February 7 — Fyodor Inozemtsev performs the first surgical operation in the Russian Empire using ether anesthesia.
March 30 — Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy begins keeping a diary and continues doing so throughout his life. In the complete collected works, the writer’s diaries occupy 13 volumes.
September 15 — During the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848, American troops seize the capital of Mexico, Mexico City. The Mexican government is forced to make peace on the predatory terms put forward by the United States, under which nearly half of Mexico’s territory is ceded (now the states of California, Nevada, Utah, part of Arizona, and others).
October 1 — Werner von Siemens, his brothers, and Johann Georg Halske found the company “Telegraphenbauanstalt Siemens & Halske,” now known as “Siemens AG.” The company’s work is associated with such innovations as the pointer telegraph, the dynamo machine, transatlantic telegraph communication, the tram, the trolleybus, the electric locomotive, the hearing aid, the implantable cardiac pacemaker, the digital telephone exchange, and many others.
February 11 — Thomas Alva Edison is born, the leading American inventor and entrepreneur, organizer and head of the first American industrial research laboratory. Author of more than a thousand inventions.
March 3 — Alexander G. Bell is born, an American physicist of Scottish origin, creator of a telephone device with a metal diaphragm.
March 31 — Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov is born, a Russian inventor and electrical engineer. He laid the foundation for a practically applicable system of electric lighting.
November 8 — Bram Stoker is born, an English writer. In early childhood he was disabled: he could not only walk, but even stand. He managed to overcome his illnesses, and at the University of Dublin he was already considered an excellent athlete and footballer. Stoker gained fame from the novel "Dracula," published in 1897.