1844

Years: 1841 1842 1843 - 1844 - 1845 1846 1847
Decades: 1810s 1820s 1830s - 1840s - 1850s 1860s 1870s
Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century

1844 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar).

Events

January 15 - University of Notre Dame receives its charter from Indiana.
February 27 - The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
February 28 - A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing two United States Cabinet members and several others.
May 23 - Persian Prophet The Báb announces His revelation, founding Bábism.
May 24 - First electrical telegram sent by Samuel Morse from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C., saying "What hath God wrought?".
June 6 - George Williams founds the Young Men's Christian Association in London.
June 15 - Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
June 27 - Joseph Smith, Jr. is murdered with his brother Hyrum in Carthage Jail, Carthage, Illinois.
July 3 - The last pair of Great Auks are killed.
August 8 - During a meeting held in Nauvoo, the Quorum of Twelve , headed by Brigham Young, is created as the leading body of the Mormon Church.
October 22 - Date predicted by the Millerites for the Second Coming of Jesus; leads to the Great Disappointment.
November - James K. Polk defeats Henry Clay in the U.S. presidential election
November 6 - The Dominican Republic gains its independence from Spain.

First ever international cricket match is played in New York City between Canada and the United States.
Swedish chemistry professor Gustaf Erik Pasch invents the safety match
Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx meet in Paris
Alexander Dumas Jr meets Marie Duplessis
Locksmith Alexander Fichet invents the first safe
Carlos Antonio Lopez becomes dictator of Paraguay
Abd al-Kader is defeated at Isly in Morocco. The sultan of Morocco soon repudiates his ally.

February 17 - Aaron Montgomery Ward, department store founder (d. 1913)
February 20 - Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist
February 20 - Joshua Slocum, seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)
February 21 - Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer
March 10 - Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist (d. 1908)
March 18 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (d. 1908)
March 30 - Paul Verlaine, French lyric poet (d. 1896)
May 17 - Julius Wellhausen, German biblical scholar (d. 1918)
May 19 - Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1818)
May 21 - Henri Rousseau, French artist (d. 1910)
May 22 - Mary Cassatt, American artist
May 23 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian religious leader
July 11 - King Peter I of Serbia
July 22 - William Archibald Spooner, British scholar and Anglican priest
August 6 - Prince Alfred of the United Kingdom, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)
August 17 - Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia
August 22 - George Washington De Long, American naval officer/ill-fated explorer (d. 1881)
October 15 - Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
October 22 - Louis Riel, Métis leader
October 22 - Sarah Bernhardt, French actress
October 23 - Robert Bridges, English poet (d. 1930)
November 2 - Mehmed V, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1918)
November 23 - Karl Benz, German automotive pioneer
December 1 - Alexandra of Denmark, later Queen Consort of King Edward VII
December 8 - Émile Reynaud, French science teacher, responsible for the first animation films.
Abd ar-Rahman Khan, emir of Afghanistan.

January 27 - Charles Nodier, French writer
February 27 - Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States
June 27 - Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (b. 1800)
June 27 - Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement (b. 1805)
July 27 - John Dalton, English chemist and physicist
July 29 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian composer
November 14 - Flora Tristan, French feminist