* 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

* 1786 – Wilhelm Grimm, German philologist and folklorist ( d. 1859 )

* 1859 – Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany ( d. 1941 )

The Bonner Durchmusterung itself was published by Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander, Adalbert Krüger, and Eduard Schönfeld between 1852 and 1859.

* June 4 – Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany ( b. 1859 )

* February 24 – Wilhelm Grimm, German philologist and folklorist ( d. 1859 )

The Brothers Grimm ( or Die Gebrüder Grimm ), Jacob ( January 4, 1785 – September 20, 1863 ) and Wilhelm Grimm ( February 24, 1786 – December 16, 1859 ), were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who together collected folklore.

Wilhelm Carl Grimm ( also Karl ; 24 February 1786 – 16 December 1859 ) was a German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm.

* Wilhelm II, German Emperor ( 1859 – 1941 ), son of Kaiser Friedrich III and was Kaiser during World War I ; abdicated the throne in 1918

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt ( September 14, 1769 – May 6, 1859 ) was a Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt ( 1767 – 1835 ).

** R. Haym, ed., Wilhelm von Humboldts Briefe an Welcker ( Berlin, 1859 )

The expulsion in 1837 of the seven professors – Die Göttinger Sieben – the Germanist, Wilhelm Eduard Albrecht ( 1800 – 1876 ); the historian Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann ( 1785 – 1860 ); the orientalist Georg Heinrich August Ewald ( 1803 – 1875 ); the historian Georg Gottfried Gervinus ( 1805 – 1875 ); the physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber ( 1804 – 1891 ); and the philologists, the brothers Jakob ( 1785 – 1863 ) and Wilhelm Grimm ( 1786 – 1859 ), for protesting against the revocation by King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover of the liberal constitution of 1833, further reduced the prosperity of the university.

* Wilhelm Grimm ( 1786 – 1859 ), linguist and literary critic

He studied philosophy and sociology in 1899 – 1900 with Georg Simmel in Berlin, spent a semester in Straßburg ( 1900 ), and took his PhD in Philosophy in 1903 at Heidelberg under Wilhelm Windelband ( 1848 – 1915 ) and Alfred Hettner ( 1859 – 1941 ) with a dissertation titled Masse und Publikum.

Prince Wilhelm became regent in 1858, and in 1859 he appointed Roon a member of a commission to report on the reorganization of the army.

The first book in Inari Sámi was Anar sämi kiela aapis kirje ja doctor Martti Lutherus Ucca katkismus, which was written and translated by Edvard Wilhelm Borg in 1859.

* 1859 – 1868 Wilhelm Otto Cornelius Alexander Ulrich

* Wilhelm Grimm ( 1786 – 1859 ), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm

It was discovered on October 19, 1859 by the German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel.

By 1859, Wilhelm had become regent for his ailing brother Frederick William IV ; Helmuth von Moltke the Elder held the position of chief of the Prussian General Staff and Albrecht von Roon, that of the Prussian Minister of War.

More volumes and updates were planned, but in their lifetime the brothers could only fully complete portions: Wilhelm Grimm wrote the articles to the letter D and died in 1859 ; Jacob, who was unable to fully complete the letters A, B, C and E, died in 1863 while working on the entry for " Frucht " ( fruit ).

He attended high school at Ribe Katedralskole and commenced 1859 studies of natural history at the University of Copenhagen, but left university for three-and-a-half year ( 1863 – 1866 ) to act as secretary for the Danish palaeontologist Peter Wilhelm Lund, who lived and worked in Lagoa Santa, Brazil.