1865

Events in 1865 45

• 1790 – 1865 Leopold I of Belgium (1790-1865) Died 10 December 1865, aged 74 Leopold I was the first King of the Belgians, reigning from Belgian independence in 1831 until his death. He was widely respected as a shrewd diplomat and helped establish the young kingdom's stability among the European powers.
• 1804 – 1865 Richard Cobden (1804-1865) Died 2 April 1865, aged 60 Richard Cobden was a British politician and manufacturer who led the campaign against the Corn Laws and championed free trade. He co-negotiated the 1860 Anglo-French free trade treaty and remained an influential voice in Parliament until his death.
• 1809 – 1865 Abraham Lincoln 16th President — saved the Union, abolished slavery Abraham Lincoln (Feb 12, 1809 – Apr 15, 1865) was the 16th President 1861-1865. He led the Union through the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and was assassinated at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.
• 1810 – 1865 Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) Died 12 November 1865, aged 55 Elizabeth Gaskell was an English novelist and biographer known for works including Cranford, North and South, and her biography of Charlotte Brontë. Her fiction chronicled Victorian social life and industrial change.
• 1820 – 1865 Laws of thermodynamics Energy is conserved and entropy always increases The first law of thermodynamics (energy is conserved, Joule and Mayer, 1840s) and the second law (entropy of a closed system always increases, Clausius, 1865) were the most fundamental laws of physics discovered in the 19th century. They explained the limits of steam engines, showed that perpetual motion machines are impossible, and introduced the concept of entropy — disorder that only ever increases in a closed system.
• 1825 – 1865 Ambrose Powell Hill (1825-1865) Died 2 April 1865, aged 39 A. P. Hill was a Confederate lieutenant general who commanded the Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. He was killed in action near Petersburg, Virginia, days before Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
• 1838 – 1865 John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) Died 26 April 1865, aged 26 John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. He was tracked down and killed by Union soldiers in Virginia twelve days after the shooting.
• 1861 – 1865 Ozone layer discovered A protective shield of oxygen high in the atmosphere Christian Friedrich Schönbein identified ozone as a distinct molecule in 1840. Marie Alfred Cornu and Jean-Baptiste Baille confirmed in 1878 that ozone in the upper atmosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation. The discovery that a thin layer of gas shields all life on Earth from harmful UV radiation became enormously important in the 20th century when CFCs began destroying it.
• 1861 – 1865 Pasteur and Koch — germ theory of disease Microorganisms cause infectious diseases Louis Pasteur of France demonstrated in the 1860s that fermentation and putrefaction are caused by microorganisms, and that disease can be caused by specific bacteria (germ theory). Robert Koch of Germany then identified the specific bacteria responsible for anthrax (1876), tuberculosis (1882), and cholera (1883). Germ theory replaced the miasma theory, transformed medicine, and led directly to antiseptics, vaccines, and antibiotics.
• 1861 – 1865 Lincoln presidency 16th President — led Union through Civil War Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President from March 4, 1861 until his assassination on April 15, 1865. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), freeing slaves in Confederate states, and guided the nation through its greatest crisis.
• 1865 – 1936 Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) Died 21 March 1936, aged 70 Alexander Glazunov was a Russian composer and director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he taught students including Shostakovich. His works include the ballet Raymonda and a well-known violin concerto. He died in exile near Paris.
• 1865 – 1931 Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) Died 3 October 1931, aged 66 Danish composer, conductor and violinist, known especially for his six symphonies. He is regarded as Denmark's greatest composer. He also wrote the comic opera Maskarade.
• 1865 – 1939 Charles Horace Mayo (1865-1939) Died 26 May 1939, aged 73 Charles Mayo was an American surgeon and co-founder of the Mayo Clinic. He was known for his work on goitre and thyroid surgery. He died of pneumonia in Chicago.
• 1865 – 1923 Charles Steinmetz (1865-1923) Died 26 October 1923, aged 58 Charles Steinmetz was a German-born American engineer and mathematician whose work on alternating current systems at General Electric helped establish the foundations of modern electrical engineering. Known as the "Wizard of Schenectady," he held roughly 200 patents. He died in Schenectady, New York.
• 1865 – 1915 Edith Cavell (1865-1915) Died 12 October 1915, aged 49 British nurse Edith Cavell was executed by German firing squad in Brussels for helping Allied soldiers escape occupied Belgium. Her death provoked international outrage and became a powerful piece of Allied wartime propaganda.
• 1865 – 1927 Ferdinand I of Romania (1865-1927) Died 20 July 1927, aged 61 Ferdinand I was King of Romania from 1914. He led the country through the First World War, and during his reign Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina were united with Romania to form Greater Romania.
• 1865 – 1936 George V (1865-1936) Died 20 January 1936, aged 70 King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India from 1910, George V reigned through the First World War. In 1917 he changed the royal house's name to Windsor. His son succeeded him as Edward VIII.
• 1865 – 1928 Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928) Died 17 November 1928, aged 63 Indian nationalist leader known as Punjab Kesari. He was part of the Lal Bal Pal trio of Congress radicals. He died weeks after police beat him while he led a protest against the Simon Commission in Lahore.
• 1865 Mendel — genetics and inheritance Pea plant experiments reveal the laws of heredity In 1865, Gregor Mendel of Brno published his observations from ten years of breeding pea plants, demonstrating that traits are inherited in discrete units (now called genes) following predictable mathematical ratios. Mendel's laws of segregation and independent assortment were ignored for 35 years until rediscovered in 1900, whereupon they founded modern genetics and were later reconciled with Darwin's evolution.
• 1865 – 1940 Mrs Patrick Campbell (1865-1940) Died 9 April 1940, aged 75 English stage actress for whom George Bernard Shaw wrote the role of Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion". She died in Pau, France.
• 1865 – present Nokia Nokia — founded in 1865 as a wood pulp mill on the banks of the Nokianvirta river in Finland — is one of the most dramatic corporate transformation stories in history. From paper to rubber boots to cables to consumer electronics to mobile phones, Nokia reinvented itself repeatedly. At its peak in 2000 it was the most valuable company in Europe and accounted for 4% of Finland's entire GDP. Its collapse after the iPhone's arrival and its sale of the mobile division to Microsoft in 2013 is one of the great corporate falls. Today Nokia survives as a major telecommunications infrastructure company.
• 1865 Nokia founded as paper mill Fredrik Idestam founds a wood pulp mill on the Nokianvirta river in southern Finland in 1865, naming it Nokia Ab after the river. The mill produces paper for the rapidly expanding Finnish printing industry. A second mill follows in 1868. The Nokia name comes from the river, which may derive from the Finnish word for the dark, furry European mink once native to the riverbanks. The connection between a 19th-century Finnish paper mill and the mobile phone that will define an era is almost impossible to imagine.
• 1865 – 1935 Paul Dukas (1865-1935) Died 17 May 1935, aged 69 Dukas was a French composer and teacher, best known for the orchestral scherzo The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He died in Paris.
• 1865 – 1929 Robert Henri (1865-1929) Died 12 July 1929, aged 64 American painter and teacher who led the Ashcan School of urban realism. His book The Art Spirit influenced generations of artists.
• 1865 – 1938 Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) Died 7 April 1938, aged 72 Valadon was a French painter and a former artists' model. She was the first woman admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and was the mother of Maurice Utrillo.
• 1865 – 1939 W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) Died 28 January 1939, aged 73 Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist and a leading figure of the Irish Literary Revival. He co-founded the Abbey Theatre and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923. Many consider him the greatest English-language poet of the twentieth century.
• 1865 Freedmen's Bureau established US federal agency created to aid former slaves Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands to assist formerly enslaved people with food, housing, education, and legal support after the Civil War. It operated in the former Confederacy during the early years of Reconstruction.
• 1865 Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House Effective end of the American Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The surrender marked the effective end of four years of civil war, though smaller Confederate forces held out for weeks afterward.
• 1865 Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre President Abraham Lincoln was shot by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth while watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. He died the following morning, becoming the first U.S. president to be assassinated, just days after the Confederacy's surrender.
• 1865 Cornell University chartered Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White found university Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White received a charter to found Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, established on the principle of an institution where any person could find instruction in any study. It became one of the founding Ivy League research universities.
• 1865 Sinking of the steamboat Sultana Deadliest maritime disaster in US history A boiler explosion destroyed the overcrowded steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River near Memphis, killing around 1,800 people, many of them Union soldiers recently released from Confederate prison camps. It remains the deadliest maritime disaster in United States history.
• 1865 Cholera epidemic strikes Mecca pilgrims Outbreak during Hajj spreads into global pandemic wave A severe cholera outbreak struck pilgrims gathered in Mecca for the Hajj, killing thousands before spreading with returning travelers into Egypt, the Mediterranean, and Europe. The episode was part of the fourth cholera pandemic and spurred later international sanitary cooperation.
• 1865 Battle of Riachuelo Decisive naval battle of the Paraguayan War The Brazilian navy defeated the Paraguayan fleet on the Paraná River near Corrientes, securing control of the river system during the War of the Triple Alliance. The victory prevented Paraguayan forces from receiving reinforcement by water and shaped the war's course.
• 1865 Juneteenth announcement in Galveston Union troops proclaim freedom for enslaved Texans Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that all enslaved people in the state were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The date later became commemorated annually as Juneteenth.
• 1865 The Salvation Army founded William Booth establishes the East London Christian Mission William Booth and his wife Catherine founded the East London Christian Mission, a religious and charitable organization that would later be renamed the Salvation Army. It grew into an international movement combining evangelism with social welfare work.
• 1865 – present Matterhorn The Toblerone Mountain First summited in 1865; it is the most iconic peak in the Alps and a symbol of Switzerland.
• 1865 Atlantic telegraph cable expedition fails Great Eastern's cable breaks mid-ocean The steamship Great Eastern attempted to lay a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean, but the cable snapped and was lost on the seabed partway through the voyage. A successful cable connecting Europe and North America was finally completed the following year.
• 1865 Joseph Lister performs first antiseptic surgery Carbolic acid used to prevent surgical infection Surgeon Joseph Lister applied carbolic acid to treat a compound fracture in a Glasgow patient, pioneering antiseptic surgical technique. His method dramatically reduced post-operative infection and transformed surgical practice worldwide.
• 1865 Convention of Gastein Austria and Prussia divide Schleswig-Holstein administration Austria and Prussia signed the Convention of Gastein, dividing administrative control of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein taken from Denmark the previous year. The arrangement proved temporary, with tensions over it contributing to the Austro-Prussian War the following year.
• 1865 – 1923 Warren G. Harding 29th President — died in office, Teapot Dome scandal Warren G. Harding (Nov 2, 1865 – Aug 2, 1923) was the 29th President 1921-1923. He died in office and his administration was later tainted by the Teapot Dome scandal, one of the worst corruption scandals in US history.
• 1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland published Lewis Carroll's novel released in London Lewis Carroll published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a fantastical children's novel illustrated by John Tenniel. It became one of the most widely translated and adapted works of English literature.
• 1865 Founding of the Ku Klux Klan White supremacist group formed in Tennessee Former Confederate soldiers founded the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee, as a secret society that grew into a violent movement targeting freed Black Americans and their allies during Reconstruction. It became the first of several waves of Klan activity in the United States.
• 1865 Thirteenth Amendment ratified Slavery abolished throughout the United States The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, formally abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime. It followed the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War, extending abolition nationwide.
• 1865 – 1957 Jean Sibelius Finnish national composer Finnish composer whose Finlandia, Violin Concerto and 7 symphonies made him a national hero and one of the defining voices of late Romanticism.
• 1865 – 1936 Rudyard Kipling English writer and poet Kipling wrote The Jungle Book and explored themes of empire, duty, and adventure.