Famous People Born In 1824

Lord Kelvin was a British mathematical physicist and engineer. He studied at the Glasgow University and proceeded to teach there as well. Besides his academic career, he also had a career as an electric telegraph engineer and inventor. He received the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1883. Absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honor.

Bedrich Smetana was a Czech composer remembered for his opera, The Bartered Bride. Considered the father of Czech music, Smetana was a prodigy whose first public performance came at age six. He then went on to establish himself as one of the most important composers of Czech music. Smetana has been honored with a Walk of Fame star in Vienna.

Austrian composer Anton Bruckner was born to a schoolmaster father who was also an organist. Bruckner learned to play the violin by 4. In spite of being a musical legend, he often criticized his own work and re-worked on his pieces, leading to many versions of the same piece.

Gustav Kirchhoff was a German physicist who is credited with coining the term black-body radiation. He is best remembered for his contribution to the basic understanding of spectroscopy, electrical circuits, and the emanation of black-body radiation. In 1862, he received the prestigious Rumford Medal. The Bunsen-Kirchhoff Award is named after Gustav Kirchhoff and German chemist Robert Bunsen.

Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse was the daughter of Prince Hereditary Ludwig of Hesse and Princess Wilhelmine of Baden. She was the first wife of Russian Emperor Alexander II. She was a co-founder of the Russian Red Cross and established Russia's first all-female schools. She also helped her husband end serfdom in Russia. She suffered from tuberculosis and died in 1880. 

Nana Saheb, also known as Dhondupant, was a major figure of the 1857 Sepoy Munity, or the first war of Indian independence. The adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II, he was initially on friendly terms with the British but was later forced by circumstances to join the rebels against the British.

Though born to a London physician, Calvert Vaux didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps and apprenticed under architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham instead. He grew up to be a master landscape designer and co-designed New York’s Central Park. His other great work was the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dayananda Saraswati was an Indian social leader and philosopher. He is credited with founding an influential Hindu reform movement known as Arya Samaj. He is also credited with popularizing the term Swaraj which was used as a powerful tool by leaders like Lokmanya Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi during India’s freedom struggle. Saraswati influenced people like Bhagat Singh and Madam Cama.

Apart from being a politician, Samuel Plimsoll was also a prominent social reformer, who is best known for introducing the Plimsoll line, a line on a ship’s side, which signifies the legal limit till which the ship can be loaded, thus ensuring that no money-hungry shipowner could risk his crew’s safety.

Apart from discovering helium, astronomer Pierre Janssen also found out a way of observing solar prominences with an eclipse. Permanently lamed due to a childhood accident, Janssen had begun his career as a bank clerk. He later taught physics, too. His photographic revolver paved the path for the motion-picture

Mikhail Loris-Melikov was a Russian-Armenian statesman. He is best remembered for his service as the Minister of the Interior in Russia from 6 August 1880 to 4 May 1881. Mikhail Loris-Melikov was also an important military leader and is known for his role in the Caucasian War, the Crimean War, and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

Carl Reinecke was a German conductor, composer, and pianist who was active in the mid-Romantic Era. The son of a music teacher, he received his music education from his father. He began to compose as a child and became a popular musician as a teenager. He led the Gewandhaus Orchestra for almost three decades and published hundreds of musical works.  

Born to a doctor, Ōmura Masujirō initially studied Confucian ethics and Dutch, before being sent to Osaka study Western medicine. However, he later deviated to Western naval sciences and became a prominent military strategist, revolutionizing the Imperial Army with the introduction of conscription and thus going beyond the samurai system.

Karl Siegmund, count von Hohenwart was an Austrian statesman who had been the Minister-President of Austria and had also served as the country’s minister of the interior. His policies of changing the position of Bohemia, by altering Austro-Hungarian constitution through the Fundamental Articles, brought about his downfall.

Stonewall Jackson was a commander of the Confederate States Army. He played a major role as a Confederate general in the American Civil War, winning several significant battles in the Eastern Theater of the war. Considered one of the most tactically sound commanders in the history of the US, Jackson was idolized by George Patton, Chesty Puller, and Alexander Vandegrift.