Famous People Who Died Today

One of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15. As his career progressed, he became the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings. Rolling Stone ranked him as the greatest guitarist and the sixth greatest artist of all time. He died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 27.

The first Jewish woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. An advocate for gender equality and women's rights, she spent the majority of her legal career championing these causes. She remained professionally active until her death in 2020.

Leonhard Euler was a Swiss physicist, mathematician, logician, geographer, astronomer, and engineer. He is credited with making influential and important mathematical discoveries, such as graph theory and infinitesimal calculus. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most prolific mathematicians of all time, Leonhard Euler also made pioneering contributions to analytic number theory and topology.

Japanese samurai and daimyō Toyotomi Hideyoshi of the Sengoku period, also known as the second Great Unifier of Japan, became the Chancellor of the Realm (Daijō-daijin) and Imperial Regent (kampaku). He constructed the Osaka Castle, banned slavery, and established the Tokugawa class system and the Council of Five Elders.

Professional boxer Ken Norton is remembered for his three highly publicized fights with Muhammad Ali, out of which he lost two. Norton was a towering figure in the boxing world and held the WBC heavyweight title in 1978. He was a forward-pressing fighter notable for his unusual stance. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.

Dag Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat and economist. In 1953, Hammarskjöld became the youngest person to be appointed as the Secretary-General of the United Nations. He died in airplane crash in 1961. Dag Hammarskjöld became the first person to be honored with a Nobel Peace Prize posthumously.

Bob Hayes was an American athlete and a football player. An Olympic gold medalist and a Super Bowl ring winner, Hayes was inducted into both Pro Football Hall of Fame as well as the United States Olympic Hall of Fame. He won gold medal in 100m and 4 x 100m relay in 1964 Tokto Oympics  Hayes was once regarded as the world's fastest human.

Lieserl Einstein’s existence came into light almost 30 years after her father Albert Einstein’s death. She was the illegitimate, first-born child of Einstein and his fellow student, and later wife, Mileva Maric. Some believe she died of scarlet fever, while other sources state she was given up for adoption.

English essayist and critic William Hazlitt is remembered for his characteristic humanism in his works. Initially aspiring to be a painter, he traveled to Paris but later deviated to philosophy and metaphysics. Though he penned iconic works such as The Spirit of the Age, he spent his later life in oblivion.

Robert Venturi was an American architect who founded the successful architectural firm, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. One of the 20th century's leading architectural figures, Venturi helped shape the way that students, planners, and architects think about architecture. Renowned for designing buildings like the Vanna Venturi House, Robert Venturi was honored with the prestigious National Medal of Arts in 1992.

Sir John Douglas Cockcroft was a British physicist credited with designing the Cockcroft-Walton generator with Earnest Walton. Their relentless research on spitting various types of atoms helped to establish the importance of accelerators in disintegrating atoms, which in turn paved the way for the development of nuclear power.  For his pioneering work,John Cockroft was one of the recipients of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics

Mary Wigman was a German dancer best remembered for pioneering dance therapy and expressionist dance. Also a choreographer, Wigman is also credited with pioneering movement training sans pointe shoes. Widely regarded as one of the most prominent personalities in modern dance history, Mary Wigman is also considered an iconic figure of Weimar German culture.

Rose Valland was a French art historian and a captain in the French military. She secretly recorded the details of the Nazis destroying and plundering French art and helped to save thousands of works of art by working with the French Resistance. After the war, she began a relationship with Joyce Helen Heer and shared a home with her. 

German-born Russian conservative statesman Pyotr Stolypin had been the minister of interior and the third prime minister of Russia. His agrarian reform, also known as the Stolypin land reform, was highly significant. He also initiated multiple court-martials to execute rebels, causing people to call the hangman’s noose Stolypin’s necktie.

Polish author, painter, and dramatist Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz of the Awangarda Krakowska movement was part of the Australian expedition of anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski, as an artist. He had also worked in the Russian Army. He committed suicide at the onset of World War II, though many believe he had faked his own death.

A prominent 19th century English philosopher of the absolute Idealist school and a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, Francis Herbert Bradley was an opponent of the British Empiricist theories and utilitarian trends.  Well-known for his non-pluralistic approach to philosophy, he devoted his life to writing, publishing five books in his lifetime, most significant among them being Appearance and Reality.

One of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of all time, MMA fighter and kickboxer Norifumi Yamamoto, nicknamed Kid, had successful stints at Shooto and K-1 Hero's. After revealing his cancer diagnosis on Instagram in August 2018, he succumbed to the disease, at age 41, in September the same year.

Alexander Bain was a Scottish philosopher. He was a prominent educationalist in the British school of empiricism. A respected figure in the fields of psychology, logic, linguistics, moral philosophy, and education reform, he founded Mind, the first-ever journal of psychology and analytical philosophy. He had an illustrious academic career at the University of Aberdeen. 

Physicist Hippolyte Fizeau is best remembered for conducting the Fizeau experiment, named after him, which measured the speed of light. His other achievements include his contribution to the discovery of the Doppler effect and his description of the capacitor to improve the efficiency of the induction coil.

Mohammad Hidayatullah was an Indian lawyer, politician, and academician. He served as the chief justice of India from 1968 to 1970. He also served as the sixth Vice President of India. An eminent scholar, Hidayatullah was the president of Indian Society of International Law, Indian Law Institute, and the Indian branch of International Law Association.

Gelett Burgess was an American poet, artist, art critic, author, and humorist. He is credited with introducing French modern art to the USA. He is also credited with coining the term blurb. In 1891, he established the San Francisco Boys' Club Association which was later renamed Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco. 

Américo Tomás was a Portuguese politician and Navy officer. He is best remembered for his service as the President of Portugal from 9 August 1958 to 25 April 1974. He also served as the Minister of the Navy from 1944 to 1958, during which he oversaw the re-construction of the Portuguese commercial navy.

Born in the German Empire, Kurt Sanderling became one of the leading conductors during the Cold War era. He overcame his removal from the Deutsche Oper Berlin by the Nazis and moved to the USSR. Over the years, he performed in Britain and the US.