[caption id=“attachment_1461” align=“alignleft” width=“414”]
A dining hall at Oxford University[/caption] In the year 1879, the Anglo-Zulu War begins in Southern Africa (Jan 11), Sandford Fleming first proposes the global adoption of standard time (Feb 8), the world’s first ocean-going steamer made of mild steel is launched in Scotland (Jun 6), the first issue of what will be known as The Watchtower, is published (Jul 1), Oxford University allows female students to study for degrees (Oct 13), Thomas Edison buys the patent for the incandescent light bulb (Nov 4) and demonstrates it to the public for the first time in Menlo Park, New Jersey (Dec 31) - and all these fine people were born:
1879-xxxx Marcia Mead* architect/ entrepreneur - Pittsfield, PA USA (1967/c. 88) 1879-0103 Erika Lindström* teacher/missionary /writer - Sund, Åland, GD of Finland (1965/86) 1879-0105 Jack Norworth* (b Knauff) songwriter/ singer/vaudeville performer - Philadephia, PA USA (1959/80) 1879-0113 Melvin Jones* “You can’t get very far until you start doing something for somebody else”/founder of Lions Club - Fort Thomas, Arizona Territory (1961/82) 1879-0125 Helene Bresslau Schweitzer* (b Bresslau) medical missionary/ linguist/wife of Albert Schweitzer - Berlin, Germany (1957/78) 1879-0128 Betty Kuuskemaa* actress - Hageri, Estonia (1966/87) 1879-0205 Gustav Brecher* conductor/composer/music critic - Eichwald, Austria-Hungary (1940/61) 1879-0206 Pedro Aguirre Cerda* politician/P - Pocuro, Chile (1941/62) 1879-0208 Adolf Lindfors* wrestler/OG - Porvoo, GD of Finland (1959/80) 1879-0215 Ilmari Bonsdorff* geodesist/ astronomer - Hämeenlinna, GD of Finland (1950/71) 1879-0215 Uno Ullberg* architect - Viborg, GD of Finland (1944/64) 1879-0220 Hod Stuart* hockey player - Ottawa, ON Canada (1907/28) 1879-0222 Johannes Brønsted* physical chemist - Varde, Denmark (1947/68) 1879-0223 Kazimir Malevich* (b Kazimierz Malewicz) avant-garde artist/art theorist/w Polish parents - Kiev, Ukraine, Russian Empire (1935/56) 1879-0225 1879-0226 Frank Bridge* violist/ composer/conductor - Brighton, England (1941/61) 1879-0226 Otto Nilsson* athlete (javelin/OB) - Gothenburg, Sweden (1960/81) 1879-0301 Hugo Melart* CEO/mayor - Joroinen, GD of Finland (1953/74) 1879-0308 Otto Hahn* chemist/N - Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany (1968/89) 1879-0314 Albert Einstein* theoretical physicist/N - Ulm, Würtemberg, German Empire (1955/76) 1879-0315 Loja Saarinen* (b Gesellius) textile artist/sculptor/wife of Eliel Saarinen - Helsinki, GD of Finland (1968/89) 1879-0320 Maud Menten* bio-medical and medical researcher - Port Lambton, ON Canada (1960/81) 1879-0326 Othmar Ammann* structural engineer - Feuerthalen, Switzerland (1965/86) 1879-0401 1879-0417 Carl Wilhelm Oseen* theoretical physicist - Lund, Sweden (1944/65) 1879-0418 Viljo Tarkiainen* literary professor/husband of Maria Jotuni - Juva, GD of Finland (1951/72) 1879-0419 Miller Huggins* baseball player/manager - Cincinnati, OH USA (1929/50) 1879-0420 Italo Gariboldi* military leader - Lodi, Kingdom of Italy (1970/90) 1879-0420 Paul Poiret* fashion designer - Paris, France (1944/65) 1879-0426 Owen Willans Richardson* physicist/N - Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England (1959/79) 1879-0429 Thomas Beecham* conductor - St Helens, Lancashire, England (1961/81) 1879-0504 Kyösti Wilkuna* writer/political activist - Nivala, GD of Finland (1922/43) 1879-0516 Pierre Gilliard* academic/author - Vaud, Switzerland (1962/83) 1879-0519 Nancy Astor* politician/wife of Waldorf - Danville, VA USA (1964/84) 1879-0519 Waldorf Astor* businessman/politician - New York, NY USA (1952/73) 1879-0524 H. B. Reese* chocolatier/businessman - York County, PA USA (1956/76) 1879-0531 1879-0601 1879-0603 Raymond Pearl* biologist/writer - Farmington, NH USA (1940/61) 1879-0603 August Ferdinand Oksa* (b Stenvall) brother of Kaarlo Fredrik Kivi - Järvenpää, Tuusula, GD of Finland (1954/75) 1879-0607 Knud Rasmussen* Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer/ anthropologist - Jakobshavn, Greenland (1933/54) 1879-0612 Edith Rosenbaum* fashion buyer/correspondent for Women’s Wear Daily/Titanic survivor - Cincinnati, OH USA (1975/95) 1879-0627 Thomas Kimmwood Peters* pioneer motion picture producer/ newsreel cameraman/inventor - Norfolk, VA USA (1973/c.94) 1879-0630 1879-0701 Léon Jouhaux* trade union leader/N - Pantin, France (1954/74) 1879-0715 Joseph Campbell* (b Seosamh Mac Cathmhaoil) poet/lyricist - Belfast, County Down, Northern Ireland (1944/64) 1879-0728 Lucy Burns* suffragist/women’s rights advocate - Brooklyn, NY USA (1966/87) 1879-0808 Bob Smith* physician/ surgeon/co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous - St. Johnsbury, VT USA (1950/71) 1879-0808 Emiliano Zapata* revolutionary - Anenecuilco, Morelos, Mexico (1919/39) 1879-0815 Ethel Barrymore* actress/daughter of Maurice Barrymore - Philadelphia, PA USA (1959/79) 1879-0817 Samuel Goldwyn* film producer - Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire (1974/94) 1879-0820 1879-0829 William Hammatt Davis* civil servant - Bangor, ME USA (1964/84) 1879-0831 Alma Mahler* (b Schindler) composer/ author/socialite - Vienna, Austria-Hungary (1964/85) 1879-0914 Margaret Sanger* (b Higgins) nurse/birth control activist/sex educator - Corning, NY USA (1966/86) 1879-0920 Victor Sjöström* Swedish film director/ actor/ screenwriter - Årjäng, Sweden-Norway (1960/80) 1879-0927 Ella Shields* music hall singer/male-impersonator - Baltimore, MD USA (1952/72) 1879-1005 Francis Peyton Rous* virologist/N - Baltimore, MD USA (1970/90) 1879-1009 Max von Laue* physicist/N - Pfaffendorf, Prussia, German Empire (1960/80) 1879-1019 Erika Relander* teacher/painter - Sortavala, GD of Finland (1937/57) 1879-1022 James Grant Forbes II* lawyer/banker - Shanghai, China (1955/75) 1879-1025 Fritz Haarmann* serial killer - Hanover, German Empire (1925/45) 1879-1103 Gurli Hertzman-Ericson* author/translator/great grandmother of Pernilla August - Gothenburg, Sweden (1954/74) 1879-1104 Will Rogers* actor/vaudeville performer/cowboy - Oologah, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory (1935/55) 1879-1107 Leon Trotsky* Marxist revolutionary - Yelizavetgrad, Russian Empire (1940/60) 1879-1115 Lewis Stone* actor - Worcester, MA USA (1953/73) 1879-1119 Alli Paasikivi* (b Hildén) actress/First Lady - Kärkölä, GD of Finland (1960/80) 1879-1126 Charles Goddard* playwright/ screenwriter - Portland, ME USA (1951/71) 1879-1127 Mauritz Rosenberg* journalist/ politician - Turku, GD of Finland (1941/61) 1879-1201 1879-1205 Clyde Cessna* aircraft designer/aviator - Hawthorne, IA USA (1954/74) 1879-1210 James E. Norris* businessman/hockey man - Montreal, QC Canada (1952/72) 1879-1214 Helen McNicoll* painter - Toronto, ON Canada (1915/35) 1879-1218 Paul Klee* artist - Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland (1940/60) 1879-1219 Manuel María Sánchez* lawyer/writer/educator - Quito, Ecuador (1935/55) 1879-1220 1879-1229 William Mitchell* army general - Nice, France (1936/56) 1879-1231 1879-0 1879-0 1879-0 Updated 2025-0415 Helsinki Search for another year here