Dashed left edge = started before March 1853 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond March 1853
Events in March 1853 7
1803 – 1853Christian Doppler (1803-1853)Died 17 March 1853, aged 49Christian Doppler was an Austrian physicist and mathematician best known for describing the frequency shift of waves now called the Doppler effect. He proposed the effect in 1842 to explain the colors of binary stars, and it later became fundamental to astronomy, radar, and medical imaging. He died in Venice of a pulmonary disease.
1850 – 1853Fillmore presidency13th President — 1850 to 1853Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency on July 9, 1850 following Taylor's death, serving until March 4, 1853. He signed the Compromise of 1850 and opened Japan to US trade via Commodore Perry's expedition.
1853Franklin Pierce inaugurated as US presidentFourteenth president takes officeFranklin Pierce was sworn in as the 14th President of the United States on 4 March 1853 in Washington, D.C. He took the oath using an affirmation rather than a Bible, reportedly out of grief following the death of his young son in a train accident weeks earlier. His presidency would be marked by deepening sectional tension over slavery.
1853 – 1857Pierce presidency14th President — 1853 to 1857Franklin Pierce served as the 14th President from March 4, 1853 to March 4, 1857. His Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise and inflamed sectional tensions over slavery.
1853La Traviata premieresVerdi opera opens in VeniceGiuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata premiered at La Fenice in Venice on 6 March 1853 and was initially poorly received. Revised and restaged more successfully the following year, it went on to become one of the most performed operas in the world. It tells the story of a Parisian courtesan and her doomed love affair.
1853Taiping forces capture NanjingRebels establish Heavenly CapitalTaiping rebel forces captured the city of Nanjing on 19 March 1853 and declared it the Heavenly Capital of their rebel state, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The city would remain the movement's capital for eleven years. The Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty became one of the deadliest conflicts of the 19th century.
1853 – 1890Vincent van GoghPost-Impressionism · NetherlandsVincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853 – July 29, 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who sold only one painting in his lifetime but created over 2,000 works. The Starry Night, Sunflowers and his self-portraits are among the most recognised in the world.