1850s
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| Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century | |
| Decades: 1820s 1830s 1840s - 1850s - 1860s 1870s 1880s | |
| Years: 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 | |
| Contents |
Events and Trends
Technology
- Production of steel revolutionised by invention of the Bessemer process
- Benjamin Silliman fractionates petroleum by distillation for the first time
- First transatlantic telegraph cable laid
- First safety elevator installed by Elisha Otis
Science
- Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, putting forward the theory of evolution by natural selection
- Epidemiology begins when John Snow traces the source of an outbreak of cholera in London to a contaminated water pump.
- Discovery of Neandertal fossils in Neanderthal, Germany
- Solar flares discovered by Richard Christopher Carrington
War, peace and politics
- Crimean war (1854 - 1856) fought between Imperial Russia and an alliance consisting of the United Kingdom, the Second French Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire. The majority of the conflict takes place around Crimea, on the northern coasts of the Black Sea.
- The Indian Mutiny: revolt against British colonial rule in India
- Dissolution of the Mughal Empire by the British.
- 156 are killed in Paris in a failed assassination attempt on Napoleon III, Emperor of France
- Moldavia and Wallachia are unified and form Romania.
World Leaders
- Emperor Franz Josef (Austria-Hungary)
- Emperor Napoleon III (France)
- Pope Pius IX
- Emperor Nicholas I (Russia)
- Emperor Alexander II (Russia)
- Queen Victoria, (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Lord John Russell (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Lord Aberdeen (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Lord Palmerston (United Kingdom)
- President Millard Fillmore (United States)
- President Franklin Pierce (United States)
- President James Buchanan (United States)
Environmental Changes
Russia
cy:1850au da:1850'erne de:1850er et:1850. aastad es:Años 1850 fr:Années 1850 it:Anni 1850 nl:1850-60 ja:1850年代 no:1850-årene pl:Lata 50. XIX wieku pt:Década de 1850 ro:Anii 1850 ru:1850-е sl:1850. fi:1850-luku sv:1850-talet zh:1850年代