Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades: 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s - 1850s - 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
Years: 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 - 1856 - 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861
Events
- January 8 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
- January 29 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross
- Gregor Mendel starts his research on genetics.
- End of the Crimean war.
- November - James Buchanan defeats John C. Fremont in the U.S. presidential election
- National Portrait Gallery in London opened.
- Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand (April 7)
Births
- January 12 - John Singer Sargent, artist (+ 1925)
- January 20 - Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch, women's rights activist († 1940)
- February 14 - Frank Harris, author and editor
- May 6 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist, founder of psychoanalysis.
- December 25 - Hans von Bartels German painter
- George Bernard Shaw, writer
- Nikola Tesla, inventor of the alternating current electrical generation and transmission system.
- Balganghadar Tilak
- L. Frank Baum, writer.
Deaths
- February 17 - Heinrich Heine, writer
- July 9 - Amedeo Avogadro, chemist
- August 30 - Gilbert Abbott a Beckett, writer.