1872

Years: 1869 1870 1871 - 1872 - 1873 1874 1875

Decades: 1840s 1850s 1860s - 1870s - 1880s 1890s 1900s

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1872 in art 1872 in literature 1872 in music 1872 in science 1872 in sports 1872 in Canada 1872 in the U.S. List of state leaders in 1872 List of religious leaders in 1872

Events

• January 2 - Brigham Young, is arrested for bigamy (25 wives).
• February 20 - In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
• March 1 - Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park
• March 5 - George Westinghouse patents the air brake.
• March 5 - The case of Tichborne Claimant decided against the claimant Arthur Orton
• March 26 - Earthquake at Lone Pine, California with an estimated magnitude of 7.2 .
• May 10 - Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
• May 22 - Reconstruction: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
• June 14 - Trade unions legalised in Canada.
• November - Ulysses S. Grant defeats Horace Greeley in the U.S. presidential election
• November 5 - Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time (on November 18 she was served an arrest warrant and in the subsequent trial she was fined $100 - she never paid the fine).
• November 7 – Mary Celeste sets sail from New York, bound for Genoa
• November 9 - Great Boston Fire of 1872: In Boston, Massachusetts, a large fire begins to burn on Lincoln Street (the two day event destroyed about 65 acres (0.3 km²) of city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and caused US$60 million in damage).
• November 26 - The San Francisco Evening Bulletin exposes one of the most notorious mining scandals in US history, The Great Diamond Hoax.
• November 27 - Meteor rain display over France
• November 29 - Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River.
• November 30 - First ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland.
• December 4 - The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia (the ship was abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged).
• December 21 - HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography

• London Metropolitan Police strike
• In the aftermath of the War of the Triple Alliance, new government of Paraguay makes peace with Brazil, grant reparations and territorial concessions
• Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition

Births

• January 6 - Alexander Scriabin, composer (d. 1915)
• January 31 - Zane Grey, writer (d. 1939)
• March 7 - Piet Mondrian, painter (d. 1944)
• April 29 – Harry Payne Whitney, businessman, horse breeder (+ 1930)
• May 18 - Bertrand Russell, philosopher and logician
• May 31 - Heath Robinson, British cartoonist and illustrator.
• July 1 - Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer
• July 4 - Calvin Coolidge, American president
• August 3 - King Haakon VII of Norway
• August 10 - Bill Johnson, jazz musician (d. 1972)
• August 15 - Shri Aurobindo
• August 21 - Aubrey Beardsley, British artist
• October 11 - Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)
• November 30 - John McCrae, Canadian soldier and poet (d. 1918)

Deaths

• January 7 - James Fisk, entrepreneur
• April 1 - Frederick Maurice, English theologian
• April 2 - Samuel Morse, inventor of the Morse code
• June 4 - Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Dutch politician
• November 28 - Mary Fairfax Somerville, UK mathematician
• December 15 - Mary Anne Evans, wife of Benjamin Disraeli (b. 1792)
• December 23 - Théophile Gautier, poet, novelist
• Germany, Death of Ludwig Feuerbach, German Philosophy
• Benito Juárez