Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Literature & Poetry

2

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Amos Tutuola

Amos Tutuola

Nigeria

1920 – 1997 (76 years old)

Nigerian writer whose bizarre, intoxicating 1952 mythological novel The Palm-Wine Drinkard became the first African novel in English to achieve worldwide international fame.

Abeokuta (Ogun State), Nigeria

2 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

4

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John Eccles

Sir John Carew Eccles

Australia

1903 – 1997 (94 years old)

Australian neurophysiologist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering the ionic mechanisms of synaptic inhibition, proving that hyperpolarizing chloride ion influx generates inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs).

Contra (Tenero-Contra, Ticino), Switzerland

4 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

8

🕯️ 630

Deng Xiaoping

邓小平

China

1904-08-22 – 1997-02-19 (92 years old)

Architect of modern Chinese economic resurgence; pioneered Special Economic Zones, coined 'socialism with Chinese characteristics', and negotiated Hong Kong's 'One Country, Two Systems'.

Beijing, China

8 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

3,982

🕯️ 51

Chien-Shiung Wu

吴健雄

Republic of China

1912 – 1997 (84 years old)

Trailblazing experimental physicist known as the 'First Lady of Physics' who disproved the conservation of parity.

Liuhe, Taicang, China

3,982 Full Record →

Arts & Music

4

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Larbi Batma

العربي باطما

Morocco

1948 – 1997 (49 years old)

Charismatic poet, singer, and lead percussionist of the legendary band 'Nass El Ghiwane', hailed by Martin Scorsese as 'The Rolling Stones of the Arab World', who revolutionized modern Moroccan youth culture.

Casablanca, Morocco

4 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

2,665

🕯️ 119

Clyde Tombaugh

Clyde William Tombaugh

United States

1906 – 1997 (90 years old)

American astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930 and hundreds of asteroids and variable stars.

Kuiper Belt (Space), United States

2,665 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

2,759

🕯️ 56

Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan

United States

1934 – 1996 (62 years old)

American astronomer, astrobiologist, and science communicator who created Cosmos and championed the search for extraterrestrial life.

Ithaca, New York, United States

2,759 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

15

🕯️ 920

Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier

Marie-Claude Vogel

France

3 November 1912 – 11 December 1996 (84 years old)

French photojournalist and communist resistance member who survived deportation to Auschwitz and Ravensbrück, becoming the premier eyewitness to detail the mechanics of the Nazi death factories at the Nuremberg Trials.

Villejuif, Val-de-Marne, France

15 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

10

🕯️ 310

Jean René Lacoste

Jean René Lacoste

France

1904 – 1996 (92 years old)

French tennis player, seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, Four Musketeers member, and creator of the crocodile-logoed Lacoste tennis shirt.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France

10 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

3

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Silvio Piola

Silvio Piola

Italy

1913 – 1996 (83 years old)

All-time top goalscorer in the history of Italian Serie A with 274 goals, and two-goal hero for Italy in the 1938 World Cup final.

Gattinara, Italy

3 Full Record →

Arts & Music

2

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Masaki Kobayashi

小林 正樹

Japan

1916 – 1996 (80 years old)

Japanese filmmaker celebrated for his monumental anti-war trilogy The Human Condition, the samurai masterpiece Harakiri, and the eerie color ghost anthology Kwaidan.

Tokyo, Japan

2 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

8

🕯️ 300

Károly Kárpáti

Kárpáti Károly

Hungary

1906 – 1996 (90 years old)

Hungarian wrestler who won the freestyle lightweight gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, survived a Nazi concentration camp, and became a master wrestling coach.

Budapest, Hungary

8 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

3,827

🕯️ 94

Victor Ambartsumian

Վիկտոր Համբարձումյան

Russian Empire (Georgia)

1908 – 1996 (87 years old)

Soviet-Armenian astronomer and father of theoretical astrophysics in the USSR who discovered stellar associations.

Byurakan, Aragatsotn, Armenia

3,827 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

3

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Obdulio Varela

Obdulio Jacinto Muiños Varela

Uruguay

1917 – 1996 (78 years old)

Legendary captain of Uruguay 'El Negro Jefe' (The Black Chief) who orchestrated the historic 'Maracanazo' upset over Brazil at the 1950 World Cup, revered as one of football's greatest on-field leaders.

Montevideo, Uruguay

3 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

6

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Lucille Teasdale-Corti

Lucille Teasdale

Canada

1929 – 1996 (67 years old)

Chirurgienne canadienne héroïque, cofondatrice avec son mari de l'hôpital Lacor en Ouganda, soignant les blessés sous les guerres civiles et le SIDA au péril de sa vie.

Gulu, Uganda

6 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

4

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Thomas Kuhn

Thomas Samuel Kuhn

United States

1922 – 1996 (73 years old)

American philosopher and historian of science whose 1962 landmark book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions coined 'paradigm shift', revolutionizing the understanding of scientific progress.

Cambridge (Massachusetts), United States

4 Full Record →

Arts & Music

15

🕯️ 985

Ella Jane Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

United States

25 April 1917 – 15 June 1996 (79 years old)

The 'First Lady of Song' celebrated for her flawless three-octave vocal range, perfect horn-like pitch, peerless scat virtuosity, and definitive eight-volume Great American Songbook recordings.

Beverly Hills (California), United States

15 Full Record →

Arts & Music

2

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Toru Takemitsu

武満 徹

Japan

1930 – 1996 (65 years old)

Japanese composer who bridged traditional Japanese aesthetics with Western avant-garde classical music in masterpieces like Requiem for Strings and November Steps.

Tokyo, Japan

2 Full Record →