1868 in France

← 1867 1866 1865 1868 in France → 1869 1870 1871
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
See also:	Other events of 1868 Timeline of French history

Events from the year 1868 in France.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Napoleon III

Events

• 1868 - The first documented bicycle race was generally held to be a 1,200 m race at the Parc de Saint-Cloud in Paris. ^[1]
• 18 August - Helium is discovered by astronomer Pierre Janssen (and independently by Joseph Norman Lockyer on August 20).
• October - French Military Mission is ordered to leave Japan by Imperial decree.

Arts and literature

• Establishment of the Académie Julian - a major art school in Paris, France that admitted women.

Births

January to June

• 17 January - Louis Couturat, logician, mathematician, philosopher, and linguist (died 1914)
• 3 March - Émile Chartier, philosopher, journalist and pacifist (died 1951)
• 28 April - Émile Bernard, painter (died 1941)
• 6 May - Gaston Leroux, journalist, detective and novelist (died 1927)
• 18 June - Georges Lacombe, sculptor and painter (died 1916)

July to December

• 27 July - Eugène Apert, pediatrician (died 1940)
• 28 July - André Spire, poet, writer, and Zionist activist (died 1966)
• 6 August - Paul Claudel, poet, dramatist and diplomat (died 1955)
• 11 August - Théodore Eugène César Ruyssen, historian of philosophy and pacifist (died 1967)
• 19 November - Gustave-Auguste Ferrié, radio pioneer and army general (died 1932)
• 25 December - Eugenie Besserer, actress (died 1934)

Deaths

• 13 January - Arthur-Marie Le Hir, Biblical scholar and Orientalist (born 1811)
• 8 February - Jacques Camou, general (born 1792)
• 11 February - Léon Foucault, physicist (born 1819)
• 6 May - Louis Marie de la Haye, Vicomte de Cormenin, jurist and political pamphleteer (born 1788)
• 14 June - Claude Servais Mathias Pouillet, physicist (born 1791)
• 28 August - Antoine Clot, physician (born 1793)
• 24 December - Adolphe d'Archiac, geologist and paleontologist (born 1802)
• December - Pierre Carmouche, playwright (born 1797)

Full date unknown

• Jean-François Barrière, historian (born 1786)
• Jean-François Jarjavay, anatomist and surgeon (born 1815)
• Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, Roman Catholic nun (born 1796)
• Étienne Serres, physician and embryologist (born 1786)

References

Years in France
18th century	1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799
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