Explore 350 historical events from 1840–1849.
Stefan Drzewiecki was a Polish scientist, journalist, engineer, constructor and inventor, known for designing and constructing the world's first electric-powered submarine. He work…
Stefan Drzewiecki, Ukrainian-Polish engineer and journalist (died 1938)
Gerard Manley Hopkins was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among the leading English poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – …
Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (died 1889)
Richard McCarty was an American politician from New York.
Richard McCarty, American lawyer and politician (born 1780)
Abbate Giuseppe Baini was an Italian priest, music critic, conductor, and composer of church music.
Giuseppe Baini, Italian priest and composer (born 1775)
Thomas Campbell was a Scottish poet at the intersection of the neoclassical with the Romantic style of British poetry.
Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet and academic (born 1777)
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defende…
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French zoologist and biologist (born 1772)
Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of t…
Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (born 1800)
Yevgeny Abramovich Baratynsky was a Russian poet. He was lauded by Alexander Pushkin as the finest Russian elegiac poet. After a long period when his reputation was on the wane, Ba…
Yevgeny Baratynsky, Russian philosopher and poet (born 1800)
Claude Charles Fauriel was a French historian, philologist and critic.
Claude Charles Fauriel, French philologist and historian (born 1772)
Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smit…
Joseph Smith, American religious leader, founded the Latter Day Saint movement (born 1805)
John Dalton was an English chemist, physicist, and meteorologist whose work laid the foundations of modern atomic theory and stoichiometric chemistry. Building on earlier ideas abo…
John Dalton, English physicist, meteorologist, and chemist (born 1776)
Joseph Bonaparte, regnal name José I, was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1806, Napoleon made him King of Naples, and then King of …
Joseph Bonaparte, French diplomat and brother of Napoleon (born 1768)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, also known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Jr., was the youngest child of six born to composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his wife Constanze and the younge…
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1791)
Shiraz is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which is historically known by the exonym Persia proper. As of the 2016 national census, the popula…
In Shiraz, Iran, the Báb declared himself to be a messenger of God to Mullá Husayn, leading to the foundation of Bábism,
The Báb was an Iranian religious leader who founded Bábism, and is also one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. The Báb gradually and progressively revealed his claim in hi…
A merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement
The great auk, also known as the garefowl or penguin, is an extinct species of flightless alcid that first appeared around 400,000 years ago and was driven to extinction by human e…
The last known pair of great auks (one pictured), the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus of flightless birds, we
Julia Gardiner Tyler was the first lady of the United States from June 26, 1844, to March 4, 1845, as the second wife of President John Tyler. A member of the influential Gardiner …
Julia Gardiner (pictured) married U
The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church o…
The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland
The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the second of w…
Treaty of Nanking comes into effect, Hong Kong Island is ceded to the British "in perpetuity"
Princess Alice was Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine from 13 June 1877 until her death in 1878 as the wife of Grand Duke Louis IV. She was the third child and second daughter of …
Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (died 1878)
Bianka Blume was a German soprano opera singer.
Bianka Blume, German opera singer (died 1896)
The Wairau Affray of 17 June 1843, also called the Wairau Massacre and the Wairau Incident, was the first serious clash of arms between British settlers and Māori in New Zealand af…
The Wairau Affray, the first serious clash of arms between Māori and British settlers in the New Zealand Wars, takes pla
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an English civil and marine engineer considered "one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution", "perhaps the most eminent Victorian engineer…
Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull and screw…
William George Beers was a Canadian dentist who founded Canada's first dental journal and served as the founding dean of the Dental College of the Province of Quebec. In addition, …
William George Beers, Canadian dentist and patriot (died 1900)