Famous People Who Died In 1883

Karl Marx, the philosopher, economist, political theorist and socialist revolutionary, is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto and the three-volume Das Kapital. His theories, called Marxism, maintained that class conflict leads to the development of human societies and that internal tension were inherent in capitalism, which would ultimately be replaced by the socialist mode of production.

Sojourner Truth was an American women's rights activist and abolitionist. Born into slavery, Truth escaped to freedom in 1826. She then approached the court to recover her son, subsequently becoming the first black woman to emerge successful against a white man in such a case. In 2014, she was named in Smithsonian's 100 Most Significant Americans of All Time list.

Édouard Manet was a French painter who played a key role in the transition to Impressionism from Realism in the 19th-century. Manet was one of the first artists from his generation to paint modern life. His early masterworks, such as Olympia, served as rallying points for young and aspiring impressionist painters. His works continue to influence painters around the world.

Best known for his wood-engraving, Gustave Doré was a child prodigy who began his artwork at the tender age of 5. A master lithographer and caricaturist, he began his career with Journal pour Rire. He also worked on commissions from authors such as Cervantes, Milton, and Dante.

It is believed Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev was highly inspired by his dominant mother in his younger days and thus created strong female characters in his novels later. He is remembered for popularizing Russian literature and realism in the West. One of his most notable works was Father and Sons.

Belgian physicist and mathematician Joseph Plateau was a pioneer of the modern animation and movie industry, as he invented the phenakistiscope, the world’s first device to create an illusion of motion through images. He also laid down the structure of soap films through Plateau's laws.

Known as The Father of Modern Gynaecology, J. Marion Sims is remembered for developing a surgical method to deal with vesicovaginal fistula, a childbirth-related complication. However, since his experiments were conducted on Black slave-women, without anesthesia, they were later deemed unethical. He had also headed the American Gynecological Society.

Josiah Henson was an American abolitionist, author, and minister. Henson escaped to Upper Canada after being born into slavery and founded a settlement for other fugitive slaves in Kent County. Josiah Henson's autobiography about his escape from slavery is said to have inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's title character in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

German-British inventor and electrical engineer, who revolutionized the steel-making and glass-making industries, is best remembered for using the Siemens-Martin process to create the regenerative furnace. His achievements earned him accolades such as the Albert Medal. He was a Fellow of The Royal Society and was knighted shortly before his death.

Born to a carpenter in Glasgow, James Young initially assisted his father but later gained an interest in chemistry. He grew up to invent a process of extracting oil from coal and oil shales. Owing to his paraffin oil company, which he owned, he later earned the nickname Paraffin Young.

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.

Belgian romantic novelist Hendrik Conscience was one of the pioneers of the Flemish novel. Best remembered for his historical fiction The Lion of Flanders, he had also penned tales on urban and rural life. He had also been a local politician, a museum curator, and a district commissioner.

Cyprian Norwid was a Polish poet, painter, dramatist, and sculptor. Although he did not find much success and monetary gains during his lifetime, Norwid is now regarded as a nationally esteemed poet. His works were rediscovered and popularized by the members of the Young Poland art movement. Cyprian Norwid is now counted among the four most prominent Polish Romantic poets.

Arabic scholar Butrus al-Bustani is best remembered for an Arabic dictionary and an Arabic encyclopaedia that he had penned. He also launched the political and literary review al-Jinān, or The Shield. Himself a Christian, he later became the first Syrian nationalist and worked toward cultural harmony in Syria.

Italian nobleman Giovanni Matteo Mario was a talented opera singer who had a flourishing career in London and Paris. He was the opera partner of popular soprano Giulia Grisi. Initially an officer in the Piedmontese Guard, he later left the army for his passion, opera. However, he suffered in poverty in his final days.

The son of a surgeon, economist Arnold Toynbee studied at Balliol College and later taught there, too. He was a prominent social reformer who spoke for the working class and supported trade unions. Unfortunately, he died of exhaustion and breakdown after being overworked. Toynbee Hall was named after him.

General Tom Thumb was a dwarf best remembered as a performer in P. T. Barnum's circus. He achieved significant fame as a performer and has been portrayed by several actors in films, such as The Mighty Barnum and Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon. In the 2017 movie The Greatest Showman, General Tom Thumb was played by Sam Humphrey.