Famous People Born In 1783

Widely known as the first American man of letters, Washington Irving penned the legendary tales of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which are also called the first short stories by an American author. He had also had a brief stint as a lawyer.

Fur-trader and explorer Hugh Glass is part of local folklore now. After being left battered by a grizzly bear on the legendary 1823 expedition of General Ashley that was supposed to explore parts of Missouri, Glass was left to die by his teammates, but ended up surviving by treating his own wounds.

William Sturgeon was an English physicist and inventor. He invented the first practical English electric motor and made the first electromagnets. A self-taught genius, he became a lecturer at the East India Company's Military Seminary at Addiscombe, Surrey. Along with John Peter Gassiot and Charles Vincent Walker, he was instrumental in founding the London Electrical Society in 1837. 

Johann Heinrich von Thünen was a German economist best remembered for his two-volume treatise The Isolated State. An influential and important 19th-century economist, Thünen is also credited with popularizing Location theory, which has become an important part of regional science, economic geography, and spatial economics.

Born as an illegitimate son of a Russian landowner father and a Turkish slave mother, Vasily Zhukovsky had initially been the tutor of Tsar-Liberator Alexander II. He later co-founded the Arzamas society, which opposed classicism in poetry. With his poems and translations, he brought the Romantic Movement to Russia.

Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 1st Baronet, was an English surgeon and physiologist best remembered for his pioneering research into joint and bone disease. He was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1810 where he published many papers describing investigations in physiology. From 1858 to 1861, Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie served as the 29th President of the Royal Society.

François Magendie was a French physiologist and a pioneer of experimental physiology. He is perhaps best remembered as a notorious vivisector who often shocked his contemporaries and general public with live dissections at public lectures. Many scholars and scientists have criticized him for needlessly torturing animals in the name of experiments.

N. F. S. Grundtvig was a Danish author, pastor, poet, historian, teacher, philosopher, and politician. By the end of the 19th century, Grundtvig's philosophy had given rise to a new sense of nationalism, for which he is often counted among the most influential Danish people of all time. He is also remembered for promoting values like compassion, wisdom, and equality.

John Blenkinsop was an English inventor and mining engineer. He is credited with inventing steam locomotives and designing the first practical railway locomotive. At a time when inventors were content with locomotives drawing up to four times their weight, Blenkinsop continued working on engines that could draw up to 18 times their weight and eventually succeeded in building better locomotives.

British banker, economist, political-campaigner Thomas Attwood is best-remembered as a leader in the electoral reform movement. He founded the Birmingham Political Union and emerged as a prominent figure of the underconsumptionist Birmingham School and during the public campaign for Great Reform Act of 1832. After the act was passed, Attwood and Joshua Scholefield became the first two Members of Parliament for Birmingham.

One of the founding members of the Swedish Geatish Society, which tried to arouse nationalism through historical study, Erik Gustaf Geijer was a historian, philosopher, poet, political and social theorist all rolled into one. A professor of history at the Uppsala University, he had authored number of books and wrote music for many of his poems, chamber works, choirs etc.

José de la Riva Agüero was a Peruvian politician, soldier, and historian. He is best remembered for his service as the first President of Peru from 28 February 1823 to 23 June 1823. An important politician, José de la Riva Agüero also served as the second President of North Peru from 1 August 1838 to 24 January 1839.

Guglielmo Pepe was an Italian patriot and general. He joined the army at an early age and went on to serve with distinction in several campaigns as part of Napoleon's army. After taking part in several battles, including the Battle of Tolentino and the Peninsular War, Guglielmo Pepe died in exile in Turin on 8 August 1855.

John Heathcoat was an English inventor who improved the construction of the warp-loom in order to produce better-looking mitts. In 1808, he invented the machine to produce an exact imitation of handmade pillow lace. It was by far the most complex and expensive textile apparatus.

Agustín de Iturbide was a Mexican politician and army general who played a key role during the Mexican War of Independence. During the war, Agustín built a successful military and political coalition that brought the entire Mexico City under its control on 27 September 1821, thus playing an important role in gaining independence for Mexico.

Julius Klaproth was a German historian, linguist, author, ethnographer, explorer, and orientalist. Along with Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat, Klaproth played an important role in categorizing East Asian Studies as scientific disciplines. As an Asiatologist, Julius Klaproth was well-versed in several Asian languages, such as Sanskrit, Manchu, Mongolian, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and Chinese.

Known for his invaluable contribution to geometry, Charles Julien Brianchon laid down the Brianchon’s theorem. The French mathematician was a student of Gaspard Monge and had also been part of Napoleon’s artillery. He later moved away from math and began teaching at the Artillery School in Vincennes.

Claude-Louis Mathieu was a French astronomer and mathematician. He worked at the Paris Observatory and also taught astronomy at the Collège de France. He was honored with the prestigious Lalande Prize in 1808 and 1815.

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg was a Danish painter. Known as the Father of Danish Painting, Eckersberg laid the foundation for the period of art, which came to be known as the Danish Golden Age. Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg is also credited with teaching and mentoring many future painters like Wilhelm Bendz, Ditlev Blunck, and Carl Dahl among others.  

Scottish gardener and landscape artist John Claudius Loudon was also an influential horticultural journalist who wrote extensively on gardens, parks, and home architecture. Known for introducing the Gardenesque style of décor and popularizing the concept of arboretum, he also penned the widely popular The Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion.