On This Day

Historical Events in 1785

  • Jan 1 "Daily Universal Register" (Times of London) publishes 1st issue
  • Jan 7 1st balloon flight across English Channel by Jean Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries
  • Jan 11 Continental Congress convenes in NYC
  • Jan 13 John Walter publishes 1st issue of "The Times" of London

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 14 Amadeus Mozart completes his "Dissonanzenquartett / "Dissonance quartet" (opus 10)

Classical Musician and Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical Musician and Composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Jan 15 Mozart's string quartet opus 10 premieres
  • Jan 19 First manned balloon flight in Ireland
  • Jan 20 Samuel Ellis advertises to sell Oyster Island (Ellis Is), no takers
  • Jan 27 1st US state university chartered in Athens, Georgia

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 29 In a surprising announcement, John Hancock resigns as Governor of Massachusetts, allegedly due to his failing health

Statesman John Hancock
Statesman
John Hancock
  • Mar 1 Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture organized

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Mar 7 James Hutton, geologist, presents his full theory of uniformitarianism at a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Geologist James Hutton
Geologist
James Hutton

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Apr 20 Thomas Warton appointed British Poet Laureate by King George III

King of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover George III
King of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover
George III

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Apr 21 Catherine II of Russia confers on the nobility the "Charter to the Nobility", increasing further the power of the landed oligarchs

Empress of Russia Catherine the Great
Empress of Russia
Catherine the Great
  • May 9 British inventor Joseph Bramah patents beer-pump handle

InventionHistoric Invention

May 23 Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals

United States Founding Father Benjamin Franklin
United States Founding Father
Benjamin Franklin
  • Jun 15 2 French balloonists die in world's 1st fatal aviation accident
  • Jul 4 James Hutton, geologist, publicly reads an abstract of his theory of uniformitarianism for the first time at the meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
  • Jul 6 US Congress unanimously resolves the name of US currency to the "dollar" and adopts decimal coinage
  • Jul 12 1st manned flight by gas balloon in Netherlands
  • Aug 1 Caroline Herschel becomes 1st woman to discover a comet
  • Aug 15 French cardinal De Rohan arrested
  • Sep 1 Mozart publishes 6th string quartet opus 10 in Vienna
  • Sep 10 Prussia signs trade agreement with US

A Salute to the Military Genius, Napoleon BonaparteA Salute to the Military Genius, Napoleon Bonaparte

Sep 28 Napoléon Bonaparte, aged 16, graduates from the elite École Militaire in Paris (42nd in a class of 51)
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Death and despair as Napoléon and his Grand Army retreat from Russia. Artist: Adolf Northen
Death and despair as Napoléon and his Grand Army retreat from Russia. Artist: Adolf Northen
  • Sep 29 Chasidic sect is excommunicated in Kraków Poland
  • Nov 17 Church of England organizes in New England
  • Nov 28 The Treaty of Hopewell is signed between the Confederation Congress of the United States of America and the Cherokee people

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