1887 in France

• 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

• 28 January – Construction of foundation of the Eiffel Tower starts in Paris. On 14 February, a letter of protest against its design signed by members of the artistic community is published on the front page of Les Temps newspaper.{{cite web|title=The Artists Who Hated the Eiffel Tower|work=JSTOR Daily|first=Emily|last=Zarevich|date=2023-02-17|accessdate=2025-05-22|url=https://daily.jstor.org/the-artists-who-hated-the-eiffel-tower/}} 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.{{Cite journal |last=Gelfand |first=Toby |date=2002 |title=11 January 1887, the Day Medicine Changed: Joseph Grancher's Defense of Pasteur's Treatment for Rabies |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44449391 |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |volume=76 |issue=4 |pages=698–718 |issn=0007-5140 |archive-date=19 April 2024 |access-date=17 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240419054103/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44449391 |url-status=live }}
• 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.{{Cite web |title=Séisme ligure de 1887 - Azurseisme |url=https://www.azurseisme.com/-Seisme-ligure-de-1887-17-.html#:~:text=A%20la%20fin%20du%20XIXe,plus%20de%20250%20bless%C3%A9s%20c%C3%B4t%C3%A9 |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=www.azurseisme.com |archive-date=2024-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217220349/https://www.azurseisme.com/-Seisme-ligure-de-1887-17-.html#:~:text=A%20la%20fin%20du%20XIXe,plus%20de%20250%20bless%C3%A9s%20c%C3%B4t%C3%A9 |url-status=live }}
• 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.

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

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

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{{Year in Europe|1887}}

Category:1880s in France