1881 deaths

Charles Frédéric Kuhlmann (22 May 1803 – 27 January 1881) was a French chemist who patented the reaction for converting ammonia to nitric acid, which was later used in the Ostwald process.He was both a research scientist and a professor at Université Lille Nord de France. He promoted chemical engineering education for science graduates in Lille and supported the development of École centrale de Lille (IDN).
As an entrepreneur starting in 1829, he established his own chemical company producing sulfuric acid. This company later merged into Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann group.

Juan Díaz de Garayo y Ruiz de Argandoña, also known as "The Sacamantecas" ("The fat extractor" in Spanish) (October 17, 1821 – May 11, 1881), was a Spanish serial killer active near Vitoria, Álava, who strangled five women and a 13-year-old girl, and attacked four other women during two different periods, 1870 to 1874 and 1878 to 1879. A lust-motivated serial killer, Garayo first killed prostitutes after hiring and sleeping with them consensually, but grew more disorganized and violent as time went on, attacking, raping and murdering women that he saw walking alone in the country. His last two victims, murdered in consecutive days, were also stabbed, and the second was disemboweled.
Garayo's persona and crimes were the subject of El Sacamantecas, an 1881 monograph written by Ricardo Becerro de Bengoa, who visited Garayo while he was in prison awaiting execution.

Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne, Count Léon (13 December 1806 – 14 April 1881) was an illegitimate son of Emperor Napoleon of France and Napoleon's mistress Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne. Brought up in France, Léon began a military career in Saint-Denis where he was head of a battalion of the national guard.
Admirative of his father, he tried to keep the memory of the First Empire alive by organizing several commemorations. After the fall of his cousin Napoleon III and of the Second Empire, Léon retired in Pontoise, France, and died in poverty.

Benjamin Fillon (15 March 1819 – 23 May 1881) was a French numismatist and archaeologist. Much of his lifetime's work was devoted to researching the French mathematician, Franciscus Vieta, a key figure in developing new algebra.

Auguste Gabriel Maurice Raynaud (10 August 1834 – 29 June 1881) was the French medical doctor who discovered Raynaud syndrome, a vasospastic disorder which contracts blood vessels in extremities and is the "R" in the CREST syndrome acronym, in the late 19th century.

Friedrich Franz Karl Hecker (September 28, 1811 – March 24, 1881) was a German lawyer, politician and revolutionary. He was one of the most popular speakers and agitators of the 1848 Revolution. After moving to the United States, he served as a brigade commander in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud (French: [ʒɑ̃ ɑ̃twan ɡabʁijɛl davju]; 30 October 1824 – 6 April 1881) was a French architect. He worked closely with Baron Haussmann on the transformation of Paris under Napoleon III during the Second Empire. Davioud is remembered for his contributions to architecture (e.g. the two theaters on the place du Châtelet and the city hall of the 19th arrondissement), parks (e.g. the Pré Catelan garden and the square des Batignolles) and urban amenities (fountains, pavilions, benches and kiosks). These contributions now form an integral part of the style of Haussmann's Paris.

François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 1821 – 18 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.