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A man of many talents, Kishore Kumar was an Indian actor, filmmaker, writer, music director, lyricist, and playback singer. One of the most popular Indian singers of his generation, Kishore Kumar sang in different genres and multiple Indian languages. In 1997, the Kishore Kumar Award was initiated for his contributions to Hindi cinema. Despite marrying four times, he remained a loner.
Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American biographer and historian. A respected figure, Ambrose was honored with several prestigious awards during his lifetime. In 1998, he was honored with the National Humanities Medal. The same year, he also won the Golden Plate Award as well as the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize. In 2001, he received the Theodore Roosevelt Medal.
US Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut James McDivitt was mainly associated with Project Gemini and Project Apollo. His Gemini 4 mission witnessed Ed White script history as the first US astronaut to complete a spacewalk. Post-retirement, he was associated with organizations such as Pullman Inc. and Rockwell International.
Nobel Prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo, best remembered for the play Mistero Buffo, donned many hats and made his presence felt as an actor, stage director and designer, and painter. He and his wife, actor Franca Rame, did everything from writing sketches for the show Canzonissima to founding theater companies.
Antonio Canova was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor widely regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists. He was famous for his marble sculptures. His work was inspired by the Baroque and the classical revival. His most notable works include Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss and Perseus Triumphant. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he refused to take in pupils.
Nobel Prize-winning Canadian physicist Bertram Brockhouse is best remembered for his research on neutron-scattering techniques. He also invented the neutron spectrometer and became one of the first to calculate the phonon dispersion curve of a solid. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for his contribution to science.
Liberal Rhodesian politician Garfield Todd served as the prime minister of Southern Rhodesia. Born in New Zealand, he later moved to Southern Rhodesia as a Protestant missionary and also opened a clinic there. He lost his political power after his ministers opposed his policy of appeasing Black voters.
One of the best Latin poets of his time, Theodore Beza soared to fame with his poetry collection Juvenilia. He later adopted Calvinism and succeeded John Calvin as the main spiritual leader of the Republic of Geneva. He is remembered as a major force behind the spread of Calvinism in Europe.
William Hopkins was an English geologist and mathematician. He is remembered for serving as a private tutor of prospective undergraduate Cambridge mathematicians, which earned him the nickname senior-wrangler maker. Hopkins also played first-class cricket and was associated with Cambridge University Cricket Club. He had an unfortunate end to his life as he spent his final years in a lunatic asylum.
Arthur de Gobineau was a French aristocrat best remembered for his efforts to legitimize racism. He cited scientific racist theory as legitimate evidence in an attempt to coerce people into believing that the Aryan race is superior. He was also known as a novelist, travel writer, and diplomat among his contemporaries.
Maya Deren was a Ukrainian-born American filmmaker known for her experimental work. She played a major role in promoting the avant-garde in the mid-20th century. A multifaceted personality, she was also a dancer, choreographer, film theorist, photographer, and writer. She abandoned established rules of filmmaking and created her own techniques. Sadly, she died at the young age of 44.
