1887 in France

Incumbents

• President: Jules Grévy (until 12 December), Marie François Sadi Carnot (starting 12 December)
• President of the Council of Ministers:
  • until 30 May: René Goblet
  • 30 May-12 December: Maurice Rouvier
  • starting 12 December: Pierre Tirard

Events

• 28 January – Construction of foundation of the Eiffel Tower starts in Paris. On 14 February, a letter of protest against its design signed by members of the artistic community is published on the front page of Les Temps newspaper. On 1 July, work on the iron superstructure begins.
• 11 January – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the French Academy of Medicine by Dr. Joseph Grancher.
• 23 February – The French Riviera is hit by a powerful earthquake originating in Liguria, killing around 2,000 along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
• 21–28 April – The Schnaebele incident nearly leads to war between France and Germany.
• The Lebel Model 1886 rifle is first issued to the French army, the first military firearm to use smokeless powder ammunition.

Literature

• Léon Bloy - Le Désespéré
• Édouard Dujardin - Les lauriers sont coupés
• Joris-Karl Huysmans - En rade
• Pierre Loti - Madame Chrysanthème
• Guy de Maupassant - Le Rosier de Madame Husson
• Jules Verne - Le Chemin de France / Nord contre Sud
• Émile Zola - La Terre

Births

January to June

• 17 January – Marcel Godivier, cyclist (died 1963)
• 18 March – Alfred Vaucher, theologian, church historian and bibliographer (died 1993)
• 16 April – Paul Marie André Richaud, Cardinal (died 1968)
• 31 May – Saint-John Perse, poet and diplomat, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960 (died 1975)
• 13 June – André François-Poncet, politician and diplomat (died 1978)

July to December

• 2 July – Marcel Tabuteau, oboist (died 1966)
• 28 July – Marcel Duchamp, artist (died 1968)
• 16 September – Nadia Boulanger, composer and conductor (died 1979)
• 30 September – Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert, General (died 1981)
• 5 October – René Cassin, jurist and judge, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968 (died 1976)
• 11 October – Pierre Jean Jouve, writer, novelist and poet (died 1976)
• 13 November – Jean de Limur, film director (died 1976)
• 31 December – Gaston Modot, actor (died 1970)

Deaths

• 2 August – Joseph-Louis Lambot, inventor of ferro-cement (born 1814)
• 14 August – Jules Pasdeloup, conductor (born 1819)
• 20 August – Jules Laforgue, poet (born 1860)
• 21 October – Bernard Jauréguiberry, Admiral and statesman (born 1815)

Full date unknown

• Jules Desnoyers, geologist and archaeologist (born 1800)
• Honoré Jacquinot, surgeon and zoologist (born 1815)

References

References

1. Zarevich, Emily. (2023-02-17). "The Artists Who Hated the Eiffel Tower". JSTOR Daily.
2. Gelfand, Toby. (2002). "11 January 1887, the Day Medicine Changed: Joseph Grancher's Defense of Pasteur's Treatment for Rabies". Bulletin of the History of Medicine.
3. "Séisme ligure de 1887 - Azurseisme".