Famous People Born In 1760

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese printmaker, ukiyo-e painter, and artist of the Edo period. He is best known as the creator of the monumental Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, a series of landscape prints, which includes the iconic print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa. He is credited with transforming the ukiyo-e art form to include a much broader style of art.

James Armistead Lafayette was an enslaved African American. He is best remembered for his service in the Continental Army during the famous American Revolutionary War, where he worked under the command of a French aristocrat and military officer named Lafayette. He worked as a double agent, feeding the British with wrong information and disclosing accurate information to the Americans.

Jiaqing served as the sixth emperor of the Qing dynasty from 1796 to 1820. He was also the fifth Qing emperor to reign over the Eighteen Provinces. Jiaqing's reign is remembered for the prosecution of a corrupt official named Heshen. He made several attempts to curb the smuggling of opium into his dynasty and to restore order within the empire.

Born to slave parents, American clergyman Richard Allen became a Methodist convert at 22. He later founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church and served as its first bishop. Apart from establishing the first church for Blacks in the U.S., he worked on various aspects to improve the lives of Blacks.

Johan Gadolin was a Finnish physicist, chemist, and mineralogist. He achieved popularity for his description of yttrium, the first rare-earth element. Johan Gadolin is also remembered for his service as a professor at the Royal Academy of Turku, where he became one of the first chemists to give laboratory exercises to students.

Composer-pianist Jan Ladislav Dussek remained instrumental in representing Czech music globally, travelling widely across Europe and performing at courts and concert venues. Noted for technical prowess, Dussek played a significant role in extending the size of the pianoforte. His compositions for the harp are regarded as standard repertoire for all harpists, while the ones for piano are highly valued by many teachers.

Born to a well-known merchant and evangelist, Henry Thornton too followed in his father’s footsteps to become part of the evangelical Clapham Sect. A monetory theorist, he later became the first to explain the difference between nominal and real interest rates. The noted economist had also been a parliamentarian.

Neoclassical poet and dramatist Leandro Fernández de Moratín, the son of poet and playwright Nicolás Fernández de Moratín, was one of the most significant figures of the Spanish Enlightenment. He was best known for his works such as The New Comedy and The Maiden’s Consent and mostly lived in France.

Peggy Shippen was a spy who was active during the American Revolution. She was the highest-paid spy and worked alongside her husband General Benedict Arnold, who started conspiring with the British in the late-1770s. Peggy Shippen's role in the conspiracy was exposed in September 1780, when British Major John André was captured by the Americans.

Henri de Saint-Simon was a French political, economic, and socialist theorist and businessman. His ideology was the inspiration behind the political and economic movement known as Saint-Simonianism. He left a major influence in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, and philosophy of science. His ideas also inspired and influenced the concept of utopian socialism.  

Georg Adlersparre was a Swedish politician, army commander, and writer. A close associate of King Gustav III, Adlersparre received a secret commission from the king in 1791 to excite the Norwegians to rebellion. Georg Adlersparre started focusing on science after the demise of Gustav III. From 1810 to 1824, he served as the governor of Skaraborg County.