What Happened in January 1839

Historical Events

Jan 2 1st photo of the Moon (French photographer Louis Daguerre)

Jan 9 Daguerreotype photo process announced at French Academy of Science

Jan 9 Thomas Henderson measures 1st stellar parallax (Alpha Centauri)
Jan 10 First tea from leaves of indigenous plants of Assam, India arrives in the United Kingdom [date approximate] [1]
Jan 11 Earthquake at Martinique destroys half of Port Royal - 700 die
Jan 12 Anthracite coal 1st used to smelt iron, Mauch Chunk, Penn
Jan 19 Aden conquered by British East India Company
Jan 20 Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance

Jan 24 Charles Darwin elected Fellow of the Royal Society

Jan 25 Henry Fox Talbot exhibits early photographs to the Royal Institution in the UK

Jan 4 Casimiro de Abreu, Brazil, poet (Meus oito anos), novelist and playwright (Camoes e o jau), born in Casimiro de Abreu, Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil (d. 1860)
Jan 4 Carl Humann, German engineer (d. 1896)
Jan 9 John Knowles Paine, American composer (Symphony No. 2 - In Spring), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1906)
Jan 11 Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rico, patriot/scholar
Jan 14 Emil Bohn, German musician, born in Bielau, Germany (d. 1909)
Jan 19 Bohumil Pazdirek, composer