About the day » Thursday December 5, 1878Calender converter

• Abraham Walsweer, Hennaarderadeel († 1961)
• Abraham Alberts Walsweer, Oosterend, Hennaarderadeel, Friesland, Nederland († 1961)
• Aleida Carolina Prijs, Apeldoorn († 1879)
• Anna Hagen, Haarlemmermeer († 1964)
• Andries Mijnhardt, Dodewaard, Gelderland, Nederland
• Angenita Gerardina ter Hoeve, Apeldoorn, Gelderland, Nederland († 1937)
• Agnes Gerarda Koens, den Haag († 1952)
• Anna Magdalena Pieterse, Biggarsberg, Natal, South Africa
• Anna Maria Koeman, Alkmaar († 1969)
• Abraham Alberts Walsweer, Oosterend, Hennaarderadeel, Friesland, Nederland († 1961)

• Antonia van Roozendaal (54), Breda
• Adriaantje Fonkert (67), Oud-Beijerland
• Antje Annes Postma (32), Twizel (Twijzel),Achtkarspelen,Fryslan,Nederland
• Antonia Siebelink (52), Lochem
• Antje Annes Postma (32), Twijzel, gem. Achtkarspelen, Friesland, Nederland
• Anna Angela Hebbelmann (3), Hebbel, Niederlangen
• Carolina Maria de Castro Pereira (24), Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
• Arie Tamesz Mooij (46), Oudorp
• Antonius Gijzen (30), Etten-Leur, Noord Brabant, Nederland
• Anna Maria Peeters (35), Geel, België

• 1868 » Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist and academic († 1951)
• 1869 » Ellis Parker Butler, American author and poet († 1937)
• 1870 » Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer and educator († 1949)
• 1872 » Harry Nelson Pillsbury, American chess player († 1906)
• 1875 » Arthur Currie, Canadian general († 1933)
• 1879 » Clyde Vernon Cessna, American pilot and businessman, founded the Cessna Aircraft Corporation († 1954)
• 1881 » René Cresté, French actor and director († 1922)
• 1886 » Nikolai Uglanov, Soviet politician († 1937)
• 1886 » Pieter Oud, Dutch historian, academic, and politician, Minister of Finance of the Netherlands († 1968)
• 1886 » Rose Wilder Lane, American journalist and author († 1968)

• 1819 » Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg-Stolberg, German poet and lawyer (b. 1750)
• 1870 » Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and playwright (b. 1802)
• 1887 » Eliza R. Snow, American poet and songwriter (b. 1804)
• 1891 » Pedro II of Brazil (b. 1825)
• 1917 » Jean Sandberg(b.1952)
• 1918 » Schalk Willem Burger, South African commander, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of the South African Republic (b. 1852)
• 1925 » Władysław Reymont, Polish novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
• 1926 » Claude Monet, French painter (b. 1840)
• 1931 » Vachel Lindsay, American poet (b. 1879)
• 1940 » Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1880)

• Koning Willem III (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1849 till 1890 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from November 3, 1877 to August 20, 1879 the cabinet Kappeijne van de Coppello, with Mr. J. Kappeijne van de Coppello (liberaal) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 4.0 million citizens.
• January 4 » Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Sofia is liberated from Ottoman rule and designated the capital of Liberated Bulgaria.
• February 22 » In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.
• March 3 » The Russo-Turkish War ends with Bulgaria regaining its independence from the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano.
• June 15 » Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures.
• October 22 » The Bramall Lane stadium sees the first rugby match played under floodlights.
• December 31 » Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, filed for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine, and he was granted the patent in 1879.

The temperature on December 5, 1878 was about 4.7 °C. There was 0.2 mm of rain. The air pressure was 2 kgf/m² and came mainly from the north-northwest. The airpressure was 76 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 97%.