Famous People Who Died Today

Amongst the best-selling recording artists of all time and an inspiration to millions of budding artists, Whitney Houston achieved stardom with her eponymous debut album. The success of her later albums consolidated her position and earned her a spot in the Guinness World Records as the most awarded female artist of all time. She struggled with drug abuse and troubled marriage and died of drowning in her hotel's bathtub. 

Sylvia Plath was an American short-story writer, novelist, and poet. Plath is credited with popularizing confessional poetry and won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Sylvia Plath achieved popularity and critical acclaim despite suffering from clinical depression for the most part of her adult life. Her story inspired the 2003 film Sylvia in which she was portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow.

William Conrad was an American actor and filmmaker whose entertainment career in radio, television, and film spanned five decades. He achieved popularity after starring as Frank Cannon in the popular detective television series, Cannon. In 1997, William Conrad was posthumously inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and the National Radio Hall of Fame.

American mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson went down in history as the first African-American woman to work as a NASA engineer. Initially a math teacher, she later joined NACA under Dorothy Vaughan and contributed to countless American space programs at a time when racial segregation was the norm.

American author, newspaper-journalist, book-reviewer, lecturer, photographer, and ecological consultant Franklin Herbert is most noted for his 1965 sci-fi novel Dune and its five sequels. Dune won the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award and spearheaded the Dune franchise. The novel is cited as the best-selling sci-fi novel in history while the series is counted among the classics of the genre.

Lee J. Cobb was an American actor best remembered for playing intimidating, arrogant, and abrasive characters. He received two nominations for the prestigious Academy Award under the Best Supporting Actor category. Also renowned for his theatre work, Lee J. Cobb was inducted posthumously into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981. 

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the country's fifth president from 1974 to 1977. He became only the second Indian president to die in office. He was also only the second Muslim to serve as the president of India. He signed the proclaimation by which the Emergency was imposed in India

Léon Foucault was a French physicist remembered for his presentation of the Foucault pendulum. Foucault is credited with measuring the speed of light and discovering eddy currents. He is also credited with coining the term gyroscope. Considered one of the most important physicists from France, Foucault's name is among the 72 names etched on the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Olga Khokhlova was a Ukrainian ballet dancer. She also served as one of Pablo Picasso's early artistic muses before marrying him in 1918. Olga met Picasso at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris where the latter had designed the set and costumes for a ballet titled Parade, in which Olga performed. She left her ballet group after meeting Pablo Picasso.

Copley Medal-winning engineer Charles Algernon Parsons revolutionized marine transport with his invention of a multi-stage steam turbine. His other inventions include a mechanical reducing gear. Apart from being named a Fellow of the Royal Society, he was also knighted and awarded an Order of Merit for his contributions.

Lazzaro Spallanzani was an Italian physiologist, biologist, and Catholic priest. He is best remembered for making significant contributions to the study of animal reproduction, bodily functions, and animal echolocation. Lazzaro Spallanzani's research on biogenesis was the first step towards debunking the theory of spontaneous generation.

Takashi Shimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in 21 of Akira Kurosawa's 30 movies, most by an actor. In a career that spanned almost 50 years, Shimura appeared in more than 200 films, including classics like Seven Samurai and Rashomon. In 1974, Shimura's contribution to the arts was honored by the Japanese government with the Medal with Purple Ribbon.

John Langalibalele Dube was a South African essayist, philosopher, politician, publisher, educator, editor, novelist, and poet. He served as the president of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) from 1912 to 1917. He felt strongly about human rights and founded the Inanda Seminary Institute for Girls. He was passionate about encouraging black people to launch their own businesses. 

Nobel Prize-winning Swedish author Harry Martinson grew up in foster homes and ran away at 16 to become a sailor. He was the first working-class author to be named to the Swedish Academy. His best-known works include the poetry collection Trade Wind and the novel The Road.

Paul Feyerabend was an Austrian-born philosopher of science. He worked as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, for three decades. He continued to publish papers after his retirement. He held a  purportedly anarchistic view of science. He rejected the existence of universal methodological rules and was seen as radical in the philosophy of science. 

American architect Walter Burley Griffin is best known for designing cities such as Canberra, Griffith, and Leeton. His early projects were inspired by the Prairie house style. He is also believed to have developed the concept of the L-shaped floor plan. He died in India, while working on his commissions.

Russian playwright Alexandr Griboyedov is best remembered for his comedy Gore ot uma, or Woe from Wit. He participated in the Decembrist revolt and even got arrested once. He was the Russian Ambassador to Iran and died at the hands of an Iranian mob during an attack on the embassy.

Aeronautical engineer Frank Piasecki was the first American to get a helicopter pilot’s license. Remembered as the pioneer of the tandem rotor design of helicopters, also known as the Flying Banana model. The National Medal of Technology winner had also designed the first helicopter for the American navy.

Axel Munthe was a Swedish-born psychiatrist and medical doctor. He is best remembered for writing an autobiographical work titled The Story of San Michele. Munthe often risked his own life to offer medical help during war, plague, and disaster. He also treated the poor without charge. Axel Munthe was also a well-known animal rights activist.

 Russian chemist Vladimir Vasilyevich Markovnikov is best remembered for formulating the Markovnikov's rule or Markownikoff's rule, which elucidates the outcome of some addition reactions. His other contributions in the field of organic chemistry include finding carbon rings with over six carbon atoms and also displaying that although butyric and isobutyric acids have different structures, they have the same chemical formula (C4H8O2).

Best remembered for establishing the tradition of mysticism at Saint-Victor Abbey in Paris, Hugh of Saint Victor was an eminent twelfth century philosopher, theologian and mystical writer. Author of several renowned works including The Sacraments of the Christian Faith; he was an ardent upholder of secular learning, writing a comprehensive early encyclopedia, holding that art and philosophy can serve theology.  

James B. Conant was an American chemist and diplomat. He served as the first US Ambassador to West Germany from 1955 to 1957. He also served as the President of Harvard University from 1933 to 1953. During World War I, Conant worked on the development of certain poisonous gases, including Lewisite. James B. Conant was the recipient of several awards.