1878 in France

Events from the year 1878 in France.

Incumbents

Events

1 May–10 November – Exposition Universelle, a world's fair, is staged in Paris. In June some parts of the city are first lit by 'Yablochkov candles', and on 30 June the head of the Statue of Liberty goes on display.
May – Chemins de fer de l'État formed to take over ten small railway companies operating between the Loire and Garonne.
18 December – French passenger steamer Byzantin founders in the Dardanelles during a gale after collision with British SS Rinaldo, killing around 210 people, with only 14 crew of the Byzantin saved.

Literature

Hector Malot - Sans Famille
Jules Verne - Un capitaine de quinze ans
Émile Zola - ''Une page d'amour''

Music

Jules Massenet - Le roi de Lahore
Jacques Offenbach - Maître Péronilla / ''Madame Favart''

Births

January to June

5 February – Jean Becquerel, physicist
5 February – André Citroën, automobile pioneer
21 February – Mirra Alfassa, spiritual leader
28 February – Pierre Fatou, mathematician
24 March – René Baudichon, sculptor and medallist
2 April – Émilie Charmy, artist
17 April – Albert Canet, tennis player
3 May – Jean Chiappe, civil servant
26 May – Charles Burguet, film director
28 May – Paul Pelliot, sinologist and explorer
8 June – Yvonne Prévost, tennis player

July to December

22 July – Lucien Febvre, social historian
16 August – Léon Binoche, rugby union player
2 September – Maurice René Fréchet, mathematician
15 October – Paul Reynaud, politician and lawyer
17 October – Henri Mulet, organist and composer
14 November – Julie Manet, painter and art collector
23 November – André Caplet, composer and conductor

Full date unknown

Georges Garnier, soccer player

Deaths

7 January – François-Vincent Raspail, chemist, physiologist and socialist
8 January – Charles Cousin-Montauban, Comte de Palikao, general and statesman
18 January – Antoine César Becquerel, scientist
19 January – Henri Victor Regnault, chemist and physicist
11 February – Auguste Poulet-Malassis, printer and publisher
19 February – Charles-François Daubigny, painter
2 April – Louis Léonard de Loménie, author
8 April – Eugène Belgrand, engineer
6 May – François Benoist, composer and organist
25 May – Antoine Laurent Dantan, sculptor
6 June – Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers, Marshal of France and politician
12 June - George V of Hanover, deposed German king
2 September – Garcin de Tassy, orientalist
11 October – Félix Dupanloup, Bishop of Orléans
31 October – Louis-Antoine Garnier-Pagès, politician
8 November – Joseph-Epiphane Darras, historian

Full date unknown

Amédée Faure, painter
Nicolas Rémy Maire, bow maker