1859

Events in 1859 46

• 1769 – 1859 Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) Died 6 May 1859, aged 89 Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian naturalist and explorer whose extensive travels in the Americas and writings on geography, botany, and climate laid foundations for modern earth science. His work influenced Darwin, Bolivar, and generations of scientists, and numerous places and species bear his name. He died in Berlin at age 89.
• 1783 – 1859 Washington Irving (1783-1859) Died 28 November 1859, aged 76 Washington Irving was an American writer best known for the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." He was also a diplomat and biographer, and is widely regarded as the first American author to achieve international literary fame. He died at his home in Tarrytown, New York.
• 1785 – 1859 Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) Died 8 December 1859, aged 74 Thomas De Quincey was an English essayist best known for "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater," an autobiographical account of his addiction that influenced later writers on drugs and altered states of mind. He worked prolifically as a journalist and critic throughout his life. He died in Edinburgh.
• 1786 – 1859 Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859) Died 16 December 1859, aged 73 Wilhelm Grimm was a German philologist who, with his brother Jacob, collected and published the folk tales known as Grimms' Fairy Tales. Their work also included pioneering studies in Germanic linguistics and the launch of the Deutsches Worterbuch. He died in Berlin less than four years after his brother.
• 1799 – 1859 Oscar I The Reformer Known for his liberal views, he pushed for prison reform and equal inheritance rights.
• 1800 – 1859 Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) Died 28 December 1859, aged 59 Thomas Babington Macaulay was a British historian and politician whose History of England and essays were widely read and admired for their style. He also served in colonial administration in India, where he shaped early legal and educational policy. He was created Baron Macaulay in 1857 and died at his home near London.
• 1806 – 1859 Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) Died 15 September 1859, aged 53 Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an English engineer renowned for the Great Western Railway, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and pioneering steamships including the SS Great Eastern. He died shortly after suffering a stroke, days after the Great Eastern's sea trials were marred by an explosion. He remains one of the most celebrated engineers of the Victorian era.
• 1858 – 1859 Morphy conquers Europe Undefeated tour of the chess world Morphy toured England and France, defeating every top player he faced including Adolf Anderssen. He returned home hailed as the unofficial world champion.
• 1859 – 1936 A. E. Housman (1859-1936) Died 30 April 1936, aged 77 A. E. Housman was an English classical scholar and poet. His collection A Shropshire Lad has remained popular since it was published in 1896. He was Kennedy Professor of Latin at Cambridge.
• 1859 – 1935 Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) Died 12 July 1935, aged 75 Dreyfus was the French army officer whose wrongful conviction for treason caused the Dreyfus Affair. He was exonerated in 1906 and died in Paris.
• 1859 – 1930 Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) Died 7 July 1930, aged 71 Scottish writer and physician who created the detective Sherlock Holmes. He also wrote historical novels and the science fiction novel The Lost World. In his later years he campaigned for spiritualism.
• 1859 – 1881 Billy the Kid (1859-1881) Died 14 July 1881, aged 21 American outlaw and gunfighter associated with the Lincoln County War in New Mexico Territory. He was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett at Fort Sumner after escaping jail. He became one of the most enduring legends of the American Old West.
• 1859 – 1947 Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) Died 9 March 1947, aged 88 Carrie Chapman Catt was an American suffragist who led the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She was central to the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment. She founded the League of Women Voters in 1920.
• 1859 – 1934 Cass Gilbert (1859-1934) Died 17 May 1934, aged 74 American architect who designed the Woolworth Building in New York and the United States Supreme Court Building. The Woolworth Building was the tallest building in the world when it was completed.
• 1859 – 1935 Childe Hassam (1859-1935) Died 27 August 1935, aged 75 Hassam was a leading American Impressionist painter, known for his series of flag paintings and his street scenes of New York and Boston.
• 1859 Darwin — evolution by natural selection On the Origin of Species: all life shares common ancestors In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, proposing that all species of life have evolved from common ancestors through the process of natural selection — survival of those best adapted to their environment. It is the most important idea in the history of biology, unifying all of life science under a single explanatory framework. Darwin had developed the theory over 20 years following his voyage on HMS Beagle (1831-1836).
• 1859 – 1938 Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) Died 27 April 1938, aged 79 Husserl was a German philosopher and the founder of phenomenology. He was barred from university facilities under Nazi racial laws in his final years.
• 1859 – 1909 Francisco Ferrer (1859-1909) Died 13 October 1909, aged 50 Francisco Ferrer was a Catalan educator and anarchist who founded Barcelona's secular Escuela Moderna, promoting rationalist, non-religious schooling. Spanish authorities accused him of instigating the Tragic Week riots of July 1909 and executed him by firing squad on 13 October despite thin evidence. His death sparked international protests and made him a symbol for secular education and anti-clerical movements.
• 1859 – 1940 George Lansbury (1859-1940) Died 7 May 1940, aged 81 British Labour politician, pacifist and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935.
• 1859 – 1939 Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) Died 8 July 1939, aged 80 Ellis was an English physician and one of the founders of sexology. He wrote the multi-volume Studies in the Psychology of Sex. He was an early writer to treat homosexuality in a non-judgemental way.
• 1859 – 1941 Henri Bergson (1859-1941) Died 4 January 1941, aged 81 Henri Bergson was a French philosopher known for his ideas of duration and the élan vital, and he won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in German-occupied Paris.
• 1859 – 1914 Jean Jaures (1859-1914) Died 31 July 1914, aged 54 Jaures was France's leading socialist voice and a committed anti-militarist who worked to prevent a European war. He was shot dead in a Paris cafe by a nationalist fanatic days before general mobilization began. His death removed one of the few political figures capable of rallying opposition to the coming war.
• 1859 – 1927 Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) Died 14 June 1927, aged 68 Jerome K. Jerome was an English humorist and playwright. He is best known for the comic novel Three Men in a Boat (1889).
• 1859 – 1952 John Dewey (1859-1952) Died 1 June 1952, aged 92 John Dewey, the American philosopher and education reformer who championed progressive, experience-based learning, died in New York on 1 June 1952. He was a founding figure of pragmatism alongside William James and Charles Sanders Peirce. His ideas reshaped educational theory across the twentieth century.
• 1859 – 1935 John Jellicoe (1859-1935) Died 20 November 1935, aged 75 Jellicoe was the British admiral who commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland. He later served as Governor-General of New Zealand.
• 1859 – 1929 Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) Died 28 March 1929, aged 69 American poet and Wellesley College professor. She wrote the words of "America the Beautiful".
• 1859 – 1932 Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) Died 6 July 1932, aged 73 The Scottish-born author wrote the children's classic The Wind in the Willows.
• 1859 – 1884 Morphy retires from chess Abandoned the game at his peak At just 22, Morphy withdrew from competitive chess entirely, citing a lack of worthy opponents. He never played seriously again, a mystery that has fascinated chess historians ever since.
• 1859 – 1906 Pierre Curie (1859-1906) Died 19 April 1906, aged 46 The French physicist, who shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife Marie Curie and Henri Becquerel for research on radioactivity, was killed instantly when he slipped and was run over by a horse-drawn cart on a Paris street. His death cut short one of the most productive partnerships in the history of science.
• 1859 – 1947 Pierre Janet (1859-1947) Died 24 February 1947, aged 87 Pierre Janet was a French psychologist and neurologist who pioneered the study of dissociation and traumatic memory. He introduced the term subconscious. He was an important influence on psychiatry and psychotherapy.
• 1859 – 1916 Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916) Died 13 May 1916, aged 57 Sholem Aleichem was a Yiddish author whose stories of Tevye the Dairyman later formed the basis of "Fiddler on the Roof." He died in the Bronx, New York, and his funeral drew one of the largest public gatherings the city had seen.
• 1859 – 1947 Sidney Webb (1859-1947) Died 13 October 1947, aged 88 Sidney Webb was a British socialist, economist and early member of the Fabian Society. With his wife Beatrice he co-founded the London School of Economics and the New Statesman. He wrote the Labour Party's Clause IV and served in Labour cabinets.
• 1859 – 1927 Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927) Died 2 October 1927, aged 68 Svante Arrhenius was a Swedish chemist who won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his theory of electrolytic dissociation. In 1896 he made one of the first calculations of how carbon dioxide warms the Earth.
• 1859 – 1920 Venustiano Carranza (1859-1920) Died 21 May 1920, aged 60 Mexican revolutionary leader who served as president of Mexico from 1917 to 1920 and oversaw the drafting of the 1917 constitution. He was killed while fleeing forces loyal to rebel generals who had risen against him. His death marked the end of the constitutionalist phase of the Mexican Revolution.
• 1859 – 1941 Wilhelm II (1859-1941) Died 4 June 1941, aged 82 Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, and he abdicated at the end of the First World War. He died in exile at Doorn in the German-occupied Netherlands.
• 1859 Oregon admitted as a U.S. state Oregon becomes the 33rd state of the Union Oregon was admitted to the United States as the 33rd state, extending American territory on the Pacific coast. Statehood followed years of settlement along the Oregon Trail and territorial organization. Salem was established as the state capital.
• 1859 Construction of the Suez Canal begins Ferdinand de Lesseps starts work on the Egypt waterway Work began on the Suez Canal under the direction of French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, aiming to link the Mediterranean and Red Seas through Egypt. The project relied heavily on forced Egyptian labor in its early years and took a decade to complete. It would ultimately transform global shipping routes between Europe and Asia.
• 1859 – present Big Ben Elizabeth Tower The iconic clock tower of the Houses of Parliament.
• 1859 Comstock Lode silver deposit discovered Major silver strike found in Nevada Prospectors discovered the Comstock Lode, a rich silver and gold deposit in the mountains of what is now Nevada. The find triggered a mining rush that led to the rapid growth of Virginia City and eventually helped fund Nevada's path to statehood. It became one of the most productive silver deposits in United States history.
• 1859 Battle of Magenta French and Sardinian forces defeat Austria in Lombardy French and Piedmontese-Sardinian troops defeated the Austrian army near Magenta, opening the road to Milan during the Second Italian War of Independence. The battle later gave its name to the magenta dye and color, discovered around the same time. Napoleon III personally commanded the French forces.
• 1859 Battle of Solferino Bloody Franco-Sardinian victory over Austria Franco-Sardinian forces defeated the Austrian army near Solferino in one of the largest battles fought in Europe since Leipzig. The carnage witnessed by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant directly inspired his campaign that led to the founding of the Red Cross. Roughly 300,000 troops took part and casualties exceeded 30,000.
• 1859 Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope French acrobat walks a rope over the gorge French tightrope walker Charles Blondin crossed the Niagara Gorge on a rope suspended 160 feet above the water, drawing large crowds on both the American and Canadian sides. He performed the feat repeatedly over the following weeks with increasingly daring variations, including carrying a man on his back. The stunts made him internationally famous.
• 1859 First commercial oil well drilled in Pennsylvania Edwin Drake strikes oil near Titusville Edwin Drake successfully drilled the first commercial oil well in the United States near Titusville, Pennsylvania, using a steam-powered drilling rig. The discovery triggered an oil boom and is widely regarded as the birth of the modern petroleum industry. Drake had used a drive pipe to keep the well from collapsing, a technique that became standard practice.
• 1859 John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry Abolitionist raid on a federal armory in Virginia John Brown led a small armed band in seizing the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, intending to arm enslaved people for a wider uprising. Federal troops under Robert E. Lee crushed the raid within two days, and Brown was captured, tried, and hanged in December. The raid inflamed sectional tensions and is widely seen as a prelude to the American Civil War.
• 1859 Treaty of Zurich Peace treaty ends the Second Italian War of Independence Austria, France, and Sardinia signed the Treaty of Zurich, formally ending the war and confirming Austria's cession of Lombardy. Venetia remained under Austrian control, leaving Italian unification incomplete. The settlement built on preliminary terms agreed at Villafranca in July.
• 1859 – 1891 Georges Seurat Pointillism · France Georges Seurat (December 2, 1859 – March 29, 1891) was a French Post-Impressionist who invented Pointillism — applying tiny dots of pure colour that blend optically. A Sunday on La Grande Jatte is his masterpiece. He died at 31.