Events January–March January 2 – The first photograph of the Moon is taken, by French photographer Louis Daguerre. January 6 – Night of the Big Wind: Ireland is struck by the most damaging cyclone in 300 years. January 9 – The French Academy of Sciences announces the daguerreotype photography process. January 19 – British forces capture Aden. January 20 – Battle of Yungay: Chile defeats the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, leading to the restoration of an independent Peru. January – The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson. February 11 – The University of Missouri is established, becoming the first public university west of the Mississippi River. February 24 – William Otis receives a patent for the steam shovel. March 5 – Longwood University is founded in Farmville, Virginia. March 7 – Baltimore City College, the third public high school in the United States, is established in Baltimore, Maryland. March 9 – The Anti-Corn Law League is founded in Manchester, England. The Pastry War between France and Mexico ends. March 23 – An earthquake in the Kingdom of Burma kills more than 400 people and destroys three cities, as well as heavily damaging the capital at Ava. The Boston Morning Post first records the use of "O.K." (oll korrect). March 26 – The first Henley Royal Regatta is held on the River Thames, in England. April–June April 9 – The world's first commercial electric telegraph line comes into operation, alongside the Great Western Railway line in England, from London Paddington station to West Drayton. April 19 – The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom, with its independence and neutrality guaranteed by the great powers of Europe. Half of the Limburg province of Belgium is added to the Netherlands, giving rise to a Belgian Limburg and Dutch Limburg (the latter being joined (from September 5) to the German Confederation). April 24 – Boston University is established as the Newbury Biblical Institute in Vermont. May 7 – The Bedchamber Crisis begins in the United Kingdom, after Prime Minister Lord Melbourne announces his resignation. Queen Victoria asks several MPs to form a new government, and they insist on the condition that the Queen dismiss several of her personal attendants, the ladies of the bedchamber, for political reasons. May 12 – Socialist activist Louis Auguste Blanqui and the Société des Saisons begin an uprising against the government