Famous People Who Died Today

German-born American aerospace engineer and space architect, Wernher Von Braun, worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program as a young man. After World War II, he moved to the United States where he became a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the nation. In his later career, he became director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center.

Best known as the father of modern epidemiology, British doctor John Snow revolutionized medical science with his study of London’s Broad Street cholera outbreak of 1854. His research contributed to the development of London’s sewage and water systems and led to the reduction in cholera cases.

George Reeves was an American actor best known for playing the iconic superhero, Superman, in the popular television series, Adventures of Superman. A committed role model, George Reeves avoided smoking cigarettes around children and eventually quit smoking. His death, at the age of 45, was mourned by many and it remains a controversial subject.

English statesman and soldier John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough was the second son of Sir Winston Churchill and is remembered for his contribution to wars such as the Monmouth Rebellion and the War of the Spanish Succession. He was once imprisoned in the Tower of London for Jacobitism.

Indian Bengali chemist Prafulla Chandra Ray founded the country’s first pharma company, Bengal Chemicals. Educated in Calcutta and Edinburgh, he later worked from his home, a room on the first floor of the college where he taught. Knighted for his achievements, he donated generous sums to the Brahmo Samaj initiatives.

Elmer Ambrose Sperry is best remembered for inventing gyroscopic compasses and stabilizers, which revolutionized navigation technology back in his time. His products had been of great use to the U.S. Navy. His illustrious career had witnessed him gain over 400 patents through his eight manufacturing companies.

Felicia Montealegre was a Chilean actress whose professional achievements were overshadowed by her personal life, thanks to her marriage with popular American conductor, composer, and pianist Leonard Bernstein. She was married to Bernstein from 1951 until her death in 1978.

American surgeon and pharmacist Crawford Long is best-known as the inventor of modern anaesthetics in the West. Long is believed to be the first to apply inhaled sulfuric ether as a general anaesthesia. He applied it for the first time in 1842 for removing a tumour from a patient’s neck and went on to perform several other surgeries using ether anaesthetic.

Known as the Oskar Schindler of musicians, Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman toured all across Europe and North America. He established the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, which recruited thousands of hapless Jewish musicians who would’ve been killed had they stayed back in Europe. His iconic Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivarius violin was stolen twice but recovered later.

Marc Bloch was a French historian and founding member of a group of influential historians, which came to be known as the Annales School. Over the course of his illustrious career, Bloch published many of his works on Medieval France. He also taught at prestigious universities like the University of Strasbourg, the University of Montpellier, and the University of Paris.

Haiti’s 4th prime minister, Marc Bazin also led the country as its provisional president in the early 1990s. He had been Haiti’s finance minister, too, and had also represented Haiti in the WHO. He had worked with the World Bank and the United Nations, too.

Pioneering Austrian diver Hans Hass was a skilled marine biologist and underwater filmmaker who was considered one of the first to film marine life such as coral reefs, stingrays, and sharks. Known for his award-winning documentary Under the Red Sea, he also personally investigated the disappearance of prime minister Harold Holt at Portsea.

Twelfth-century German bishop Saint Benno was imprisoned for opposing King Henry IV. Though deposed initially, he later reconciled and was restored. He is revered as the patron saint of the city of Munich and of fishermen and weavers. His images show him holding a fish with keys between its gills.

Stenka Razin was a Cossack leader best remembered for leading a major revolt against the tsarist bureaucracy that ruled southern Russia in the 1670s. His objective was to preserve the independence of the Cossacks. Razin's movement turned political and he became a popular symbol of peasant unrest in Russia. Although his movement failed, Razin became a cultural icon in Russia.

Imre Nagy was a Hungarian politician who served as the third chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Hungarian People's Republic. He also served as the 44th prime minister of Hungary. In 1956, Nagy played an influential role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 where he led the Revolution against the government, for which he was executed in 1958.

British MP and Labour Party politician Jo Cox had also worked with Oxfam. The world was shocked by the news of her brutal assassination in 2016. She was shot and stabbed multiple times by far-right terrorist Thomas Mair, who believed the white race was under threat due to leftist beliefs.

Scottish broadcaster John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith is remembered for introducing the concept of independent public service corporations in Britain. He had also been the director-general of the BBC and the minister of information under Neville Chamberlain. He later headed the British Overseas Airways Corporation, too.

Ronald Neame was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer. Over the course of his career, Neame received several Academy Award nominations under various categories. Ronald Neame's contributions to the film industry earned him the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in 1996.