Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Sciences & Discovery

4,339

🕯️ 161

Grace Hopper

Grace Brewster Murray Hopper

United States

1906 – 1992 (85 years old)

U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and computer pioneer who invented the first compiler and popularized machine-independent languages (COBOL).

Arlington, Virginia, United States

4,339 Full Record →

Arts & Music

14

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Farrokh Bulsara (Freddie Mercury)

Farrokh Bulsara

Tanzania

5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991 (45 years old)

Electrifying frontman of Queen whose extraordinary four-octave operatic vocal range, theatrical charisma, and epochal masterpiece Bohemian Rhapsody culminated in the greatest live performance in rock history at Live Aid 1985.

Kensington (London), United Kingdom

14 Full Record →

Arts & Music

11

🕯️ 995

Miles Dewey Davis III

Miles Davis

United States

26 May 1926 – 28 September 1991 (65 years old)

Visionary trumpeter and bandleader who spearheaded almost every major development in modern jazz—from bebop and cool jazz (Birth of the Cool) to modal jazz (Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz album in history) and jazz-rock fusion (Bitches Brew).

Santa Monica (California), United States

11 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

7

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Alfonso García Robles

Alfonso García Robles

Mexico

1911 – 1991 (80 years old)

Diplomate mexicain, père du Traité de Tlatelolco créant la première zone dénucléarisée d'Amérique latine, Nobel de la paix 1982.

Mexico City, Mexico

7 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

4

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Yusuf Idris

يوسف إدريس

Egypt

1927 – 1991 (64 years old)

Egyptian physician, novelist, and playwright revered as the undisputed master of the modern Arabic short story, celebrated for 'The Cheapest Nights' and his revolutionary avant-garde play 'The Farfoors'.

Cairo, Egypt

4 Full Record →

Arts & Music

4

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Robert Motherwell

Robert Motherwell

United States

1915 – 1991 (76 years old)

American painter, printmaker, and intellectual leader of Abstract Expressionism, world-renowned for his monumental series 'Elegies to the Spanish Republic' and mastery of collage.

Provincetown, United States

4 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3,850

🕯️ 56

Mohammed Abdel Wahab

محمد عبد الوهاب

Egypt

1902 – 1991 (89 years old)

Legendary Egyptian composer, singer, and oud virtuoso whose innovative fusion of classical Arabic music with Western orchestration shaped modern Arab culture.

Cairo, Egypt

3,850 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

4,512

🕯️ 92

John Bardeen

John Bardeen

United States

1908 – 1991 (82 years old)

Only person to win two Nobel Prizes in Physics, co-inventing the transistor and explaining superconductivity (BCS theory).

Madison, Wisconsin, United States

4,512 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

3

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Tunku Abdul Rahman

Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah

Federated Malay States

1903 – 1990 (87 years old)

Founding Father and first Prime Minister of Malaysia known as 'Bapa Kemerdekaan' (Father of Independence) who led the peaceful transition to sovereignty in 1957.

Langgar (Kedah), Malaysia

3 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3,651

🕯️ 64

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

United States

1900 – 1990 (90 years old)

'Dean of American Composers' celebrated for Appalachian Spring, Fanfare for the Common Man, and Rodeo.

Lenox, Massachusetts, United States

3,651 Full Record →

Arts & Music

3,929

🕯️ 172

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

United States

1918 – 1990 (72 years old)

Charismatic American conductor, composer, and educator who composed West Side Story and led the New York Philharmonic.

Brooklyn, New York, United States

3,929 Full Record →

Arts & Music

2,855

🕯️ 117

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stephen Ray Vaughan

United States

1954 – 1990 (35 years old)

Texas blues-rock guitar virtuoso whose scorching tone and ferocious playing spearheaded the 1980s blues revival.

Dallas, Texas, United States

2,855 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

7

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Lotta Hitschmanova

Lotta Hitschmanová

Austria

1909 – 1990 (80 years old)

Réfugiée tchécoslovaque devenue héroïne humanitaire au Canada, fondatrice de l'USC Canada secourant les orphelins et rescapés de guerre dans le monde entier.

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

7 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

9

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Ralph David Abernathy Sr.

Ralph Abernathy

United States

1926 – 1990 (64 years old)

Compagnon de lutte inséparable de Martin Luther King Jr., cofondateur et président de la SCLC, bâtisseur de la Cité de la Résurrection lors de la Poor People's Campaign de 1968.

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

9 Full Record →

Sports & Athletics

8

🕯️ 2,640

Lev Yashin

Лев Иванович Яшин

Russia

22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990 (60 years old)

Lev Yashin is widely considered the greatest goalkeeper in the history of association football and remains the only goalkeeper ever to be awarded the prestigious Ballon d'Or (1963). Renowned for his imposing all-black attire, lightning reflexes, revolutionary rushing-out technique, and over 150 penalty saves, he led the USSR to Olympic Gold in 1956 and the inaugural European Championship in 1960.

Moscow, Russia

8 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

8

🕯️ 860

Sandro Pertini

Alessandro Pertini

Italy

1896-09-25 – 1990-02-24 (93 years old)

Restored immense public trust and moral authority to the Italian presidency during the traumatic 'Years of Lead' terrorist violence.

Rome, Italy

8 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

5

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Ihsan Abdel Quddous

إحسان عبد القدوس

Egypt

1919 – 1990 (71 years old)

Prolific Egyptian novelist, journalist, and editor-in-chief of 'Rose al-Yusuf' whose daring novels dissected bourgeois hypocrisy, political corruption, and women's liberation, adapted into over forty classic Egyptian films.

Cairo, Egypt

5 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

2

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Pavel Cherenkov

Павел Алексеевич Черенков

Russian Empire

1904 – 1990 (85 years old)

Soviet experimental physicist who discovered Cherenkov radiation—the eerie blue light emitted when charged particles travel through a dielectric medium faster than the phase velocity of light.

Moscow, Russia

2 Full Record →