Famous People Who Died In 1853

Christian Doppler was an Austrian physicist and mathematician best remembered for describing a phenomenon which came to be known as the Doppler effect. The color of binary stars was explained by Doppler with the help of the Doppler effect. Christian Doppler's discovery of the Doppler effect is considered an important contribution to physics.

William R. King served as the vice president of the U.S. in 1853 and died 45 days after assuming his duties. He was a representative from North Carolina and an Alabama senator. He led to the drafting of the Compromise of 1850 and had also been a minister to France.

Nineteenth-century U.S. Army surgeon William Beaumont pioneered the study of human digestion. While treating a person named Alexis St. Martin, who had been near-fatally shot in the stomach, Beaumont discovered a lot of gastric processes and later published them as a treatise on the physiology of digestion.

Maria II of Portugal was the Queen of Portugal from 2 May 1826 to 23 June 1828. She reigned as the queen once again from 1834 until her death in 1853 at the age of 34 due to complications during her 11th delivery.

French physicist and mathematician François Arago discovered rotatory magnetism, named Arago's rotations. He is also remembered for his research on the wave theory of light and for the reforms he introduced as the French minister of war and the navy. The Eiffel Tower has his name inscribed on it.

Boer leader Andries Pretorius was a chief force behind the creation of the South African Republic. He not only led the Great Trek from British-occupied Cape Colony but also defeated thousands of Zulus in the Battle of Blood. His negotiations with the British led to the Sand River Convention.

Ludwig Tieck was a German poet, writer, and translator. He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement that originated in the late 18th century. He wrote numerous short stories, poems, and plays in the early Romantic tradition. In his later years, he was active as a literary critic. Poet Sophie Tieck was his sister. 

Frédéric Ozanam was a French lawyer, literary scholar, equal rights advocate, and journalist. He is credited with co-founding the Conference of Charity, which came to be known as the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. in 1997, Frédéric Ozanam was beatified at Notre Dame de Paris by Pope John Paul II and his feast day is observed on 9 September.

Frederick William Robertson, also known as Robertson of Brighton, was a 19th-century Anglican clergyman. Born to an army captain, he initially wished to serve in the military. His sermons dismissed the theological ideas existing back then and focused on the reform concepts of the 1848 Revolution instead.

Born to famous Italian architect Ennio Quirino Visconti, Louis Visconti studied architecture in Paris. He later became one of the chief architects of the Louvre. However, his best-known creation was Napoleon’s tomb at Les Invalides. He was one of the proponents of the Second Empire style.

German geologist and paleontologist Christian Leopold von Buch initially worked as an inspector of mines, before his geological expedition in the Alps. He studied volcanoes in Italy and the Canary Islands and rocks in Scandinavia, too. He is, however, best remembered for defining the Jurassic System.

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg was a Danish painter. Known as the Father of Danish Painting, Eckersberg laid the foundation for the period of art, which came to be known as the Danish Golden Age. Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg is also credited with teaching and mentoring many future painters like Wilhelm Bendz, Ditlev Blunck, and Carl Dahl among others.  

After gaining his engineering degree, Auguste Laurent worked briefly as a laboratory assistant for Jean-Baptiste Dumas and then taught chemistry at the University of Bordeaux. Apart from laying down a system of naming organic chemical substances, he also discovered phthalic acid, anthracene, and carbolic acid.

Initially a shepherd, Karl Schulmeister later became a businessman and a smuggler. He eventually became a spy, working for Napoleon I. He had also served as the commissioner of police for Vienna. He spent his final days in poverty, working as a tobacconist after the end of Napoleon’s reign.

A child prodigy, Louis Duport excelled in both dance and the violin since his early days. He not only developed the classical technique of ballet but also gained fame for his appearances in Charles Didelot’s ballets, such as Zéphyre et Flore. He was also a principal dancer at the Opéra de Paris.

Juan Donoso Cortés was a Spanish author, politician, diplomat, and Catholic political theologian. He is credited with influencing many intellects, including Carl Schmitt, Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul, Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, and Miguel Antonio Caro Tobar. Considered a counter-revolutionary author, Juan Donoso Cortés' works have been translated into English.

A prominent Mexican conservative leader, Lucas Alamán was known as an honest politician, who wished to reform Mexican education, agriculture, and industry. Though trained as a mining engineer, he stepped into politics and served as the country’s foreign minister. He also penned various historical works and established Mexico’s National Museum.