In the year 1878, Umberto I becomes King of Italy (Jan), the phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison (Feb 19), the Tokyo Stock Exchange is established (May 15), the Congress of Berlin convenes to discuss the Ottoman Empire, and as a result the empire gradually shrinks in size (Jun 4), Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld leaves on a voyage that makes him the first man to navigate the Northern Sea Route (Jun 22), Cleopatra’s Needle is erected in London (Sep 12), the last remnants of the once-great herds of bison around the Calgary area cross south into Montana  - and all these fine people were born:

1878-0119 Herbert Charman* football player/manager - Kiveton Park, Yorkshire, England (1934/55) 1878-0125 Ernst Alexanderson* Swedish-American electrical engineer - Uppsala, Sweden (1975/97) 1878-0129 Mary Jobe Akeley* mountaineer/photographer/writer - Harrison County, OH USA (1966/87) 1878-0130 Anton Hansen Tammsaare* writer - Vetepere, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire (1940/62) 1878-0204 Rolf Nordenstreng* writer/race theorist active in Sweden - Mikkeli, GD of Finland (1964/85) 1878-0205 André Citroën* industrialist/founder of the French automaker Citroën - Paris, France (1935/57) 1878-0208 Martin Buber* Jewish philosopher/translator - Vienna, Austria-Hungary (1965/87) 1878-0211 Walter Ewing* trap shooter/OG - Montreal, QC Canada (1945/67) 1878-0216 Selim Palmgren* composer/ pianist/conductor - Pori, GD of Finland (1951/73) 1878-0302 Alfred Witte* surveyor/ astrologer/ astronomer - Hamburg, Germany (1941/63) 1878-0305 P. D. Ouspensky* mathematician/ esotericist - Moscow, Russian Empire (1947/69) 1878-0307 Boris Kustodiev* painter/stage designer - Astrakhan, Russia (1927/49) 1878-0310 1878-0312 Gemma Galgani* mystic/venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church - Camigliano, Capannori, Kingdom of Italy (1903/25) 1878-0315 Reza Shah Pahlavi* (b Reza Khan) military colonel/Shah of Iran/regarded as the founder of modern Iran - Alasht, Persia (1944/66) 1878-0322 Michel Théato* marathon runner/OG - Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (1923/45) 1878-0323 Frederic Kimber Seward* corporate lawyer/Titanic survivor - Wilmington, DE USA (1943/65) 1878-0325 1878-0330 Franz Fredrik Wathén* speed skater/WG/founder of HJK - Helsinki, GD of Finland (1914/35) 1878-0401 C. Ganesha Iyer* Tamil philologist - Punnalaikadduvan, Jaffna, Ceylon (1958/80) 1878-0402 Olga Olivia Kivi** (b Granqvist) married to Karl Fredrik Stenvall ->Kivi/mother of August Fredrik Kivi - Tuusula, GD of Finland (1930/51) 1878-0406 Erich Mühsam* Jewish anarchist essayist/poet/playwright - Berlin, German Empire (1934/56) 1878-0406 Clara Reid* British-American dancer/actress - England (1969/91) 1878-0410 1878-0424 Jean Crotti* French painter - Bulle, Switzerland (1958/79) 1878-0428 Lionel Barrymore* actor - Philadelphia, PA USA (1954/76) 1878-0430 1878-0501 1878-0510 Gustav Stresemann* statesman/N - Berlin, German Empire (1929/51) 1878-0520 1878-0530 Gustaf Strengell* architect - Kymi, GD of Finland (1937/59) 1878-0601 C. Harold Wills* engineer/chief designer at Ford Motor Company  - Fort Wayne, IN USA (1940/62) 1878-0605 Pancho Villa* revolutionary - San Juan del Río, Durango, Mexico (1923/45) 1878-0610 1878-0621 Ellen Price* ballerina/ actress/model for the The Little Mermaid - Snekkersten, Denmark (1968/89) 1878-0706 Eino Leino* poet/journalist - Paltamo, GD of Finland (1926/47) 1878-0722 Lucien Febvre* historian - Nancy, France (1956/78) 1878-0801 Eva Tanguay* singer/entertainer/“The Queen of Vaudeville” - Marbleton, QC Canada (1947/68) 1878-0802 Aino Kallas* Finnish-Estonian novelist - Kiiskilä, Viipuri, GD of Finland (1956/78) 1878-0809 Eileen Gray* architect/furniture designer - Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland (1976/98) 1878-0828 George Whipple* physician/ pathologist/N- Ashland, NH USA (1976/97) 1878-0830 1878-0831 Jane Quick* (b Richards) British American mother of four/Titanic survivor - Plymouth, Devon, England (1965/86) 1878-0903 Amos Anderson* businessman/ publisher/patron of arts - Kemiö, GD of Finland (1961/82) 1878-0920 Upton Sinclair* writer - Baltimore, MD USA (1968/90) 1878-0923 Georges-Alexandre Sarret* Italian-French lawyer/ swinder/killer - Trieste, Italy (1934/55) 1878-1009 Robert Warwick* actor - Sacramento, CA USA (1964/85) 1878-1014 Grace Drayton* (b Gebbie) illustrator/one of the first and most successful American female cartoonists - Philadelphia, PA USA (1936/58) 1878-1101 1878-1107 Lise Meitner* Austrian-Swedish nuclear physicist/instrumental in the discovery of nuclear fission - Vienna, Austria-Hungary (1968/89) 1878-1108 Dorothea Bate* palaeontologist/pioneer of archaeozoology - Carmarthen, Wales (1951/72) 1878-1117 Grace Abbott* social worker - Grand Island, NE USA (1939/60) 1878-1126 Marshall Taylor* track cyclist - Indianapolis, IN USA (1932/53) 1878-1201 Jeni Bojilova-Pateva* teacher/writer/ suffragist - Gradets, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire (1955/76) 1878-1210 [C. Rajagopalachari](http://Chakravarti Rajagopalachari)* lawyer/politician/independence activist - Thorapalli, Madras, British India (1972/94) 1878-1218 Joseph Stalin* revolutionary/ dictator - Gori, Georgia, Russian Empire (1953/74) 1878-1220 1878-1225 Noël Leslie* philanthropist/social leader/Titanic survivor - Kensington, London, England (1956/77) 1878-1230 William Aberhart* politician/known as Bible Bill"/Premier of Alberta - Kippen, ON Canada (1943/64) 1878-1231 Elizabeth Arden* founder of the cosmetics empire - Woodbridge, ON Canada (1966/87) 1878-0 1878-0 1878-0 Updated 2025-0304 Helsinki Search for another year here