What is 1850?
{{Year nav|1850}} {{Year in various calendars|1850}} {{Year article header|1850}} == Events == * The [[speed of light]] in [[water]] was observed to be slower than that in [[air]]. == Books == * ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]'' by [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] == Births == * [[January 21]] – [[Paul Vinzenz Busch]], ringmaster (d. [[1927]]) * [[January 27]] – [[Samuel Gompers]], English-born labor leader (d. [[1924]]) * [[January 27]] – [[Edward J. Smith]], Captain of the Titanic (d. [[1912]]) * [[May 1]] – [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught|Prince Arthur of the United Kingdom]] (d. [[1942]]) * [[May 8]] – [[Ross Barnes]], baseball player (d. [[1915]]) * [[May 12]] – [[Henry Cabot Lodge]], U.S. statesman (d. [[1924]]) * [[May 21]] – [[Giuseppe Mercalli]], Italian volcanologist (d. [[1914]]) * [[July 12]] – [[Otto Schoetensack]], German anthropologist (d. [[1912]]) * [[September 2]] – [[Albert Spalding]], baseball player and sporting goods manufacturer (d. [[1915]]) * [[November 13]] – [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], Scottish writer (d. [[1894]]) * [[December 9]] – [[Emma Abbott]], [[United States|American]] [[opera]] singer (d. [[1891]]) * [[December 21]] – [[Zdenek Fibich]], Czech composer (d. [[1900]]) == Deaths == * [[July 2]] – [[Robert Peel]] [[Category:1850| ]]