1879

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century

Decades: 1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s - 1870s - 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s

1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 - 1879 - 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884

Events

January 11 - Anglo-Zulu War begins
January 22 - Zulu troops massacre British troops at Isandhlwana
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 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

Arts, Sciences, Literature and Philosophy

1879 in art:
1879 in literature:

Births

January 3 - Grace Coolidge, First Lady
January 13 - Melvin Jones, founder of Lions Clubs International
January 28 - Francis Picabia, painter, poet
February 22 - J. N. Bronsted, physical chemist.
March 8 - Otto Hahn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1944 (+ 1968)
March 14 - Albert Einstein, physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics 1921 (+ 1955)
March 26 - Othmar Ammann, engineer, Verrazano Narrows Bridge (+ 1965)
March 30 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater
April 20 - Paul Poiret, French couturier (+ 1944)
May 17 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (+ 1926)
May 23 - Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman
May 25 - Max Aitken, Statesman, newspaper baron (+ 1964)
May 27 - Karl B�hler, psychologist (+ 1963)
October 21 - Joseph Canteloube French composer and singer
October 29 - Leon Trotsky - Russian revolutionary
November 10th - Patrick Pearse Irish patriot and leader of the 1916 Easter Rising
September 14 - Margaret Sanger, birth control advocate
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.
June 1 - Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial, only son of French Emperor Napoleon III, killed fighting the Zulus