Famous People Born In 1803

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American philosopher who led the transcendentalist movement that developed in the eastern United States in the 1820s and 1830s. He is credited with popularizing individualism through his numerous lectures and essays. Emerson influenced many thinkers and writers that followed him; he mentored Henry David Thoreau, who went on to become a leading transcendentalist.

Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic conductor and composer who was highly regarded in places like Russia, Britain, and Germany. Although he did not achieve fame as a composer, Berlioz became renowned internationally for his skills as a conductor. He also wrote musical journalism, which includes his influential work, Treatise on Instrumentation. 

Christian Doppler was an Austrian physicist and mathematician best remembered for describing a phenomenon which came to be known as the Doppler effect. The color of binary stars was explained by Doppler with the help of the Doppler effect. Christian Doppler's discovery of the Doppler effect is considered an important contribution to physics.

Born to an English judge in British India, James Brooke was educated in England and then served the Bengal Army. He later established the Brooke Raj, or the State of Sarawak, in Borneo and reigned as its first White Rajah. He was knighted and later handed over his Raj to his nephew.

German chemist Justus von Liebig is best known for his research on organic compounds and his contribution to biochemistry and agriculture. The Copley Medal-winning scientist initially studied pharmacy but later switched to chemistry. As a professor, he stressed on laboratory-based teaching of chemistry and separating it from pharmacy, opposing traditional methods.

Landscape gardener Joseph Paxton initially worked for the duke of Devonshire, serving as a head gardener at the duke’s Chatsworth estate. However, his greatest contribution perhaps remains the Crystal Palace for the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. He also represented Coventry as a member of parliament.

Adolphe Adam was a French music critic, teacher, and composer. Best remembered for his ballets, Le corsaire and Giselle, Adam was a prolific composer for the theatre. Adolphe Adam is credited with developing the French form of opera along with his teacher Adrien Boieldieu and his older contemporary Daniel Auber.

Prosper Mérimée was a French writer and one of the pioneers of narrative prose, which came to be known as a novella. A multi-talented personality, Mérimée was also a historian and archaeologist; he played a key role in the development of the process of architectural preservation. He was responsible for safeguarding several historic sites, such as the Cité de Carcassonne. 

Scottish-Irish businessman Alexander Turney Stewart initially aspired to be a Presbyterian minister, before deviating to teaching and then eventually stepping into business. He began with trading textile and then launched a dry goods business, A. T. Stewart & Company, in New York, which he later expanded into an empire.

Swedish-born American naval engineer and inventor John Ericsson is most remembered for designing and building the first armoured turret warship and developing the screw propeller. The warship – USS Monitor – is credited for keeping the Union (North) Navy stay protected during the American Civil War. His other inventions include the torpedo technology and solar machine.

English-Canadian writer Susanna Moodie is best known for her realistic depictions of her life in “the bush” or the wilderness of Canada, which was a British colony back in her time. Her most popular work remains Roughing it in the Bush. She had initially also penned several children’s stories.

Born to an affluent landowner, Fyodor Tyutchev was homeschooled and grew up to represent his country as a diplomat in Germany. A nationalist and Pan-Slavist, he also became one of the most-quoted Russian poets. His love poems were inspired by his affair with his daughter’s governess.

American theological and philosophical writer Orestes Brownson had been through massive religious confusion in his early days, when he switched from Presbyterianism, to Universalism, to Unitarianism, before finally converting to Catholicism. His writings include The Convert and The American Republic. He also wrote extensively on Transcendentalism.

Estonian writer and physician Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald is regarded as father of the national literature for Estonia. He is best remembered for authoring the epic poem Kalevipoeg that is considered the Estonian national epic. It is considered that Kreutzwald wrote the first original Estonian book. He was also noted as a leader of the national awakening.

Astronomer and physicist James Challis had been a professor of astronomy and the director of the Cambridge Observatory. Throughout his career, he published over 200 academic papers. Though he had observed Neptune a month before its official discovery, he had failed to identify as a separate planet.

Once the archbishop of Dublin, Paul Cullen was also the first Irish cardinal. Although he played a major role in the national movement of 1850–1852, he clashed with extreme nationalists and thus quit his clergy to step into politics. He supported papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council.

The son of lawyer Baron Giuseppe Poerio and the brother of poet Alessandro Poerio, Carlo Poerio was a renowned Italian poet and revolutionary, known for his association with the Risorgimento and the 1848 Revolution. Once arrested, he was confined under inhumane conditions but was later released.

Joao Maria Ferreira do Amaral was a Portuguese politician and military officer. He was assassinated in 1849 by several Chinese men while he was serving as the Governor of Macau. His assassination triggered the Battle of Passaleão between China and Portugal.

John Sutter, also known as Don Juan Sutter, was a German-born Swiss colonizer who established Sutter's Fort, or modern-day Sacramento, the capital of California. After one of his employees, a carpenter named James W. Marshall, found gold in his area in 1848, the California Gold Rush began.

Charles Lucien Bonaparte was a French ornithologist and naturalist. His father Lucien Bonaparte was the brother of Napoleon I, making Charles Lucien Bonaparte the emperor’s nephew. In Luigi Magni's 1990 Italian historical film In the Name of the Sovereign People, Charles was portrayed by Carlo Croccolo.

French engineer Henry Darcy had a difficult childhood, having lost his father at 14. Raised by his mother, he later joined the École Polytechnique. He proposed Darcy’s law, which explains the flow of fluids in porous media. He also designed the water supply system of Dijon, his native city.

Edgar Quinet was a French historian and intellectual. His father wanted him to pursue a business career, but he choose to engage in literary pursuits. He wrote several books and lectures on topics ranging from politics to religion. He participated in the 1848 Revolution which overthrew King Louis-Philippe of France. He was married to Romanian writer Hermiona Asachi.