Famous People Who Died In 1804

Known as America’s one of the most influential Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and served as the first secretary of the treasury. He also fought in the American Revolutionary War and was considered as a leading votary of the strong central government.

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher whose works in fields like aesthetics and metaphysics have made him an important and influential personality in Western philosophy. His views continue to influence contemporary philosophy. Kant has had a major influence on prominent philosophers like Hegel, Schelling, Reinhold, and Fichte. Kant's work on mathematics is cited by Albert Einstein as an early influence.

Best remembered for his contribution to the chemistry of gases, Joseph Priestley was an English scientist, clergyman, political theorist and educator, who has been credited with discovering oxygen independently, publishing his findings before Carl Wilhelm could. A prolific writer, he has authored 150 works on various subjects including electricity. He also contributed immensely to the advancement of political and religious thoughts.

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was a French inventor best remembered for building the Fardier à vapeur, the world's first automobile. Fardier à vapeur was the first working self-propelled mechanical land-vehicle. Built in 1769, the vehicle accidentally knocked down a stone or brick wall in 1771, an incident which is widely regarded as the first known automobile accident in the world.

Known as an eccentric thinker, Wolfgang von Kempelen is best remembered for his automatic chess-playing machine The Turk and his speaking machine. The Turk eventually turned out to be a hoax, designed by Kempelen to impress Maria Theresa, the Austrian Empress, and had human chess players operating it.

Aagje Deken was a Dutch writer best remembered for her association with famous novelist Betje Wolff. Deken and Wolff lived together and published many popular epistolary novels like Willem Levend and Sara Burgerhart.

Peggy Shippen was a spy who was active during the American Revolution. She was the highest-paid spy and worked alongside her husband General Benedict Arnold, who started conspiring with the British in the late-1770s. Peggy Shippen's role in the conspiracy was exposed in September 1780, when British Major John André was captured by the Americans.

James Tytler made history by becoming the first person from Britain to ride on a hot air balloon and thus became known as Balloon Tytler. The Scottish apothecary also edited the second edition of Encyclopedia Britannica and was branded an eccentric by many for his innovative aviation experiments.

Louis-Jean Desprez was a French architect and painter who designed structures in a monumental, neoclassical style. Although his most significant project is considered to be the conservatory building in the University of Uppsala Botanical Garden, Desprez's greatest project was the one that never materialized: a palace planned by King Gustav III of Sweden.

Born to a ceiling designer, Pierre Méchain had to quit studies due to poverty. However, his talent in math earned him work as a hydrographer. A surveyor and astronomer, who spent most of his time studying deep-sky objects, he also gained fame for measuring the meridian arc from Dunkirk to Barcelona.