- July 14
- First public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration. [1]
- July 17
- Harvard Observatory takes first photograph of a star (Vega). [1]
- August 30
- Honolulu, Hawaii becomes a city. [1]
- September 9
- California becomes 31st US state. [1] [1021.982]
- December 28
- Rangoon, Burma, destroyed by fire. [1]
1851
- January 1
- City of Glasgow steamer inaugurates Philadelphia-Liverpool line. [1]
- January 15
- General Arista replaces Mexican President Herrera. [1]
- January 31
- Gail Borden announces invention of evaporated milk. [1]
- March 7
- Poll tax levied on Russo-Polish Jews entering Austrian Galicia ends. [1]
- May 1
- The Great Exhibition opens in London's Hyde Park, at Crystal Palace, as a showcase for industrial accomplishments of Great Britain and other countries. [729.52] [1831.62]
vvv advertisement vvv
^^^ advertisement ^^^
- May 6
- Dr John Gorrie patents a "refrigeration machine". [1]
- New slave regulations go into effect in Suriname. [1]
- May 15
- Rama IV, [Phra Chomklao Chaoyuhua], king of Thai (1851-68), is crowned. [1]
- May 31
- Ship Marco Polo leaves Saint John, New Brunswick, for England. (The ship arrives in 15 days, setting new trans-Atlantic record.) [959.8]
- June 15
- Ship Marco Polo arrives at Liverpool, England, 15 days after leaving Saint John, New Brunswick, setting trans-Atlantic crossing record. [959.8]
- July 28
- Total solar eclipse is captured on a daguerreotype photograph. [1]
- August 12
- Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine. [1] [5]
- August 22
- Gold fields discovered in Australia. [1]
- October 15
- London's Great Exhibition closes. [1831.62]
- November 14
- Harper & Brothers in New York publishes the book Moby Dick, written by Herman Melville. [1] [5] [129]
- December 4
- Forces loyal to President Louis Napolean Bonaparte crush a coup d'etat in France. [1]
- December 9
- First Young Men's Christian Association in North America (Montréal). [1]
- December 24
- The U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. experiences its worst fire, which destroys 35,000 books, about two-thirds of the Library's collection. [1] [5]
1852
- January 4
- The Royal Mail steam packet Amazon burns and sinks in Nay of Biscay, carrying first postage stamps for use in Barbados. [887.20]
- January 17
- British recognize independence of Transvaal (in South Africa). [1]
- February 26
- British frigate Birkenhead sinks off South Africa; 458 die. [1]
- April 29
- First edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus is published. [1]
- August 20
- Steamer Atlantic collides with fishing boat, sinks with 250 aboard. [1]
- September 3
- Anti-Jewish riots break out in Stockholm, Sweden. [1]
- September 24
- A new invention, the dirigible, is demonstrated. [1]
- November 23
- Just past midnight, a sharp jolt causes Lake Merced to drop 30 feet (9m). [1]
- December 1
- Telegraph company opens throughout Netherlands. [1]
- December 2
- Second French empire established; Louis Napoleon becomes emperor. [1]
- December 28
- William Gladstone becomes British chancellor of the exchequer. [609.81]
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