In 1824, the première of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 was performed in Vienna; with a setting of Johann von Schiller's 'Ode to Joy' (1785). To avoid calamity, conductor Michael Umlauf told the musicians to ignore the deaf Beethoven's instructions on stage.
In 1824, due to dire family financial straits, Charles Dickens (aged 12) began manual labour in a blacking factory in London. His father, John Dickens, was committed to The Marshalsea Prison as a debtor. This experience would influence much of the literature of Charles Dickens.
In 1824, English entomologist Dr John Curtis began publishing 'British Entomology': 770 hand-coloured, copper-plate engravings with data. Unfortunately, a high percentage of the insects species recorded are now endangered; some extinct. Mostly, due to habitat loss.
In 1821, English scientist Dr Prideaux Selby began publishing 'Illustrations of British Ornithology'; the first set of life-sized illustrations of indigenous avian species of The British Isles. Of the hundreds of species he documented, many are now either extinct or endangered...
In the autumn of 1818, Miss Fanny Brawne first met John Keats. Scholars acknowledge she was his muse. Secretly, they engaged in 1819; their correspondence revealing their deep, mutual passion. Yet, he died of tuberculosis in 1821. She entrusted the letters to future generations.
In 1818, French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel published 'Memoir on the Diffraction of Light'; the limits of light in shadow (wave theory). Later, he applied this to the catadioptric (refraction & reflection combined) to extend visibility of lighthouse beams; saving lives.
In 1815, a meteorite from Mars impacted on northern France. Not until the 20th century was it understood that the fragments were from olivine cumulate rock: its noble gas composition differs from present Martian atmosphere due to the meteorite being ejected billions of years ago.
In 1811, Germanic writer Friedrich Fouqué published 'Undine'; a fairytale novella in which Undine, a water spirit, marries a knight in order to gain a soul. Hans Christian Andersen was influenced by the portrayal of souls in Undine while writing The Little Mermaid (1837).
In 1804, English inventor William Congreve developed a solid-fuel ballistic missile as an artillery weapon; drawn from an effective Indian rocket (1700s). The British military would use it in the 1800s (e.g. bombing US-towns in 1812-14 war). Whalers used it, unfortunately.