Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Sciences & Discovery

28

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Lev Landau

Лев Давидович Ландау

🌐 Azerbaijan

1908 – 1968 (60 years old)

Legendary Soviet theoretical physicist whose genius spanned superfluidity, superconductivity, Fermi liquid theory, and plasma physics, authoring the monumental Course of Theoretical Physics.

Moscow, Russia

28 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

1,899

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Yuri Gagarin

Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин

Russia

1934 – 1968 (34 years old)

Soviet cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space and orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 1 in 1961.

Moscow, Russia

1,899 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

4

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Arnulf Øverland

Ole Peter Arnulf Øverland

Norway

1889-04-27 – 1968-03-25 (78 years old)

Prominent Norwegian poet and moral conscience who penned the anti-fascist warning 'Du må ikke sove' in 1937, survived Grini and Sachsenhausen concentration camps, and lived in Grotten.

Oslo, Norway

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Cinema

2

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Alice Guy-Blaché

Alice Ida Antoinette Guy

France

1873 – 1968 (94 years old)

Visionary French cinema pioneer recognized as the world's very first female film director and one of the first filmmakers in history to direct a narrative fiction film with La Fée aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy, 1896).

Mahwah (New Jersey), United States

2 Full Record →

Art

1

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Carl Theodor Dreyer

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Denmark

1889-02-03 – 1968-03-20 (79 years old)

Visionary Danish film director and auteur universally regarded as one of cinema's supreme masters, creator of The Passion of Joan of Arc, Vampyr, Day of Wrath, and Ordet.

Copenhagen, Denmark

1 Full Record →

Politics

2

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Camille Huysmans

Camiel Huysmans

Belgium

1871 – 1968 (96 years old)

Belgian socialist titan, philologist, and statesman who served as Secretary of the Second International (1905–1922), Prime Minister (1946–1947), and beloved Burgomaster of Antwerp for seven decades of political life.

Hoboken (Antwerp), Belgium

2 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

3,728

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Howard Florey

Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey

Australia

1898 – 1968 (69 years old)

Australian pathologist and pharmacologist who transformed penicillin from a laboratory curiosity into a mass-produced, lifesaving antibiotic.

Marston, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

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Sports & Athletics

36

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George Hackenschmidt

Георг Гаккеншмидт

Estonia

1877 – 1968 (90 years old)

Pioneering Estonian-Russian strength athlete and first recognized World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, celebrated as 'The Russian Lion' and inventor of the bench press and hack squat.

London, United Kingdom

36 Full Record →

Music

1

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Healey Willan

James Healey Willan

Great Britain

1880 – 1968 (87 years old)

Preeminent Anglo-Canadian classical composer who produced over eight hundred sacred choral works, organ masterworks, and operas, and was commissioned to compose an anthem for Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation.

Toronto, Canada

1 Full Record →

Music

1

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Portia White

Portia White

Canada

24 June 1911 – 13 February 1968 (56 years old)

Nova Scotia contralto whose majestic voice triumphed at Town Hall in New York in 1944, breaking color barriers as Canada's first Black classical concert singer of global stature.

Truro, Canada

1 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

44

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Muriel Lester

Muriel Lester

Great Britain

1883 – 1968 (84 years old)

Réformatrice sociale et pacifiste britannique, fondatrice du centre communautaire Kingsley Hall dans l'East End londonien où logea Gandhi en 1931.

Manor Park, London, United Kingdom

44 Full Record →

Arts & Music

31

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Tsuguharu Foujita

藤田嗣治

Japan

1886 – 1968 (81 years old)

Japanese-French master of the School of Paris who dazzled the Roaring Twenties with his secret milky-white canvas glaze ('grand fond blanc') fusing Japanese sumi ink with Western oils.

Reims, France

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Sports & Athletics

41

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Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku

United States

1890 – 1968 (77 years old)

Native Hawaiian competitive swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist, and universally revered father of modern surfing who spread the sport globally.

Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

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History

0

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Rogelia Cruz Martínez

Rogelia Cruz Martínez

Guatemala

1940 – 1968 (27 years old)

Guatemalan beauty queen (Miss Guatemala 1959), architecture student, and leftist activist assassinated by right-wing paramilitary death squads.

Guatemala City, Guatemala

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History

0

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Pansau Na Isna

Pansau Na Isna

Guinea-Bissau

1938 – 1968 (30 years old)

Balanta guerrilla commander and hero of the FARP who led daring military operations against colonial fortifications.

Catió, Guinea-Bissau

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History

0

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Nii Kwabena Bonne III

Nii Kwabena Bonne III

Ghana

1888 – 1968 (79 years old)

Osu Alata Mantse and businessman who organized the historic 1948 Gold Coast boycott of European imported goods, sparking the independence struggle.

Osu, Accra, Ghana

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Politics

1

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Vincent Massey

Vincent Massey

Canada

20 February 1887 – 30 December 1967 (80 years old)

Distinguished statesman and arts patron who chaired the landmark 1951 Massey Commission and made history in 1952 as the first Canadian-born Governor General.

Port Hope, Canada

1 Full Record →

Military

2

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Si M'hamed ben Abdelkrim al-Khattabi

محمد بن عبد الكريم الخطابي (الأخ)

Morocco

c. 1893 – 1967 (74 years old)

Younger brother and chief military engineer/strategist of Abdelkrim al-Khattabi during the Rif War, trained in mining engineering in Madrid, who organized artillery batteries and international diplomacy.

Cairo, Egypt

2 Full Record →