Famous People Who Died In 1872

Benito Juarez was a Mexican lawyer and politician. He served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 to 1872, becoming the first president of Mexico who was of indigenous origin. He died of a heart attack in 1872. To date,  he is revered as "a preeminent symbol of Mexican nationalism and resistance to foreign intervention." 

Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian journalist, politician, and activist. He played a major role in the Italian revolutionary movement and in the unification of Italy. His efforts gave rise to an independent and unified Italy, which replaced many separate states that were dominated by foreign powers. Mazzini is widely regarded as the most influential European revolutionary.

George Meade was a civil engineer and United States Army officer best remembered for decisively defeating Robert E. Lee in the American Civil War. After the war, he played an important role during the Reconstruction era. As a civil engineer, George Meade was involved in the construction of many lighthouses. 

Horace Greeley was an American publisher and newspaper editor. He is credited with founding the New-York Tribune, for which he also served as an editor. He is also credited with popularizing the New-York Tribune, which became the highest-circulating newspaper in America. Long active in politics, Greeley helped found the Republican Party in 1854. 

One of the two pioneering female honorary members of the Royal Astronomical Society, Mary Somerville was a 19th-century polymath and science writer. Though she specialized in math and astronomy, she was also well-versed in botany and geology. The Connection of the Physical Sciences remains her most notable work.

Ludwig Feuerbach was a German philosopher and anthropologist. He is best remembered for his work, The Essence of Christianity, which strongly influenced generations of future thinkers like Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Engels, and Sigmund Freud among others. Ludwig Feuerbach advocated atheism and his thought was influential in the progression of historical materialism.

Chinese military general and Confucian scholar Zeng Guofan is best remembered for his efforts in crushing the Taiping Rebellion. Apart from being a court scholar of the Qing rulers, he also served on various prominent boards. His writings have been preserved as a collection of 156 books.

Stanisław Moniuszko was a Polish composer, teacher, and conductor. He is credited with writing several popular operas and art songs with patriotic folk themes that depicted the valor of the people of former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Thanks to his efforts to glorify the people of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanisław Moniuszko is called the father of Polish national opera.

Aleksis Kivi, a national writer of Finland, created modern-literary-language of the nation His only novel Seitsemän veljestä is widely-regarded as first significant novel written in Finnish language. He is counted among the earliest and greatest authors of prose and lyrics in Finnish. Another famous work of Kivi, whose birthday is celebrated as Finnish Literature Day, is the play Heath Cobblers.

Franz Grillparzer had a tough life, with his father dying in debt and his mother having committed suicide. He studied law and then worked as a government clerk before discovering his passion for writing. Known for his tragedies such as Sappho, he became one of the finest Austrian dramatists ever.

German-American jurist Francis Lieber is best remembered for establishing the laws of war. His Lieber Code, penned during the American Civil War, later served as the basis for the Geneva Conventions. He also penned Encyclopedia Americana and worked as a professor of history and economics in the US.

Félix Archimède Pouchet, the father of French naturalist Georges Pouchet, is remembered for his belief in the spontaneous generation of life from non-living matter, a theory that was discarded after Louis Pasteur proved that microorganisms existed in the air. A professor and a naturalist, he penned the iconic work Hétérogénie.

William Wentworth was an Australian explorer, pastoralist, newspaper editor, politician, lawyer, and author. He was one of the most powerful and wealthiest figures of New South Wales. William Wentworth is credited with founding the Australian Patriotic Association, which is regarded as the first political party in Australia. 

Charles-Eugène Delaunay was a French mathematician and astronomer, known for his theory of lunar motion, explained in two volumes of La Théorie du mouvement de la lune.  A prolific writer, he wrote several other books, which contributed to the development of planetary-motion theories, functional analysis and computer algebra. In his last years, he served as the director of Paris Observatory.

Lars Johan Hierta was a Swedish businessman, politician, social critic, and newspaper publisher. Best known for founding the popular Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet in 1830, Hierta is sometimes referred to as the father of the free press. Lars Johan Hierta is also remembered as an agitator for social and political reform during the 19th century.

One of the most influential poets of the Croatian Illyrian movement, Petar Preradovic was a leading figure of romanticism in Croatia. A military officer, too, he participated in the Wars of Italian Unification and was also posted in Austria. His final years were marked with bad health and gambling.

Carsten Hauch was a Danish poet, novelist, and dramatist. Although he had the option to quit writing when his works were attacked and criticized and focus solely on the study of science—he had a doctors degree in zoology—Carsten Hauch chose not to give up writing and went on to establish himself as a well-known novelist and dramatist.

One of the most significant 19th-century politicians from the Netherlands, Johan Rudolf Thorbecke led the country as its prime minister. The Liberal Party politician began his career as a lecturer. As a prime minister, he encouraged free trade by abolishing excise duties and built many new canals.

Dutch-Canadian painter Cornelius Krieghoff is best known for his depictions of the natural beauty of Canadian landscapes. His romanticized versions of American Indian and Canadian life were later imitated by many. His paintings of winter scenes, such as The Toll Gate and The Blizzard, are appreciated to this day.

Anna Colas Pépin was a Euro-African businesswoman best remembered for her contribution to the Signare community. An influential member of the community, Pépin invested in buildings and on the land of Gorée. She is also remembered for receiving François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville during his visit to Gorée. The scene, which happened in 1842, is portrayed by Édouard Auguste Nousveaux.