April 18, 1831
The University of Alabama is founded.
The University of Alabama (UA) is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1831, it is the flagship university of the University of Alabama System, as well the senior and the largest in terms of enrollment among all of the state's universities. It is known as The Capstone, a nickname that stems from a 1913 speech by then-president George H. Denny, who extolled the university as the "capstone of the public school system in the state." UA offers programs of study in 13 academic divisions leading to bachelor's, master's, Education Specialist, and doctoral degrees. The only publicly-supported law school in Alabama is at UA. Other academic programs unavailable elsewhere in Alabama include doctoral programs in anthropology, library and information studies, metallurgical engineering, music, Romance languages, and social work.
Births
March 3, 1831
George Mortimer Pullman was an American inventor and industrialist. He is known as the inventor of the Pullman sleeping car, and for violently suppressing striking workers in the company town he created, Pullman (which was later annexed and absorbed by Chicago becoming a neighborhood).

April 8, 1831
Jem Mace was an English boxing champion. He was born at Beeston, Norfolk. Although nicknamed "The Gypsy", he denied Romani ethnicity in his autobiography. A middleweight, he succeeded in outboxing heavier opponents thanks to his dancing style, clever defensive tactics and powerful, accurate punching.

April 14, 1831
Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs was a German geographer, explorer, author and adventurer.

May 16, 1831
David Edward Hughes, was a British scientist and musician. Hughes was co-inventor of the microphone, a harpist and a professor of music.

June 13, 1831
James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and even optics into a consistent theory.