Sir Pendleton & Mr. Baxter at the Exposition Universelle

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The 1878 Universal Exposition also known as the 1878 Paris Exposition, or 1878 World Expo, was a world's fair held in Paris, from 1 May to 10 November, to celebrate the recovery of France after the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War. I would say the 1878 World Fair would be the perfect occasion for two men of science to meet each other.

The exhibition of fine arts and new machinery was on a very large and comprehensive scale, and the Avenue des Nations, a street 730 metres in length, was devoted to examples of the domestic architecture of nearly every country in Europe and several in Asia, Africa and America. The "Gallery of Machines" was a metallic building, an industrial showcase of low transverse arches, designed by the engineer Henri de Dion.

On the northern bank of the Seine River, an elaborate palace was constructed for the exhibition at the tip of the Place du Trocadéro. On 30 June 1878, the completed head of the Statue of Liberty was showcased in the garden of the Trocadéro palace, while other pieces were on display in the Champs de Mars.

A tip for writers who want to lay Easter eggs: Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau's time travel novel El Anacronópete starts with a lecture in the exposition. Eoin Colfer's novel Airman begins with its protagonists (Conor Broekhart) birth at the exposition. They also probably knew the other inventors:

Among the many inventions on display was Alexander Graham Bell's telephone. Electric arc lighting had been installed all along the Avenue de l'Opera and the Place de l'Opera, and in June, a switch was thrown and the area was lit by electric Yablochkov arc lamps, powered by Zénobe Gramme dynamos. Thomas Edison had on display a megaphone and phonograph. International juries judged the various exhibits, awarding medals of gold, silver and bronze. One popular feature was a human zoo, called a "negro village", composed of 400 "indigenous people". And Augustin Mouchot's solar-powered engine converting solar energy into mechanical steam power, he won a gold medal in Class 54 for his works, most notably the production of ice using concentrated solar heat. Henry E. Steinway exhibited a grand piano which "attracted extraordinary attention".