Events in History
- Feb 5 Joseph Swan demonstrates light bulb using carbon glow
- Feb 8 Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute
- Feb 10 1st electric arc light used (California Theater)
Historic Event
Feb 10 Henry Morton Stanley departs for the Congo
- Feb 12 1st artificial ice rink in North America (Madison Square Garden, NYC)
- Feb 12 News about British loss at Battle of Isandlwana to Zulu attack (Anglo-Zulu War) reaches London
- Feb 14 Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta
- Feb 15 US Congress authorizes women lawyers to practise before Supreme Court
- Feb 18 Arabs capture Egyptian premier Nabar Pasha
Statue of Liberty
Feb 18 Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi is awarded a patent for his design for the Statue of Liberty
- Feb 22 1st 5 cent & 10 cent store opened by Frank W. Woolworth in Utica, New York (failed almost immediately)
- Feb 25 US Congress passed 1st Timberland Protection Act
- Feb 27 Russian Chemist Constantin Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener) [1]
- Feb 28 "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political and economic exploitation
Birthdays in History
- Feb 6 Carl Ramsauer, German physicist (Ramsauer-Townsend effect), born in Oldenburg, Germany (d. 1879)
- Feb 6 Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Chilean educator, lawyer, and politician (President of Chile, 1938-41; Senator for Concepción, 1921-27), born in Pocuro, Chile (d. 1941)
- Feb 9 Jacques Bainville, French historian/essayist/journalist
- Feb 13 Sarojini Naidu, Indian freedom fighter and poet, born in Hyperbad, India (d. 1949)
- Feb 17 Dorothy Canfield Fisher, American novelist (Book-of-Month-Club)
- Feb 22 Norman Lindsay, Australian artist and novelist (The Magic Pudding), born in Creswick Victoria (d. 1969) [1]
- Feb 23 Agnes Arber, English biologist/philosopher (Mind & the Eye)
- Feb 24 Herman Teirlinck, Belgian writer (Sun)
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists