Died On August 15th

Viktor Tsoi, the lead singer of the legendary Russian rock band Kino, broke the hearts of his fans across the world when he died in a tragic car crash at age 28. A symbol of rebellion, Tsoi transformed rock music from an underground movement to a mainstream phenomenon in Russia.

Native American aviator Wiley Post scripted history as the first person to complete a solo flight around the world. Post and actor/humorist Will Rogers were killed when their flight crashed in Alaska in 1935. Post had created many high-altitude records and invented one of the world’s first pressure suits.

Paul Signac had initially aspired to become an architect but later deviated to painting. A major figure of the post-Impressionist period, he, along with Georges Seurat, pioneered the technique called pointillism. A sailor and an avid traveler, he mirrored the beauty of the European coasts in his works.

A legendary figure in Hungarian history, Stephen I was the first king of Hungary. Part of the Árpád dynasty and son of Magyar chief Géza, Stephen was born a Pagan but was later baptized as a Christian. He built many monasteries, encouraged trade, and maintained peace in his kingdom.

Hungarian violinist and composer Joseph Joachim was trained in Budapest and London before he became the director of the Hochschule für Ausübende Tonkunst in Berlin. He formed the Joachim Quartet and gained fame as a music teacher. He is best known for his versions of works by legends such as Beethoven.

Grazia Deledda was an Italian writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926, becoming the first Italian woman to receive the prize. Interested in writing from a young age, she became a writer despite her family’s objections. Today, her work is highly regarded across the world, and generations of writers continue to be inspired by her.  

While actor Paul Lukas initially ruled the Hungarian stage and worked in several productions of Austrian filmmaker and theater director Max Reinhardt, he later moved to the US. He is best remembered for his Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Kurt Muller in the film Watch on the Rhine.

Mexican painter and writer Gerardo Murillo Cornado, more famous by his pseudonym Dr. Atl, was a pioneer of the Mexican movement for artistic nationalism. During Mexican Revolution, Cornado supported the Constitutionalist faction. He was also interested in study of volcanoes and was considered an expert volcanologist. His notable paintings include those of the volcanoes of Popocatépetl and Ixtacihuatl.

One of the main figures of the Ẓāhirī school of jurisprudence, Ibn Hazm had penned masterpieces such as The Ring of the Dove. The Spanish Muslim polymath was from an influential family and grew up to write on varied topics, such as history, religion, medicine, and ethics.

Johan Gadolin was a Finnish physicist, chemist, and mineralogist. He achieved popularity for his description of yttrium, the first rare-earth element. Johan Gadolin is also remembered for his service as a professor at the Royal Academy of Turku, where he became one of the first chemists to give laboratory exercises to students.

Hugo Theorell was a Swedish scientist best remembered for winning the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Theorell, who dedicated his career to enzyme research, earned the Nobel Prize for discovering oxidoreductase enzymes. Hugo Theorell's work led to pioneering development on alcohol dehydrogenases.

Finnish composer-lyricist Eino Kettunen is best-remembered for the song Ievan Polkka that he wrote to a traditional Finnish polka-tune. Counted among the most-famous Finnish songs, Ievan Polkka resurfaced following a cappella-performance by Loituma. The song’s Loituma version gained immense-popularity when leekspin.com posted an endless flash animation-loop showing Orihime Inoue, from anime series Bleach, spinning a leek while singing the song.

Sune Bergström was a Swedish biochemist best remembered for winning the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine alongside John R. Vane and Bengt I. Samuelsson for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins. Over the course of his career, Sune Bergström was also honored with Columbia University's Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize and the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh.

Frederick William Robertson, also known as Robertson of Brighton, was a 19th-century Anglican clergyman. Born to an army captain, he initially wished to serve in the military. His sermons dismissed the theological ideas existing back then and focused on the reform concepts of the 1848 Revolution instead.

Johann Adam Schall von Bell was a German astronomer and Jesuit missionary. Schall von Bell, who spent most of his life doing missionary work in China, played an important role in Chinese history as he was one of the most important advisers to the Shunzhi Emperor. He is also credited with educating the Chinese on the concepts of Western astronomy.