Famous People Born In 1794

Cornelius Vanderbilt was an American business magnate credited with vastly expanding and improving America's transportation infrastructure. For his contributions to the country's railroad industry, Vanderbilt was made an inductee of the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 1999. He is also remembered for providing an initial $1 million endowment to Vanderbilt University, which was named in his honor.

Scottish surgeon Robert Liston worked in an era when anesthesia wasn’t invented. He could complete amputations within minutes, thus saving the lives of many when the speed of the surgery made the difference between life and death. Later, he became the first European surgeon to operate under anesthesia.

Edward Everett was an American politician, diplomat, educator, pastor, and orator. Widely regarded as one of the great orators of the Civil War and antebellum eras, Everett is remembered for his two-hour speech at the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg in 1863, where Abraham Lincoln delivered his popular Gettysburg Address. Edward Everett also taught ancient Greek literature at Harvard University.

Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso. Such was his talent and skills that Beethoven himself entrusted him with the preparation of his only opera Fidelio's piano score. Moscheles considered Beethoven as his idol and cherished the opportunity to work with him. Ignaz Moscheles is also credited with teaching fellow composer and pianist Felix Mendelssohn. 

ʿUmar Tal was a West African Islamic scholar, political leader, Toucouleur military commander, and Tijani Sufi. He is best remembered for founding the short-lived Toucouleur Empire, which encompassed much of present-day Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, and Mali. ʿUmar Tal remains an important figure in Senegal, Mali, and Guinea. 

German botanist and explorer Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martius is remembered for his Austrian expedition to Brazil. He went on to conduct extensive research on Brazilian flora. His best-known work remains the 3-volume Historia naturalis palmarum. He also taught and maintained a botanic garden in Munich.

Italian opera singer Luigi Lablache is remembered for his performance as Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Admired for his bass voice, he had a successful career in London and Paris, too, playing Geronimo in Il matrimonio segreto. He married fellow singer Teresa Pinotti, and many of his children too were singers.

Born to miniaturist D.B. Murphy, Anna Jameson initially worked as a governess. After a failed marriage, she gained fame as an art historian and critic and also became a champion for women’s rights. She wrote on a wide range of subjects, including travel, art, culture, and poetry.

Orphaned at 19, he Johann Heinrich von Mädler initially taught to earn a living. Best known for his map of the Moon, Mappa Selenographica, which he co-created with Wilhelm Beer, he later served as the director of the Dorpat Observatory. He also studied double stars and held lectures on astronomy.

Antonio López de Santa Anna was a Mexican general and politician. His significant contribution in post-independence Mexican politics during the first half of the 19th century has led historians to refer to this period as the Age of Santa Anna. Santa Anna was played by Joaquim de Almeida in a deleted scene in the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro.

Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge was a German analytical chemist best remembered for identifying caffeine. He is also credited with identifying the mydriatic effects of belladonna extract and discovering the first coal tar dye. Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge was also the first person to observe the phenomenon of Liesegang rings in 1855.

Elias Magnus Fries was a Swedish botanist and mycologist. He served as a professor at prestigious institutions like the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Uppsala University. He also served as the director of the University of Uppsala Botanical Garden. Among his most prominent works were Systema mycologicum, Elenchus fungorum, Monographia hymenomycetum Sueciae, and Hymenomycetes Europaei.

Jean Pierre Flourens was a French physiologist and a pioneer in anesthesia. He is also credited with founding experimental brain science; he performed operations on the brains of living rabbits and pigeons to investigate localisationism. Through his experiments, Jean Pierre Flourens was able to confirm that the main divisions of the brain were responsible for different functions.

William Whewell was an English polymath, scientist, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He worked in a wide range of fields, publishing works in the disciplines of physics, mechanics, geology, economics, and astronomy. He also wrote poetry, sermons, and theological tracts. He is credited with coining the terms linguistics, physicist, consilience, scientist, catastrophism, and uniformitarianism.

Jeanne Villepreux-Power was a French marine biologist. She is credited with creating aquaria in 1832 in order to experiment with aquatic organisms. Nicknamed the Mother of Aquariophily, Villepreux-Power also invented the systematic application of the aquarium in order to study marine life. Jeanne Villepreux-Power was also a well-known author, conservationist, and dressmaker.

Edward Robinson was a biblical scholar best remembered for his work Biblical Researches in Palestine. Regarded as the first major work in Biblical Archaeology and Biblical Geography, his work earned him the titles, Founder of Modern Palestinology and Father of Biblical Geography. He is also remembered for translating scriptural works.

Italian tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini who was a major figure of the bel canto era romantic style of opera singing. He was only 12 when he worked as a musician at the Riccardi Theatre and later gained immense fame in Europe. Most of his performances were for Vincenzo Bellini’s operas.

Poul Martin Møller was a Danish academic, poet, and writer. Møller gained recognition for his poetry during his lifetime. After his death, many of his philosophical and fiction writings were published and were received well as well. Poul Martin Møller is perhaps best remembered for mentoring Søren Kierkegaard at the University of Copenhagen where he was serving as a professor.