1851

Decades: 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s - 1850s - 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s

Years: 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 - 1851 - 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856

Events

• January 23 - The flip of a coin determines whether a new city in Oregon is named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning.
• March 27 - First reported case of white men seeing Yosemite Valley.
• March 30 - A population census was taken of all people living in the United Kingdom.
• May 1 - The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London is opened by Queen Victoria. It runs until October 15.
• May 15 - Rama IV is crowed King of Thailand.
• July - The immortal game, a famous chess game, is played.
• July 29 - Annibale de Gasparis, in Naples, Italy discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
• The first America's Cup is organized (see Yachting).
• Gold discovered in Australia.
• The New York Times is founded.
• Ariel and Umbriel, moons of Uranus, discovered by William Lassell.
• December 2 - Newly-elected French President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte violently overthrows the Second Republic.
• December 24 - The Library of Congress burns
• December 29 - The first YMCA opens, in Boston, Massachusetts

Year in topic

• 1851 in literature
  • Moby Dick published by Herman Melville.
• 1851 in science

Births

• January 19 - Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer
• March 27 - Vincent d'Indy, composer and teacher (+ 1931)
• April 21 - Charles Barrois, geologist
• May 20 - Emil Berliner, telephone and recording pioneer
• October 31 - Princess Louise of Sweden

Deaths

• February 1 - Mary Shelley, author
• March 9 - Hans Christian Ørsted, scientist
• September 11 - Sylvester Graham inventor of Graham cracker

Referenced By