[caption id=“attachment_2595” align=“alignright” width=“304”]
Flammarion engraving from 1888[/caption]
In the year 1888, the National Geographic Society is founded in Washington D.C. (Jan 13), slavery is abolished in Brazil (May 13), horse-driven trams begin operating in Tallinn, Estonia (Aug 24), George Eastman receives patent for his Kodak camera, using roll film (Sep 4), the Washington Monument, dedicated in 1885, opens to the public (Oct 9), John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tyre (Dec 7), Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear in a moment of madness (Dec 23), Camille Flammarion’s book L’atmosphère: météorologie populaire - with the Flammarion engraving - is published - and all these fine people were born:
1888-0102 Lauri Saari* painter/took lessons from Edvard Munch - Urjala, GD of Finland (1953/65)
1888-0108 Matt Moore* Irish-American actor/director/to U.S. at age 8 - County Meath, Ireland (1960/72)
1888-0110
1888-0120 Lead Belly* (b Huddie Ledbetter) folk and blues singer/guitarist - Mooringsport, LA USA (1949/61)
1888-0124 Ernst Heinkel* aircraft designer/manufacturer - Grunbach, German Empire (1958/70)
1888-0129 Sydney Chapman* mathematician/geophysicist - Eccles, England (1970/82)
1888-0207 N. J. Toivonen* chemist - Hämeenlinna, GD of Finland (1961/73)
1888-0213 Georgios Papandreou* politician - Kalentzi, Achaea, Greece (1968/80)
1888-0217 Otto Stern* physicist /N - Sohrau, Kingdom of Prussia (1969/81)
1888-0225 John Foster Dulles* diplomat/Secretary of State - Washington D.C. USA (1959/71)
1888-0307 Walto Tuomioja* politician/ journalist/grandfather of Erkki Tuomioja - Parkano, GD of Finland (1931/43)
1888-0310
1888-0312 Florence Lee* actress - Jamaica, VT USA (1962/74)
1888-0315
1888-0318
1888-0320 Amanda Clement* athlete/umpire/ first woman paid to umpire a baseball game - Hudson, Dakota Territory (1971/83)
1888-0320 Elin Matilda Nummi* (b Dolck) Finnish-American mother of one/Titanic survivor (as Hakkarainen) - Helsinki, Finland (1957/68)
1888-0325
1888-0326 Elsa Brändström* Swedish nurse/philanthropist/“Angel of Siberia” - Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire (1948/59)
1888- 0329 James E. Casey* businessman/founder of UPS - Pick Handle Gulch, NV USA (1983/95)
1888-0330 Anna Q. Nilsson* Swedish-American silent film actress/to U.S. at age 17 - Ystad, Sweden (1974/85)
1888-0401 Kai Donner* linguist/politician/father of Jörn Donner - Helsinki, GD of Finland (1935/46)
1888-0404 Tris Speaker* baseball player - Hubbard, TX USA (1958/70)
1888-0406 Hans Richter* painter/ avant-gardist/filmmaker - Berlin, German Empire (1976/87)
1888-0420 Anna Hämäläinen* (b Vartiainen) Titanic survivor/immigrant in the U.S - Kiihtelysvaara, GD of Finland (1945/57) ET
1888-0430
1888-0511 Irving Berlin* American composer/lyricist - Tolochin, Russian Empire (1989/101)
1888-0525 Harukichi Hyakutake* general - Saga Prefecture, Empire of Japan (1947/58)
1888-0531 Jack Holt* actor - Winchester, VA USA (1951/62)
1888-0605 Armand Annet* French colonial governor - Paris, French Third Republic (1973/84)
1888-0609 Ida Rentoul Outhwaite* illustrator of children’s books - Carlton, Melbourne, Australia (1960/72)
1888-0616 Peter Stoner* mathematician/ astronomer/Christian apologist - USA (1980/91)
1888-0627 Antoinette Perry* actress/ director/eponym of the Tony Awards - Denver, CO USA (1946/58)
1888-0710 Toyohiko Kagawa* social reformer/peace activist/ evangelist - Empire of Japan (1960/71)
1888-0716 Fritz Zernike* physicist/N - Amsterdam, Netherlands (1966/77)
1888-0723 Raymond Chandler* oil company executive/ novelist/ screenwriter - Chicago, IL USA (1959/70)
1888-0801
1888-0810 J. W. Snellman* army major/businessman/grandson of J. V. Snellman - Viipuri, GD of Finland (1968/79)
1888-0811 Paul Loicq* hockey player/referee/president of the IIHF - Brussels, Belgium (1953/64)
1888-0813 John Logie Baird* color-TV innovator - Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, Scotland (1946/57)
1888-0816 T. E. Lawrence* archaeologist/officer/writer - Tremadog, Carnarvonshire, Wales (1935/46)
1888-0820
1888-0829 Salme Pekkala-Dutt* (b Murrik) Estonian-British communist politician/sister of Hella Wuolijoki - Helme, Livonia, Russian Empire (1964/76)
1888-0830 Eduardo Ciannelli* Italian-American actor - Lacco Ameno, Ischia, Kingdom of Italy (1969/81)
1888-0831
1888-0906 Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.* businessman/politician - Boston, MA USA (1969/81)
1888-0912 Maurice Chevalier* actor/singer/entertainer - Paris, French Third Republic (1972/83)
1888-0916 W. O. Bentley* engineer/founder of Bentley Motors Limited - Hampstead, London, England (1971/82)
1888-0916 Frans Emil Sillanpää* author/N - Hämeenkyrö, GD of Finland (1964/75)
1888-0918 Toni Wolff* Jungian analyst - Zürich, Switzerland (1953/64)
1888-0920 Elisheva Bikhovski* Russian-Israeli poet/writer/ translator - Ryazan, Spassk, Russian Empire (1949/60)
1888-0926 T. E. Eliot* author/poet/playwright/N - St. Louis, MO USA (1965/76)
1888-1006 Roland Garros* aviator - Saint-Denis, Réunion, French Third Republic (1918/29)
1888-1009 Nikolai Bukharin* revolutionary/ politician - Moscow, Russian Empire (1938/49)
1888-1014 Katherine Mansfield* (b Beauchamp) writer/poet - Wellington, New Zealand (1923/34)
1888-1016 Eugene O’Neill* playwright/N - New York, NY USA (1953/65)
1888-1025 Richard E. Byrd Jr* admiral/explorer - Winchester, VA USA (1957/68)
1888-1026 Runar Schildt* writer - Helsinki, GD of Finland (1925/36)
1888-1101
1888-1107 C. V. Raman* physicist/N - Tiruchirappalli, Madras, British India (1970/82)
1888-1109 Lucy Greenish* the first woman to become a registered architect in New Zealand - Brisbane, Australia (1976/87)
1888-1115 Harald Sverdrup* oceanographer/ meteorologist - Sogndal, Norway (1957/68)
1888-1119 José Raúl Capablanca* chess master - Havana, Captaincy General of Cuba, Spanish Empire (1942/53)
1888-1120
1888-1123 Harpo Marx* actor/mime artist/musician - Manhattan, NY USA (1964/75)
1888-1124 Dale Carnegie* writer/ teacher of courses in self-improvement etc - Maryville, MO USA (1955/66)
1888-1124 Cathleen Nesbitt* actress - Birkenhead, Cheshire, England (1982/93)
1888-1125
1888-1129 Oswald Rayner* MI6 field agent - Smethwick, Staffordshire, England (1961/72)
1888-1130 Ralph Hartley* electronics researcher/inventor - Sprucemont, NV USA (1970/81)
1888-1201
1888-1208 Herbert Arthur Disney* brother of Walt Disney - Acron, FL USA (1961/72) Find a Grave
1888-1210
1888-1218 Gladys Cooper* actress - Hither Green, London, England (1971/82)
1888-1218 Robert Moses* public official/“master builder” - New Haven, CT USA (1981/92)
1888-1220 Clementine de Vere* British magician - Brussels, Belgium (1973/84)
1888-1231
1888-0
1888-0
1888-0
Updated 2025-0423 Helsinki
Search for another year here