Births on March 16

Willy Burmester, German violinist (d. 1933)

Carl Adolph Wilhelm “Willy” Burmester (16 March 1869 – 16 January 1933) was a German violinist.

6 Mar

Periodic table
Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
28 Apr

First Transcontinental Railroad
Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First Transcontinental Railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
15 May

Susan B. Anthony
Women's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.
17 Nov

Suez Canal
In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated.
22 Nov

Clipper
In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched and is one of the last clippers ever built, and the only one still surviving today.