Famous People Who Died Today

Scottish physicist James Maxwell’s contributions included the formulation of the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation and the production of the first light-fast color photograph. His Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution explored the kinetic theory of gases. He has also written poems and was an Elder of the Church of Scotland.

Fred MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in over 100 films in a career that spanned almost 50 years. He is best remembered for appearing in many Disney films and became the first person to be named a Disney Legend in 1987. Fred MacMurray was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mack Sennett was a film actor, director, and producer. He specialized in comedy and was known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Canada in 1880, he moved to USA as a young man and entered the fledgling film industry as an actor. He found considerable success and went on to open Keystone Studios in Edendale. 

Bhupen Hazarika was an Indian playback singer, musician, poet, lyricist, and filmmaker. He is remembered for composing such songs that highlight the importance of humanity and universal brotherhood. His songs remain popular in places like Assam and Bangladesh. He is also credited with introducing the folk music of Assam to Bollywood. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2019.

Milton William Cooper was a conspiracy theorist, radio broadcaster, and author who warned of multiple global conspiracies in his controversial book Behold a Pale Horse.  Described as a "militia theoretician," he often talked about conspiracies involving extraterrestrial life. For many years, he also broadcast his radio show, The Hour of the Time.

British historian and philosopher Isaiah Berlin is best remembered for his concepts of liberal theory and value pluralism. He is also considered a pioneer of intellectual history. Initially a philosophy lecturer, he later deviated to political science. He also penned iconic works such as The Hedgehog and the Fox.

Born in Russia, Sigmund Rosenblum was the illegitimate son of a doctor. He later joined the British intelligence services as a spy under the alias Sidney Reilly and mostly reported on the oil deals of Russia. He wished to topple the Bolshevik regime but was eventually executed by Russian authorities.

One of the two women founder members of London’s Royal Academy, Angelica Kauffman was born to a painter father in Switzerland and was quite a prodigy, who mastered several languages and the arts of music and painting quite quickly. The history painter is best remembered for her landscapes and portraits.

Jan Oort was a Dutch astronomer whose ground-breaking discoveries revolutionized astronomy. Widely regarded as one of the 20th century's greatest astronomers, Jan Oort's work helped understand the Milky Way. He also pioneered radio astronomy and was honored with several prestigious awards like the Bruce Medal, Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Janssen Medal, and Prix Jules Janssen.

Milan Mladenovic was a Serbian musician best remembered for his association with the popular art rock band Ekatarina Velika. Milan Mladenovic is credited with forming a band named Šarlo Akrobata, which released its only full length album Bistriji ili tuplji čovek biva kad. The album is counted among the most prominent albums of the new wave music scene in Yugoslavia.

American opera singer Shirley Verrett had an almost 4-decade-long career. Starting her opera career with Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia in Ohio, she later gained fame in both Europe and the US. She also performed at London’s Covent Garden and in Paris. She was known as The Black Callas in Italy.

The person behind the development of the Vaganova method, Agrippina Vaganova was a significant name in the Russian ballet scene. She also penned Fundamentals of the Classical Dance, which is the most-followed text on ballet. At Mariinsky Ballet, she was known as the queen of variations.

Prominent environmentalist and world-class mountaineer, David Brower became aware of the environmental issues through his proximity to nature, eventually joining Sierra Club, serving it in different capacities over a long period before establishing several organizations of his own. Author of three autobiographies, he fought to keep dams out of the Grand Canyon and was thrice nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.  

Ernest Gellner was a British-Czech philosopher and social anthropologist who was considered one of the leading theoreticians on nationalism. A prolific author, he was able to attract critical attention with his very first book, Words and Things, in which he fiercely attacked what he called linguistic philosophy. He eventually developed an interest in social anthropology, before turning his attention to nationalism. 

Luigi Facta was an Italian journalist and politician. He served as the prime minister of Italy from July 1922 to October 1922 before the dawn of Benito Mussolini's dictatorship. Before becoming the prime minister, Facta served as the finance minister of Italy from 1910 to 1914 and again from 1920 to 1921.

One of the earliest Skagen painters, Norwegian artist Frits Thaulow was a pioneering figure of Impressionist painting in Norway. Best remembered for his marine landscape painting, he later received the French Legion of Honor. Picquigny, Ambiance Du Soir, and Dordrecht remain some of his best-known works.

Nobel Prize-winning Dutch physician and pathologist Christiaan Eijkman was the first to prove that poor diet is the cause of the disease beriberi, which in turn led to the discovery of vitamins. While he initially worked in the Dutch East Indies, he later collaborated with Robert Koch in his Berlin laboratory.

American geneticist Edward Lawrie Tatum worked with George Beadle and demonstrated that genes control individual steps in metabolism. This led them to win half of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1958. Tatum and Beadle conducted key experiments and proposed the one gene, one enzyme hypothesis where they suggested a direct link between genes and enzymatic reactions.

Vaidyanath Mishra, better known by his pen name, Nagarjun, was an Indian poet who wrote in  Hindi and Maithili. Besides poetry, he also penned numerous short stories, novels, and biographies. Widely regarded as the most prominent protagonist of modernity in Maithili, he was known as Janakavi, the people's poet. He was given the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1969.