Explore 785 historical events from 1850–1859.
Clímaco Calderón Reyes was a Colombian lawyer and politician, who became 15th President of Colombia for one day, following the death of President Francisco Javier Zaldúa.
Clímaco Calderón, Colombian lawyer and politician, 15th President of Colombia (died 1913)
Arnold Toynbee was an English economic historian also noted for his social commitment and desire to improve the living conditions of the working classes. Toynbee Hall in London was…
Arnold Toynbee, English economist and historian (died 1883)
Agnes Bertha Marshall was an English culinary entrepreneur, inventor, and celebrity chef. An unusually prominent businesswoman for her time, Marshall was particularly known for her…
Agnes Marshall, English culinary entrepreneur, inventor, and celebrity chef (died 1905)
Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff Jr. was a Dutch physical chemist. A highly influential theoretical chemist, in 1901 Van 't Hoff won the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry "[for his] disco…
Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Dutch chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1911)
Julian Alden Weir was an American impressionist painter and member of the Cos Cob Art Colony in Greenwich, Connecticut. Weir was also one of the founding members of "The Ten", a lo…
J. Alden Weir, American painter and academic (died 1919)
Paul Charles Joseph Bourget was a French poet, novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times.
Paul Bourget, French author and critic (died 1935)
Schalk Willem Burger was a South African military leader, lawyer, politician, and statesman who was acting president of the South African Republic from 1900 to 1902, whilst Paul Kr…
Schalk Willem Burger, South African commander, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of the South African Republic…
Gojong, personal name Yi Jaehwang, later changed to Yi Hui, also known as the Gwangmu Emperor, was the penultimate Korean monarch. He ruled Korea for 43 years, from 1864 until his …
Gojong of Korea, 26th Emperor of the Joseon Kingdom and first emperor of Korea (died 1919)
Hans Niels Andersen was a Danish shipping magnate, businessman, diplomat and founder of the East Asiatic Company.
Hans Niels Andersen, Danish businessman, founded the East Asiatic Company (died 1937)
Alice Brown Davis was the first female Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, and served from 1922 to 1935, appointed by President Warren G. Harding. She was of Semino…
Alice Brown Davis, American tribal chief (died 1935)
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, was a British statesman, Liberal politician and barrister who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 until his re…
H. H. Asquith, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1928)
Edward Alexander Bouchet was an American physicist and educator. He was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in any subject from an American university, completing his disser…
Edward Bouchet, American physicist and educator (died 1918)
Jan Ernst Matzeliger was a Surinamese-American inventor whose automated lasting machine brought significant change to the manufacturing of shoes. The Consolidated Lasting Machine C…
Jan Ernst Matzeliger, Surinamese-American inventor (died 1889)
James Carroll Beckwith was an American landscape, portrait and genre painter whose Naturalist style led to his recognition in the late nineteenth and very early twentieth century a…
James Carroll Beckwith, American painter and academic (died 1917)
William Stewart Halsted, M.D. was an American surgeon who emphasized strict aseptic technique during surgical procedures, was an early champion of newly discovered anesthetics, and…
William Stewart Halsted, American physician and surgeon (died 1922)
Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan was a French chemist and pharmacist who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds. Among his othe…
Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1907)
Elizabeth Isis Pogson, was a British astronomer and meteorologist who was one of the first women to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Isis Pogson, British astronomer and meteorologist (died 1945)
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, known as Sir John French from 1901 to 1916, and as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a senior British Ar…
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres, British Army officer (died 1925)
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford w…
Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer, conductor, and educator (died 1924)
Sir William Ramsay was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the i…
William Ramsay, Scottish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1916)
Hermann Emil Louis Fischer was a German chemist and 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fischer projecti…
Hermann Emil Fischer, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1919)
Carl Josef Anton von In der Maur auf Strelburg und zu Freifeld was an Austrian aristocrat and statesman who twice served in the court of Johann II as the Governor of Liechtenstein …
Carl von In der Maur, Governor of Liechtenstein (died 1913)
Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak was a Russian writer. He is most well known for his novels and short stories about life in the Ural Mountains.
Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, Russian author (died 1912)
Ivan Aleksandrovich Nabokov was a Russian adjutant general and general of the infantry prominent during the Napoleonic Wars.
Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (born 1787)