Famous People Who Died Today

The King of Pop and an international superstar, Michael Jackson was a musical entertainer whose work – both with Jackson 5 and solo – won accolades and hearts worldwide. Equally popular were his unique dance moves that created sensation and shaped future dance styles. Amongst the most successful entertainers of all time, Jackson was later accused of child molestation.  

Farrah Fawcett is best remembered for posing for the iconic red swimsuit poster, which sold over 12 million copies and is regarded as a symbol of the late-1970s and a modern icon. Known for her good looks, Farrah was a popular Playboy model. The actress was also named in Men's Health magazine's 100 Hottest Women of All-Time list in 2011.

Jacques Cousteau was a French explorer, naval officer, filmmaker, conservationist, scientist, photographer, researcher, and author. Renowned for his exploration of various forms of life in water, Jacques Cousteau is credited with pioneering marine conservation and co-developing the Aqua-Lung, the first underwater breathing apparatus to achieve popularity and commercial success.

Businessman Richard Benjamin Harrison became famous as a reality TV personality when he started appearing in the History Channel series Pawn Stars as the co-owner of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. His already successful business started thriving following the show’s success. He was nominated for the 2012 Time 100 list.

George Armstrong Custer was a US Army officer. He played an important role as a cavalry commander in the American Indian Wars and the American Civil War. His death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, went on to become a well-known episode of the American Indian Wars.

E. T. A. Hoffmann was a German author, jurist, artist, composer, and music critic. His stories served as an inspiration and laid the foundation for The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach. The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is also based on Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Hoffmann is among the most influential authors of the Romantic Movement.

Stanford White was an American architect who designed several important monuments including the Washington Square Arch. He also helped construct Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower, which happens to be his last design. Although White was an influential and prominent designer of his time, he is best remembered for his illicit relationship with Evelyn Nesbit which has inspired several works of art.

John B. Goodenough is an American solid-state physicist and materials scientist. He is credited with developing the lithium-ion battery. In 2019, he became the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize when he was honored with the prestigious award for his work on lithium-ion batteries. He is also a recipient of the Copley Medal and the National Medal of Science.

Thomas Eakins was an American photographer, realist painter, fine arts educator, and sculptor. Often counted among the most prominent American artists of all time, Eakins painted several hundred portraits during his lifetime. As an educator, Thomas Eakins played an important role in influencing the American art during his generation.

Judith Wright was an Australian environmentalist, poet, and campaigner for Indigenous land rights. Wright is credited with founding one of the earliest environmental conservation movements in Australia. Best remembered for her poetry skills, Judith Wright won the prestigious Christopher Brennan Award in 1976. In 1991, she was honored with the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

Isabel Sarli was an Argentine glamor model and actress best remembered for starring in popular sexploitation films in the 1960s and 1970s. After being crowned as Miss Argentina in 1955, Sarli went on to debut as an actress. She collaborated with Armando Bó, becoming the quintessential sex symbol of Argentina. Isabel Sarli also achieved international recognition during her illustrious career.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a Dutch classical subject painter whose painting about luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire became very well known. Regarded a prominent Victorian painter, he was successful, admired, famous and highly paid during his lifetime. However, his popularity waned after his death and saw a resurgence only in the second half of the 20th century.

Considered the founder of operative gynecology, Ephraim McDowell was also the first person to perfect lithotomy, a surgical technique for removing stones obstructing urinary bladder. He came to limelight when he successfully removed a 20-pound tumor from Jane Todd Crawford’s ovary, later performing twelve more ovariotomies, out of which seven were successful, thus demonstrating the viability of elective abdominal surgery.

Former senator from Oyo State in Nigeria, Abiola Ajimobi was previously an oil tycoon who headed the National Oil and Chemical Marketing Company as its MD/CEO. The first Oyo State governor to successfully serve 2 terms, he died of COVID-19 in 2020 at age 70.

James Stirling was a British architect best remembered for his collaboration with fellow architects, James Gowan and Michael Wilford. Stirling is credited with overseeing prestigious projects like the University of Cambridge's History Faculty Library. Over the course of his illustrious career, James Stirling was honored with several prestigious awards, such as the Pritzker Prize and the Alvar Aalto Medal.

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Walton was the first person to split the atom. He boasted of a PhD from Cambridge and, with Sir John Douglas Cockcroft, developed the world’s first nuclear particle accelerator, or the Cockcroft-Walton generator, with which they conducted the first artificial nuclear reaction without radioactive substances.

Lounés Matoub was an Algerian singer, thinker, poet, and mandole player. An ardent advocate of human rights, secularism, and the Berber cause in Algeria, Matoub sparked an intellectual revolution. Lounès Matoub remained unpopular among the Muslim population for his secular and atheist politics and was assassinated on June 25, 1998.

Born to working-class Polish immigrants in Canada, Irving Kaplansky later became one of the first to get a Putnam Fellowship to Harvard University. A mathematics professor, he made major contributions to areas such as group theory. A skilled musician, too, he had played in bands and composed math-themed songs.

Ferdinand Cohn was a German biologist who is credited with co-founding microbiology and modern bacteriology. Apart from publishing more than 150 research reports, Cohn also made significant contributions to the field of botany. He was also the first person to classify algae as plants. Ferdinand Cohn received the prestigious Leeuwenhoek Medal in 1885.

Apart from being a scientist and physician, John Boyd Orr also conducted ground-breaking research on nutrition. The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was known for his campaigns to end world hunger, had also served the British army and navy as a medical officer. He was later knighted, too.

Swedish military commander Carl Gustaf Wrangel is best known for his exploits during the Thirty Years’ War. When Swedish king Charles XI was a minor, Wrangel served the Regency Council. As the governor-general of Swedish Pomerania, he gained a lot of fortune, which he spent on books and palaces.