May 31 — in London, the clock installed on the famous tower of the Palace of Westminster was put into operation. Worldwide, this structure has become firmly known as Big Ben, although originally that name referred only to the largest of the five bells.
Punctuality is the politeness of kings. In London, this phrase takes on a literal meaning, because among several hundred city clock faces, only one outdoor clock keeps accurate time — the one on the Big Ben tower, which is part of the architectural complex of the Palace of Westminster.
Originally, the structure was officially called the “Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster”; in the press it was often referred to as “St Stephen’s Tower.” In September 2012, by decision of the British Parliament, it was renamed the Elizabeth Tower, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Great Clock of Westminster is the third-largest four-faced striking clock in the world. It was designed by Sir Edmund Beckett and the Astronomer Royal George Airy. The making of the clock was entrusted to clockmaker Edward John Dent; after his death in 1853, construction was led by his adopted son Frederick Dent. Frederick completed the work in 1854.
November 24 — a green volume by Charles Darwin titled “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life” appeared for sale in London bookshops. In it, Darwin named natural selection and indefinite variation as the main driving forces of evolution. The enormous print run for that time — 1,250 copies — sold out in a single day, marking the emergence in world science of the theory of the evolution of living nature, which became the cornerstone of modern biology, or Darwinism.
A decisive blow to the independence of the Caucasus highlanders was dealt by the capture of the aul of Gunib, where their spiritual leader and chieftain Shamil was hiding. On August 26, Imam Shamil was taken prisoner, but the conquest of the Caucasus would continue until 1864.
April 25 — construction of the Suez Canal began in Port Said under the leadership of the French engineer and diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps.
August 9 — American Nathan Ames patented the escalator.
The novel “Oblomov” by Ivan Goncharov was published.
March 16 — Alexander Stepanovich Popov was born, a Russian physicist and electrical engineer, inventor of radio.
May 2 — Jerome Klapka Jerome was born, an English writer, author of the novella “Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)”.
May 22 — Arthur Conan Doyle was born, an English writer, author of the famous detective novels about Sherlock Holmes.
June 27 — Mildred Hill was born, an American and a Sunday school teacher in Kentucky, one of the authors of the best-known American song “Happy Birthday to You,” written by her together with her sister.
For the first time in Russia, industrial production of kerosene was launched at a plant built near Baku by Vasily Kokorev. In the same year, a state monopoly on kerosene production was introduced. Match production, previously permitted only in Moscow and St Petersburg, was allowed everywhere.