| ca. 1840s–1890s | 1859 |
| – Realism dominant in Western literature | – Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species by the Means of Natural Selection |
| 1848 | 1869 |
| – First public health law in Britain | – Mendeleev creates periodic table |
| ca. 1850–1870 | 1880–1913 |
| – Modernization of Paris | – Second Industrial Revolution; birthrate steadily declines in Europe |
| 1850–1914 | 1890s |
| – Condition of working classes improves | – Electric streetcars introduced in Europe |
| 1854 | |
| – Pasteur begins studying fermentation and in 1863 develops pasteurization | |
| 1854–1870 | |
| – Development of germ theory | |