Famous People Who Died In 1888

Frederick III, German Emperor reigned as the king of Prussia and emperor of the German Empire from 9 March 1888 until his death on 15 June 1888. Although he played key roles during the Austro-Prussian, Second Schleswig, and Franco-Prussian wars, Frederick professed hatred for warfare and was willing to make the German Empire more liberal before his untimely death.

Iconic Victorian poet and literary critic Matthew Arnold is best remembered for his classic essay Culture and Anarchy, which was a social critique of the Victorian era. He also penned poems such as Dover Beach and Sohrab and Rustum. He had also been a school inspector for over 3 decades.

John Pemberton was an American pharmacist best remembered for his invention of Coca-Cola. A Confederate States Army veteran, Pemberton suffered from a wound sustained during the Battle of Columbus. The injury led him to experiment with different kinds of toxins and painkillers, which in turn helped him invent the recipe to make Coca-Cola.

Rudolf Clausius was a German mathematician and physicist. He is credited with formulating the second law of thermodynamics; he is widely regarded as one of the principal founders of the science of thermodynamics. He taught physics at the Artillery and Engineering School in Berlin.

Renowned for his absurdism and wit, Edward Lear was a British poet who popularized literary nonsense. A talented painter, too, he had worked for the London Zoo, illustrating birds, and had later released illustrated travel books. A pioneer of the modern limerick, he penned the iconic poem The Owl and the Pussycat.

Ludvig Nobel was a Swedish-Russian engineer, humanitarian, and businessman. Along with his brother Robert, Ludvig operated an oil company named Branobel, which produced fifty percent of the world's oil at one point. Best remembered for creating the Russian oil industry, Ludvig Nobel was one of the richest men in the world. Ludvig Nobel is also credited with inventing oil tankers.  

The founder of the Salesian Order, John Bosco, also known as Don Bosco, started his life as a priest in Turin. He began teaching young boys who came to Turin for jobs and later branched out to form a similar institution for girls too, with St. Mary Mazzarello.

Turkish author, poet, political essayist, and social reformer Namık Kemal motivated the Young Turk and Turkish nationalist movements. He not only westernized Turkish literature but also contributed to Romanticism. One of his best-known works was the play Vatan Yahut Silistre. He also promoted the ideas of vatan, or fatherland, and hürriyet, or freedom.

Nikolay Przhevalsky was a Russian imperial geographer. A renowned explorer of Central and East Asia, he traveled through regions then unknown to the West. He is credited to have made a substantial contribution to European knowledge of Central Asian geography. However, despite his attempts, he could never reach his ultimate goal, the holy city of Lhasa in Tibet.

William I, German Emperor reigned as the king of Prussia from 1861 until his death in 1888. He also reigned as the first German emperor from 1871 to 1888. He is credited with overseeing the unification of Germany and establishing the German Empire. William's reign also witnessed the brilliance of Otto von Bismarck, who served as the former's minister president.

Eagle Woman was a Lakota activist and translator. She was known for mediating the conflicts between the Sioux, white settlers, and the US government. She was the only woman recognized as chief among the Sioux. Along with her daughter, she organized a day school at Standing Rock Indian Reservation. She was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame.  

Squire Whipple is remembered for introducing the first scientific bridge construction rules. Initially a surveyor, he later invented truss designs using iron and timber. His treatise An Elementary and Practical Treatise on Bridge Building was a seminal text in railroad engineering for many years and helped in wrought and cast-iron designs.

German surgeon and botanist Heinrich Anton de Bary is regarded as the pioneer of plant pathology and mycology. Apart from teaching botany, he chalked the life cycles of many fungi and also coined the term symbiosis to explain the mutually beneficial co-existence of many orgnanisms, such as fungi and algae.

Mikhail Loris-Melikov was a Russian-Armenian statesman. He is best remembered for his service as the Minister of the Interior in Russia from 6 August 1880 to 4 May 1881. Mikhail Loris-Melikov was also an important military leader and is known for his role in the Caucasian War, the Crimean War, and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French virtuoso pianist and composer. During the peak of his career in the 1830s and 1840s, Alkan was counted among the most important pianists in Paris. Over the years, his music has been admired by several prominent musicians like Anton Rubinstein, Egon Petri, and Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji.

Russian explorer and anthropologist Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay was one of the first scientists to live with the indigenous community of New Guinea. Named the Moon Man by the Papuans for his ability to produce light through his lantern, he fought against slavery. He was idolized by both Russia and Australia.

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was an Argentine activist, writer, intellectual, and statesman. He is remembered for his service as the President of Argentina from 12 October 1868 to 11 October 1874. Sarmiento was part of a group called the Generation of 1837, which had a huge impact on 19th-century Argentina. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento also had a major influence on Argentine literature.

Though born in Hungary, pianist Stephen Heller made his career in France. Apart from being a teacher and a composer, he also wrote quite a lot of piano music. Initially patronized by the Fugger family of Augsburg, in his later life, he survived on a charitable subscription arranged by Robert Browning and others.

Johannes Zukertort was a Polish chess player who dominated the international chess scene during the 1870s and 1880s. The Réti Opening was originally called Zukertort's Opening as he often used Nf3 as his opening move. A multi-talented personality, Johannes Zukertort also achieved success as a musician, soldier, journalist, political activist, and linguist.

Born in Cape Town, Johannes Brand grew up to be a lawyer and even studied in Britain. As the president of the Orange Free State, he secured prosperity for the land and was also knighted by the Queen of England. He also led a few costly wars against the Sotho.

Inventor George Henry Corliss is remembered for developing the Corliss steam engine, thus introducing innovative features, such as the Corliss valve, to the existing steam engine models. Initially a general store owner, he had also developed various new types of sewing machines, before diverting his focus to steam engines.