1878 in France

Events from the year 1878 in France.

← 1877 1876 1875 1874 1873 1878 in France → 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	Other events of 1878 History of France  • Timeline  • Years

Incumbents

• President: Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta
• President of the Council of Ministers: Jules Armand Dufaure

Events

• 1 May–10 November – Exposition Universelle in Paris; the head of the Statue of Liberty is a principal exhibit.
• May – Chemins de fer de l'État formed to take over ten small railway companies operating between the Loire and Garonne.

Births

January to June

• 5 February – Jean Becquerel, physicist (died 1953)
• 5 February – André Citroën, automobile pioneer (died 1935)
• 21 February – Mirra Alfassa, spiritual leader (died 1973)
• 28 February – Pierre Fatou, mathematician (died 1929)
• 24 March – René Baudichon, sculptor and medallist (died 1963)
• 2 April – Émilie Charmy, artist (died 1974)
• 17 April – Albert Canet, tennis player
• 3 May – Jean Chiappe, civil servant (died 1940)
• 26 May – Charles Burguet, film director (died 1946)
• 28 May – Paul Pelliot, sinologist and explorer (died 1945)
• 8 June – Yvonne Prévost, tennis player (died 1942)

July to December

• 22 July – Lucien Febvre, social historian (died 1956)
• 16 August – Léon Binoche, rugby union player (died 1962)
• 2 September – Maurice René Fréchet, mathematician (died 1973)
• 15 October – Paul Reynaud, politician and lawyer (died 1966)
• 17 October – Henri Mulet, organist and composer (died 1967)
• 14 November – Julie Manet, painter and art collector (died 1966)
• 23 November – André Caplet, composer and conductor (died 1925)

Full date unknown

• Georges Garnier, soccer player (died 1936)

Deaths

• 7 January – François-Vincent Raspail, chemist, physiologist and socialist (born 1794)
• 8 January – Charles Cousin-Montauban, Comte de Palikao, general and statesman (born 1796)
• 18 January – Antoine César Becquerel, scientist (born 1788)
• 19 January – Henri Victor Regnault, chemist and physicist (born 1810)
• 11 February – Auguste Poulet-Malassis, printer and publisher (born 1825)
• 19 February – Charles-François Daubigny, painter (born 1817)
• 2 April – Louis Léonard de Loménie, author (born 1815)
• 8 April – Eugène Belgrand, engineer (born 1810)
• 6 May – François Benoist, composer and organist (born 1794)
• 25 May – Antoine Laurent Dantan, sculptor (born 1798)
• 6 June – Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers, Marshal of France and politician (born 1795)
• 12 June - George V of Hanover, German monarch of kingdom Hannover (born 1819)
• 2 September – Garcin de Tassy, orientalist (born 1794)
• 11 October – Félix Dupanloup, Bishop of Orléans (born 1802)
• 31 October – Louis-Antoine Garnier-Pagès, politician (born 1803)
• 8 November – Joseph-Epiphane Darras, historian (born 1825)

Full date unknown

• Amédée Faure, painter (born 1801)
• Nicolas Rémy Maire, bow maker (born 1800)