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Inventions 1850 to 1900

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Key Moments

During this period, Europeans and their descendents dominated the world politically, economically and culturally. In the USA and Australia the indigenous populations were mostly killed off in a series of genocidal wars. British, French and (later) Germans occupied Africa, carving up the continent amongst themselves and effectively enslaving the darker skinned populations. Descendents of the Spanish and Portuguese took full control over central and south America, leaving the indigenous people with very little. The British and French took over large areas of Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The Russians controlled most of northern and central Asia and Eastern Europe. Germans controlled most of central and western Europe.

Between 1850 and 1864 the T'ai Ping Rebellion in China became the bloodiest civil war in history.

The Catholic Christians approved the doctrine of the infallability of the Pope in 1870.

Inventors and explorers born during this period include:

• Arthur John Evans, British archeologist, discoverer of the Minoan civilisation in Crete: born 1851.
• Melvil Dewey, USA inventor of decimal classification for libraries: 1851.
• Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzą, Italian explorer in central Africa: 1852.
• George Eastman, USA inventor of camera film: 1854.
• Rudolph Diesel, German inventor of heavy internal combustion engine: 1858.
• Henry Ford, USA industrialist who developed the assembly line: 1863.
• Wilbur Wright (born 1867) and Orville Wright (1871): USA inventors, first powered heavier than air flight.
• Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer: 1872.
• Gugliemo Marconi, Italian inventor of the radio: 1874.
• Robert Hutchings Goddard, USA developer of liquid fuel rocketry: 1882.
• Igor Ivan Sikorsky, Russian born USA inventor who worked out the details for the helicopter: 1889.

Physicists and mathematicians include:

• Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born USA physicist who invented the interferometer: born 1852.
• Antoine Henri Becquerel, French discoverer of radioactivity: 1853.
• Joseph John Thomson, British discoverer of the electron: 1856.
• Nikola Tesla, Croatian physicist who invented a motor than ran on alternating current: 1856.
• Heinrich Rudolph Hertz, German discoverer of radio waves: 1857.
• Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, German developer of Quantum Theory: 1858.
• Wilhelm Wein, German discoverer of the laws of radiation: 1864.
• Walther Herman Nernst, German physicist who stated that absolute zero could not be attained: 1864.
• Pieter Zeeman, Netherlands physicist who studied magnetism and light: 1865.
• Robert Andrews Millikan, USA physicist who measured the charge on an electron: 1868.
• Jean-Baptiste Perrin, French physicist who measured the size of atoms: 1870.
• Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand born British physicist, discoverer of the atomic nucleus: 1871.
• Bertrand Arthur William Russell, British mathematician and philosopher: 1872.
• William de Sitter, Netherlands physicist who predicted expanding Universe from relativity equations, 1872.
• Frederick Soddy, British discoverer of isotopes: 1877.
• Lise Meitner, Austrian physicist who co-discovered nuclear fission, 1878.
• Otto Hahn, German physicist who co-discovered nuclear fission, 1879.
• Albert Einstein, German / Swiss theoretical physicist (Theory Of Relativity): 1879.
• Clinton Joseph Davisson, USA physicist who detected the wave properties of electrons: 1881.
• Hans Wilhelm Geiger, German physicist, inventor of the Geiger Counter: 1882.
• Max Born, German physicist who interpreted the Wave Equation in terms of probability: 1882.
• Neils Henrik David Bohr, Danish physicist who worked out the structure of atoms: 1885.
• Henry Gwyn-Jeffries Moseley, English physicist who developed the concept of Atomic Number: 1887.
• Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian discoverer of the Quantum Wave Equation: 1887.
• Chandrasekhara Raman, Indian descoverer of Raman Spectroscopy for analysis: 1888.
• James Chadwick, British discoverer of neutron: 1891.
• Louis Victor Pierre de Broglie, French physicist who discovered Wave-Particle Duality: 1892.
• Satyendranath Bose, Indian developer of statistics of particles like photos: 1894.
• Leo Szilard, Hungarian born British physicist who predicted the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction: 1898.
• Irène Juliot-Curie, French co-discoverer of artificial radioactivity: 1899.

Chemists, biologists, geologists, meteorologists, astronomers and naturalists include:

• Jacobus Cornelis Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer who discovered star streams: born 1851.
• Emil Hermann Fischer, German chemist who studied sugars: 1852.
• William Ramsay, British discoverer of the noble gases: 1852.
• Pierre Curie, French chemist who studied the effect of heat on magnetism: 1859.
• Svante August Arrhenius, Swedish chemist who studied solutions: 1859.
• Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian co-developer of the concept of weather fronts: 1862.
• Marie Sklodowska Curie, Polish-born French chemist who discovered radium: 1867.
• Karl Landsteiner, Austrian discoverer of blood groups: 1868.
• Fritz Haber, German chemist who developed method of converting nitrogen in air into nitrates: 1868.
• Ejner Hertzsprung, Danish astronomer who classified stars: 1873.
• Gilbert Newton Lewis, USA chemist who worked out how electrons bind atoms into molecules: 1875.
• Henry Norris Russell, USA astronomer who determined stellar properties: 1877.
• Oswald Theodore Avery, Canadian born USA biologist who showed that DNA is genetic material: 1877.
• Alfred Lothar Wegener, German geologist who discovered continental drift: 1880.
• Alexander Flemming, British biologist who discovered penicillin: 1881.
• Arthur Stanley Eddington, British astronomer who worked out the energy source of the Sun: 1882.
• Otto Meyerhof, German biologist who worked out the chemistry of muscle contractions: 1884.
• Harlow Shapley, USA astronomer who measured the size of the Galaxy: 1885.
• Edwin Powell Hubble, USA astronomer who discovered the expanding Universe: 1889.
• Frederick Banting, Canadian co-discoverer of insulin: 1891.
• Harold Clayton Urey, USA chemist who isolated heavy hydrogen: 1893.
• George Lemaitre, Belgian astronomer who discovered the Big Bang: 1894.
• Jacob Bjerknes, Norwegian co-developer of the concept of weather fronts: 1897.
• Fritz Zwicky, Swiss astronomer who predicted the existance of neutron stars: 1898.
• Charles Best, USA-born Canadian co-discoverer of insulin: 1899.

Writers include:

• Robert Louis Stevenson, British writer (Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde): born 1850.
• Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and playwrite (The Importance Of Being Ernest): 1854.
• George Bernard Shaw, British playwrite (Pygmalion, Androcles And The Lion): 1856.
• Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer of Sherlock Holmes novels: 1859.
• Rabindranath Tagore, Indian (Bengali) writer and playwrite: 1861.
• Herbert George Wells, British writer (The Time Machine, The War Of The Worlds): 1866.
• Helen Beatrix Potter, British children's writer (The Tale Of Peter Rabit): 1866.
• John Galsworthy, British writer (The Forsyte Saga): 1867.
• Wladyslaw Reymont, Polish writer of short stories: 1867.
• Robert Lee Frost, USA poet: 1874.
• John Griffith London (known as Jack London), USA writer (The Call Of The Wild): 1876.
• Mohammad Iqbal, Pakistani poet: 1877.
• Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, British humourous writer: 1881.
• Alan Alexander Milne, British children's writer (Winnie The Pooh): 1882.
• David Herbert Lawrence, British writer (Sons And Lovers, Women In Love): 1885.
• Ludwig Josef Johan Wittgenstein, German philosopher: 1889.
• Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, British mystery writer: 1890.
• Karel Capek, Czech playwrite who first used the word "robot" in a 1920 play: 1890.
• John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, British writer (Lord Of The Rings): 1892.
• Ivo Andric, Serbian writer: 1892.
• Francis Scott Fitzgerald, USA writer (The Great Gatsby): 1896.
• Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese writer: 1899.
• Ernest Hemmingway, USA writer: 1899.

Artists, musicians and sports persons include:

• Vincent Willem Van Gogh, Netherlands painter (The Sunflowers): born 1853.
• Edward William Elgar, British composer (Pomp And Circumstance): 1857.
• Giacomo Antonio Puccini, Italian opera composer (Tosca): 1858.
• Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer: 1860.
• Archille-Claude Debussy, French composer: 1862.
• Henri Marie Raymond Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter: 1864.
• Jean Julius Christian Sibelius, Finnish composer: 1865.
• Scott Joplin, USA jazz composer and pianist: 1868.
• Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor singer: 1873.
• Gustav Theodore Holst, British composer (The Planets): 1874.
• Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter: 1881.
• Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky, Russian composer (The Firebird Suite, The Rite Of Spring): 1882.
• Walter Adolf Gropius, German founder of the Bauhaus school of architecture: 1883.
• Diego Rivera, Mexican political and historical muralist and painter: 1886.
• Irving Berlin, USA song writer: 1888.
• Charles Chaplin, British born USA comic film actor: 1889.
• Carlos Gardel, French born Argentinian tango singer: 1890.
• Julius Marx (known as Groucho Marx), USA comic and actor: 1890.
• Sandor Kellner (known as Alexander Korda), Hungarian born film director: 1893.
• George Herman Ruth (known as Babe Ruth), USA baseball player: 1895.
• George Gershwin, USA composer (Rhapsody In Blue): 1898.
• Alfred Hitchcock, British born film director: 1899.
• Edward Kennedy Ellington (known as Duke Ellington), USA jazz composer and musician: 1899.

Leaders, monarchs and others of historical influence (1850 to 1874) include:

• Charles Taze Russell, USA founder of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1877: born 1852.
• Mutsohito, Japanese modernising emperor: 1852.
• James Keir Hardie, British founder of the Labour Party: 1856.
• Philippe Petain, French general (Battle of Verdun): 1856.
• Theodore Roosevelt, USA naval secretary and president: 1858.
• William II (known universally as The Kaiser), German monarch during World War I: 1859.
• Theodor Herzl, Hungarian founder of Zionism: 1860.
• Francis Ferdinand, Austrian prince whos assassination precipitated World War I: 1863.
• David Lloyd George, British prime minister: 1863.
• Sun Yat Sen, Chinese reformist leader who opposed the Qing dynasty: 1866.
• Nicholas II, final Russian monarch of the Romanovs, killed during the 1917 revolution: 1868.
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (known as Mahatma Gandhi), Indian passive resistance leader: 1869.
• Vladimir Illich Ulyanov (better known as Lenin), Russian revolutionary: 1870.
• Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, Russian monk involved in palace intrigue: 1872.
• Winston Churchill, British prime minister and war leader: 1874.

Leaders, monarchs and others of historical influence (1875 to 1899) include:

• Mohammad Ali Jinnah, first president of Pakistan: born 1876.
• Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary and reformer: 1879.
• Iosif Vissarionvich Dzhugashvili (better known as Joseph Stalin), Russian dictator: 1879.
• Lev Davidovich Bronstein (better known as Leon Trotsky), Russian revolutionary: 1879.
• Ibn Saud, Arabic founder of Saudi Arabia: 1880.
• Mustafa Kemal (better known as Ataturk): Turkish general and president: 1881.
• Clement Atlee, Britsh prime minister after World War II: 1883.
• Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator: 1883.
• David Ben-Gurion, Polish born first prime minister of Israel: 1886.
• Bernard Law Montgomery, British World War II general in North Africa: 1887.
• Chiang Kai Shek, Chinese military leader and dictator of Taiwan: 1887.
• Thomas Edward Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia), British agent during World War I: 1888.
• Adolph Hitler, Austrian born dictator of Germany: 1889.
• Manuel II, Final monarch of Portugal: 1889.
• Jawaharlal Nehru (also known as Pundit Nehru), first leader of independent India: 1889.
• Charles De Gaulle, French general and president: 1890.
• Dwight David Eisenhower, USA general and president: 1890.
• Ho Chih Minh, Vietnamese fighter and president: 1890.
• Jomo Kenyatta, first president of independent Kenya: 1890.
• Erwin Johannes Rommel, German World War II general in North Africa: 1891.
• Ras Tafari (Haile Selassie I), Ethiopian monarch and religious inspiration: 1892.
• Francisco Franco, Spanish dictator: 1892.
• Josp Broz (known as Tito), Yugoslav fighter and president: 1892.
• Mao Tse Tung, Chinese military leader and dictator: 1893.
• Gavrilo Princip, Serbian assassin who set off the events that lead to World War I: 1894.
• Juan Domingo Peron, Argentinian president: 1895.
• Anastasio Samosa, Nicaraguan dictator: 1896.
• Zhou Enlai, Chinese premier: 1898.
• Antonio De Oliveiro Salazar, Portuguese dictator: 1899.

Johannesburg was founded in 1886 after gold was found in the region. Salisbury (the modern Harare) was founded in 1890.

The Suez Canal opened in Egypt in 1869. This linked the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean.

In Greece the Corinth Canal was opened in 1893; the Olympic Games were restarted in 1896.

In 1883, the Indonesian volcanic island of Krakatoa exploded on 27 August sending debris 80 km high. The sound was heard over 3000 km away.

In 1863 the Football Association was set up in England, the start of the modern game now played thoughout the world.

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