Famous People Who Died At 43

A versatile actor and an inspiration for a generation of black youths, Chadwick Boseman is best remembered for portraying notable real life black figures like Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and James Brown in their biopics. His excellent performance in Black Panther, though, turned him into a household name.

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter renowned for his use of light in paintings. Although he did not achieve fame during his lifetime, Vermeer's works gained popularity in the 19th century. Today, Vermeer is often counted among the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Over the years, Vermeer's work has inspired artists like Wilhelm Hammershoi and Thomas Wilmer Dewing.

Robert Falcon Scott was an explorer and Royal Navy officer. He is remembered for leading two expeditions to the Antarctic regions, the second of which was the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition. Although Scott and his companions died during the second expedition, they helped discover the first Antarctic fossils, which proved that the place was once forested.

Henning von Tresckow was a German Army officer who played a key role in organizing German  resistance against Adolf Hitler. He drafted the Valkyrie plan for a coup against the German government and even attempted to assassinate Hitler in 1943. The next year, he once again plotted to kill Hitler and failed again, upon which he committed suicide. 

After losing his father at age 2, Henry Kendall was raised on a farm by his mother. The Australian bush poet is remembered for his depictions of nature in works such as Leaves from Australian Forests. Throughout his life, he continued to switch from one job to another.

Bangladeshi actor Manna is also known as the Dhallywood Yuvraj and the Mahanayak of Dhaliwood. His role in the film Bir Soinik won him a National Film Award. He also headed the Bangladesh Film Actors Association as its general secretary. His film Ammajan remains one of the Bangladeshi film industry’s most successful films.

Niels Ryberg Finsen was a Danish-Faroese scientist and physician. Finsen's method to treat diseases, such as lupus vulgaris, using concentrated light radiation, earned him the 1903 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. Copenhagen University Hospital houses the famous Finsen Laboratory, which is named in his honor.

Dutch naturalist Jan Swammerdam was the first to detect red blood cells. Though a qualified doctor, he never practiced medicine, and took to research instead. Known for his research on anatomy, he also revolutionized the study of insects, proving that the egg, larva, pupa, and adult are all the same organism.

John Huss was a Czech philosopher and theologian. He is credited with inspiring a Proto-Protestant Christian movement called Hussitism, which started in the Kingdom of Bohemia before spreading across the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. He also inspired the Bohemian Reformation, which is regarded as one of the most important social, political, and religious movements of the early modern period.

Béla I became King of Hungary rebelling against and dethroning his brother Andrew I of Hungary in 1060 after the latter had his elder own son, Solomon, crowned king during his lifetime. During his reign, Bela I reformed the coinage and suppressed the last uprising made by a crowd of commoners demanding murder of clergymen and the restoration of paganism.

Carl Boenish was a freefall cinematographer. He filmed the first jumps from El Capitan using ram-air parachutes in 1978. He was involved in the development and popularization of BASE jumping as a recreational activity and is considered the father of modern BASE jumping. He also served as a cinematographer on the John Frankenheimer parachuting film classic The Gypsy Moths. 

Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela who visited Europe, Africa and Asia in the 12th century was a prominent figure in medieval geography and Jewish history. His book The Travels of Benjamin sheds light on situation of Jews and diversity of Jewish communities in Europe and Asia during the 12th century and also on the geography and ethnography of the Middle Ages.

Chilean statesman Diego Portales was one of the most important political figures of the 19th century and is remembered for creating the Constitution of 1833. As a minister of foreign affairs and war, he started a war with the Peru-Bolivia alliance to counter trade competition but was eventually assassinated by rebellious forces.

Better known as the resident poet of the space rock band Hawkwind, Robert Calvert was born in South Africa and later moved to England with his family. Initially a building surveyor, he later joined the counterculture movement of the late ‘60s. He is best remembered for songs such as Urban Guerrilla.