1878

Years: 1875 1876 1877 - 1878 - 1879 1880 1881

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

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1878 in art 1878 in literature 1878 in music 1878 in science 1878 in sports 1878 in Canada List of state leaders in 1878 List of religious leaders in 1878

Events

• January – Cleopatra's Needle arrives in London
• January 9 - Humbert I becomes King of Italy
• January 23 – Disraeli orders British fleet to Dardanelles
• January 28 - The Yale News becomes the first daily, college newspaper in the United States.
• January 31 - Turkey agrees to armistice at Adrianople
• February 2 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
• February 8 - British fleet enters Turkish waters and anchors off Constantinople - Russia threatens to occupy Constantinople but does not carry out the threat
• February 11 - 1st US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms.
• February 11 - 1st weekly Weather report published in UK
• February 18 - The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico
• February 19 - The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison
• February 24 - Anti-Russian demonstrations in Hyde Park, London
• February 28 - Mississippi State University is created by the Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi)
• March 3 - Bulgaria regained its independence from Ottoman Empire.
• March 3 - Russia arranges Pan-Slavist peace treaty with Turkey at San Stefano
• March 24 - The UK frigate Eurydice sinks, killing 300.
• March 25 - Russia rejects British proposal to lay San Stefano treaty before European congress
• March 27 - In anticipation with war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes the reserves and calls up Indian troops to Malta
• May 15 - Tokyo Stock Exchange established
• June 4 - Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
• June 12 - July 12 - Congress of Berlin about Turkey
• July 13 - The Treaty of Berlin makes Serbia completely independent
• July 26 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
• September 3 - Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.
• October 1 - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
• October 15 - The Edison Electric Company begins operation.
• October 17 - John A. Macdonald returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.

• Yellow fever in Mississippi Valley - over 13.000 dead
• US arbitration rejects Argentinean claims to Paraguay's part of Chaco region
• West Bromwich Albion F.C. play their first match.

Births

• January 6 - Carl Sandburg, poet, historian (d. 1967)
• January 12 - Ferenc Molnár, author (d. 1952)
• January 20 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer (d. 1968)
• January 25 - Ernst Alexanderson, television pioneer
• February 2 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer
• February 5 - André Citroën, automobile pioneer
• February 8 - Martin Buber, philosopher
• February 14 - Hirota Koki, Japanese prime minister (d. 1948)
• February 26 - Emmy Destinn, opera singer (d. 1930)
• March 16 - Clemens August Graf von Galen, archbishop of Münster and cardinal (d. 1946)
• March 22 - Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete
• March 27 - Sir George Gilbert Scott, architect
• March 31 - Jack Johnson, the first African American to hold a boxing title.
• April 6 - Erich Mühsam, German author (d. 1934)
• April 24 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist
• May 10 - Gustav Stresemann, politician and recipient of the Nobel Prize in peace 1926 (d. 1929)
• May 26 - Isadora Duncan, dancer (d. 1927)
• July 4 - George M. Cohan, singer, dancer, composer, actor, writer (d. 1942)
• July 24 - Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author
• August 31 - Frank Jarvis, American athlete (d. 1933)
• September 13 – Matilde Moisant, pioneer aviatrix (d. 1964)
• September 22 - Yoshida Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1967)
• October 1 - Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher and economist
• October 16 - Maxey Long, American athlete
• November 14 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (d. 1957)
• November 17 - Grace Abbott, social worker, activist (d. 1939)
• December 25 - Louis Chevrolet, automobile builder (d. 1941)
• December 31 - Elizabeth Arden, (d. 1966), beautician, and cosmetics entrepreneur

Deaths

• February 7 - Pope Pius IX
• April 12 - William Marcy Tweed, American politician, former "Boss" of Tammany Hall.
• December 14 - Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, second daughter of Queen Victoria and consort of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.
• Angelo Secchi - pioneer of astronomical spectroscopy