Famous People Who Died In 1840

Apart from being a traveler and a mountaineer, Anne Lister was also known as the world’s "first modern lesbian". Nicknamed Gentleman Jack for her androgynous fashion, which almost always included the color black, she penned diaries that contained many secret codes that were deciphered much after her death.

Caspar David Friedrich was a German painter best remembered for painting mid-period allegorical landscapes. Widely regarded as the most important German painter of his era, Friedrich is celebrated as an important figure of the German Romantic movement. His works have influenced several painters, including Johan Christian Dahl, Arnold Böcklin, and Christiane Pooley.

A pioneer of physical anthropology, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach laid down one of the first racial classification systems for humans after studying human skulls, dividing mankind into five racial groups. Born into a family of academics, he was a prodigy. He was against scientific racism, though his theory promoted the degenerative hypothesis.

José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia went down in history as the first dictator of Paraguay. Although he had initially studied theology, he later deviated to law. Known as El Supremo, he banned all foreign trade in his bid to make Paraguay self-sufficient, thus eventually weaking it and curbing personal freedom.

One of the pioneers of Hellenic studies, German scholar Karl Otfried Müller began his academic career at the University of Göttingen. While he initially taught art history and archaeology, he later explored Greek art and myths and their relationship with culture and history. He died of a fever during an expedition in Greece.

The son of Frederick William II, Prussian king Frederick William III mostly kept himself aloof from important decisions. He also hampered Prussia’s image by maintaining neutrality in the Wars of the Second and Third Coalitions. He mostly remained under the shadow of his wife, Queen Louise.

Belgian-born French painter and botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté, also known as the Raphael of flowers, was a famous court painter and one of the greatest botanical illustrators of his time. Known for his iconic pieces such as Les Liliacées, he was a specialist of painting roses, too.

Better known by his pseudonym, Alun, Welsh bard John Blackwell is regarded as the pioneer of Welsh secular lyric. Initially a shoemaker, he later won many prizes in competitive art festivals. He also served as a rector and edited the Welsh illustrated magazine Y Cylchgrawn.

Apart from being an astronomer, Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers was also a qualified physician. He converted a portion of his house into an observatory and spent a considerable part of his life attempting to discover a planet between Jupiter and Mars. He is best known for introducing his idea of Olbers' paradox.