Famous People Born In 1766

John Dalton was an English chemist, physicist, and meteorologist most famous for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry. He also contributed a lot to the study of color blindness, sometimes referred to as Daltonism in his honor. He was the first scientist to refer to the smallest particle of matter as an “atom.” He was a Quaker and lived modestly. 

Thomas Robert Malthus was an English economist and demographer, who viewed poverty as man’s unavoidable destiny. Author of An Essay on the Principle of Population; he believed that increase in national food production results in feeling of well-being, leading to population growth, which in turn results in poverty. Commonly referred as Malthusianism, it made immediate impact on British social policy.

Joseph Radetzky von Radetz had almost become a national hero in Austria for his military successes. Known as Vater, or Father Radetzky, in the army circle, the field marshal had also served as the Habsburg Empire’s chief of the general staff. One of his iconic victories was at the Battle of Custoza.  

Part of the Scottish royal Bruce family, Thomas Bruce, became the 7th Earl of Elgin at age 5. He later joined the army and became a Lieutenant General. A classical art lover, he later became famous for his collection of Greek marble sculptures, mainly acquired from the Parthenon in Athens.

William Hyde Wollaston was a pioneer of powder metallurgy and the first to develop malleable platinum from its ore. He is also credited with the discoveries of palladium and rhodium. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he dictated his last Bakerian lecture, as he was too ill to deliver it.

Dominique Jean Larrey was a French military doctor and surgeon. He is best remembered for his service during the Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolutionary Wars. A prominent innovator in triage and battlefield medicine, Dominique Jean Larrey is widely regarded as the first modern military surgeon.

Known as the father of the refrigerator, American inventor, mechanical engineer and physicist Jacob Perkins made several useful mechanical inventions. He created improved nail machines and some of the best steel plates for engraving, invented a bathometer, became the first person in Britain to use a uniflow steam engine, and most notably built the world’s first working vapor-compression refrigeration system.

Germaine de Staël was a French political theorist and woman of letters. She is best remembered for her collaboration with the popular  Swiss-French political thinker Benjamin Constant. Germaine, who was way ahead of her time, is widely regarded as a precursor of feminism.

José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia went down in history as the first dictator of Paraguay. Although he had initially studied theology, he later deviated to law. Known as El Supremo, he banned all foreign trade in his bid to make Paraguay self-sufficient, thus eventually weaking it and curbing personal freedom.

The third son of physician and botanist John Hope, Thomas Charles Hope began his career teaching chemistry and medicine and eventually chaired medicine at the University of Glasgow. He is remembered for discovering the element strontium and also explained why icebergs float. He eventually became a Fellow of The Royal Society.

Sir John Leslie, 4th Baronet, was a Scottish physicist and mathematician remembered for conducting research into heat. In 1802, he became the first person to give the first modern account of capillary action. In 1810, Leslie froze water using an air-pump, becoming the first person to produce ice artificially. He is also known for developing a device called Leslie cube.

British engineer Arthur Woolf was a pioneer of the compound steam engine. Starting his career as a carpenter, he later worked for Joseph Bramah. While working at a London brewery, he began working with steam power and ended up inventing the Woolf high-pressure compound engine, almost twice efficient as James Watt’s engine.

Finnish-Swedish military officer and Russian envoy Adam Laxman was one of the first Imperial Russian people to explore Japan. He made a lot of effort to develop trade between Japan and Russia. However, his efforts were not too fruitful, as Japan still was not ready to open up to foreign trade or accept Christianity.

Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu was a French statesman. He served as an officer in the Russian Imperial Army during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. He was a royalist and actively supported monarchy during the Bourbon Restoration, following which he became the prime minister of France. He was married to Alexandrine Rosalie Sabine de Rochechouart-Faudoas.  

Friedrich Dionys Weber was a musicologist and composer best remembered for his service as the first director of the famous Prague Conservatory. He controlled higher musical education in Prague and was considered the most influential musicologist of Prague at that time. Friedrich Dionys Weber also wrote many music theory textbooks, which were considered important.

The daughter of renowned Genevan scientist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, Albertine Necker de Saussure conducted experiments and maintained journals in her childhood. Following her marriage to a university lecturer, she remained a strong supporter of women’s education and even penned notes for her husband’s lectures. She is remembered for her iconic work l'Education Progressive.

Yaakov Yitzchak Rabinowicz was the founder and first Grand Rabbi of the Peshischa movement of Hasidic philosophy. Also known as Yehudi, he was an important figure of Polish Hasidism. He was the leading disciple of Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin and encouraged individuality of thought and critical judgment of religious routine. His teachings had a great influence on modern Hasidism.