Wilhelm Friedrich Knuth (1838 - 1911)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Wilhelm's lifetime.

In 1838, in the year that Wilhelm Friedrich Knuth was born, on May 26th, the Native American Cherokee Nation was forced to march the Trail of Tears - relocating them to west of the Mississippi. When gold was discovered in Georgia in 1828, settlers wanted the Cherokee land. 16,543 natives were forced to march - it is estimated that 2,000 to 6,000 died along the way.

In 1866, at the age of 28 years old, Wilhelm was alive when on May 10th, the "banker's bank" - London bank Overend, Gurney and Company - collapsed, beginning the Panic of 1866. Unemployment went up to 8% and wages went down. Only about 16% of joint-stock companies - a company whose stock is owned jointly by the shareholders - weathered the Panic.

In 1896, at the age of 58 years old, Wilhelm was alive when in April, the first study on global warming due to CO2 - carbon dioxide - in the atmosphere was published by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius. Arrhenius concluded that human activity due to the Industrial Revolution would amplify CO2 in the atmosphere, causing a greenhouse effect. His conclusions have been extensively tested in the ensuing 100+ years and are still seen to hold true.

In 1909, by the time he was 71 years old, explorer Robert Peary, a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy, claimed to have been the first to have reached the geographic North Pole. His claim has been disputed for over a century - some say that he ended up 60 miles from the North Pole. Peary was the only navigator on his team and he didn't submit his records for public review.

In 1911, in the year of Wilhelm Friedrich Knuth's passing, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole, along with four fellow Norwegian explorers. After hearing that Peary had beaten him to the North Pole, Amundsen decided to tackle the South Pole. On December 14th, he succeeded.