Famous People Who Died Today

Miloš Forman was a Czech and American screenwriter, film director, actor, and professor. He is remembered for directing the 1975 psychological comedy drama film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which became the second film to receive all five major Oscars. During his career, Forman won two Oscars, a César Award, and three Golden Globe Awards among other prestigious awards.

Günter Grass was a German novelist, illustrator, graphic artist, poet, playwright, and sculptor. A much revered and decorated writer, Grass was honored with the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999. Over the course of his illustrious career, Günter Grass won many other awards, including the Georg Büchner Prize and the Hermann Kesten Prize.

Eduardo Galeano was a Uruguayan novelist, journalist, and writer. Regarded as one of the most respected writers of Uruguay, Galeano was honored by the Global Exchange with the prestigious International Human Rights Award in 2006. In 2010, he was awarded the Stig Dagerman Prize.

American theoretical-physicist John Archibald Wheeler, who worked as professor of physics at Princeton University for most of his career, is best-known for co-developing the concept of Breit–Wheeler process, popularising the term black hole, and helping in designing and building the hydrogen bomb. He also invented several terms like quantum foam and wormhole, and hypothesized the one-electron universe.

After studying physics and astronomy at Wellesley College, Annie Jump Cannon traveled across Europe and focused on photography for a decade, before venturing to study astronomy again. At the Harvard Observatory, she made a considerable contribution to the classification of stellar bodies. She was almost deaf due to scarlet fever.

Seventeenth-century French author Jean de La Fontaine is best remembered for his Fables. Initially a forest inspector, he later attended the salons of aristocratic patrons, where he met scholars, authors, and philosophers. Though he faced royal opposition, he was eventually made a part of the French Academy.

German painter and sculptor Oskar Schlemmer had gained fame both for his paintings and for his choreographed avant-garde ballet productions such as Triadisches Ballett. He was a major influence behind bringing modern art exhibitions to the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Art. He had also served in World War I.

German philosopher Bruno Bauer is best remembered as a student of legendary German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel. Part of the group of intellectuals known as Young Hegelians, he was also a staunch Rationalist. He not only questioned the origin of Christ but was also accused of anti-semitism.

German Jewish philosopher Ernst Cassirer was a major figure of the Weimar intellectual circle. While he initially followed in the path of his mentor Hermann Cohen, he later developed and promoted philosophical idealism and also penned books such as Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. His The Myth of the State dealt with Nazi Germany.

John Humphrey Noyes was an American preacher, religious philosopher, and utopian socialist. He was the founder of the Putney, Oneida, and Wallingford Communities. He decided to devote his life to religion at a young age and studied at the Yale Theological Seminary. He was also involved in political activism and helped organize an anti-slavery society in the United States. 

Regarded as the father of modern Lebanon, Fakhr al-Din II had been the Sanjak-bey of Sidon-Beirut and Safed. He had also governed Baalbek and Tripoli Eyalet. He was also the first to unite the Druze and Maronite districts of Lebanon. He was eventually executed by the Ottomans in Constantinople.

One of the most popular magicians of his time, Howard Thurston was born to working-class parents and ran away from home as a child to join a circus. He popularized the floating woman illusion previously performed by Harry Kellar and was best known for his card tricks.

Russian military intelligence officer Lavr Kornilov served as an Imperial Russian Army general during World War I. He is remembered for his involvement in the Kornilov Affair, a failed coup against the Russian provincial government that was set up after the 1917 February Revolution. He was later killed in a battle for Ekaterinodar.

From being the first female student at her secondary grammar school, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti rose to be Nigeria’s foremost feminist and a champion for women’s rights. Initially a teacher, she launched the Abeokuta Women’s Union and also participated in Nigeria’s independence struggle. She later won the Lenin Peace Prize and the Order of the Niger.

Donald Currie was a Scottish politician, shipowner, and philanthropist. He is credited with founding the Castle shipping company, which had ships plying between Calcutta and Liverpool. A noted philanthropist, Currie donated to several institutions like the University College Hospital and the University of Edinburgh. Donald Currie also received several honors including the Royal Society of Arts' Fothergill gold medal.  

Best known as the pioneer of the Manchester School of anthropology, Max Gluckman is remembered for his extensive research on the law and politics of Africa. Apart from conducting fieldwork among the Ila, Tonga, and Lamba people, he had also taught at Oxford and Manchester.

Ernesto Laclau was an Argentine philosopher and political theorist. He is best remembered for his collaborations with Belgian political theorist and long-term partner, Chantal Mouffe. Ernesto Laclau is also remembered for serving as a professor at the University of Essex. 

Vasily Vereshchagin was a Russian war artist who became one of the earliest artists from Russia to be recognized internationally. Vereshchagin is best remembered for his realist war scenes which were not printed or exhibited extensively due to their graphic nature. Vasily Vereshchagin is one of the most popular Russian war artists of all time.

Gotō Shimpei was a Japanese politician who served as the cabinet minister during the Taishō and early Shōwa period Empire of Japan. He was one of the most important politicians in Japan when the country was going through a rapid phase of modernization. A qualified physician, he was the president of the Nagoya Medical School before entering politics. 

Bartolomeo Ammannati was an Italian sculptor and architect. He is credited with constructing the original Ponte Santa Trinita, which was rebuilt in 1957 after its destruction during the Second World War. A respected architect of his time, Bartolomeo Ammannati was commissioned to work on several ambitious projects including the Fountain of Neptune in Florence.