1881 Louis Pasteur develops the first artificaial vaccine against anthrax in sheep.
The Vatican archives are first opened to scholars.
1882 Hiram Maxim invents the machine gun
1883 The Orient Express begins operation.
Krakatoa erupts in the Dutch East Indies, creating a tsumani that kills 36,000 in Java and Sumatra.
Nikola Tesla invents the electric motor
1884 The Berlin Conference recoginzes European spheres of influence in Africa
Greenwich time established as the international standard at a meeting in Washington D.C.
1885 King Leopold II of Belgium takes personal possession of the Congo.
Sir Francis Galton proves the individuality of fingerprints.
1886 to 1896 A hydroelectric plant is constructed at Niagara Falls
1888 Heinrich Hertz produces and detects radio waves
Jack the Ripper murders six long prostitutes.
1889 Fredrick Able invents Cordite.
The Eiffel Tower is built in Paris; it is then the worlds tallest structure (993 ft).
1890 Thomas Edison arranges the first electrocution to demonstrate the dangers of alternating current.
Herman Hollerith develops a punched card reader for the use of tabulating U.S. Census returns.
