What happened in 1901?

The first Nobel Prizes are awarded

On 10 December 1901, five years after the death of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded, as his will had asked. Wilhelm Röntgen won physics for discovering X-rays. Prizes also went to chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. They are still presented every year on 10 December.

Marconi receives the first radio signal across the Atlantic

On 12 December 1901, at Signal Hill in Newfoundland, Guglielmo Marconi heard three faint clicks through his earphone: the Morse code letter S, sent by radio from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, about 3,500 km away. It showed that radio waves could cross an ocean, and it began the age of long-distance wireless communication.

The first Nobel Prizes are awarded

On 10 December 1901, five years after Alfred Nobel's death, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded. Wilhelm Röntgen won the physics prize for discovering X-rays. The prizes are still presented every year on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel's death.

Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal

On 12 December 1901, at Signal Hill in Newfoundland, Guglielmo Marconi heard three faint clicks, the Morse code letter 'S', sent by radio from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, about 3,500 kilometres away. It proved that radio waves could cross the ocean.

The first prizes are awarded

The first transatlantic signal is received

First Nobel Prizes

First Nobel Prize in Physics