June 23 — Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov was born, a Russian naval commander and admiral. He led the defense of Sevastopol and crushed the Turkish fleet in the Battle of Sinop. He was mortally wounded on the Malakhov Kurgan. He died in 1855.
July 24 — Dumas the Elder was born, a French writer, creator of "The Three Musketeers", "Queen Margot", and many other novels still popular today. He died in 1870.
November 29 — Wilhelm Hauff was born, a German writer, author of fairy tales: "Little Muck", "Dwarf Nose", and others. He died in 1827.
December 8 — Alexander Ivanovich Odoevsky was born, a prince, poet, and Decembrist, sentenced to 8 years of penal servitude. He is credited with the famous line "From a spark a flame will ignite" (a response to Alexander Pushkin's "Message to Siberia"). He died in 1839.
The first beet-sugar factory in Russia was founded by General E. I. Blankennagel in the village of Alyabyevo, Cherninsky Uyezd, Tula Governorate. At the factory of the Englishman Wilson in Moscow, the first threshing machines were made.
In October, a mild earthquake of two shocks occurred in Moscow; it lasted about twenty seconds, moved from east to west, and in some parts of the city was stronger than in others. It caused not the slightest damage and left no traces except that cracks appeared in the wall of one cellar, and in another there was a hole in the ground about an arshin in circumference. The shocks were more noticeable in tall buildings; in almost all of them chandeliers swayed, and in some, tables and chairs as well. Many people, not believing their eyes, imagined that their heads were spinning. Most residents learned of the event only the next day.