Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Sciences & Discovery

29

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Igor Tamm

Игорь Евгеньевич Тамм

Russia

1895 – 1971 (75 years old)

Soviet theoretical physicist who co-developed the electrodynamic theory of Cherenkov radiation and co-invented the Tokamak magnetic fusion confinement system with Andrei Sakharov.

Moscow, Russia

29 Full Record →

Arts & Music

32

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Jilali Gharbaoui

الجيلالي الغرباوي

Morocco

1930 – 1971 (41 years old)

Tragic genius celebrated as Morocco's first purely non-figurative abstract painter, whose electrifying gestural brushstrokes and violent search for light anticipated European Informel painting.

Fez, Morocco

32 Full Record →

Arts & Music

38

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Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky

Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский

Russia

17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971 (88 years old)

Russian-born composer whose groundbreaking ballets for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes—The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring—exploded traditional rhythm and harmony, redefining 20th-century music.

New York City, United States

38 Full Record →

Art

1

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Arne Jacobsen

Arne Emil Jacobsen

Kingdom of Denmark

1902-02-11 – 1971-03-24 (69 years old)

World-renowned titan of Scandinavian modernist architecture and functionalist design whose architectural landmarks (Aarhus City Hall, SAS Royal Hotel) and iconic chairs (The Egg, The Swan, Series 7) shaped 20th-century aesthetics.

Ordrup, Gentofte, Denmark

1 Full Record →

Art

1

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Arne Jacobsen

Arne Emil Jacobsen

Denmark

1902-02-11 – 1971-03-24 (69 years old)

Legendary Danish architect and furniture designer whose holistic modernist works include the SAS Royal Hotel, St Catherine's College Oxford, and iconic chairs like The Egg, The Swan, and Series 7.

Gentofte, Denmark

1 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

34

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Whitney Moore Young Jr.

Whitney M. Young Jr.

United States

1921 – 1971 (49 years old)

Dirigeant historique de la National Urban League (1961-1971), conseiller des présidents Kennedy et Johnson, artisan de l'intégration économique et de la War on Poverty.

Hartsdale, New York, United States

34 Full Record →

Science

1

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Theodor Svedberg

Theodor Svedberg

Sweden

1884-08-30 – 1971-02-25 (86 years old)

Colloid chemist awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on disperse systems, who invented the analytical ultracentrifuge, immortalized in the Svedberg unit (S).

Uppsala, Sweden

1 Full Record →

Music

1

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Rex Lawson

Rex Jim Lawson

Nigeria

1935-03-04 – 1971-01-16 (35 years old)

Legendary Nigerian highlife trumpeter, singer, and bandleader whose emotional phrasing, melodic mastery, and classics like 'Sawale' and 'Yellow Sisi' defined the golden era of highlife.

Buguma, Nigeria

1 Full Record →

Politics

1

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Ernest Ouandié

Ernest Ouandie

Cameroon

1924-01-01 – 1971-01-15 (47 years old)

Heroic Vice-President of the UPC and commander of the Armée de Libération Nationale du Kamerun (ALNK) who fought for ten years underground before his public execution in 1971.

Bafoussam, Cameroon

1 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

49

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Sonny Liston

Charles L. Liston

United States

c. 8 May 1932 – 30 December 1970 (~38 years old)

Charles 'Sonny' Liston was one of the most formidable and terrifying heavyweight punchers in boxing history, whose colossal 84-inch reach, sledgehammer left jab, and intimidating scowl dominated the division in the early 1960s. He captured the world heavyweight championship in 1962 by demolishing Floyd Patterson in the first round, before his historic clashes with Muhammad Ali.

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

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Military Leaders & Strategists

55

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Field Marshal William Slim (1st Viscount Slim)

William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim

Great Britain

1891 – 1970 (79 years old)

British Field Marshal who rebuilt the defeated 'Forgotten Army' into the victorious Fourteenth Army, routing the Imperial Japanese Army at Imphal and Kohima.

Windsor, United Kingdom

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Literature & Poetry

4

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Arthur Nortje

Arthur Kenneth Nortje

South Africa

1942-12-16 – 1970-12-08 (27 years old)

Brilliant, tragic poet whose posthumous collection 'Dead Roots' (1973) stands as one of the most intense and lyrical expressions of the agony of apartheid exile.

Oxford, United Kingdom

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Literature & Poetry

34

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Yukio Mishima

三島 由紀夫

Japan

1925 – 1970 (45 years old)

Prodigious Japanese author, nationalist, and aesthetician whose Confessions of a Mask, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, and Sea of Fertility tetralogy explored beauty and death.

Fuchu (Tokyo), Japan

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Sciences & Discovery

30

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C. V. Raman

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman

India

1888 – 1970 (82 years old)

Indian physicist who was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering that light scattered by molecules changes wavelength (the Raman Effect), becoming the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in any scientific discipline.

Bangalore (Karnataka), India

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Sports & Athletics

7

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Abdelaziz Ben Tifour

عبد العزيز بن طيفور

Algeria

1927 – 1970 (43 years old)

AS Monaco star forward and French international who masterminded the dramatic clandestine escape of Algerian footballers to form the FLN team in April 1958.

Algiers, Algeria

7 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

35

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Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle

France

1890-11-22 – 1970-11-09 (79 years old)

Rescued French national sovereignty in 1940, established the enduring constitutional framework of the Fifth Republic, and championed national strategic independence.

Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, France

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

43

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Lazaro Cardenas

Lazaro Cardenas del Rio

Mexico

1895 – 1970 (75 years old)

President of Mexico (1934–1940) who fulfilled the promises of the Mexican Revolution by nationalizing the foreign-owned petroleum industry to create PEMEX, redistributing 45 million acres of land to peasant ejidos, and sheltering Spanish Civil War refugees.

Mexico City, Mexico

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

54

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Lázaro Cárdenas

Lázaro Cárdenas del Río

Mexico

1895-05-21 – 1970-10-19 (75 years old)

Icon of Mexican national economic sovereignty and social justice; carried out the largest agrarian reform in Latin American history and nationalized vital mineral assets.

Mexico City, Mexico

54 Full Record →