Famous People Who Died Today

Stephen Hawking was an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, who despite being afflicted motor neurone disease that severely limited his physical abilities, was able to build a phenomenally successful career. He was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Hawking was ranked 25 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, in 2002.

Karl Marx, the philosopher, economist, political theorist and socialist revolutionary, is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto and the three-volume Das Kapital. His theories, called Marxism, maintained that class conflict leads to the development of human societies and that internal tension were inherent in capitalism, which would ultimately be replaced by the socialist mode of production.

Scott Hall is an American retired wrestler best known for his association with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where he is popularly known as Razor Ramon. Apart from his several championship reigns in WWE, Scott Hall is also renowned for being an original member of the New World Order, one of the most popular stables in the history of professional wrestling.

Susan Hayward was an American model and actress best known for playing characters based on true stories. During her illustrious acting career, which spanned 35 years, Susan Hayward won several prestigious awards, such as Academy Award and Golden Globe Award. She was also one of the most bankable Hollywood actresses throughout the 1950s.

George Eastman revolutionized the world of photography with his Eastman Kodak Company and the roll film, which also came to be used in movies. Initially a banker, he later devoted himself to his camera company. A dedicated philanthropist, too, he contributed financially to music, dentistry, and medicine.

Fannie Lou Hamer was an American community organizer and women's rights activist. She also played an important role in the civil rights movement. Hamer is credited with co-founding the Freedom Democratic Party as well as the National Women's Political Caucus. In 1993, Fannie Lou Hamer was made an inductee of the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Four-time Academy Award-winning director Fred Zinnemann had started off as an extra. He later directed/produced masterpieces such as A Man for All Seasons and was one of the first to use non-professional actors along with stars. He was shattered when his ambitious project Man's Fate was shelved.

Ed Roberts was an American activist best remembered for his contribution to the disability rights movement. Roberts, who became the first student to attend the University of California, Berkeley in a wheelchair, played an important role in inspiring and motivating people with physical disabilities. In 2011, Ed Roberts was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

Fritz Perls initially fought in World War I, following which he treated brain injuries of soldiers. He was later drawn to Freudian psychoanalysis. During World War II, he was the psychiatrist for the South African military. His Gestalt therapy, which he co-created with his wife, Laura, redefined psychology.

Comedian Jim Bowen is best remembered for appearing on the ITV game show Bullseye for over a decade. Born to an unwed mother, he was put up for adoption and ended up being adopted by a bricklayer. He grew up to be a PE teacher and later stepped into stand-up comedy.

Lennart Meri was an Estonian writer, politician, and film director. He played a key role in the Estonian independence movement. From 1992 to 2001, he served as the president of Estonia and is often counted among the most revered presidents of Estonia. In 2009, Tallinn Airport was renamed Lennart Meri Tallinn International Airport.

Frederick Jackson Turner was an American historian who was closely associated with the University of Wisconsin as well as Harvard University. Turner is credited with training and mentoring several PhDs who went on to become respected historians in their own right. Best remembered for his Frontier Thesis, Frederick Jackson Turner had a strong influence on historians, novelists, and filmmakers.

Legendary Japanese origamist Akira Yoshizawa had authored around 18 books and created over 50,000 models in his lifetime. He went from selling tsukudani to winning the Order of the Rising Sun. He had chanced upon origami while teaching geometry to his subordinates at the factory where he worked.

Lucie Samuel was a French history-teacher and member of French Resistance during Second World War. She obtained an agrégation of history, an uncommon feat for a woman of her time. Her husband Raymond Aubrac, a leader of French Resistance, was given death-sentence. Lucie helped in organising his escape from prison. The couple later joined Charles de Gaulle’s government in exile. 

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty. Named to the shogunate by his father Tokugawa Ieyasu because of his even temper, he not only consolidated his family’s rule, but also banned Christianity and Christian literature in Japan, executing many missionaries and converts. To protect Japan from foreign influence, he also took steps to ban foreign trade.

Ignacy Krasicki was a Primate of Poland, playwright, journalist, encyclopedist, translator, critic of the clergy and a prominent Enlightenment poet of Poland. The most notable works of Krasicki are his Fables and Parables and Satires. The first Polish novel, The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom, written in the form of a diary by Krasicki is a milestone in Polish literature.

Indonesia’s first vice president Mohammad Hatta was also known as The Proclamator. He was a major pillar of Indonesia’s independence struggle against the Dutch. He had also been Indonesia’s 3rd prime minister and its minister of defense. He is also remembered as the father of the Indonesian cooperative movement.

The wife of US president James A. Garfield, Lucretia Garfield was a skilled public speaker and educator in her own right. However, she never publicly supported the women’s suffrage movement and almost always agreed with her husband’s political decisions. She attended to her husband when he was dying from a fatal gunshot wound.