1887 in Germany
Events in the year 1887 in Germany.Incumbents
National level
Kingdoms
- King of Bavaria – Otto of Bavaria
- King of Prussia – Kaiser William I
- King of Saxony – Albert of Saxony
- King of Württemberg – Charles I of Württemberg
Grand Duchies
- Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I
- Grand Duke of Hesse – Louis IV
- Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – Frederick Francis II
- Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Frederick William
- Grand Duke of Oldenburg – Peter II
- Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – Charles Alexander
Principalities
- Schaumburg-Lippe – Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
- Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – George Albert, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
- Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Charles Gonthier, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
- Principality of Lippe – Woldemar, Prince of Lippe
- Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz
- Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line
- Waldeck and Pyrmont – George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Duchies
- Duke of Anhalt – Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt
- Duke of Brunswick – Prince Albert of Prussia
- Duke of Saxe-Altenburg – Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
- Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- Duke of Saxe-Meiningen – Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
Colonial Governors
- Cameroon – Julius Freiherr von Soden ' to 13 May, then Jesko von Puttkamer ' to 4 October, then Eugen von Zimmerer '
- German East Africa – Karl Peters '
- German New Guinea – Gustav von Oertzen ' to January; also Georg Freiherr von Schleinitz '
- German South-West Africa – Heinrich Ernst Göring '
- Togoland – Ernst Falkenthal ' to May, then from July Jesko von Puttkamer ' '
- Wituland – Gustav Denhardt
Events
- 21 February – German federal election, 1887
- 18 June – Reinsurance Treaty in Berlin
- 29 September – Footballclub Hamburger SV was founded.
Undated
- The Petri dish is created by German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri.
- Heinrich Hertz discovers the photoelectric effect on the production and reception of electromagnetic waves in radio, an important step towards the understanding of the quantum nature of light.
- Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick invents the contact lens, made of a type of brown glass.
- Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt is founded.
- Friedrich Loeffler creates Löffler's serum, a coagulated blood serum used for the detection of the bacteria.
Births
- 1 January – Wilhelm Canaris, German Imperial admiral and head of the German Abwehr
- 3 January – August Macke, German painter
- 7 January – Thomas Wimmer, German politician
- 29 January – Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia, German nobleman
- 6 February – Josef Frings, German cardinal of Roman Catholic Church
- 8 February – Heinrich Spoerl, German author
- 20 March – Walther Kittel, Wehrmacht general in Metz, modern-day France
- 21 March – Erich Mendelsohn, German architect
- 19 April – Wolrad, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, German nobleman
- 2 June – Gottlieb Hering, Nazi concentration camp commandant
- 13 June – Bruno Frank, German author, poet, dramatist and humanist
- 20 June – Kurt Schwitters, German artist
- 23 June – Ernst Rowohlt, German publisher
- 22 July – Gustav Ludwig Hertz, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 25 July – Carl Freiherr von Langen, German equestrian
- 8 August – Gertrud Morgner, German politician
- 9 August – Hans Oster, German general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany who was also a leading figure of the German resistance
- 22 August – Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, German politician
- 3 September – Max Brauer, German politician
- 22 September – Hans Schlossberger, German physician
- 23 September – Wilhelm Hoegner, German politician
- 10 November – Hans Ehard, German politician
- 24 November – Erich von Manstein, German commander of the Wehrmacht,
- 6 December – Heinrich von Vietinghoff, German general
- 28 December – Walter Ruttmann, German director
Deaths
- 17 July – Walther Otto Müller, German botanist
- 14 August – Adolf Pansch, German anatomist
- 29 September – Bernhard von Langenbeck, German surgeon
- 17 October – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist
