In the year 1849, James Knox Polk becomes the first U.S. President to have his photograph taken (Feb 14), regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States via South America’s Cape Horn begins (Feb 28), the first Kennedy arrives in America (Apr 22), French troops occupy Rome; the Roman Republic surrenders (Jul 3), the French scientist Hippolyte Fizeau measures the speed of light, using a beam of light reflected from a mirror 8 kilometers away (Jul 23), the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 ends, with no independence yet for the Magyars - and all these fine people were born:

1849-0109 John Hartley* glergyman/tennis player - Tong, England (1935/86) 1849-0114 James Moore* bicycle racer - Long Brackland, Suffolk, England (1935/86) 1849-0116 J. H. Erkko* poet/playwright/brother of Eero Erkko - Orimattila, GD of Finland (1906/57) 1849-0122 August Strindberg* author/poet/painter - Stockholm, Sweden (1912/63) 1849-0128 William Rath* German-American businessman/lumber baron/ philanthropist - Hamburg, Germany (1916/67) 1849-0202 Marie-Louise Lacoste* diarist/philanthropist - Montreal, Quebec, Province of Canada (1919/70) 1849-0218 Alexander Kielland* author - Stavanger, Norway (1906/57) 1849-0306 Georg Luger* accountant/ firearm designer -  Steinach am Brenner, Tyrol (192/74) 1849-0307 Luther Burbank* botanist/horticulturist - Lancaster, MA USA (1926/77) 1849-0401 1849-0406 John William Waterhouse* English painter - Rome, Papal States (1917/67) 1849-0420 Maria Paavontytär Aspinen** (Turtia) - mother of Juhana Juhonpoika Aspinen - Tervajärvi, Myllynen, Viipurin mlk, GD of Finland (unknown) 1849-0421 Oscar Hertwig* German embryologist/zoologist - Friedberg, Hesse (1922/73) 1849-0424 Emma Whitcomb Babcock* (b Whitcomb) litterateur/author - Adams, NY USA (1926/c. 77) 1849-0425 Felix Klein* German mathematician - Düsseldorf, Prussia (1925/76) 1849-0430 Jennie Tuttle Hobart* (b Tuttle) wife of Vice President Garret Hobart/community activist/philanthropist - Paterson, NJ USA (1941/91) 1849-0501 1849-0503 Bertha Benz* (b Ringer) automotive pioneer/business partner and wife of Carl Benz - Pforzheim, GD of Baden, German Confederation (1944/95) 1849-0503 Jacob Riis* Danish-American social reformer/ social documentary photographer - Ribe, Denmark (1914/65) 1849-0510 1849-0520 1849-0525 Louise Hammarström* chemist - Hosjö, Kopparbergs län, Sweden (1917/68) 1849-0525 Tom Wiggins* pianist/autistic savant - Harris County, GA USA (1908/59) 1849-0609 Michael Ancher* realist painter - Bornholm, Denmark (1927/78) 1849-0610 1849-0629 Pedro Montt* politician/P - Santiago, Chile (1910/61) 1849-0705 W. T. Stead* journalist/controversial editor/went down with the Titanic - Embleton, Northumberland, England (1912/62) 1849-0716 Nora Pöyhönen* (b Europeaus) horticulturist/school director - Liperi, GD of Finland (1938/88) 1849-0722 Emma Lazarus* poet/writer/translator - New York, NY USA (1887/38) 1849-0818 William Henry Hoover* entrepreneur/manufacturer of vacuum cleaners - North Canton, OH USA (1932/82) Find a Grave 1849-0823 William Ernest Henley* poet/ writer/critic - Gloucester, England (1903/53) 1849-0914 Ivan Pavlov* physiologist/classical conditioning/N - Ryazan, Russian Empire (1936/86) 1849-0918 Martha M. Place* murderer/first woman to die in the electric chair - Readington Township, NJ USA (1899/49) 1849-0921 Maurice Barrymore* British actor/patriarch of the Barrymore acting family - Amritsar, Punjab, British India (1905/55) 1849-0923 Hugo von Seeliger* German astronomer - Bielsko-Biala, Austrian Silesia (1924/75) 1849-1003 Jeannette Leonard Gilder* author/journalist/editor - Flushing, NY USA (1916/66) 1849-1006 Salomon Yli-Jussila** farmer/father of Hilma Matilda Kivistö  - Ilmajoki, GD of Finland (1903/53) 1849-1013 Theodor Schauman* military leader/uncle of Eugen Schauman - Helsinki, GD of Finland (1931/81) 1849-1016 George Washington Williams* Civil War soldier/lawyer/writer on African-American history - Bedford Springs, PA USA (1891/41) 1849-1031 Marie Louise Andrews* author/editor - Bedford, IN USA (1891/41) 1849-1101 Peter Griggs* politician/ MP/developer of Ilford - Bethnal Green, London, England (1920/70) 1849-1111 Martin Nyrop* architect - Holmsland, Denmark (1921/71) 1849-1118 Hjalmar Schildt* merchant/ politician - Heinola, GD of Finland (1925/75) 1849-1121 Thomas Russell Sullivan*  writer (stage adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) - Boston, MA USA (1916/66) 1849-1124 Frances Hodgson Burnett* British-American novelist/ playwright/to U.S. at age 15 - Manchester, England (1924/74) 1849-1129 John Ambrose Fleming* electrical engineer/physicist/inventor - Lancaster, England (1945/95) 1849-1130 1849-1201 1849-1205 Eduard Seler* German anthropologist/ethnohistorian/Americanist scholar - Crossen an der Oder, Prussia (1922/72) 1849-1207 Saionji Kinmochi* 西園寺 公望  politician/statesman/PM - Kyoto, Tokugawa shogunate (1940/90) 1849-1208 Johannes Takanen* sculptor - Virolahti, GD of Finland (1885/35) 1849-1209 Harry David Lee* businessman/founder of the HD Lee Mercantile Company, inventors of Lee Jeans - Vermont, USA (1928/78) 1849-1212 William Kissam Vanderbilt* heir/business magnate/ horsebreeder - Staten Island, NY USA (1920/70) 1849-1213 Edmund Zalinski* Polish-American soldier/military engineer/inventor/to U.S. at age 2 - Kórnik, Prussian Poland (1909/59) 1849-1215 1849-1218 Hjalmar Schildt* merchant/ politician - Heinola, GD of Finland (1925/75) 1849-1225 Nogi Maresuke* 乃木 希典 army general/ governor-general of Taiwan - Edo, Tokugawa shogunate (1912/62) 1849-1226 E. G. Palmén* historian/ professor of history/civil servant - Helsinki, GD of Finland (1919/70) 1849-1231 1849-0 1849-0 1849-0 Updated 2025-0503 Helsinki Search for another year here