Famous People Who Died In 1899

Johann Strauss II, also known as The Waltz King, was initially pushed by his composer father Johann Strauss I to become a banker, while he learned the violin secretly and conducted a restaurant band. Best remembered for his iconic composition The Blue Danube, he redefined the 19th-century waltzes and operettas.

Chemist Robert Bunsen paved the path for spectrum analysis with his discovery that every element emits a light of a particular wavelength. He also co-developed and lent his name to the Bunsen burner. He almost died of arsenic poisoning and lost sight in his right eye in a laboratory explosion.

Born to a furniture maker in Paris, Félix Faure initially worked as a tanner. After gaining considerable wealth as a merchant later, he became the deputy mayor of Le Havre and then the president of France. He is remembered for his reluctance to reopen the case of Alfred Dreyfus.

German general Leo von Caprivi had been the Chancellor of the German Empire, succeeding Otto von Bismarck. His most significant achievements include the conclusion of the Zanzibar Treaty, though he was criticized for giving up too much control. Mostly keeping to himself, he remained single all his life.

Rosa Bonheur was a French artist and sculptor whose paintings have been preserved in popular museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée d'Orsay. An influential personality, Bonheur was widely regarded as the 19th century's most popular female painter. An open lesbian, Rosa Bonheur stood out as a groundbreaking individual both in her personal life and her career.

Renowned ornithologist Elliott Coues, known for his pathbreaking written works such as Key to North American Birds, had established the American Ornithological Union. He had also previously worked as an army surgeon and later taught anatomy. He was also briefly part of the Theosophical Society, though he later lost interest.

Canadian geologist John William Dawson began his career as the first superintendent of education of Nova Scotia. He also served as the principal of McGill University, where he taught, too. An expert in paleobotany, he discovered ancient plant species. He was knighted for his contribution to geology.

Almeida Junior was a Brazilian designer and artist best remembered for introducing the Realistic tradition of Jean-François Millet and Gustave Courbet to Brazil. Regarded as an important and influential artist in Brazil, Almeida Junior was honored with the Gold Medal by the Imperial Academy in 1898. His birthday is celebrated as the Day of Fine Artists in Brazil.

Venezuelan military leader Antonio Guzmán Blanco led the country as its president for 3 terms. The son of Liberal Party founder Antonio Leocadio Guzmán, he grew up to join the movement known as Liberalismo Amarillo. He modernized civil facilities in Caracas but curbed civil and religious liberties.

Catharine Parr Traill moved from England to Canada after her marriage and soon became one of the greatest authors of children’s and settlers’ literature of her time. Her writings reflected the charm of the Canadian countryside. Her letters to her mother in England were collated in The Backwoods of Canada.

Karl Siegmund, count von Hohenwart was an Austrian statesman who had been the Minister-President of Austria and had also served as the country’s minister of the interior. His policies of changing the position of Bohemia, by altering Austro-Hungarian constitution through the Fundamental Articles, brought about his downfall.

Dwight L. Moody was an American publisher and evangelist. He is credited with founding the Moody Church which went on to become the most well-known religious outreach of its kind. He gave up his lucrative shoe business to focus solely on revivalism. He played an important role in the Civil War, working with the United States Christian Commission of YMCA.

Sophus Lie was a Norwegian mathematician best remembered for creating the theory of continuous symmetry, which was then applied to different mathematical fields like differential equations and geometry. During his lifetime, Lie advised many doctoral students and future mathematicians like Élie Cartan. Sophus Lie’s work on group theory was used by Hermann Weyl in his papers in the early 1920s. 

Count Katsu Yasuyoshi, or Katsu Kaishū, was a Japanese naval officer who was in command of the first ship from Japan to the U.S. He also led a moderate Tokugawa shogunate faction but later surrendered to the imperialists and adopted a mediating approach, playing a major role in the Meiji Restoration.

Charles Friedel was a French chemist and mineralogist. He studied under famed chemist and microbiologist  Louis Pasteur at the Sorbonne. He later obtained the post of professor of chemistry and mineralogy at the Sorbonne. He collaborated with James Crafts to develop the Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation reactions. His son Georges also became a renowned mineralogist.