1803 in Germany

Events

• February 25 – A major redistribution of territorial sovereignty within the Holy Roman Empire is enacted via an act known as the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss.
• July 5 – The convention of Artlenburg leads to the French occupation of Hanover (which had been ruled by the British king).

Births

January–June

• February 15
  • John Sutter, pioneer (d. 1880)
  • Karl Friedrich Schimper, botanist, naturalist and poet (d. 1867)
• February 26 – Arnold Adolph Berthold, physiologist and zoologist (d. 1861)
• May 12 – Justus von Liebig, chemist (d. 1873)

July–December

• October 5 – Friedrich Bernhard Westphal, painter (d. 1844)
  • Gottfried Semper, architect (d. 1879)
• 6 October — Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist and meteorologist (died 1879)
• 31 December — Johann Carl Fuhlrott, German paleoanthropologist (died 1877)

Deaths

Johann Gottfried Herder

January–June

• February 18 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, poet (b. 1719)
• March 14 – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, poet (b. 1724)

July–December

• December 18 – Johann Gottfried Herder, philosopher and writer (b. 1744)