Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

King Talal

طلال بن عبد الله

Saudi Arabia

26 February 1909 – 7 July 1972 (63 years old)

Second King of Jordan whose short reign (1951-1952) produced Jordan's landmark progressive 1952 Constitution establishing cabinet accountability.

Amman, Jordan

1 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

30

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis

প্রশান্ত চন্দ্র মহালানবীশ

India

1893 – 1972 (78 years old)

Indian scientist and applied statistician who introduced the Mahalanobis distance metric and founded the Indian Statistical Institute, serving as the architect of India's Second Five-Year Plan.

Kolkata, India

30 Full Record →

Art

Asta Nielsen

Asta Sofie Amalie Nielsen

Denmark

1881-09-11 – 1972-05-25 (90 years old)

Colossal Danish screen legend known across Europe as 'Die Asta' who became cinema's first international female superstar, revolutionizing screen acting with subtle psychological naturalism.

Copenhagen, Denmark

1 Full Record →

11

Ismail Yassine

إسماعيل ياسين

Egypt

1912 – 1972 (59 years old)

Undisputed monarch of Egyptian slapstick comedy and monologist whose unmistakable wide-mouthed facial expressions, physical humor, and dedicated film series dominated Arab cinema for three decades.

Cairo, Egypt

11 Full Record →

4

Statesmanship & Statesmen

Martiros Saryan

Մարտիրոս Սարյան

Russia

1880-02-28 – 1972-05-05 (92 years old)

Master colorist and visual pioneer who founded modern Armenian national painting, renowned for his vibrant, luminous landscapes of Mount Ararat and sun-drenched Armenian valleys.

Yerevan, Armenia

4 Full Record →

35

Statesmanship & Statesmen

Fulbert Youlou

Congo

1917 – 1972 (54 years old)

First President of the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) known as 'Abbé Youlou', an ordained Roman Catholic priest who wore his soutane cassock in presidential office.

Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo

35 Full Record →

38

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Kwame Nkrumah

Francis Nwia-Kofi Kwame Nkrumah

Ghana

1909-09-21 – 1972-04-27 (62 years old)

Pioneer of modern Sub-Saharan African independence whose charismatic vision ignited the decolonization wave across the African continent.

Bucharest, Romania

38 Full Record →

31

Jamini Roy

যামিনী রায়

India

1887 – 1972 (85 years old)

Indian painter who renounced Western academic oil painting to create a bold, indigenous modernist style rooted in rural Bengali Kalighat folk patua scrolls and earthen mineral pigments.

Kolkata, India

31 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

38

Yasunari Kawabata

川端康成

Japan

1899 – 1972 (72 years old)

First Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1968), master of subtle psychological nuance and traditional Japanese aesthetics in Snow Country and Thousand Cranes.

Kamakura, Japan

38 Full Record →

Art

Jóhannes Kjarval

Jóhannes Sveinsson Kjarval

Iceland

1885-10-15 – 1972-04-13 (86 years old)

Beloved national master painter of Iceland whose mystical, expressive canvases captured the moss, lichen, and hidden spirits of volcanic lava fields, immortalized on the 2,000-króna banknote.

Reykjavík, Iceland

1 Full Record →

Politics

Abeid Karume

Abeid Amani Karume

Tanzania

1905-08-04 – 1972-04-07 (66 years old)

First President of the People's Republic of Zanzibar who led the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution toppling the Arab sultanate, signed the Articles of Union creating Tanzania, and redistributed land.

Zanzibar City, Tanzania

1 Full Record →

Politics

Woodrow Lloyd

Canada

16 July 1913 – 7 April 1972 (58 years old)

Principled Saskatchewan premier whose steadfast resolve implemented North America's first universal public medical care insurance in July 1962 despite a 23-day doctors' strike.

Regina, Canada

1 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

37

Victor George Heiser

Victor G. Heiser

United States

1873 – 1972 (99 years old)

Médecin de santé publique américain, directeur de la Fondation Rockefeller, qui vaccina des millions d'êtres humains contre la variole et la peste en Asie.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States

37 Full Record →

Music

3

Franklin Boukaka

Congo

1940-10-10 – 1972-02-23 (31 years old)

Legendary Congolese singer and revolutionary troubadour whose immortal song 'Le Bûcheron' (Aye Afrika) became a global anthem of African liberation.

Brazzaville, Congo

3 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

35

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Paul Grüninger

Switzerland

27 October 1891 – 22 February 1972 (80 years old)

Paul Grüninger was a Swiss police commander in the Canton of St. Gallen who saved approximately 3,600 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and Austria following the 1938 Anschluss. Defying strict Swiss federal orders to close the border, Grüninger falsified entry dates and documents to grant refugees legal status, sacrificing his career, pension, and reputation in poverty before posthumous rehabilitation.

St. Gallen, Switzerland

35 Full Record →

Art

2

John Grierson

Father of Documentary Film

Great Britain

26 April 1898 – 19 February 1972 (73 years old)

Scottish-Canadian cinema pioneer who coined the term "documentary" and drafted the National Film Act of 1939, founding the National Film Board of Canada.

Deanston, United Kingdom

2 Full Record →

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