Famous People Born In 1729

The Empress of Russia for almost 35 years, Catherine the Great was the country's longest-ruling female leader. An ambitious ruler, she rapidly expanded the Russian Empire and is credited with modernizing the country along Western European lines. She supported the ideals of the Enlightenment and the period of her rule—the Catherinian Era—is considered the Golden Age of Russia.

Aleksandr Vasilyevich Suvorov was a distinguished Russian General, remembered for winning every battle that he had commanded. Known for his thumping victories at the Battle of Rymnik and Siege of Izmail during the Russo-Turkish War and for his contributions during the French Revolutionary Wars, he won many awards and tittles and wrote several military manuals, including The Science of Victory.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a noted German dramatist, critic, and author, remembered especially for his contribution towards liberating German theatre from the influence of its classical and French counterpart. Known for such literary masterpieces like Miss Sara Sampson; Emilia Galotti; Minna von Barnhelm; Nathan the Wise; Laocoön; Hamburg Dramaturgy, he is now considered an outstanding representative of the Enlightenment era.

Lazzaro Spallanzani was an Italian physiologist, biologist, and Catholic priest. He is best remembered for making significant contributions to the study of animal reproduction, bodily functions, and animal echolocation. Lazzaro Spallanzani's research on biogenesis was the first step towards debunking the theory of spontaneous generation.

Samuel Seabury was an Episcopal bishop who became the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. A leading Loyalist in New York City during the American Revolution, he was known for his rivalry with Alexander Hamilton. After the revolution, he played a key role in the evolution of Anglican liturgy. 

Eighteenth-century Catalan Spanish composer Antonio Soler is remembered for his church music. Educated at a choir school, he later became a teacher of the organ and the harpsichord for the royal family. A master of Baroque music, he also invented the keyboard instrument afinador and penned works on music theory.

Johann Daniel Titius, best known for proposing the Titius–Bode law, was a pioneer in measuring distances between the Sun and celestial bodies and planets. There is a crater on the Moon that is named after him. His areas of research also included thermometry and biology.

Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher, Edmund Burke, was a member of parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of Great Britain for several years. He supported  Catholic emancipation and strongly opposed the French Revolution. He felt revolution destroyed the fabric of good society and traditional institutions of state and society. He is considered the philosophical founder of modern conservatism. 

Irish woman Lydia Darragh is said to have saved George Washington’s Continental Army from a British attack during American Revolutionary War. She eavesdropped on a secret conference of British officers quartered in her house and after learning about the impending attack on the Continental army camped at White Marsh, she delivered the information and saved Washington's army from an ambush.  

Described as the right hand of Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia, Praskovya Bruce became Catherine's lady-in-waiting soon after her arrival in Russia, remaining so even after her ascendance to the throne. A close confidant of the empress, she fell from grace when she was caught having sex with one of the queen's latest lovers and was sent away.

The queen of Sardinia through her marriage to Victor Amadeus III, Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain was also the youngest daughter of Spanish king Philip V. Known for shunning people, except learned intellectuals and politicians, she was also extremely religious. A mother of 12, she lost 3 children in infancy.

Gaétan Vestris was a French ballet dancer who served as a dancing master to the last King of France Louis XVI at the Paris Opéra. A composer of ballets, Gaétan Vestris was extremely popular and successful. He retired in favor of Jean Georges Noverre, who went on to become a great balletmaster.

John Honeyman was a British informant and American spy for George Washington, the first president of the United States. His primarily duty was to spread disinformation. John Honeyman also gathered the intelligence that facilitated George Washington's triumph in the Battle of Trenton.

Louis Antoine de Bougainville was a French explorer and admiral. He is best remembered for his scientific expeditions, including his 1763 circumnavigation of the globe and expeditions into the Pacific Ocean. Louis Antoine de Bougainville also participated in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War.

A pioneer of American Methodism, Philip Embury was initially trained as a carpenter in Ireland, but became a preacher after being converted. He later moved to the U.S. and himself worked as a carpenter on the first Methodist church in the country. He unfortunately died in a mowing accident.