Dashed left edge = started before May 1873 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond May 1873
Events in May 1873 7
1806 – 1873John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)Died 8 May 1873, aged 66The English philosopher and political economist, author of On Liberty and The Subjection of Women, died in Avignon, France. He had served as a Liberal MP and was among the most influential thinkers on liberty, utilitarianism, and women's rights of the 19th century.
1808 – 1873Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873)Died 7 May 1873, aged 65The sixth Chief Justice of the United States, who had earlier served as Treasury Secretary under Lincoln and helped establish the national banking system, died in New York City. As Chief Justice he presided over the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.
1813 – 1873David Livingstone (1813-1873)Died 1 May 1873, aged 60The Scottish missionary and explorer died of malaria and internal bleeding at Chitambo, in present-day Zambia, while searching for the source of the Nile. His African attendants buried his heart locally and carried his preserved body over a thousand miles to the coast for return to Britain. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
1873Vienna World's FairWeltausstellung 1873 opens in Austria-HungaryEmperor Franz Joseph I opened the World's Fair in Vienna on 1 May 1873, the first world's fair held in a German-speaking country. A cholera outbreak and the concurrent stock market crash hurt attendance, but the fair still drew millions of visitors from around the globe before closing on 31 October.
1873Vienna Stock Exchange crash"Black Friday" collapse in Austria-HungarySpeculative overbuilding fueled by the 1873 Vienna World's Fair drove a stock market boom that collapsed on 9 May 1873, wiping out investors across the Habsburg capital. The Gru00fcnderkrach, as it became known, spread financial panic into Germany and helped trigger the wider Panic of 1873.
1873 – 1916Erik SatieFrench avant-garde composerEccentric French composer whose Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes pioneered minimalism and influenced Debussy, Ravel and the entire 20th-century avant-garde.
1873Patenting of riveted blue jeansLevi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent copper-riveted work trousersTailor Jacob Davis and dry-goods merchant Levi Strauss received US Patent 139,121 on 20 May 1873 for using copper rivets to reinforce the pockets of denim work trousers. The design became the basis for blue jeans, one of the most widely worn garments in the world.