* John Austin ( legal philosopher ) ( 1790 – 1859 ), English jurist

In 1859, Nobel's father left his factory in the care of the second son, Ludvig Nobel ( 1831 – 1888 ), who greatly improved the business.

* 1859 – Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.

* 1779 – Carl Ritter, German geographer ( d. 1859 )

* 1785 – Thomas De Quincey, English author ( d. 1859 )

* 1859 – Charles Comiskey, American baseball player and manager ( d. 1931 )

* 1859 – The Tuscan National Assembly formally deposes the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

* 1859 – Katharine Lee Bates, American poet ( d. 1929 )

* Alexander John Cuza, prince of Romania ( 1859 – 1866 )

* 1859 – A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far away as Japan.

* 1859 – Matilda Howell, American archer ( d. 1938 )

* 1859 – Vittorio Sella, Italian photographer ( d. 1943 )

* 1917 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto ( b. 1859 )

* 1859 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian writer, Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1952 )

* 1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.

* 1944 – William Stephens, American politician ( b. 1859 )

* 1803 – James Curtiss, American politician, Mayor of Chicago ( d. 1859 )

* 1859 – Walter Camp, American football player, coach, and writer ( d. 1925 )

* 1943 – Alexandre Millerand, French politician, President of France ( b. 1859 )

Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936 ), usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad.

* Page, Norman, ‘ Housman, Alfred Edward ( 1859 – 1936 )’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004 )

His siblings included Sarah ( 1802 – 1859 ), Naphtali ( 1807 ), Ralph ( 1809 – 1898 ), and James ( 1813 – 1868 ).

The Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister 1855 – 58, 1859 – 65

The first ironclad battleship, with iron armour over a wooden hull, La Gloire, was launched by the French Navy in 1859 ; she prompted the British Royal Navy to build a counter.

Corsican was long the vernacular language alongside Italian, official language in Corsica until 1859, then it was replaced by French owing to the conquest of the island by France in 1768.

* 1859 – Georges Seurat, French painter ( d. 1891 )

* The French Revolution of 1789 ( 1859 )

With the war against Spain ( 1859 – 1860 ) came direct involvement in European affairs — although the independence of Morocco was guaranteed in the Conference of Madrid ( 1880 ), the French gained ever greater influence.

* 1786 – Jean Vianney, French priest ( d. 1859 )

* 1891 – Georges Seurat, French painter and draftsman ( b. 1859 )

* 1777 – Charles Cagniard de la Tour, French physicist ( d. 1859 )

These reforms included guarantees to ensure the Ottoman subjects perfect security for their lives, honour, and property ; the introduction of the first Ottoman paper banknotes ( 1840 ) and opening of the first post offices ( 1840 ); the reorganization of the finance system according to the French model ( 1840 ); the reorganization of the Civil and Criminal Code according to the French model ( 1840 ); the establishment of the Meclis-i Maarif-i Umumiye ( 1841 ) which was the prototype of the First Ottoman Parliament ( 1876 ); the reorganization of the army and a regular method of recruiting, levying the army, and fixing the duration of military service ( 1843 – 44 ); the adoption of an Ottoman national anthem and Ottoman national flag ( 1844 ); the first nationwide Ottoman census in 1844 ( only male citizens were counted ); the first national identity cards ( officially named the Mecidiye identity papers, or informally kafa kağıdı ( head paper ) documents, 1844 ); the institution of a Council of Public Instruction ( 1845 ) and the Ministry of Education ( Mekatib-i Umumiye Nezareti, 1847, which later became the Maarif Nezareti, 1857 ); the abolition of slavery and slave trade ( 1847 ); the establishment of the first modern universities ( darülfünun, 1848 ), academies ( 1848 ) and teacher schools ( darülmuallimin, 1848 ); establishment of the Ministry of Healthcare ( Tıbbiye Nezareti, 1850 ); the Commerce and Trade Code ( 1850 ); establishment of the Academy of Sciences ( Encümen-i Daniş, 1851 ); establishment of the Şirket-i Hayriye which operated the first steam-powered commuter ferries ( 1851 ); the first European style courts ( Meclis-i Ahkam-ı Adliye, 1853 ) and supreme judiciary council ( Meclis-i Ali-yi Tanzimat, 1853 ); establishment of the modern Municipality of Istanbul ( Şehremaneti, 1854 ) and the City Planning Council ( İntizam-ı Şehir Komisyonu, 1855 ); the abolition of the capitation ( Jizya ) tax on non-Muslims, with a regular method of establishing and collecting taxes ( 1856 ); non-Muslims were allowed to become soldiers ( 1856 ); various provisions for the better administration of the public service and advancement of commerce ; the establishment of the first telegraph networks ( 1847 – 1855 ) and railroads ( 1856 ); the replacement of guilds with factories ; the establishment of the Ottoman Central Bank ( originally established as the Bank-ı Osmanî in 1856, and later reorganized as the Bank-ı Osmanî-i Şahane in 1863 ) and the Ottoman Stock Exchange ( Dersaadet Tahvilat Borsası, established in 1866 ); the Land Code ( Arazi Kanunnamesi, 1857 ); permission for private sector publishers and printing firms with the Serbesti-i Kürşad Nizamnamesi ( 1857 ); establishment of the School of Economical and Political Sciences ( Mekteb-i Mülkiye, 1859 ); the Press and Journalism Regulation Code ( Matbuat Nizamnamesi, 1864 ); among others.

* 1859 – Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer ( d. 1935 )

He was influenced by the French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson ( 1859 – 1941 ), who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1927.

* January 15 – Louis Majorelle, French furniture designer ( b. 1859 )

* April 7 – Alexandre Millerand, French president ( b. 1859 )

* January 4 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature ( b. 1859 )

** Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate ( b. 1859 )

* March 29 – Georges Seurat, French painter ( b. 1859 )

* March 23 – Paul César Helleu, French artist ( b. 1859 )

* July 12 – Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer ( b. 1859 )

* July 29 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian ( d. 1859 )

In December 1859, Le Verrier received a letter from a French physician and amateur astronomer called Edmond Modeste Lescarbault, who claimed to have seen a transit of the hypothetical planet earlier in the year.

An eminent French astronomer, Emmanuel Liais, who was working for the Brazilian government in Rio de Janeiro in 1859, claimed to have been studying the surface of the Sun with a telescope twice as powerful as Lescarbault's at the very moment that Lescarbault said he observed his mysterious transit.