Famous People Who Died In 1905

William-Adolphe Bouguereau was a French academic painter who enjoyed significant popularity in the United States and France. Renowned for his realistic genre paintings, which focused on the beauty of the female human body, Bouguereau received top prices for his paintings and numerous official honors during his lifetime. 

German neurologist, pathologist, and anatomist Carl Wernicke is best remembered for his extensive work on the various types of aphasia, or disorders that hinder the ability to speak or write. He also distinguished between motor aphasia and sensory aphasia, or what is now known as Wernicke's aphasia.

Elisee Reclus was a renowned French geographer, writer, and anarchist best known for his 19-volume masterwork, La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes ("Universal Geography"). He received the Gold Medal of the Paris Geographical Society for this work in 1892. He opposed cruelty to animals and advocated nature conservation. He was also a proponent of naturism. 

Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders was the son of King Leopold I of Belgium. Although he was the heir presumptive to the royal  Belgian throne, Philippe refused to be named the new Romanian sovereign when Alexandru Ioan Cuza stepped down as the domnitor of the Romanian Principalities in 1866. In 1909, his son Albert I ascended the Belgian throne.

Hudson Taylor was one of the most popular Christian missionaries in China. His 51-year stint in China witnessed him baptizing over 50,000 people. Apart from converting people, he also mingled with the Chinese at a personal level, adopting their clothing habits, contrary to what other missionaries practiced.

Ferdinand von Richthofen, also known as Baron von Richthofen, was a German geographer who discovered quite a few places in and around China, thus contributing to his book China, the Results of My Travels and the Studies Based Thereon. He worked on chorography and chorology and also developed geomorphology.

Born into an Italian noble family, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza had had his first taste of exploration when he traveled to Algeria aboard a ship in his early days. He later explored Africa, eventually founding French Congo, now the Republic of Congo, and the city Brazzaville, while also becoming a French citizen.

A significant figure of the Paris Commune, Louise Michel was born as an illegitimate child of a maid. She had initially been trained to be a teacher but later began developing an interest in revolutionary socialist ideas. She was also once sent behind bars for inciting riots.

Adolf Bastian was a German polymath best known for his contributions to the progression of ethnography. He is also credited with making immense contributions to the progression of anthropology as a discipline. Bastian's theory of the Elementargedanke led to Carl Jung's theory of archetypes. Adolf Bastian's work also had a great impact on Franz Boas and Joseph Campbell.

Civil and railroad engineer Herman Haupt is best remembered for constructing the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts. After losing his father at 12, he worked part-time to pay for his education and later joined the Military Academy. One of his best-known works is General Theory of Bridge Construction.

Best remembered for establishing the New York Consumers League, Josephine Shaw Lowell believed that charity shouldn’t just relieve people’s suffering but also help people in overcoming their misery by rehabilitating them. She was also the first female commissioner of the New York Charities Commission and campaigned for women’s rights.

Máximo Gómez was a Cuban military man who served as the Major General in the Ten Years' War against Spain. He also served as a military commander in the Cuban War of Independence. Máximo Gómez is best remembered for his notorious scorched-earth policy which included torching the Spanish sugar plantations and dynamiting passenger trains.

Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect best remembered for his contribution to the Victorian Gothic Revival style of architecture. He is credited with designing iconic buildings like The Natural History Museum and Manchester Town Hall. Apart from earning the praises of the critics, Alfred Waterhouse was also one of the most financially successful Victorian architects of all time. 

Born in Russia, Otto Wilhelm von Struve was too young to join a university when he had completed his studies at the gymnasium and thus initially joined as a listener. He often assisted his astronomer father Frederich von Struve and later discovered about 500 double stars and studied Saturn’s rings.

German explorer Hermann Wissmann is remembered for his pioneering expedition to the upper Congo basin. His studies were instrumental in Germany setting up colonies in East Africa. Part of the German Army, he also served as the imperial commissioner for East Africa. The forces under his command were known as Wissmanntruppe.

Constantin Meunier was a Belgian sculptor and painter. He is best remembered for using common man as his subject; his depiction of industrial workers, miners, and dockers played an important role in the development of modern art. Meunier's work, some of which are displayed in Belgian museums, is a reflection of the social, industrial, and political developments of his time.

Per Teodor Cleve was a Swedish biologist, chemist, oceanographer, and mineralogist. He is best remembered for his discovery of holmium and thulium. He is also credited with discovering aminonaphthalenesulfonic acids. Per Teodor Cleve is also remembered for his service as professor of general and agricultural chemistry at Uppsala University. His contributions were honored with the Davy Medal.

Born into a family of engineers, George Robert Stephenson is known for his work with his uncle George Stephenson and cousin Robert Stephenson, who were both renowned railway engineers. He worked for the railways in New Zealand and England and was also instrumental in the construction of Canada’s Victoria tubular bridge.

French writer Alphonse Allais, also a journalist and humorist, wrote many collections of whimsical writings. He is known for writing the earliest example of a completely silent musical composition. The small house where he was born was later turned into a museum named Alphonse Allais Museum. The Académie Alphonse-Allais has been awarding an annual prize in his honor since 1954.