1887 in France

Events from the year 1887 in France.

Incumbents

 * President: Jules Grévy (until 12 December), Marie François Sadi Carnot (starting 12 December)
 * President of the Council of Ministers:
 * until 30 May: René Goblet
 * 30 May-12 December: Maurice Rouvier
 * starting 12 December: Pierre Tirard

Events

 * 28 January – Construction of foundation of the Eiffel Tower starts in Paris. On 1 July, work on the iron superstructure begins.
 * 11 January – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the French Academy of Medicine by Dr. Joseph Grancher.
 * 23 February – The French Riviera is hit by a powerful earthquake originating in Liguria, killing around 2,000 along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
 * 21–28 April – The Schnaebele incident nearly leads to war between France and Germany.
 * The Lebel Model 1886 rifle is first issued to the French army, the first military firearm to use smokeless powder ammunition.

January to June

 * 17 January – Marcel Godivier, cyclist (died 1963)
 * 18 March – Alfred Vaucher, theologian, church historian and bibliographer (died 1993)
 * 16 April – Paul Marie André Richaud, Cardinal (died 1968)
 * 31 May – Saint-John Perse, poet and diplomat, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960 (died 1975)
 * 13 June – André François-Poncet, politician and diplomat (died 1978)

July to December

 * 2 July – Marcel Tabuteau, oboist (died 1966)
 * 28 July – Marcel Duchamp, artist (died 1968)
 * 16 September – Nadia Boulanger, composer and conductor (died 1979)
 * 30 September – Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert, General (died 1981)
 * 5 October – René Cassin, jurist and judge, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968 (died 1976)
 * 11 October – Pierre Jean Jouve, writer, novelist and poet (died 1976)
 * 13 November – Jean de Limur, film director (died 1976)
 * 31 December – Gaston Modot, actor (died 1970)

Deaths

 * 2 August – Joseph-Louis Lambot, inventor of ferro-cement (born 1814)
 * 14 August – Jules Pasdeloup, conductor (born 1819)
 * 20 August – Jules Laforgue, poet (born 1860)
 * 21 October – Bernard Jauréguiberry, Admiral and statesman (born 1815)

Full date unknown

 * Jules Desnoyers, geologist and archaeologist (born 1800)
 * Honoré Jacquinot, surgeon and zoologist (born 1815)