1879

Years: 1876 1877 1878 - 1879 - 1880 1881 1882
Decades: 1840s 1850s 1860s - 1870s - 1880s 1890s 1900s
Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1879 in art 1879 in literature 1879 in music 1879 in science 1879 in sports 1879 in Canada List of state leaders in 1879 List of religious leaders in 1879

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths

Events

January 11 - Anglo-Zulu War begins
January 22 - Zulu troops massacre British troops at the Battle of Isandlwana. At Rorke's Drift, outnumbered British soldiers drive the attackers away after hours of fighting.
February 12 - At New York City's Madison Square Garden the first artificial ice rink in North America opens.
February 15 - Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneyss to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
February 22 - In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.
March 3 - The United States Geological Survey is created
March 13 - Marriage of The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third son of Queen Victoria, to Princess Louise of Prussia.
March 29 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
May 26 - Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
May 30 - New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
July 4 - Taughannock Giant unearthed on the shore of Lake Cayuga in Ithaca (later proven to be a hoax)
July 19 - Doc Holliday kills for the first time after a man shoots-up Holliday's New Mexico saloon.
October 21 - Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric light bulb (it lasted 13 1/2 hours before burning out).
December 28 - The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passed over it, killing 75.
December 30 - The Pirates of Penzance is first performed (Paignton, Devon, England)
December 31 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time (Menlo Park, New Jersey.
Hall effect discovered by Dr. Edwin Hall
Somerville College founded
Stefan-Boltzmann law discovered by Jožef Stefan;
Dual Alliance formed by Germany and Austria-Hungary

Births

January 3 - Grace Coolidge, First Lady
January 12 - Ray Harroun, first winner of the Indianapolis 500 (d. 1968)
January 13 - Melvin Jones, founder of Lions Clubs International
January 28 - Francis Picabia, painter, poet
February 22 - J. N. Bronsted, physical chemist.
March 1 - Joachim Heer, Swiss politician (b. 1825)
March 8 - Otto Hahn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1944 (d. 1968)
March 14 - Albert Einstein, physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics 1921 (d. 1955)
March 26 - Othmar Ammann, engineer, Verrazano Narrows Bridge (d. 1965)
March 30 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater
April 20 - Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
May 6 - Bedřich Hrzony´;, Czech orientalist and linguist
May 17 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (d. 1926)
May 19 - Nancy Astor, British parliamentarian (d. 1964)
May 19 - Viscount Waldorf Astor, British businessman and politician (d. 1952)
May 23 - Dezső Lauber;, Hungarian sportsman
May 25 - Max Aitken, Statesman, newspaper baron (d. 1964)
May 27 - Karl Bühler, psychologist (d. 1963)
September 14 - Margaret Sanger, birth control advocate
September 15 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1939)
October 21 - Joseph Canteloube French composer and singer
October 29 - Leon Trotsky - Russian revolutionary
November 10 - Patrick Pearse Irish patriot and leader of the 1916 Easter Rising
November 26 – Charles W. Goddard, playwright and screenwriter (d. 1951)
December 18 - Paul Klee, Swiss artist
December 21 - Joseph Stalin - Soviet leader
December 28 - Billy Mitchell - military aviation pioneer

Deaths

February 11 - Honore Daumier, caricaturist/painter.
February 11 - Willem J van Zeggelen, Dutch author.
February 25 - Charles Peace, notorious British criminal (executed)
March 30 - Thomas Couture, French painter and teacher.
April 30 - Sarah Josepha Hale, United States author.
June 1 - Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial, only son of French Emperor Napoleon III, killed fighting the Zulus