1887
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'''1887''' is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar).
January 6 - `Abd Allah II ibn `Ali `Abd ash-Shakur|`Abd-allah II of Harar opens the Battle of Chelenqo with an attack on the camp of the Shewan army of Negus Menelik II of Ethiopia|Menelik II early in the morning; prepared for the assault, the Negus orders a counter-attack which routs the enemy, resulting with the capture of Harar a few days later.
January 20 - The United States Senate allows the United States Navy|Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
January 21 - The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed
January 21 - Brisbane receives a daily rainfall of 465 millimetres - a record for any Australian capital city.
January 26 - Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian troops defeat Italy|Italians
January 28 - In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, USA, the largest snowflakes on record are reported. They are 15 inches (38cm) wide and 8 inches (20cm) thick.
February 2 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
February 5 - The Giuseppe Verdi opera ''Otello'' premieres at La Scala
February 23 - The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
February 26 - At the Sydney Cricket Ground|SCG, George Lohmann becomes the first bowler (cricket)|bowler to take eight wickets in a Test cricket|Test innings.
March 3 - Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller
March 4 - Gottlieb Daimler unveils his first automobile
March 13 - Chester Greenwood patents earmuffs
March 19 - Henry Cogswell College established by Henry D. Cogswell.
April 4 - Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
April 20 - George Bouton wins the worlds first motor racing contest: he is the only participant
May 3 - Earthquake in Sonora, Mexico
May 9 - Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in London.
June 8 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punch card calculator.
June 18 - The Reinsurance Treaty is closed between Germany and Russia.
June 21 - Britain celebrates a Golden Jubilee, marking the 50th year of Queen Victoria's reign. http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page929.asp
June 23 - The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating that nation's first national park, Banff National Park. http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/cseh-twih/archives2_E.asp?id=25 June 28 - Minot, North Dakota is incorporated as a city.
July 26 - L. L. Zamenhof publishes Unua Libro|"Dr. Esperanto's International Language".
July 27 - Giuseppe Peano marries Carola Crosio
October 1 - British Empire takes over Baluchistan
November 10 - Louis Linga, sentenced to be hanged for his alleged role in the Haymarket Riot bomb, kills himself by dynamite
In London, police and left-wing demonstrators clash. One dead. One of the participants is George Bernard Shaw.
November 11 - August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden hanged for inciting riot and murder in the Haymarket Riot of May 4, 1886.
December 25 - Glenfiddich single malt Scotch whisky first ran from the stills of Glenfiddich Distillery. The whisky is still produced today by William Grant & Sons.
Unknown dates
L. L. Zamenhof completes the creation of the initial version of Esperanto
U.S. National Institutes of Health founded
Teachers College, later part of Columbia University, is founded
Thomas Stevens (cyclist)|Thomas Stevens is 1st man to bicycle around the world
Michelson-Morley experiment is performed
Gramophone patented by Emile Berliner
The New Gate is built in Jerusalem
Comptometer patented by Dorr Eugene Felt
The first All-Ireland Hurling and Gaelic football|Football Finals are held
Suez Canal is declared neutral
Japan annexes Iwo Jima
Zululand becomes a British colony
Huang He|Yellow river floods in China - 900,000 dead
British nurses association organized
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn founded
Spandau Prison in Berlin finished
Portugal abolishes death penalty for murder
Heinrich Hertz discovers electromagnetism
US congress passes the Interstate Commerce Act
Births
January
January 1 - Wilhelm Canaris, head of German military intelligence in World War II (d. 1945)
January 3 - August Macke, German painter (d. 1914)
January 19 - Alexander Woollcott, American intellectual (d. 1943)
January 21 - Maude Farris-Luse | Maude Davis, supercentenarian|Oldest Person in the World (d. 2002)
January 28 - Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist and conductor (d. 1982)
February
February 1 - Charles Nordhoff, English-born author (d. 1947)
February 2 - Pat Sullivan, Australian director and producer of animated films (d. 1933)
February 3 - Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d. 1914)
February 6 - Josef Frings, Archbishop of Cologne (d. 1978)
February 10 - John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
February 11 - Ernst Hanfstängl, German-born pianist and U.S. politician (d. 1975)
February 11 - John van Melle Dutch-born writer (d. 1953)
February 17 - Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer (d. 1947)
February 18 - Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek poet (d. 1957)
February 20 - Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (d. 1967)
February 26 - Grover Cleveland Alexander, baseball player (d. 1950)
March
March 3 - Rupert Brooke, English poet (d. 1915)
March 5 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (d. 1959)
March 9 - Phil Mead, English cricketer (d. 1958)
March 14 - Sylvia Beach, American publisher in Paris (d. 1952)
March 22 - Chico Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1961)
March 23 - Juan Gris, Spanish-born painter and graphic artist (d. 1927)
March 23 - Felix Yussupov|Prince Felix Yussupov, Russian assassin of Rasputin (d. 1967)
March 24 - Roscoe Arbuckle|Fatty Arbuckle, American actor (d. 1933)
April-May
April 10 - Bernardo Houssay, Argentine physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
May 2 - Eddie Collins, baseball player (d. 1951)
May 5 - Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1972)
May 11 - Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (d. 1951)
May 26 - Paul Lukas, Hungarian-born actor (d. 1971)
May 28 - Jim Thorpe, American athlete (d. 1953)
May 31 - Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
June
June 2 - Orrick Johns, American poet and playwright (d. 1946)
June 22 - Julian Huxley, British biologist (d. 1975)
June 25 - George Abbott, American playwright (d. 1995)
July
July 7 - Marc Chagall, Russian-born painter (d. 1985)
July 16 - Shoeless Joe Jackson, baseball player (d. 1951)
July 18 - Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician and traitor (d. 1945)
July 22 - Gustav Hertz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
July 28 - Marcel Duchamp, French-born artist (d. 1968)
July 29 - Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-born composer (d. 1951)
August
August 12 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
August 13 - Julius Freed, American inventor and banker (d. 1952)
August 15 - Edna Ferber, American novelist (d. 1968)
August 17 - Emperor Karl I of Austria (d. 1922)
August 17 - Marcus Garvey, American publisher, entrepreneur, and black nationalist (d. 1940)
August 20 - Jules Laforgue, French poet (b. 1860)
August 24 - Harry Hooper, baseball player (d. 1974)
September
September 1 - Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (d. 1961)
September 3 - Frank Christian, jazz musician (d. 1973)
September 13 - Lavoslav Ružička, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
September 16 - Nadia Boulanger, French composer and composition teacher (d. 1979)
September 28 - Avery Brundage, American sports official
October
October 1 - Violet Jessop, RMS Titanic survivor (d. 1971)
October 5 - René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1976)
October 6 - Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (d. 1965)
October 8 - Huntley Gordon, Canadian-born actor (d. 1956)
October 22 - John Reed (journalist)|John Reed, American journalist (d. 1920)
October 28 - Marcel Duchamp, French artist (d. 1968)
October 31 - Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese Nationalist (d. 1975)
November
November 6 - Walter Johnson, baseball player (d. 1946)
November 10 - Arnold Zweig, German writer (d. 1968)
November 17 - Bernard Montgomery, World War II British commander (d. 1976)
November 19 - James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
December
December 12 - Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (d. 1974)
December 22 - Srinivasa Aaiyangar Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (d. 1920)
Month/day unknown
Joseph H. Choate, Jr., American politician and philanthropist (d. 1968)
Pauline Sabin, American activist for repeal of prohibition in U.S. (d. 1955)
Deaths
February 27 - Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (b. 1833)
March 8 - Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman and reformer (b. 1813)
May 14 - Lysander Spooner, American philosopher and abolitionist (b. 1808)
July 17 - Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b. 1802)
July 25 - John Taylor (1808-1887)|John Taylor, American religious leader (b. 1808)
August 8 - Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier (b. 1808)
August 20 - Jules Laforgue, French poet (b. 1860)
October 17 - Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (b. 1824)
November 2 - Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano (b. 1820)
November 8 - Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter (b. 1851)
November 19 - Emma Lazarus, American poet (b. 1859)
December 5 - Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (b. 1804)
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