On This Day

September 1877 in History

Events in History

  • Sep 5 Southern blacks led by Pap Singleton settle in Kansas
  • Sep 11 Rijkslandbouwhoge school opens in Wageningen
  • Sep 11 Russo-Turkish War: Third Russian assault on Plevna, Ottoman Empire (now Pleven, Bulgaria), aided by Romanian forces mostly fails, although the Romanians take Grivitsa; up to 20,000 Russian and 6,000 Turk casualties
  • Sep 20 Chase National Bank opens in NYC (later merges into Chase Manhattan)

Event of Interest

Sep 22 Rudolf Virchow delivers an anti-Darwinian speech to the Congress of German Naturalist and Physicians, Munich where he speaks against the teaching of the theory of evolution in schools

Rudolf Virchow
Anthropologist/Pathologist Rudolf Virchow
  • Sep 23 Hurricane strikes Curacao & Bonaire kills 200
  • Sep 24 Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion
  • Sep 27 John Mercer Langston named minister of Haiti
  • Sep 30 1st US amateur swim meet (NY Athletic Club)

Birthdays in History

  • Sep 1 Francis William Aston, British chemist and physicist who won a Nobel laureate for his work with isotopes and the whole number rule, born in Birmingham, England (d. 1945)

Frederick SoddyFrederick Soddy (1877-1956)

Sep 2 English radiochemist and Nobel laureate (radioactive substances, isotopes), born in Eastbourne, Sussex, England

Frederick Soddy
  • Sep 5 Albert Roelofs, Dutch painter and etcher, born in Schaarbeek, Brussels, Belgium (d. 1920)
  • Sep 10 Georgia Douglas Johnson, African American poet and playwright (Autumn Love Cycle), born in Atlanta, Georgia (d. 1966)
  • Sep 11 Felix Dzerzhinsky [Iron Felix, Bloody Felix], Polish-born Bolshevik leader established and developed Soviet secret police (Cheka, forerunner to the KGB), born in Ivyanets, Lithuania (d. 1926)
  • Sep 11 James Hopwood Jeans, English physicist, mathematician and astronomer (The Mysterious Universe), born in Southport, Lancashire (d. 1946)
  • Sep 13 Stanley Lord, Captain of the SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster, born in Bolton, Lancashire, England (d. 1962)
  • Sep 13 Wilhelm Filchner, German explorer who led the German Antarctic expedition of 1911–12, born in Munich, Germany (d. 1957)
  • Sep 15 Jakob Ehrlich, Austrian politician and Zionist, born in Bystřice pod Hostýnem, Czech Republic (d. 1938)
  • Sep 15 Max Factor, Polish-American make-up artist, inventor and founder of cosmetics manufacturer Max Factor & Company, born in Zduńska Wola, Poland, Russian Empire (d. 1938)
  • Sep 16 Willem Huibert Rassers, Dutch cultural anthropologist (Pandji), born in Roosendaal, Netherlands (d. 1973)
  • Sep 25 Plutarco Elias Calles, Mexican revolutionary and president (1924-28), born in Guaymas, Mexico (d. 1945)
  • Sep 26 Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist (discovered the method of electroconvulsive therapy), born in Conegliano, Italy (d. 1963)

Deaths in History

  • Sep 2 Constantine Kanaris, Greek admiral, freedom fighter and politician (b. 1793)
  • Sep 3 Adolphe Thiers, French statesman, 1st president of 3rd French Republic (1871-77), dies at 80

Crazy HorseCrazy Horse (1840-1877)

Sep 5 Oglala Sioux chief (Battle of the Little Bighorn), dies at 37

Crazy Horse

William Henry Fox TalbotWilliam Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877)

Sep 17 English photographic pioneer, dies at 77

William Henry Fox Talbot
  • Sep 23 Urbain Jean Joseph le Verrier, French astronomer (made calculations that proved existence of Neptune), dies at 66
  • Sep 25 Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich, German physician ( established normal temperature as 37 °C (98.6 °F), dies at 62
  • Sep 26 Hermann Grassmann, German linguist and mathematician, dies at 68
  • Sep 30 Toohoolhoolzote, prophet of Nez Perce indians, dies in battle

Historical Figures

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