Historical Events
First Photo of the Moon
Jan 2 First photo of the Moon, taken by French photographer Louis Daguerre
- Jan 6 2 day storm off Irish & English coast immortalized as the "Big Wind"
Daguerreotype Photographic Process
Jan 9 Louis Daguerre demonstrates his 'daguerreotype' photographic process to the French Academy of Science
- Jan 9 Thomas Henderson measures 1st stellar parallax (Alpha Centauri)
- Jan 10 First tea from leaves of indigenous plants of Assam, India, arrives in the United Kingdom [date approximate] [1]
- Jan 11 Earthquake at Martinique destroys half of Port Royal - 700 die
- Jan 12 Anthracite coal 1st used to smelt iron, Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania
- Jan 19 Aden conquered by British East India Company
- Jan 20 Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance
Darwin Royal Society Fellow
Jan 24 Charles Darwin elected Fellow of the Royal Society
Talbot Exhibits Photos
Jan 25 William Henry Fox Talbot exhibits early photographs to the Royal Institution in the UK
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 4 Carl Humann, German engineer (d. 1896)
- Jan 4 Casimiro de Abreu, Brazil, poet (Meus oito anos), novelist and playwright (Camoes e o jau), born in Casimiro de Abreu, Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil (d. 1860)
- Jan 9 John Knowles Paine, American composer (Symphony No. 2 - In Spring), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1906)
- Jan 11 Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator and nationalist, born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico (d. 1903)
- Jan 14 Emil Bohn, German organist, choral director, composer, and musicologist, born in Bielau, Prussian Silesia (now Biała Nyska, Poland) (d. 1909)
- Jan 19 Bohumil Pazdirek, Czech composer, born in Drahanovice, Moravia (d. 1919)
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906)
Jan 19 French artist and Post-Impressionist painter (The Basket of Apples), born in Aix-en-Provence, France
- Jan 25 Seldon Connor, American banker, 35th Governor of Maine, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Fairfield, Maine, (d. 1917)
Famous Weddings
Charles Darwin
Jan 29 English naturalist and "On the Origin of Species" author Charles Darwin (42) marries Emma Wedgwood (41)
