| 1845–1958 | Germany [earth sciences] | German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt lays the basis of modern geography with the publication of Kosmos/Cosmos, in which he arranges geographic knowledge in a systematic fashion. |
| 1897 | Poland, UK [fiction] | The Polish-born British writer Joseph Conrad (Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) publishes his novel The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’. |
| 1897 | England [fiction] | The English writer H G Wells publishes his novel The Invisible Man. |
| 1897 | England [fiction] | The English writer Bram (Abraham) Stoker publishes his novel Dracula, a classic horror novel that launches the Dracula myth. |
| c. 1897 | USA [motor vehicles] | The development of the electric street car makes the suburbs more accessible, leading to an expansion of the cities in the USA. |
| 1897 | France [orchestral music] | The French composer Paul Dukas completes his symphonic poem L'Apprenti sorcier/The Sorcerer's Apprentice. |
| 1897 | France [painting] | The French artist Henri Rousseau paints Sleeping Gypsy. |
| 1897 | France [painting] | The French artist Paul Gauguin paints Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? |
| 1897 | UK [physics] | English physicist John Joseph Thomson demonstrates the existence of the electron, the first known subatomic particle. It revolutionizes knowledge of atomic structure by indicating that the atom can be subdivided. |
| 1897 | Ireland, USA [plays] | The play The Devil's Disciple by the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw is first performed, at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York City. |
| 1897 | UK [ships and shipping] | English engineer Charles Parsons fits a steam turbine to the boat Turbania, which achieves a speed of 34.5 knots, making it the fastest boat of the time. It is the first time a steam turbine has been applied to propel a ship. Parsons demonstrates the boat to a crowd of thousands at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Review of the Fleet, by unexpectedly weaving in and out of the British fleet. |
| 1897 | Germany [technology] | German physicist Karl Ferdinand Braun improves the cathode-ray tube. By varying the voltage, he can control the narrow beam of electrons. His ‘Braun tube’ is the forerunner of television tubes, radar screens, and oscilloscopes. |
| 1897 | UK, USA, France [advertising] | Advertisement films start to be made in Britain, France, and the USA. |
| 1897 | Norway [climate and weather] | Norwegian meteorologist Vilhelm Bjerknes develops mathematical theorems applicable to the motions of large-scale air masses, which are essential to weather forecasting. |
| 1897 | UK [crime and punishment] | The Irish wit and playwright Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol, after serving a two-year sentence for sodomy. |
| 1897 | USA [economic conditions] | Foreigners invest $3.4 billion in the USA; US interests invest $700 million overseas. |
| 28 March 1897 | Japan [banking and finance] | Japan adopts the gold standard, linking its paper money directly to its gold reserves, the accepted Western base for a stable financial system. |
| 7 April 1897 | Greece, Ottoman Empire, Crete [wars] | Turkey declares war on Greece in retaliation for its support for the revolt in Crete. |
| 4 May 1897 | France [cinema and film] | An explosion and resulting fire at a Cinématograph emonstration at the Charity Bazaar in Paris, France, kills 121 people and leads to a decrease in film attendance. |
| 18 May 1897 | Italy, USA [births and deaths] | Frank Capra, Italian-born US film director who directs It's a Wonderful Life and Mr Smith Goes to Washington, born near Palermo, Sicily (–1991). |
| 25 September 1897 | USA [births and deaths] | William Faulkner, US novelist, author of a series of novels known as the Yoknapatawpha cycle and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949, born in New Albany, Mississippi (–1962). |
| 15 November 1897 | Wales [births and deaths] | Aneurin Bevan, British Labour politician who introduced the National Health Service (NHS), born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, Wales (–1960). |
| 16 December 1897 | Greece, Ottoman Empire [treaties] | The Peace of Constantinople ends the war between Greece and Turkey. |
