Modern Era
First Irish Home Rule Bill (1886): Gladstone and Parnell
The bill was defeated at its second reading by 343 votes to 313, splitting the Liberal Party and bringing the Conservatives back to power.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
War of the Currents (1886-1893): Edison vs Tesla and Westinghouse
Alternating current became the standard for generating and distributing electric power, while Edison's direct-current system was gradually confined to special uses.
Modern Era
Benz Patent-Motorwagen (1886): The First Practical Automobile
Karl Benz received German patent No. 37435 for a vehicle powered by a petrol engine, the design generally regarded as the first practical automobile.
Modern Era
Mount Tarawera Eruption (1886): The Lost Pink and White Terraces
About 120 people died, several villages were buried and the Pink and White Terraces were destroyed.
Modern Era
Charleston Earthquake (1886): The Southeast's Great Quake
Severe damage to most buildings in Charleston, about 60 deaths, and a landmark scientific study of an eastern US earthquake.
Modern Era
Hertz Proves Radio Waves Exist (1887): Maxwell's Theory Confirmed
Hertz generated and detected electromagnetic waves in the laboratory, confirming Maxwell's prediction and laying the scientific foundation for radio.
Modern Era
Michelson-Morley Experiment (1887): The Search for the Ether
The experiment found no measurable motion of the Earth through the supposed luminiferous ether, a null result that later supported Einstein's special theory of relativity.
Modern Era
Yellow River Flood (1887): One of History's Deadliest Floods
The river poured south into the Huai basin, killing an estimated 900,000 to 2 million people before the breach was closed in early 1889.
Modern Era
Jack the Ripper: The Whitechapel Murders of 1888
The murders stopped after November 1888, but no one was ever charged and the killer's identity remains unknown.
Modern Era
Lei Áurea (1888): The Abolition of Slavery in Brazil
Slavery was abolished immediately and without compensation, freeing around 700,000 people; the monarchy lost planter support and fell in November 1889.
Modern Era
Kodak Camera (1888): 'You Press the Button, We Do the Rest'
The Kodak made photography simple and affordable for amateurs, created the snapshot and turned Eastman's company into a world leader in film.
Modern Era
Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre (1888): Air-Filled Tyres for Bicycles
Dunlop's practical pneumatic tyre transformed cycling and founded a tyre industry that soon supplied the first motor cars.