360The 1860s: the underground, dynamite and the periodic table
The 1860s brought the world's first underground railway, in London, and the end of slavery in the United States after its civil war. James Clerk Maxwell explained light as electromagnetism, Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, and Dmitri Mendeleev created the periodic table. In 1869, the Suez Canal opened to shipping.
On 10 January 1863, the Metropolitan Railway opened in London, the world's first underground railway, using steam trains in shallow tunnels.
The United States fought a civil war from 1861 to 1865. After the Union's victory, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in 1865. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated that April.
In 1865, the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell published equations showing that electricity, magnetism and light are all one phenomenon. His work made radio, television and mobile phones possible.
In 1866, Gregor Mendel published his experiments on pea plants, which revealed the basic rules of heredity. Their importance was only recognised decades later.
In 1867, the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patented dynamite, a safer explosive for mining and construction. His fortune later funded the Nobel Prizes.
In 1869, the Suez Canal opened, linking the Mediterranean and Red seas and shortening the sea route between Europe and Asia. The same year, the first transcontinental railroad in the United States was completed, and Dmitri Mendeleev presented his periodic table of the elements.
- 1863
- London's first underground railway
- 1865
- Slavery abolished in the US; Maxwell's equations
- 1867
- Nobel patents dynamite
- 1869
- Suez Canal opens; periodic table presented
Sources: Britannica · Transport for London · Nobel Prize.