Explore 436 historical events from 1840–1849.
Karl Wilhelm Otto Lilienthal was a German pioneer of aviation who became known as the "flying man". He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful flights wi…
Otto Lilienthal, German pilot and engineer (died 1896)
Johann Baptist Singenberger was a Swiss composer, music teacher, editor and publisher. Much of his output was devoted to Catholic liturgical music. He was reckoned to have taught o…
Johann Baptist Singenberger, Swiss composer, educator, and publisher (died 1924)
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. Its organizers advertised it as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights …
The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved statehood and is…
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is established by Nelson Dewey, first Governor of Wisconsin.
The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852. It constituted a…
Great Famine of Ireland: Tipperary Revolt: In County Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful…
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of th…
Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress.
Brigandage in Southern Italy had existed in some form since ancient times. However, its origins as outlaws targeting random travellers would evolve vastly later on to become a form…
Pica Law (Legge Pica), a form of martial law, is established as the Italian government passes this anti-brigandage law…
Bernard Bosanquet was an English philosopher and political theorist, and an influential figure on matters of political and social policy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. …
Bernard Bosanquet, English philosopher and theorist (died 1923)
Max Erdmannsdörfer was a German conductor, pianist and composer.
Max Erdmannsdörfer, German conductor and composer (died 1905)
Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves was a Brazilian politician and statesman who served as the fifth president of Brazil, from 1902 to 1906. Alves was elected in 1902, becoming the …
Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian politician, 5th President of Brazil (died 1919)
The California gold rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush in California, which began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California…
California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in…
Kandukuri Veeresalingam was a social reformer and writer from the Madras Presidency, British India, current Andhra Pradesh. He was considered as the Father of the Telugu Renaissanc…
Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Indian author and activist (died 1919)
Raja Ravi Varma was an Indian painter. His works are one of the best examples of the fusion of European academic art with a purely Indian sensibility and iconography. He greatly en…
Raja Ravi Varma, Indian painter and academic (died 1906)
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movem…
Paul Gauguin, French painter and sculptor (died 1903)
Geevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala, also known as Parumala Thirumeni, was a Metropolitan of the Malankara Church. Parumala Thirumeni became the first person of Indian origin to …
Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala, Indian bishop and saint (died 1902)
Thomas Henry Tracy was a Canadian architect and alderman. Born in London, Upper Canada, to Irish immigrants, Tracy was apprenticed to William Robinson for five years beginning in 1…
Thomas Henry Tracy, Canadian architect and alderman (died 1925)
Robert I was the last sovereign Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1854 until 1859, when the duchy was annexed to Sardinia-Piedmont during the Risorgimento. He was a member of the Hou…
Robert I, Duke of Parma (died 1907)
William Gilbert Grace was an English cricketer who is widely held to have been one of the sport's all-time greatest players. Always known by his initials as "WG", his first-class c…
W. G. Grace, English cricketer and physician (died 1915)
Adolphus Frederick V was reigning grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1904 to 1914.
Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (died 1914)
Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto was an Italian polymath, whose areas of interest included sociology, civil engineering, economics, political science, and philosophy. He made severa…
Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist and sociologist (died 1923)
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. He also later s…
Arthur Balfour, Scottish-English lieutenant and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1930)
Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény, also called Baron Roland von Eötvös in English literature, was a Hungarian physicist. He is remembered today largely for his work on gravitati…
Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist and politician, Minister of Education of Hungary (died 1919)
Friedrich Ernst Dorn was a German physicist. He is best remembered for his discovery that radium emits a radioactive substance, later named radon.
Friedrich Ernst Dorn, German physicist (died 1916)
Susie King Taylor was an American nurse, educator, and memoirist. Born into slavery in coastal Georgia, she is known for being the first African-American nurse during the American …
Susie Taylor, American writer and first black Army nurse (died 1912)