Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

William Lyon Mackenzie King

Canada

1874 – 1950 (75 years old)

Longest-serving Prime Minister in Canadian and Commonwealth history (22 years), who guided Canada through the Great Depression and World War II, establishing modern Canadian autonomy and social welfare.

Toronto, Canada

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Humanitarian & Peace

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Evangeline Cory Booth

Evangeline Booth

Great Britain

1865 – 1950 (84 years old)

Première femme Générale de l'Armée du Salut à l'échelle mondiale (1934-1939), organisatrice des secours aux soldats durant la Première Guerre mondiale et créatrice des « Donut Girls ».

Valhalla, New York, United States

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Music

Siti binti Saad

Mtumwa binti Saad

Tanzania

1880-01-01 – 1950-07-08 (70 years old)

Legendary Zanzibari singer who broke court monopolies to bring Taarab music into the public sphere, becoming the first East African recording artist to record in Kiswahili in 1928.

Zanzibar City, Tanzania

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Art

Religious Figures & Theologians

Eliel Saarinen

Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen

Finland

1873-08-20 – 1950-07-01 (76 years old)

Master Finnish National Romantic and Art Deco architect who designed the iconic Helsinki Central Railway Station and Hvitträsk, and led Cranbrook Academy of Art in America.

Kirkkonummi, Finland

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Venkataraman Iyer

ரமண மகரிஷி

India

1879 – 1950 (70 years old)

Sage of Arunachala and master of Advaita Vedanta who taught the direct method of Self-inquiry ('Who Am I?') and radiated silent transformative peace to seekers from across the globe.

Tiruvannamalai, India

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Charles Drew

Charles Richard Drew

United States

1904 – 1950 (45 years old)

Pioneering African-American surgeon and medical researcher who organized the first large-scale blood banks and mobile Bloodmobiles.

Suitland, Maryland, United States

4,350 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

Charles Richard Drew

Charles R. Drew

United States

1904 – 1950 (45 years old)

Chirurgien et chercheur afro-américain, père des banques de sang modernes et directeur du projet « Blood for Britain », qui démissionna pour protester contre la ségrégation du sang.

Suitland, Maryland, United States

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Léon Blum

André Léon Blum

France

1872-04-09 – 1950-03-30 (77 years old)

Transformed social rights for the working class and demonstrated unyielding moral courage during the Riom trial under the Vichy regime.

Jouy-en-Josas, France

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Military Leaders & Strategists

4,103

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Karl Jansky

Karl Guthe Jansky

United States

1905 – 1950 (44 years old)

American radio engineer who founded radio astronomy by discovering radio emission from the center of the Milky Way.

Alma, Nebraska, United States

4,103 Full Record →

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General Sudirman

Raden Soedirman

Indonesia

1916 – 1950 (34 years old)

First Commander-in-Chief of the Indonesian National Armed Forces who led an epic seven-month guerrilla campaign carried on a litter through the Javanese jungle while suffering from severe tuberculosis.

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

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Politics

Biaka Boda

Victor Biaka Boda

Côte d'Ivoire

1913-02-25 – 1950-01-28 (36 years old)

Courageous medical doctor and Senator for Côte d'Ivoire who championed African workers' rights against colonial forced labor before being mysteriously assassinated in Bouaflé in 1950.

Gagnoa, Côte d'Ivoire

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Literature & Poetry

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Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell)

India

25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950 (46 years old)

Supreme political satirist and essayist of the 20th century whose devastating warnings against totalitarianism—Animal Farm ('All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others') and Nineteen Eighty-Four (Big Brother, Newspeak, Thoughtcrime)—permanently armed the free world.

London, Great Britain

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Aly Moustafa Mosharafa

علي مصطفى مشرفة

Egypt

1898 – 1950 (51 years old)

Visionary theoretical physicist dubbed the 'Einstein of the Arabs', DSc graduate from King's College London whose pioneering research on quantum mechanics, the Stark effect, and mass-energy conversion was praised by Albert Einstein.

Cairo, Egypt

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Ali Moustafa Mosharafa

علي مصطفى مشرفة

Egypt

1898 – 1950 (51 years old)

Pioneering Egyptian theoretical physicist dubbed the 'Egyptian Einstein', who contributed to quantum mechanics and relativity, collaborated with Albert Einstein, and served as the first Egyptian Dean of the Faculty of Science.

Cairo, Egypt

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Humanitarian & Peace

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John Heinrich Detlef Rabe

Germany

23 November 1882 – 5 January 1950 (67 years old)

John Rabe was a German businessman and Siemens director who led the establishment of the Nanking Safety Zone during the 1937 Nanking Massacre. Using his status as a Nazi Party member and his swastika armband to confront rampaging Imperial Japanese troops, Rabe and his committee provided food, shelter, and medical sanctuary that saved more than 250,000 Chinese civilians from slaughter.

Berlin / Nanjing, Germany

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Music

Resistance & Human Rights

Umar al-Batsh

عمر البطش

Syria

1885 – 1950 (65 years old)

Supreme 20th-century authority on the Andalusian muwashshah and composer who codified the sacred Samah dance of Aleppo.

Aleppo, Syria

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