Explore 418 historical events from 1850–1859.
Walter Simon was a German banker, councillor and philanthropist active in Königsberg and Tübingen.
Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (died 1920)
Theodorus van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer and a younger brother of Vincent van Gogh. His support of his older brother's artistic ambitions and well-being allowed Vincent to devote …
Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (died 1891)
William Alexander MacCorkle, was an American teacher, lawyer, prosecutor, the ninth governor of West Virginia and state legislator of West Virginia, and financier. His residence in…
William A
Sir Ronald Ross was a British medical doctor. He received the 1902 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism…
Ronald Ross, Indian-English physician and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1932)
Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming was a Scottish astronomer. At the Harvard College Observatory, she contributed to the photographic classification of stellar spectra, helping to de…
Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (died 1911)
John Jacob Abel was an American biochemist and pharmacologist. He established the pharmacology department at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1893, and then became Am…
John Jacob Abel, American biochemist and pharmacologist (died 1938)
Geheimrat Julius Wilhelm Theodor Curtius was professor of Chemistry at Heidelberg University. He published the Curtius rearrangement in 1890/1894 and also discovered diazoacetic ac…
Theodor Curtius, German chemist (died 1928)
Pope Pius XI was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of Vatican City upon its creation on 11 February…
Pope Pius XI (died 1939)
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known com…
Edward Elgar, English composer and educator (died 1934)
Karl Adolph Gjellerup was a Danish poet and novelist who together with his compatriot Henrik Pontoppidan won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1917. He is associated with the Modern…
Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1919)
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov was a Russian mathematician, mechanician and physicist. He was the son of the astronomer Mikhail Lyapunov and the brother of the pianist and compose…
Aleksandr Lyapunov, Russian mathematician and physicist (died 1918)
Maurice Perrault was a Canadian architect, civil engineer, and politician.
Maurice Perrault, Canadian architect, engineer, and politician, 15th Mayor of Longueuil (died 1909)
Henry Clay Folger Jr. was an American businessman who was president and later chairman of Standard Oil of New York, a collector of Shakespeareana, and co-founder of the Folger Shak…
Henry Clay Folger, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Folger Shakespeare Library (died 1930)
Charles Courtice Alderton was an American pharmacist and the inventor of the carbonated soft drink Dr Pepper.
Charles Alderton, American pharmacist, founded Dr
Clara Zetkin was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights.
Clara Zetkin, German theorist and activist (died 1933)
Arthur Freiherr Arz von Straußenburg was an Austro-Hungarian colonel general and last Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army. At the outbreak of the First World Wa…
Arthur Arz von Straußenburg, Austrian-Hungarian general (died 1935)
Julien Tiersot, was a French musicologist, composer and a pioneer in ethnomusicology.
Julien Tiersot, French musicologist and composer (died 1936)
Alfred Binet, born Alfredo Binetti, was a French psychologist who together with Théodore Simon invented the first practical intelligence test, the Binet–Simon test. In 1904, Binet …
Alfred Binet, French psychologist and graphologist (died 1911)
George Edgar Ohr was an American ceramic artist and the self-proclaimed "Mad Potter of Biloxi" in Mississippi. In recognition of his innovative experimentation with modern clay for…
George E. Ohr, American potter (died 1918)
Henrik Pontoppidan was a Danish realist writer who shared with Karl Gjellerup the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1917 for "his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark.…
Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1943)
Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón was a Venezuelan military general, politician and de facto ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. He only officially served as president on…
Juan Vicente Gómez, Venezuelan general and politician, 27th President of Venezuela (died 1935)
Frank Julian Sprague was an American inventor who contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators. His contributions were especially…
Frank J. Sprague, American naval officer and inventor (died 1934)
José Celso Barbosa Alcala was a Puerto Rican physician, sociologist and political leader. Known as the father of the statehood movement in Puerto Rico, Barbosa was the first Puerto…
José Celso Barbosa, Puerto Rican physician, sociologist, and politician (died 1921)
Ballington Booth was a British-born American Christian minister who co-founded Volunteers of America, a Christian charitable organization, and became its first General (1896-1940).…
Ballington Booth, English-American activist, co-founded Volunteers of America (died 1940)