The first German submarine, or U-boat, is constructed in a programme to catch up with Britain and France in this area

Albert Einstein relates mass and energy in the equation e = mc2

Richard Strauss's Salome, based on Oscar Wilde's play, has wide success in spite of censorship difficulties

German immunologist August von Wasserman develops a diagnostic test to reveal the presence of the syphilis spirochaete in the blood

In direct response to Britain's new Dreadnought, Germany increases the production of battleships

German physicist Walther Nernst establishes the Third Law of Thermodynamics, dealing with temperatures close to absolute zero

The German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer identifies physical symptoms in the brain of a dead woman who had presenile dementia

Henkel & Cie launches in Düsseldorf the first domestic washing powder, Persil

A fossilized human jaw, probably at least 500,000 years old, is found near Heidelberg in Germany

The Deutscher Werkbund is founded in Munich as an association of architects, designers and industrialists

German physicist Hans Geiger, working in England with Rutherford, develops an instrument that can detect and count alpha particles

After first being discussed at the Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference in 1906, SOS is formally ratified as the international distress signal

The opera Elektra, the first collaboration between Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, has its premiere in Dresden

Gustav Mahler conducts in Munich the first performance of his Eighth Symphony, subsequently known as the 'Symphony of a Thousand'

Ferdinand Zeppelin's dirigible Deutschland provides the first commercial air service for passengers

Richard Strauss changes musical direction with his opera Der Rosenkavalier, once again with libretto by Hugo von Hoffmannsthal

Germany causes international alarm by sending a warship to Agadir, a port in French-controlled Morocco

Hugo von Hofmannsthal adapts the English medieval morality play Everyman ('Jedermann') for performance in Salzburg

Bruno Walter conducts in Munich the first performance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, a few months after the composer's death

Walter Gropius builds the Fagus Factory at Alfeld an der Leine in Germany

The painters Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc and others form Der Blaue Reiter

The Kaiser and his advisers decide to postpone a preventive war against France and Russia

German scientist Alfred Wegener, impressed by the neat fit between the coasts of Africa and South America, proposes the theory of continental drift

The Social Democrats become the largest group in Germany's Reichstag

The Berlin Opera Ballet is founded to perform in the city's new opera house