* 1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer ( d. 1932 )

* 1851 – Edward Walter Maunder, English astronomer ( d. 1928 )

* 1851 – The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America.

* 1851 – Felix Adler, German-American religious leader and social reformer ( d. 1933 )

* 1779 – Lorenz Oken, German historian ( d. 1851 )

* 1929 – Emile Berliner, German-American inverter and businessman, invented the phonograph ( b. 1851 )

* 1777 – Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist ( d. 1851 )

* 1851 – Yannoulis Chalepas, Greek sculptor ( d. 1938 )

* 1851 – Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.

* 1851 – Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.

* 1797 – Mary Shelley, English author ( d. 1851 )

* John Cramp, 1851 – 1853 ( and 1856 – 1869 )

* 1809 – John Kirk Townsend, American naturalist ( d. 1851 )

* 1851 – Charles Barrois, French geologist ( d. 1939 )

* 1851 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish novelist ( d. 1901 )

* Platine War ( 1851 – 1852 ): The Brazilian Empire and its allies went to war against the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas of the Argentine Confederation.

* Henry Campbell Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare ( 1851 – 1914 )

In 1998, Pensacola Christian College produced a widely distributed videotape, arguing that this " leaven of fundamentalism " was passed from the 19th-century Princeton theologian Benjamin B. Warfield ( 1851 – 1921 ) to Charles Brokenshire ( 1885 – 1954 ), who served BJU as Dean of the School of Religion, and then to current BJU faculty members and graduates.

#** Charles Joseph Bonaparte ( 1851 – 1921 ), U. S. Attorney General married Ellen Channing Day

* Reuben Cone ( 1788 – 1851 ), an important pioneer and landowner in Atlanta, Georgia

Internally, the Taiping Rebellion ( 1851 – 1864 ), a quasi-Christian religious movement led by the " Heavenly King " Hong Xiuquan, would raid roughly a third of Chinese territory for over a decade until they were finally crushed in the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864.

** Anne Darwin ( 1841 – 1851 ), daughter of Charles Darwin ( 1809 – 1882 )

* 1887 – Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter ( b. 1851 )

* November 8 – Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter ( b. 1851 )

* Doc Middleton, outlaw, 1851 – 1913

* Doc Holliday was born in Griffin on August 14, 1851

John Henry " Doc " Holliday ( August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887 ) was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O. K.

William Frank " Doc " Carver ( May 7, 1851 – Aug. 31, 1927 ) was a late 19th century sharpshooter and creator of a popular diving horse attraction.

From 1851 or earlier another type of clipper ship was also being built in American shipyards, the medium clipper.

* 1902 – Charles Dow, American journalist ( b. 1851 )

* 1851 – Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman and politician ( d. 1929 )

* 1851 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

* 1851 – Samuel W. McCall, American politician ( d. 1923 )

* 1794 – Sylvester Graham, American nutritionist ( d. 1851 )

* 1851 – Charles Albert Tindley, American composer ( d. 1933 )

* 1851 – Millie and Christine McCoy, American conjoined twins ( d. 1912 )

* 1851 – Sam Bass, American criminal ( d. 1878 )

* 1779 – Joel Roberts Poinsett, American statesman and botanist ( d. 1851 )

* 1851 – Mordecai Manuel Noah, American writer and journalist ( b. 1755 )

* 1851 – Minnie Hauk, American soprano ( d. 1929 )

* 1851 – Charles Dow, American journalist and economist ( d. 1902 )

In the 1830s and 1840s, physical anthropology was prominent in the debate about slavery, with the scientific, monogenist works of the British abolitionist James Cowles Prichard ( 1786 – 1848 ) opposing those of the American polygenist Samuel George Morton ( 1799 – 1851 ).

* 1851 – John Clum, American journalist and Indian agent ( d. 1932 )

* 1851 – Edward Asahel Birge, American academic ( d. 1950 )

* 1851 – Walter Reed, American physician and biologist ( d. 1902 )

* 1789 – James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist ( d. 1851 )

The New York Times ( NYT ) is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851.

In 1851, a challenge by the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes to the American yacht America.

* December 26 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian, inventor of Dewey Decimal Classification ( b. 1851 )

* November 25 – George Gandy, American entrepreneur ( b. 1851 )