1801

Events in 1801 6

• 1798 – 1801 First asteroids discovered Ceres, Pallas, Juno — a new class of solar system objects On 1 January 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi of Palermo discovered Ceres, the first asteroid, followed by Pallas (1802), Juno (1804), and Vesta (1807). The discoveries revealed an entirely new class of solar system bodies occupying the gap between Mars and Jupiter that Bode's Law had predicted should contain a planet. Ceres is now classified as a dwarf planet.
• 1801 – 1877 Brigham Young (1801-1877) Died 29 August 1877, aged 76 Brigham Young led the Latter-day Saints west after the death of Joseph Smith, founding Salt Lake City and directing the settlement of Utah. He served as the first governor of Utah Territory and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for three decades. He oversaw the church's rapid expansion and the colonization of much of the Mountain West.
• 1801 – 1870 David Farragut (1801-1870) Died 14 August 1870, aged 69 David Farragut, the first admiral of the United States Navy, died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 14 August 1870. He rose to fame during the American Civil War for his victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay, reputedly urging his fleet onward with the order 'damn the torpedoes.' He was the US Navy's first vice admiral and first full admiral.
• 1801 – 1890 John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Died 11 August 1890, aged 89 John Henry Newman was an English theologian and cardinal who led the Oxford Movement before converting from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1845. He founded the Birmingham Oratory and wrote influential works including Apologia Pro Vita Sua. He was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 2019.
• 1801 – 1848 Thomas Cole (1801-1848) Died 11 February 1848, aged 47 English-born American painter who founded the Hudson River School of landscape painting. His best-known works include the series The Course of Empire and The Voyage of Life. He died at Catskill, New York.
• 1801 – 1835 Vincenzo Bellini Bel canto opera master Italian composer whose lyrical operas Norma and La Sonnambula are the pinnacle of the bel canto style, admired by Chopin and Wagner.