1842 births

François Hennebique (26 April 1842 – 7 March 1921) was a French engineer and self-educated builder who patented his pioneering reinforced-concrete construction system in 1892, integrating separate elements of construction, such as the column and the beam, into a single monolithic element. The Hennebique system was one of the first appearances of the modern reinforced-concrete method of construction.

Hennebique had first worked as a stonemason, later becoming a builder, with a particular interest in restoration of old churches. Hennebique's Béton Armé system started out by using concrete as a fireproof protection for wrought iron beams, on a house project in Belgium in 1879. He realised however, that the floor system would be more economic if the iron were used only where the slab was in tension, relying on the concrete in the compression areas. His solution was reinforced concrete – a concrete slab with steel bars in its bottom face.
His business developed rapidly, expanding from five employees in Brussels in 1896, to twenty-five two years later when he moved to Paris. In addition, he had a rapidly expanding network of firms acting as agents for his system. These included L.G. Mouchel and F.A. Macdonald & Partners in Britain, and Eduard Zublin in Germany. He was asked in 1896 by Hector Guimard for the terrace of the armory Coutolleau in Angers.

Maria Konopnicka (Polish pronunciation: [ˈmarja kɔnɔpˈɲitska] ; née Wasiłowska; 23 May 1842 – 8 October 1910) was a Polish poet, novelist, children's writer, translator, journalist, critic, and activist for women's rights and for Polish independence. She used pseudonyms, including Jan Sawa. She was one of the most important poets of Poland's Positivist period.

Salvador Brau y Asencio (January 11, 1842 – November 5, 1912) was a Puerto Rican journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist, historian, and sociologist. He was designated the official historian of Puerto Rico by the first American-appointed governor of the island.

Francisco José Domingo y Marqués (12 March 1842 – 22 July 1920) was a Spanish painter in the Eclectic style.

Ernest François Fournier (23 May 1842–6 November 1934) was a French diplomat and admiral born in Toulouse. He was a negotiator in the Tientsin Accord, which resolved the undeclared war between France and China in 1884.He joined the navy in 1859, and fought in the Franco-Prussian War, seeing action in Battle of Villiers and Fort Rosny. He was also in charge of the French Mediterranean Sea naval squadron from 1898 until 1900.

Isala Van Diest (7 May 1842 – 9 February 1916) was the first female medical doctor and the first female university graduate in Belgium.

Charles Cros or Émile-Hortensius-Charles Cros (1 October 1842 – 9 August 1888) was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude.
Cros was a well-regarded poet and humorous writer. As an inventor, he was interested in the fields of transmitting graphics by telegraph and making photographs in color, but he is perhaps best known for being the first person to conceive a method for reproducing recorded sound, an invention he named the Paleophone.
Charles Cros died in Paris at the age of 45.

Paul Splingaerd (1842 in Brussels – 1906 in Xi'an, China) was the Belgian foundling who became an official or mandarin (bureaucrat) in the late Qing government. As both a Belgian and a Chinese mandarin, Paul acted as a liaison on various Sino-Belgian projects in the late nineteenth century. The best known are the negotiations for Belgium to build the first major railway in China, the Beijing-Hankou Railroad (Lu-Han Railway in China) and the development of a Belgian-Chinese industrial, mining and commercial enterprises in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province. Although better known in China where he was known by many names, including Lin Fuchen (林 輔臣), Su Pe Lin Ge Er de (斯普林格尔德), Lin Balu Lin Bao luo, Bi lishi Lin ('Belgian Lin'), Lin Darin, Lin Ta Jen, in European circles he developed the reputation for being the "Famous Belgian Mandarin." Paul also initiated negotiations for the First Iron Bridge Across the Yellow River in Lanzhou, China, now known as Zhongshan Bridge, but died before it was built.

Albert Sorel (13 August 1842 – 29 June 1906) was a French historian. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times.

August Thyssen (German: [ˈaʊɡʊst ˈtʏsn̩]; 17 May 1842 – 4 April 1926) was a German industrialist, founder and controlling shareholder of Thyssen & Co (presently ThyssenKrupp). He was a prominent member of the Thyssen family.