Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Religious Figures & Theologians

51

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Venkataraman Iyer

ரமண மகரிஷி

India

1879 – 1950 (70 years old)

Sage of Arunachala and master of Advaita Vedanta who taught the direct method of Self-inquiry ('Who Am I?') and radiated silent transformative peace to seekers from across the globe.

Tiruvannamalai, India

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Sciences & Discovery

4,351

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Charles Drew

Charles Richard Drew

United States

1904 – 1950 (45 years old)

Pioneering African-American surgeon and medical researcher who organized the first large-scale blood banks and mobile Bloodmobiles.

Suitland, Maryland, United States

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Humanitarian & Peace

32

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Charles Richard Drew

Charles R. Drew

United States

1904 – 1950 (45 years old)

Chirurgien et chercheur afro-américain, père des banques de sang modernes et directeur du projet « Blood for Britain », qui démissionna pour protester contre la ségrégation du sang.

Suitland, Maryland, United States

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

47

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Léon Blum

André Léon Blum

France

1872-04-09 – 1950-03-30 (77 years old)

Transformed social rights for the working class and demonstrated unyielding moral courage during the Riom trial under the Vichy regime.

Jouy-en-Josas, France

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Sciences & Discovery

4,105

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Karl Jansky

Karl Guthe Jansky

United States

1905 – 1950 (44 years old)

American radio engineer who founded radio astronomy by discovering radio emission from the center of the Milky Way.

Alma, Nebraska, United States

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History

0

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Constantine Caratheodory

Constantine Caratheodory

Greece

1873 – 1950 (76 years old)

World-renowned Greek mathematician whose pioneering work in real analysis, measure theory, and thermodynamics influenced Albert Einstein.

Munich, Greece

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Military Leaders & Strategists

59

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General Sudirman

Raden Soedirman

Indonesia

1916 – 1950 (34 years old)

First Commander-in-Chief of the Indonesian National Armed Forces who led an epic seven-month guerrilla campaign carried on a litter through the Javanese jungle while suffering from severe tuberculosis.

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

1

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Biaka Boda

Victor Biaka Boda

Ivory Coast

1913-02-25 – 1950-01-28 (36 years old)

Courageous medical doctor and Senator for Côte d'Ivoire who championed African workers' rights against colonial forced labor before being mysteriously assassinated in Bouaflé in 1950.

Gagnoa, Côte d'Ivoire

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Literature & Poetry

37

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Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell)

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell)

India

25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950 (46 years old)

Supreme political satirist and essayist of the 20th century whose devastating warnings against totalitarianism—Animal Farm ('All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others') and Nineteen Eighty-Four (Big Brother, Newspeak, Thoughtcrime)—permanently armed the free world.

London, Great Britain

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Sciences & Discovery

8

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Aly Moustafa Mosharafa

علي مصطفى مشرفة

Egypt

1898 – 1950 (51 years old)

Visionary theoretical physicist dubbed the 'Einstein of the Arabs', DSc graduate from King's College London whose pioneering research on quantum mechanics, the Stark effect, and mass-energy conversion was praised by Albert Einstein.

Cairo, Egypt

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Sciences & Discovery

30

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Ali Moustafa Mosharafa

علي مصطفى مشرفة

Egypt

1898 – 1950 (51 years old)

Pioneering Egyptian theoretical physicist dubbed the 'Egyptian Einstein', who contributed to quantum mechanics and relativity, collaborated with Albert Einstein, and served as the first Egyptian Dean of the Faculty of Science.

Cairo, Egypt

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Humanitarian & Peace

41

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John Heinrich Detlef Rabe

John Heinrich Detlef Rabe

Germany

23 November 1882 – 5 January 1950 (67 years old)

John Rabe was a German businessman and Siemens director who led the establishment of the Nanking Safety Zone during the 1937 Nanking Massacre. Using his status as a Nazi Party member and his swastika armband to confront rampaging Imperial Japanese troops, Rabe and his committee provided food, shelter, and medical sanctuary that saved more than 250,000 Chinese civilians from slaughter.

Berlin / Nanjing, Germany

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Music

1

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Umar al-Batsh

عمر البطش

Syria

1885 – 1950 (65 years old)

Supreme 20th-century authority on the Andalusian muwashshah and composer who codified the sacred Samah dance of Aleppo.

Aleppo, Syria

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Resistance & Human Rights

34

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Habib Thameur

الحبيب ثامر

Tunisia

1909 – 1949 (40 years old)

Tunisian medical doctor and nationalist leader who directed the underground Neo-Destour party during WWII, founded the Arab Maghreb Liberation Committee in Cairo, and died in a plane crash in Pakistan.

Tunis, Tunisia

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Cinema

1

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Charles Dullin

Charles Dullin

France

1885 – 1949 (64 years old)

Pioneering French theatrical director and actor from Savoie, co-founder of the Cartel des Quatre, who established the Théâtre de l'Atelier at Montmartre in 1922 and trained Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcel Marceau, and Jean Vilar.

Feigères (Haute-Savoie), France

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Literature & Poetry

4

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Elin Pelin

Димитър Иванов Стоянов

Bulgaria

1877-07-18 – 1949-12-03 (72 years old)

Master storyteller revered as the 'Singer of the Bulgarian Village', whose humorous and tragic tales (including 'The Gerak Family' and 'Under the Monastery Vine') captured the heart and humor of the peasantry.

Sofia, Bulgaria

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Politics

0

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Enrique Nvó Okenve

Enrique Nvó Okenve

Guinea

c. 1909 – 1949 (40 years old)

Early anti-colonial hero and plantation laborer leader who organized the underground Cruzada Nacional de Liberación to demand independence from Spain, assassinated by colonial authorities in 1949.

Micomeseng, Kié-Ntem, Equatorial Guinea

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Arts & Music

35

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James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor

James Ensor

Belgium

1860 – 1949 (89 years old)

Pioneering Belgian avant-garde painter and printmaker whose grotesque carnivalesque masks, skeletons, and masterpiece 'Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889' founded Expressionism.

Mariakerke (Ostend), Belgium

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