Famous People Who Died Today

The first person to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong was an astronaut and aeronautical engineer. Prior to his trip to the Moon, he became NASA's first civilian astronaut to fly in space. After resigning from NASA, he taught in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He was a Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee.

Aaliyah was an American singer, actress and model, who became famous when her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number sold three million copies in the US. Her subsequent albums also sold in millions and won her numerous accolades. She also acted in some films. She tragically died in an airplane crash in the Bahamas, at the age of 22.

German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, and poet Friedrich Nietzsche has had a profound influence on modern intellectual history. He held the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel. His work spanned philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction. He suffered from numerous health problems from a young age and died at the age of 55.

John McCain served as a US Senator for Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. Previously he was a US naval officer and is hailed as a war hero for his heroics during the Vietnam War. He was a supporter of LGBT rights, gun regulations and campaign finance reform. He was a Republican nominee for the 2008 presidential election but lost to Barack Obama.

Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, and economist, David Hume, is considered one of the most important philosophers to write in English. His book, A Treatise of Human Nature, is counted among the most influential works in the history of philosophy. His works have influenced numerous thinkers, including German philosopher Immanuel Kant and Christian philosopher Joseph Butler.

Samantha Smith was an American schoolgirl, child actress, and peace activist. She achieved popularity during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States of America; she visited the Soviet Union as a goodwill ambassador which attracted extensive media attention. She also took part in peacemaking activities in Japan before dying in an airplane crash at age 13.

Also known as The Chief, Art Rooney not only founded the NFL team Pittsburgh Steelers but was also named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He won the Super Bowl four times as an owner and was a major force behind the NFL-AFL merger. He was also a track racing enthusiast.

Paul Muni was an Austro-Hungarian American actor best remembered for his portrayal of Louis Pasteur in the 1936 biographical film The Story of Louis Pasteur, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Muni is also remembered for his performance in the play Inherit the Wind, which earned him the prestigious Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Henri Becquerel is known for his chance discovery of spontaneous radioactivity. Born into a family of scientists, Becquerel had been an engineer and a physics professor earlier. Marie Curie, who shared the Nobel with him and her husband, Pierre, was one of his doctoral students.

Landscape painter Thomas Moran is best known for his paintings that depicted the Rocky Mountains. After being part of a government surveying expedition to the then-uncharted Yellowstone area, he documented the woods and thus motivated the authorities to establish the US’s first national park in the area.

John Birch was an American missionary and Baptist minister. A US Army Air Forces military intelligence captain, Birch also played a key role during the Second World War, serving as an OSS agent in China. Killed during a confrontation with Communist soldiers in China, John Birch was posthumously honored with the Army Distinguished Service Medal.

William Warfield was an American singer and actor. He achieved popularity during the Civil Rights era and received many prestigious awards, including a Grammy Award. Best remembered for his appearances in television programs, Hollywood films, and stage productions, William Warfield also taught at academic institutions and represented the US during foreign tours.

Henry Morgan was a Welsh privateer who later served as lieutenant governor of Jamaica. He is best remembered for raiding settlements on the Spanish Main. From the wealth acquired through his raids, Morgan became a plantation owner, buying three large sugar plantations in the Caribbean. His life and career inspired several films, such as Captain Blood and Morgan, the Pirate.

US Navy officer and geologist Harry Hammond Hess is remembered for his pioneering contribution to the unifying theory of plate tectonics. He also worked extensively on the concept of seafloor spreading and was part of the faculty of Princeton University. He served as the Geological Society of America as its president, too.

Sonia Rykiel was a French writer and fashion designer. She is credited with creating the Poor Boy Sweater—a pullover with high armholes—which was showcased on the cover page of French Elle. Dubbed the Queen of Knits, Sonia Rykiel helped redefine the idea of knitwear in fashion. She is also credited with founding the Sonia Rykiel label in 1968.

Spanish Catholic priest Joseph Calasanz founded the Pious Schools, whose followers, the Piarists, dedicated themselves to the service of the poor. He was the man behind Europe’s first free school for children from impoverished homes. A friend of Galileo Galilei, he supported the heliocentric system, unlike other religious orders.

Stanley Bruce was an Australian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929. He implemented a comprehensive nation-building program and brought about a range of reforms that aimed at expanding the nation’s economy. However, his handling of industrial relations took a controversial turn, and he had to step down in 1929. 

John Brunner was a British author whose 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar earned him the 1969 BSFA Award as well as the prestigious Hugo Award. He won another BSFA Award in 1970 for his work The Jagged Orbit. He also contributed as a screenwriter for the 1967 science fiction movie The Terrornauts.

Ahmad Faraz was a Pakistani scriptwriter and poet. Counted among the most popular revolutionary poets of Urdu language, Faraz has won many prestigious awards and honors like the Hilal-e-Imtiaz and Sitara-i-Imtiaz. The Government of Pakistan honored Ahmad Faraz with a posthumous Hilal-e-Pakistan award for his contribution to Urdu literature and poetry. 

Part of the 18th-century London intellectual circle, socialite Elizabeth Montagu was a pioneering member of the Bluestockings, a group of women who engaged in evening conversations as a substitute to card-playing. The wife of affluent landowner Edward Montagu, she inherited his riches and later built the Montagu House.

Estonian writer and physician Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald is regarded as father of the national literature for Estonia. He is best remembered for authoring the epic poem Kalevipoeg that is considered the Estonian national epic. It is considered that Kreutzwald wrote the first original Estonian book. He was also noted as a leader of the national awakening.

Alfred Kinsey was an American biologist, sexologist, and professor of zoology and entomology. He is credited with founding the Indiana University's Institute for Sex Research in 1947. Kinsey's research on human sexuality and his other works have influenced cultural and social values in the USA as well as internationally. In 2012, Kinsey was inducted into Chicago's Legacy Walk.

Sikh poet and theologian Bhai Gurdas is best known as the scribe of the Kartarpur Pothi, on which the Adi Granth is based. He had written countless ballads and short poems in Braj Bhasa, too. He had also been the first Jathedar, or leader, of the Akal Takht.

Danish author Johan Ludvig Heiberg was one of the most prominent figures of the Danish Romantic school. He was also a pioneer of Hegelianism and vaudeville in Denmark. Om Vaudevillen remains one of his best-known works. He also taught Danish at the University of Kiel. His satirical works, however, made him unpopular.