Died On December 31st

Betty White, American actress and comedian, is considered as the pioneer of television and has had the longest television career of any entertainer, straddling more than 80 years. She’s known for her award-winning performances in shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland. 

Roberto Clemente was a Puerto Rican baseball player who represented the Pittsburgh Pirates in Major League Baseball (MLB). Apart from being a popular player, Clemente was also a great humanitarian whose impact is still being felt in MLB. Since his untimely death at the age of 38, Clemente has been the subject of several documentaries, articles, and books.

Ricky Nelson was an American pop pioneer, rock & roll star, and singer-songwriter. After establishing himself as a top teen idol during the 1950s, Ricky Nelson went on to release several chartbusting songs. He achieved great popularity and was ranked 91st on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.

Wayne Rogers worked his fingers to the bone for years in regional plays and off-Broadway before he seized the role of Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre in M*A*S*H that made him a star. In later years, he found substantial success in the financial field as an investor, businessman, and stock analyst.

William Christopher was an American comedian and actor remembered for playing important roles in popular TV series, such as M*A*S*H, AfterMASH, and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Also known for his charity work, Christopher devoted his free time to the National Autistic Society, a British charity for autistic people. In 1985, he co-wrote Mixed Blessings, a memoir about raising his autistic son.

One of the first Black football players of the NFL, Woody Strode was also a talented decathlete. He had dabbled in professional wrestling, too, but later gained fame solely for his film roles, such as that of gladiator Draba in Spartacus, for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination.

John Wycliffe was an English theologian, scholastic philosopher, biblical translator, priest, and reformer. He was also associated with the University of Oxford where he served as a seminary professor. John Wycliffe played a key role in the development of the Bible's translation into English. Wycliffe’s works also greatly influenced the teaching and philosophy of a Czech reformer named Jan Hus.

Kader Khan was an Indian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film director. After starting his career as a professor of civil engineering, Kader Khan went on to become a prolific screenwriter for Hindi movies and ended up writing dialogues for 200 movies as well. In 2019, he was honored posthumously with the Padma Shri.

Miguel de Unamuno was a Spanish essayist, poet, playwright, novelist, and philosopher. His most famous novel was Abel Sánchez: The History of a Passion, a modern retelling of the Biblical Cain and Abel story. He was a significant figure in the Spanish literary and intellectual circles and served as rector of the University of Salamanca. 

Nigerian linguist and clergyman Samuel Ajayi Crowther was the first African Anglican bishop of West Africa. Sold into slavery during childhood, Crowther was eventually freed by West Africa Squadron of Royal Navy. He resettled in Sierra Leone, received his education in English, adopted Christianity and was ordained as a minister in England, being consecrated a bishop on St Peter's day. 

Malcolm Campbell was a British racer who achieved the world speed record on both water and land on multiple occasions. He is also known as the father of Donald, who became the first person to set both world water speed and land speed records in the same year. In 1990, Campbell was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Romanian author Ion Creanga is best remembered for his pioneering contribution to children’s literature, Childhood Memories. He was associated with the Romanian literary society Junimea and the realist art movement. He also enriched the folklore of Romania, drawing on the fairy tales of his land.

Remembered as the Father of the Republic in Austria, Karl Renner led his country as its third president. Previously, he had also led the first Austrian republic. Born into a humble family of wine-growers, he studied law and began his political career with the SDAP.

Alice Ball was an American chemist best remembered for developing the Ball Method, which became the most effective treatment for leprosy in the early 20th century. She was the first African American and first woman to work as a chemistry professor at the University of Hawaii. Alice Ball's contributions to science were recognized several years after her death.

Aleksis Kivi, a national writer of Finland, created modern-literary-language of the nation His only novel Seitsemän veljestä is widely-regarded as first significant novel written in Finnish language. He is counted among the earliest and greatest authors of prose and lyrics in Finnish. Another famous work of Kivi, whose birthday is celebrated as Finnish Literature Day, is the play Heath Cobblers.

Felice Schragenheim was a German Jewish resistance fighter who fought against the Nazi regime during the Second World War. She is best remembered for her relationship with Lilly Wust; the tragic love story inspired the 1999 German drama film Aimée & Jaguar. Schragenheim was killed at the age of 22, when she was part of a death march from Poland to Germany.

Charles Galton Darwin was an English physicist. Born into a prominent family of intellectuals, he was the son of mathematician George Howard Darwin and a grandson of biologist Charles Darwin. He studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, and began an academic career. He, later on, served as the director of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). He loved to travel. 

While he matriculated in math and taught the subject later, Giovanni Alfonso Borelli also made pioneering discoveries as a physicist and physiologist. With works such as De Motu Animalium, he revolutionized the field of biomechanics, explaining muscular movements with the help of statics and dynamics.

Jafar Jabbarly was an Azerbaijani poet, playwright, director, and screenwriter. He is credited with establishing the art of screenwriting in Azerbaijan. Two of his well-known plays, Almaz and Sevil, were made into films. Jafar Jabbarly died at the age of 35 due to heart failure.

The second wife of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, Bianca Maria Sforza often remained overshadowed by the emperor’s first wife, Mary of Burgundy. Her marriage was mostly unhappy, and she lived in her own court, separate from her husband’s. She is also hardly mentioned in any literary text about Maximilian’s reign.