The Maxim machine gun is the first functioning portable automatic weapon. It owes its name to American inventor Hiram Maxim, who invented it in 1885. The first portable automatic weapon (which in its first version required 4-6 men to operate) demonstrated in initial tests a maximum fire capacity of 500 rounds per minute, making it a devastating weapon. Unlike other models like the Gatling gun, it used recoil to eject the spent cartridge and chamber a new one, rather than requiring a man to operate the crank mechanism. The weapon was adopted by the British Army in 1889 and had its baptism of fire in 1894 in the Matabele War, a Zulu rebel tribe. In one battle, 50 men managed to route 5,000 warriors with just four Maxims. It was quickly adopted by nearly all European military forces and contributed to the rapid colonization of Africa at the end of the 19th century. On the Western Front of World War I it was estimated that 90% of bullet wounds were inflicted by Maxim-type machine guns.

Neodymium is discovered by Baron Carl Auer von Welsbach. The discovery occurred after an attempt to separate the components of didymium, which turned out to be neodymium (a new twin) and praseodymium. A century later, neodymium would be the main component of the most powerful rare-earth magnets used in servo motors. The discovery of neodymium (1885) and samarium (1879) represents the discovery of two of the main rare earth elements (which are not that rare after all…) that are today fundamental elements for electric servo motors and for electronics in general (for example, lasers).

Arizona, United States. Geronimo and other Chirikawa Apache warriors escape the reservation one last time. They are pursued into Mexico by 5,000 federal soldiers.

The Germans claim the inhospitable coasts of southwest Africa.

First telephone exchange in Modena on Via dello Zono

Thomas Alva Edison’s Hannus horribilis, despite his hyperactivity in patenting and more: his financial follies, the brink of bankruptcy, the humiliating sale of his house (in reality bought back by a trusted front man), the sudden loss of his young wife and mother of his children.

In 1884, Nikola Tesla arrived in the United States and began working briefly for Thomas Edison. This marked the beginning of a complex relationship between the two inventors, characterized by collaboration, conflict, and, ultimately, a rivalry known as the “War of the Currents.” Edison took up the suggestion of his collaborator Charles Batchelor, who had met Tesla the previous year in Paris and was impressed by his understanding of electricity as well as his voracious appetite for steak. On both counts, America would certainly be the most suitable place for Nikola Tesla. Edison would later comment: “This is a damn good guy!”

Thomas Alva Edison is awarded US Patent 307031 for the thermionic emission indicator (Edison Effect). Edison did not develop it further, but it was the first vacuum tube that would launch the electronics industry.

From a yacht in St. Augustine, Thomas Alva Edison managed to kill a 700-pound shark with an electrified fishing line. The shark was fatally electrocuted, and was then loaded aboard to be placed on permanent display at the local Vedder Museum.

Gregor Mendel dies in the monastery of Brunn

The people of France give the people of the United States the Statue of Liberty.

Nikola Tesla first worked for Thomas Edison and then formed his own company, the Tesla Electric Light Company, where he patented the Tesla Arc Lamp. He was then forced to leave the company and found himself unemployed for a long time, during which he suffered a terrible depression, which he would define as the worst period of his life.

American Henry Weely builds the first electric iron

The United States and Canada are the first nations to adopt modern time: Capital Meridian Time

Nikola Tesla systematically repeats his experiments on three-phase AC electricity.

Fleming discovers chromosomes

Manhattan, New York. With the flick of a switch, Thomas Alva Edison transformed Lower Manhattan’s First District from a dimly lit gaslight hive to a blaze of dazzling jewels.

Scientific American magazine publishes a detailed description of Edison’s Electric Lighting System. The revolution is so subtle that very few people notice what’s happening: the end of the contrast between night and day that has endured throughout human history.

Charles Darwin is buried alongside Isaac Newton at Westminster Abbey.

Nikola Tesla developed the concept behind the three-phase asynchronous motor, eliminating the need for a DC motor’s commutator. This concept involves a rotating three-phase electromagnetic field.

First patent for the ballpoint pen

Cocaine, a powerful alkaloid similar to atropine, is isolated. Coca (Erythroxylon coca) is of American origin. Coca leaves have been used for centuries as a stimulant in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, but in quantities of only half a gram per day, which is estimated to be non-addictive. This method of ingesting the alkaloid in small but frequent doses is similar to our caffeine intake in tea and coffee. The situation is quite different for those who consume extracted and purified cocaine.

Jacques and Pierre Curie discover piezoelectricity

There was a sense of the dawning of a new era in which internationalism and shared values would ensure growing prosperity and international order, with Europe firmly at the forefront. Over 100 world fairs were held during this thirty-year period, celebrating erudition, culture, and technological progress. Mathematics, like the other sciences, became a professional activity and reflected the exuberance of the times. The major centers remained the German universities and Paris, but several national mathematical societies were founded (Moscow 1864, London 1865, France 1872, Tokyo 1877, Palermo 1884, New York 1888, Germany 1890).