1824

Events in 1824 12

• 1755 – 1824 Friedrich Schiller German playwright and poet Schiller wrote influential dramas such as William Tell, exploring freedom, morality, and political ideals in Romantic literature.
• 1788 – 1824 Lord Byron English Romantic poet Byron became a leading Romantic figure through emotionally intense poetry and a dramatic public persona.
• 1824 – 1895 Alexandre Dumas fils (1824-1895) Died 27 November 1895, aged 70 Alexandre Dumas fils was a French novelist and playwright best known for La Dame aux Camelias, which inspired Verdi's opera La Traviata. He was the son of novelist Alexandre Dumas and was elected to the Academie francaise in 1874. He died in Marly-le-Roi, France.
• 1824 – 1896 Fourier and Arrhenius — the greenhouse effect Atmospheric gases trap heat and warm the planet Joseph Fourier first described the greenhouse effect in 1824, noting that the atmosphere traps heat. John Tyndall identified the specific gases responsible (CO2, water vapour) in 1859. Svante Arrhenius in 1896 calculated that doubling atmospheric CO2 would raise global temperatures by 5–6°C — the first quantitative climate model and a prescient warning about fossil fuel burning.
• 1824 – 1905 George MacDonald (1824-1905) Died 18 September 1905, aged 80 Scottish author George MacDonald wrote fantasy novels and fairy tales, including Phantastes and The Princess and the Goblin, that helped shape the modern fantasy genre. He was a major influence on later writers such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. He also worked as a minister and lecturer before turning to writing full time.
• 1824 – 1887 Gustav Kirchhoff (1824-1887) Died 17 October 1887, aged 63 Gustav Kirchhoff was a German physicist who formulated Kirchhoff's circuit laws for electrical networks and, with Robert Bunsen, pioneered spectroscopic analysis to identify chemical elements. Their work laid the foundation for astrophysical spectroscopy, allowing scientists to determine the composition of stars. He spent much of his career at the University of Heidelberg and later Berlin.
• 1824 – 1863 Stonewall Jackson (1824-1863) Died 10 May 1863, aged 39 Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was a Confederate general renowned for his tactical skill at battles including Bull Run and Chancellorsville. He was accidentally shot by his own troops at Chancellorsville and died of complications eight days later.
• 1824 – 1889 Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) Died 23 September 1889, aged 65 Collins was an English novelist best known for The Woman in White and The Moonstone, works widely regarded as founding texts of detective and sensation fiction. He was a close friend and collaborator of Charles Dickens.
• 1824 – 1907 William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) Died 17 December 1907, aged 83 Scottish-Irish physicist and engineer who established the absolute temperature scale that bears his name and contributed to thermodynamics and the transatlantic telegraph cable. He served as president of the Royal Society and was the first scientist elevated to the British peerage. He died at his home in Scotland.
• 1824 – 1860 William Walker (1824-1860) Died 12 September 1860, aged 36 William Walker was an American filibuster who seized control of Nicaragua in 1856 and briefly ruled as its president before being driven out. He attempted further invasions of Central America and was captured by British forces off Honduras in 1860. He was handed to Honduran authorities and executed by firing squad on 12 September 1860.
• 1824 – 1886 Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-1886) Died 9 February 1886, aged 61 Winfield Scott Hancock, the Union general famed for his defense of Cemetery Ridge at the Battle of Gettysburg, died at Governors Island, New York. He remained in the army after the Civil War and ran unsuccessfully for president as the Democratic nominee in 1880. He was widely regarded as one of the war's most capable commanders.
• 1824 – 1884 Bedřich Smetana Czech national composer Czech composer whose cycle of symphonic poems Má vlast (My Homeland) including Vltava became the symbol of Czech national identity.