1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.

Events

January

• January 6 - `Abd-allah II of Harar opens the Battle of Chelenqo with an attack on the camp of the Shewan army of Negus 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 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 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

• 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 SCG, George Lohmann becomes the first bowler to take eight wickets in a Test innings.

March

• 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

• April 4 - Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
• April 20 - George Bouton wins the world's first motor racing contest: he is the only participant.

May

• May 3 - Earthquake in Sonora, Mexico
• May 9 - Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in London.

June

• 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. ^*
• June 23 - The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating that nation's first national park, Banff National Park. ^*
• June 28 - Minot, North Dakota is incorporated as a city.

July

• July 26 - L. L. Zamenhof publishes "Dr. Esperanto's International Language".
• July 27 - Giuseppe Peano marries Carola Crosio

October

• October 1 - British Empire takes over Balochistan

November

• November 3 - Associação Académica de Coimbra, students' union of the University of Coimbra in Portugal, was founded.
• November 10 - Louis Lingg, 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.
• November 13 - Bloody Sunday, Police clash with pro-irish indepence protesters.

December

• 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 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 Football Finals are held
• Suez Canal is declared neutral
• Japan annexes Iwo Jima
• Zululand becomes a British colony
• 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
• Adolf Eugen Fick invents the contact lens
• Hibernian FC defeat Preston North End to become Undisputed Champions of the World through the domenece of these to teams in their respective countries.

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 Davis, Oldest Person in the World (d. 2002)
• January 22 - Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist and conductor (d. 1982)
• January 23 - Dorothy Payne Whitney, American-born philanthropist and social activist (d. 1968)

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 - Prince Felix Yussupov, Russian assassin of Rasputin (d. 1967)
• March 24 - Fatty Arbuckle, American actor (d. 1933)

April-May

• April 10 - Bernardo Houssay, Argentine physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
• April 15 - Mike Brady, American golfer (d. 1972)
• 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 25 - Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian saint (d. 1968)
• 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 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 3 - Rupert Brooke, British war poet (d. 1915)
• 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 24 - Harry Hooper, baseball player (d. 1974)

September

• September 1 - Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (d. 1961)
• September 3 - Frank Christian, American jazz musician (d. 1973)
• September 13 - Lavoslav Ružička, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
• September 16 - Nadia Boulanger, French composer and composition teacher (d. 1979)
• September 28 - Avery Brundage, American sports official (d. 1975)

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, American journalist (d. 1920)
• 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 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 8 - John Wright Oakes, Landscape painter (b. 1820)
• July 17 - Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b. 1802)
• July 25 - 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)

1887

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