On This Day

The first color photograph, of a tartan ribbon is shown by Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell to the Royal Instituti

The first color photograph, of a tartan ribbon is shown by Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell to the Royal Institution in London

The first color photograph, of a tartan ribbon is shown by Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell to the Royal Institution in London

Key People

James Clerk Maxwell

physicist and mathematician

Scottish physicist and mathematician

Events Before

  1. Slavery is abolished in the Dutch East Indies for areas under direct rule

    The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies, was a Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which declared independence on 17 August 1945.

  2. Willie Park Sr. marries Susanna Law in Inveresk, Scotland

    Willie Park Sr. marries Susanna Law in Inveresk, Scotland

  3. Start of the Pony Express, mail is delivered by horse and rider relay teams between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento,

    Start of the Pony Express, mail is delivered by horse and rider relay teams between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California

  4. First Pony Express rider reaches Sacramento, California

    The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California.

  5. Champion of England Tom Sayers and American John Heenan fight a brutal 2-hour, 27-minute draw that ends only after polic

    Champion of England Tom Sayers and American John Heenan fight a brutal 2-hour, 27-minute draw that ends only after police stop the fight near Farnborough in England, acknowledged as the first world title bout

Events After

  1. First Legal Tender Act of 1862 is passed by US Congress, authorizing the United States note (greenback) into circulation

    First Legal Tender Act of 1862 is passed by US Congress, authorizing the United States note (greenback) into circulation, the first fiat paper money that is legal tender in America

  2. First pasteurization test is completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard

    First pasteurization test is completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard

  3. Chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (28) weds Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva at Nikolaev Engineering Institute's church in Saint Peter

    Chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (28) weds Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva at Nikolaev Engineering Institute's church in Saint Petersburg, Russia

  4. First baseball enclosure opens at Union Grounds in Brooklyn

    Union Grounds was a baseball park located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. The grounds opened in 1862, its inaugural match being played on May 15.

  5. Belgian-French engineer Étienne Lenoir builds the first automobile with an internal-combustion engine

    Belgian-French engineer Étienne Lenoir builds the first automobile with an internal-combustion engine

More from the 1860s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on May 17, 1861?
The first color photograph, of a tartan ribbon is shown by Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell to the Royal Institution in London
Who was involved in The first color photograph, of a tartan ribbon is shown by Scottish scientist...?
Key figures include James Clerk Maxwell (physicist and mathematician).

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