26 - Bob Johnson ("Indian Bob"), Major League Baseball player (d. 1982)
• December 24 - Howard Hughes, American film maker, industrialist, aircraft designer, and airline founder (d. 1976)
• December 30 - Jule Styne, composer (d. 1994)

Unknown dates

• Sada Abe, Japanese prostitute and later actress (d. 1970)

Deaths

• January 14 - Ernst Abbe, German physicist (b. 1840)
• January 19 - Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher (b. 1817)
• March 6 - John Henninger Reagan, American Confederate politician (b. 1818)
• March 24 - Jules Verne, French author (b. 1828)
• May 9 - Mrs. Jarvis, model for Mother's Day
• June 22 - Francis Lubbock, governor of Texas (b. 1815)
• July 8 - Walter Kittredge, American musician and composer (b. 1834)
• September 18 - George MacDonald, Scottish author and poet, Christian minister (b. 1824)
• October 13 - Henry Irving, English actor (b. 1838)
• October 29 - Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (b. 1873)
• Muhammad Abduh, Egyptian philosopher and jurist

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard

• Chemistry - Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer
• Medicine - Robert Koch
• Literature - Henryk Sienkiewicz
• Peace - Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita Von Suttner