Historical Events
Paris Salon
Aug 25 Paris Salon opens with Théodore Géricault’s painting "Raft of the Medusa" causing a sensation
Famous Birthdays
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Aug 1 American author (Moby-Dick, Billy Budd), born in New York City
- Aug 6 Samuel Powhatan Carter, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Elizabethton, Tennessee (d. 1891)
- Aug 8 Charles Anderson Dana, Asst Secy War, (Union) (d. 1897)
- Aug 9 Jonathan Homer Lane, American astrophysicist who mathematically analyzed the Sun as a gaseous body, born in Geneseo, New York (d. 1880)
- Aug 9 William T. G. Morton, American dentist who first used ether as a surgical anaesthetic (HOF 1920), born in Charlton, Massachusetts (d. 1868)
- Aug 12 Daniel Davidson Bidwell, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 1864)
George Stokes (1819-1903)
Aug 13 Irish physicist and mathematician (Navier-Stokes equations, Stokes' theorem), born in Skreen, County Sligo, Ireland
- Aug 17 James Henry Van Alen, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Kinderhook, New York (d. 1886)
- Aug 18 Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, Duchess of Leuchtenberg, born in Peterhof Palace, Russia (d. 1876)
- Aug 25 Allan Pinkerton, Scottish-American barrel maker, private detective (co-founder of Pinkerton Agency), abolitionist, and spy, born in Gorbels, Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1884)
- Aug 26 Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Consort of British queen Victoria, born at Schloss Rosenau, nr Coburg, Germany (d. 1861)
Famous Deaths
- Aug 23 Oliver Hazard Perry, American naval hero (Battle of Lake Erie), dies on 34th birthday
James Watt (1736-1819)
Aug 25 Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer and chemist (steam engine), dies at 83
