Died on Thursday, 17th April – Famous Deaths

17/04/2022

Radu Lupu, Romanian pianist (born 1945)

Radu Lupu was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time.

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17/04/2019

Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, twice President of Peru (born 1949)

Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez was a Peruvian politician who served as President of Peru for two non-consecutive terms, from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011. He was the second leader of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA), and its only member to serve as president. Mentored by the APRA's founder, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, he served in the Constituent Assembly of 1978–1979. Elected to the Peruvian Congress in 1980, he rose to the position of General Secretary of the APRA in 1982, and was elected to the presidency in 1985 in a landslide.

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Gwen Marston, American quilter and writer (born 1936)

Gwendolyn Joy Marston was an American quilter, quilt teacher, lecturer, and author who championed a style of quilting she called "liberated quiltmaking". She encouraged modern quilt makers to break away from using commercial patterns and to learn to design their own unique pieces of quilt art.

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17/04/2018

Barbara Bush, American political matriarch and literacy advocate, First Lady of the United States (1989–1993), and Second Lady of the United States (1981–1989) (born 1925)

Barbara Bush was the first lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of George H. W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States. She was previously second lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, when her husband was vice president under President Ronald Reagan, and founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Among her children are George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, and Jeb Bush, the 43rd governor of Florida. Bush and Abigail Adams are the only two women to be the wife of one U.S. president and the mother of another. At the time she became first lady, she was the second oldest woman to hold the position, behind only Anna Harrison, who never lived in the capital. Bush was generally popular as first lady, recognized for her apolitical grandmotherly image.

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Carl Kasell, American radio personality (born 1934)

Carl Ray Kasell was an American radio personality. He was a newscaster for National Public Radio, and later was the official judge and scorekeeper of the weekly news quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! until his retirement in 2014.

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17/04/2016

Chyna, American wrestler (born 1969)

Chyna, also known as Joanie Laurer, was an American professional wrestler, fitness model, bodybuilder, actress, adult actress, and television personality.

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Doris Roberts, American actress (born 1925)

Doris May Roberts was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned seven decades of television and film. She received five Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild award during her acting career, which began in 1948.

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17/04/2015

Robert P. Griffin, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (born 1923)

Robert Paul Griffin was an American politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. A member of the Republican Party, he served in both chambers of the United States Congress as a Representative from 1957 to 1966 and a U.S. Senator from 1966 to 1979. He later served a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1987 to 1995. He co-sponsored the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, which regulates the internal affairs of labor unions. As a deputy minority leader in the Senate, he called on President Richard Nixon, a fellow Republican, to resign during the Watergate scandal.

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Scotty Probasco, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1928)

Scott Livingston Probasco, Jr. was an American heir, businessman and philanthropist.

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Jeremiah J. Rodell, American general (born 1921)

Jeremiah J. Rodell was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force that served as Deputy Chief of Chaplains of the United States Air Force from 1978 to 1980.

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A. Alfred Taubman, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1924)

Adolph Alfred "Al" Taubman was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.

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17/04/2014

Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1927)

Gabriel José García Márquez was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, particularly in the Spanish language, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. He pursued a self-directed education that resulted in leaving law school for a career in journalism. From early on he showed no inhibitions in his criticism of Colombian and foreign politics. In 1958, he married Mercedes Barcha Pardo; they had two sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo.

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Bernat Klein, Serbian-Scottish fashion designer and painter (born 1922)

Bernat Klein CBE was a Serbian textile designer and painter. Based in Scotland, Klein supplied textiles to haute couture designers in the 1960s and 1970s, and later sold his own clothing collections.

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Wojciech Leśnikowski, Polish–American architect and academic (born 1938)

Wojciech Grzegorz Leśnikowski, was a Polish-American architect, writer and educator. He oversaw and participated in the design and construction of numerous large-scale architectural projects around the world.

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Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (born 1940)

Karpal Singh s/o Ram Singh Deo was an Indian Malaysian politician and lawyer. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bukit Gelugor in the state of Penang from 2004 to 2014. During that time, he was also the National Chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

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17/04/2013

Carlos Graça, São Toméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (born 1931)

Carlos Alberto Monteiro Dias da Graça was a São Toméan politician who served as the country's sixth prime minister.

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Bi Kidude, Tanzanian Taarab singer (born ≈1910)

Fatuma binti Baraka, popularly known as Bi Kidude, was a Tanzanian taarab singer from Zanzibar. She has been called the "queen of taarab and Unyago music" and was inspired by earlier taarab singer Siti binti Saad.

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Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (born 1957)

Yngve Moe was a Norwegian bass guitarist and founding member of the rock band Dance with a Stranger.

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V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (born 1934)

V. S. Ramadevi was an Indian politician who was the first lady to become the 8th Governor of Karnataka and 9th Chief Election Commissioner of India from 26 November 1990 to 11 December 1990. She was the first woman to become Chief Election Commissioner of India. She was succeeded by T. N. Seshan. Ramadevi was the first woman to serve as Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, from 1 July 1993 to 25 September 1997. She was also the first and to date, the only female Governor of Karnataka, from 2 December 1999 to 20 August 2002.

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17/04/2012

Leila Berg, English journalist and author (born 1917)

Leila Berg was an English children's author, editor and play specialist. She was well known as a journalist and a writer on education and children's rights. Berg was a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award.

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J. Quinn Brisben, American educator and politician (born 1934)

John Quinn Brisben was an American teacher, author, and political activist from Chicago, Illinois. Brisben was on the Socialist Party USA's presidential ticket twice. He was the party's vice-presidential nominee in 1976 alongside former Milwaukee mayor Frank P. Zeidler. In 1992, he returned to SPUSA's ticket when he ran as a candidate for president of the United States.

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Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (born 1948)

Dimitris Mitropanos was a Greek singer. He was renowned for his mastery of laïkó, a Greek music style.

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Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian journalist, poet, and politician (born 1912)

Nityananda Mahapatra was an Indian Odia politician, poet and journalist.

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Jonathan V. Plaut, American rabbi and author (born 1942)

Jonathan V. Plaut was an American Reform rabbi and author. Plaut was the rabbi of Temple Beth Israel in Jackson, MI.

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Stanley Rogers Resor, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th United States Secretary of the Army (born 1917)

Stanley Rogers Resor was an American lawyer, military officer, and government official.

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17/04/2011

Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist and composer (born 1926)

Eric Gross AM was an Austrian–Australian pianist, composer and teacher.

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Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (born 1940)

Michael Sarrazin was a Canadian actor. His most notable film was They Shoot Horses, Don't They?.

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Robert Vickrey, American artist and author (born 1926)

Robert Remsen Vickrey was an American artist and author based in Massachusetts who specialized in the ancient medium of egg tempera. His paintings are surreal dreamlike visions of sunset shadows of bicycles, nuns in front of mural-painted brick walls, and children playing.

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17/04/2008

Aimé Césaire, Caribbean-French poet and politician (born 1913)

Aimé Fernand David Césaire was an Afro-Martiniquan French poet, author, and politician. He was one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word "négritude" in French. He founded the Parti progressiste martiniquais in 1958, and served in the French National Assembly from 1945 to 1993 and as President of the Regional Council of Martinique from 1983 to 1988. He was also the Mayor of Fort-de-France for 56 years, from 1945 to 2001.

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Danny Federici, American organist and accordion player (born 1950)

Daniel Paul Federici was an American musician, best known as a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, where he was its organist, accordionist and glockenspiel player. Federici appeared on ten of Springsteen's studio albums.

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17/04/2007

Kitty Carlisle, American actress, singer, socialite and game show panelist (born 1910)

Kitty Carlisle Hart was an American stage and screen actress, opera singer, television personality and spokesperson for the arts. She was the leading lady in the Marx Brothers movie A Night at the Opera (1935) and was a regular panelist on the television game show To Tell The Truth (1956–1978). She served 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts.

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17/04/2006

Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (born 1907)

Jean Bernard was a French physician and haematologist. He was professor of haematology and director of the Institute for Leukaemia at the University of Paris. After graduating in medicine in Paris in 1926 he commenced his laboratory training with the bacteriologist Gaston Ramon at the Pasteur Institute in 1929.

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Scott Brazil, American director and producer (born 1955)

Scott Brazil was an American television producer and director.

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Henderson Forsythe, American actor (born 1917)

Henderson Forsythe was an American actor. Forsythe was known for his role as Dr. David Stewart on the soap opera As the World Turns, a role he played for over 30 years (1960-1991), and for his work on the New York stage.

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17/04/2004

Edmond Pidoux, Swiss author and poet (born 1908)

Edmond Pidoux was a Swiss author who wrote numerous poems, novels, and essays. He was particularly renowned for Biblical pieces such as L'histoire de Jonas. In 1982, he won the Prix du livre vaudois. He is a younger brother of the musicologist, Pierre Pidoux. Born in Belgium in 1908, this minister's son studied literature at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and worked as a teacher and lecturer. He died at the age of 95 in 2004.

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17/04/2003

Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (born 1930)

Robert Coleman Atkins was an American physician and cardiologist, best known for the Atkins Diet, which requires close control of carbohydrate consumption and emphasizes protein and fat as the primary sources of dietary calories in addition to a controlled number of carbohydrates from vegetables.

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H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (born 1936)

Herring Burl "H. B." Bailey was a NASCAR driver. He raced his No. 36 Pontiac part-time as an independent driver in the Grand National/Winston Cup series from 1962 to 1993, making 85 races over his career.

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John Paul Getty Jr., American-English philanthropist (born 1932)

Sir John Paul Getty, known widely as John Paul Getty Jr., was a British-American businessman, philanthropist, and book collector. He was the third son of the American-born British oil tycoon J. Paul Getty (1892–1976), who was once the richest man in the world. His mother was J. Paul Getty's fourth wife, Ann Rork. The Getty family's wealth was the result of the oil business founded by George Franklin Getty. One of his sons, Mark Getty, co-founded the visual media company Getty Images.

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Earl King, American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter (born 1934)

Earl Silas Johnson IV, known as Earl King, was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, most active in blues music. A composer of blues standards such as "Come On" and "Big Chief", he was an important figure in New Orleans R&B.

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Yiannis Latsis, Greek businessman (born 1910)

Ioannis "Yiannis" Latsis, also known as John Spyridon Latsis, was a Greek shipping multi-billionaire business magnate notable for his great wealth, influential friends, and charitable activities.

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17/04/1998

Linda McCartney, American photographer, activist, and musician (born 1941)

Linda Louise, Lady McCartney was an American photographer, musician, cookbook author, and activist. She was the keyboardist and harmony vocalist in the band Wings that also featured her husband, Paul McCartney of the Beatles.

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17/04/1997

Chaim Herzog, Israeli general, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of Israel (born 1918)

Chaim Herzog was an Irish-Israeli politician, military officer, lawyer and author who served as President of Israel from 1983 to 1993. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Dublin, the son of Ireland's Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935. He served in the Haganah Jewish paramilitary group during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt and in the British Army during World War II. Following the end of the British Mandate and Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948, he served in the Israel Defense Forces and fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He remained in the Israeli military as an officer following the war until retiring in 1962 with the rank of major-general.

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17/04/1996

Piet Hein, Danish poet and mathematician (born 1905)

Piet Hein was a Danish polymath, often writing under the Old Norse pseudonym Kumbel, meaning "tombstone". His short poems, known as gruks or grooks, first started to appear in the daily newspaper Politiken shortly after the German occupation of Denmark in April 1940 under the pseudonym "Kumbel Kumbell". He also invented the Soma cube and the board game Hex.

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17/04/1995

Frank E. Resnik, American sergeant and businessman (born 1928)

Frank E. Resnik was CEO (1984–1989) and Chairman (1989–1991) of Philip Morris USA.

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17/04/1994

Roger Wolcott Sperry, American psychologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1913)

Roger Wolcott Sperry was an American neuropsychologist, neurobiologist, cognitive neuroscientist, and Nobel laureate who, together with David H. Hubel and Torsten Nils Wiesel, won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work with split-brain research. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Sperry as the 44th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

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17/04/1993

Turgut Özal, Turkish engineer and politician, 8th president of Turkey (born 1927)

Halil Turgut Özal was a Turkish politician, bureaucrat, engineer and statesman who served as the president of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the prime minister of Turkey from 1983 to 1989 as the leader of the Motherland Party. He was the deputy prime minister of Turkey in the military government of Bülend Ulusu between 1980 and 1982.

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Gamal Hamdan, Egyptian scholar and geographer (born 1928)

Gamal Hamdan was an Egyptian geographer and scholar known for his work on Egypt's geography, history, and culture.

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17/04/1990

Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (born 1936)

Ralph David Abernathy Sr. was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. Being a leader of the civil rights movement, Abernathy was a close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. and collaborated with him and E. D. Nixon to create the Montgomery Improvement Association, which led to the Montgomery bus boycott and co-created and was an executive board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Abernathy became president of the SCLC following the assassination of King in 1968 and led the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C., in addition to other marches and demonstrations for disenfranchised Americans. He also served as an advisory committee member of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE).

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17/04/1988

Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-American sculptor and educator (born 1900)

Louise Nevelson was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. Born in Pereiaslav in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire, she emigrated with her family to the United States in 1905. Nevelson learned English at school, as she spoke Yiddish at home.

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17/04/1987

Cecil Harmsworth King, English publisher (born 1901)

Cecil Harmsworth King was Chairman of Daily Mirror Newspapers, Sunday Pictorial Newspapers and the International Publishing Corporation (1963–1968) and a director at the Bank of England (1965–1968).

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Dick Shawn, American actor (born 1923)

Dick Shawn was an American actor. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. During the 1960s, he played small roles in madcap comedies, usually portraying caricatures of counterculture personalities, such as the hedonistic but mother-obsessed Sylvester Marcus in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and the hippie actor Lorenzo Saint DuBois ("L.S.D.") in The Producers (1967). Beyond his film work, he appeared in numerous television shows from the 1960s through the 1980s.

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17/04/1986

Marcel Dassault, French businessman, founded Dassault Aviation (born 1892)

Marcel Dassault was a French engineer and industrialist who spent his career in aircraft manufacturing. He was also involved in politics, serving intermittently over more than three decades in both houses of the French Parliament from 1951 until his death in 1986.

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17/04/1984

Claude Provost, Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1933)

Claude Joseph Antoine Provost was a Canadian professional ice hockey player.

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17/04/1983

Felix Pappalardi, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (born 1939)

Felix Albert Pappalardi Jr. was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bassist. He is best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band Mountain, whose song "Mississippi Queen" peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a classic rock radio staple.

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17/04/1977

William Conway, Irish cardinal (born 1913)

William John Conway was an Irish cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 1963 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965. He was head of the Catholic Church in Ireland during the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

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17/04/1976

Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1895)

Carl Peter Henrik Dam was a Danish biochemist and physiologist.

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17/04/1975

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of India (born 1888)

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was an Indian academic, philosopher and statesman who served as the Vice President of India from 1952 to 1962 and President of India from 1962 to 1967. He was the ambassador of India to the Soviet Union from 1949 to 1952. He was also the vice-chancellor of Banaras Hindu University from 1939 to 1948 and the vice-chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936. Radhakrishnan is considered one of the most influential and distinguished 20th century scholars of comparative religion and philosophy, he held the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta from 1921 to 1932 and Spalding Chair of Eastern Religion and Ethics at University of Oxford from 1936 to 1952.

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17/04/1967

Red Allen, American singer and trumpet player (born 1908)

Henry James "Red" Allen Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been described by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong.

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17/04/1961

Elda Anderson, American physicist and health researcher (born 1899)

Elda Emma Anderson was an American physicist and health researcher. During World War II, she worked on the Manhattan Project at Princeton University and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she prepared the first sample of pure uranium-235 at the laboratory. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, she became professor of physics at Milwaukee-Downer College in 1929. After the war, she became interested in health physics. She worked in the Health Physics Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and established the professional certification agency known as the American Board of Health Physics.

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17/04/1960

Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1938)

Edward Ray Cochran was an American rock and roll musician. His songs, such as "Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody" and "Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. Cochran experimented with multitrack recording, distortion techniques, and overdubbing, even on his earliest singles. Cochran played the guitar, piano, bass, and drums. His image as a sharply dressed and attractive young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 1950s rocker, and in death, Cochran achieved iconic status.

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17/04/1954

Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian lawyer and politician, Romanian Minister of Justice (born 1900)

Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania (PCR), also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at the University of Bucharest. Pătrășcanu rose to a government position before the end of World War II and, after having disagreed with Stalinist tenets on several occasions, eventually came into conflict with the Romanian Communist government of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. He became a political prisoner and was ultimately executed. Fourteen years after Pătrășcanu's death, Romania's new communist leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu, endorsed his rehabilitation as part of a change in policy.

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17/04/1948

Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (born 1868)

Baron Kantarō Suzuki was a Japanese politician and admiral who served as prime minister of Japan from 7 April to 17 August 1945, during World War II. He was prime minister at the time of Japan's surrender on 15 August.

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17/04/1946

Juan Bautista Sacasa, Nicaraguan medical doctor, politician and 20th President of Nicaragua (born 1874)

Juan Bautista Sacasa was the President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1933 to 9 June 1936. He was the eldest son of Roberto Sacasa and Ángela Sacasa Cuadra, the former's cousin twice removed. He was a relative of Benjamín Lacayo Sacasa.

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17/04/1944

J. T. Hearne, English cricketer and coach (born 1867)

John Thomas Hearne was a Middlesex and England medium-fast bowler. His aggregate of 3061 first-class wickets is the greatest for any bowler of medium pace or above, and his 257 wickets in 1896 is the tenth highest total on record. In 1891, 1896, 1898, 1904 and 1910 Hearne headed the first-class bowling averages.

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Dimitrios Psarros, Greek lieutenant, founded the National and Social Liberation (born 1893)

Dimitrios Psarros was a Greek army officer, founder and leader of the resistance group National and Social Liberation (EKKA), the third-most significant organization of the Greek Resistance movement after the National Liberation Front (EAM) and the National Republican Greek League (EDES). In 1944, he was executed by Greek communist forces.

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17/04/1942

Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1870)

Jean Baptiste Perrin was a French atomic physicist who, in his studies of the Brownian motion of minute particles suspended in liquids, verified Albert Einstein's explanation of this phenomenon and thereby confirmed the atomic nature of matter. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1926.

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17/04/1936

Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch lawyer and politician, 28th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (born 1873)

Charles Joseph Marie Ruijs de Beerenbrouck was a Dutch politician of the Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP). He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 9 September 1918 until 4 August 1925 and from 10 August 1929 until 26 May 1933.

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17/04/1933

Kote Marjanishvili, Georgian director and playwright (born 1872)

Konstantine "Kote" Marjanishvili, also known by the Russified name Konstantin Aleksandrovich Mardzhanov, was a Georgian theater director regarded as an important contributor to the pre- and post-revolutionary evolution of Georgian, Russian and Soviet stages. One of the most prestigious and professional of Georgia’s directors, he was particularly famous for his lavish and massive theater shows.

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17/04/1930

Alexander Golovin, Russian painter and stage designer (born 1863)

Aleksandr Yakovlevich Golovin was a Russian and Soviet decorator, painter, and stage designer. He designed productions for Sergei Diaghilev, Constantin Stanislavski, and Vsevolod Meyerhold.

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17/04/1923

Laurence Ginnell, Irish lawyer and politician (born 1852)

Laurence Ginnell was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party for North Westmeath at the 1906 UK general election. From 1910 he sat as an Independent Nationalist and at the 1918 general election he was elected for Sinn Féin.

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17/04/1921

Manwel Dimech, Maltese journalist, author, and philosopher (born 1860)

Emmanuel Giovanni Salvatore Pietro Dimech, also known as Manwel Dimech was a Maltese socialist, philosopher, journalist, writer, poet and social revolutionary. Born in Valletta and brought up in extreme poverty and illiteracy, Dimech spent significant portions of his early life in the Maltese prison system, mostly on charges of petty theft. At the age of seventeen, Dimech was arrested for the crime of involuntary murder, and sentenced to seventeen years in jail. After being thrown in jail, Dimech started to educate himself and became a man of letters.

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17/04/1919

Svetozar Ćorović, Serbian novelist (born 1875)

Svetozar Ćorović was a Bosnian Serb writer. In his books, he often wrote of life in Herzegovina and, more specifically, the city of Mostar. His brother was Vladimir Ćorović, a distinguished Serbian historian who was killed in 1941 during World War II in Greece.

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17/04/1892

Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (born 1822)

Alexander Mackenzie was a Scottish-Canadian stonemason and politician who served as the second prime minister of Canada from 1873 to 1878.

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17/04/1888

E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (born 1821)

Ephraim George Squier, usually cited as E. G. Squier, was an American archaeologist, history writer, painter and newspaper editor.

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17/04/1882

George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the flush toilet (born 1810)

George Jennings was an English sanitary engineer and plumber who invented the first public flush toilets. These were first showcased at the Great Exhibition in 1851, and such was the popularity of his invention the first public toilets opened in 1852 and were known as ‘Public Waiting Rooms'.

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17/04/1843

Samuel Morey, American engineer (born 1762)

Samuel Morey was an American inventor, who worked on early internal combustion engines and was a pioneer in steamships who accumulated a total of 20 patents.

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17/04/1840

Hannah Webster Foster, American journalist and author (born 1758)

Hannah Webster Foster was an American novelist.

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17/04/1799

Richard Jupp, English surveyor and architect (born 1728)

Richard Jupp was an English architect particularly associated with buildings in and around London. He served for many years as surveyor to the British East India Company.

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17/04/1790

Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (born 1706)

Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher. Among the most influential intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence; and the first postmaster general.

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17/04/1764

Johann Mattheson, German lexicographer and composer (born 1681)

Johann Mattheson was a German composer, critic, lexicographer and music theorist. His writings on the late Baroque and early Classical period were highly influential, specifically, "his biographical and theoretical works were widely disseminated and served as the source for all subsequent lexicographers and historians".

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17/04/1713

David Hollatz, Polish pastor and theologian (born 1648)

David Hollatz was a German Lutheran theologian.

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17/04/1711

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1678)

Joseph I was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1705 until his death in 1711. He was the eldest son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor from his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg. Joseph was crowned King of Hungary at the age of nine in 1687 and was elected King of the Romans at the age of eleven in 1690. He succeeded to the thrones of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire when his father died.

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17/04/1696

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (born 1626)

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, also widely known as Madame de Sévigné or Mme de Sévigné, was a French aristocrat, remembered for her letter-writing. Most of her letters, celebrated for their wit and vividness, were addressed to her daughter, Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné. She is revered in France as one of the great icons of French 17th-century literature.

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17/04/1695

Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (born 1651)

Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, better known as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, was a Hieronymite nun and a Novohispanic writer, philosopher, composer and poet of the Baroque period, nicknamed "The Tenth Muse", "The Mexican Phoenix", and "The Phoenix of America" by her contemporary critics. She was also a student of science. She was among the main contributors to the Spanish Golden Age, alongside Juan de Espinosa Medrano, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón and Garcilaso de la Vega "el Inca", and is considered one of the most important female writers in Spanish language literature and Mexican literature.

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17/04/1680

Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk-born Native American saint (born 1656)

Kateri Tekakwitha, given the name Tekakwitha (Tekaouïta, baptized as Catherine, known as Lily of the Mohawks and Protectress of Canada, also as Geneviève of New France/ Geneviève of Canada, was a Mohawk/Algonquin young woman when she converted to Catholicism. Committing to live as a virgin, she became known for her devotion to Jesus Christ, diligent work ethic, and dedicated prayers for her fellow Native people. She was canonized in 2012, the first Native American saint.

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17/04/1669

Antonio Bertali, Italian violinist and composer (born 1605)

Antonio Bertali was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era.

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17/04/1574

Joachim Camerarius, German scholar and translator (born 1500)

Joachim Camerarius, the Elder, was a German classical scholar. His critical abilities, his deep understanding of Greek and Latin, and his wide-ranging knowledge of the ancient world made him one of the foremost German scholars of his time.

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17/04/1539

George, Duke of Saxony (born 1471)

George the Bearded was Duke of Saxony from 1500 to 1539 and was known for his strong opposition to the Reformation. While the Ernestine line accepted Lutheranism, the Albertines, led by George, resisted religious change. Although he tried to prevent a Lutheran succession, the Act of Settlement of 1499 ensured that, after his death in 1539, Henry IV—a Lutheran—became duke and introduced Lutheranism as the official state religion of the Albertine territories.

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17/04/1427

John IV, Duke of Brabant (born 1403)

John IV, Duke of Brabant was the son of Antoine of Burgundy, Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg and his first wife Jeanne of Saint-Pol. He was the second Brabantian ruler from the House of Valois. He is best known for founding the University of Louvain (Leuven) in 1425.

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17/04/1355

Marin Falier, Doge of Venice (born 1285)

Marino Faliero was the 55th Doge of Venice from 11 September 1354 to 15 April 1355, 2 days before his execution for attempting a coup d'etat.

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17/04/1344

Constantine II, King of Armenia

Constantine II, , born Guy de Lusignan, was elected the first Latin King of Armenian Cilicia of the Poitiers-Lusignan dynasty, ruling from 1342 until his death in 1344.

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17/04/1331

Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, English nobleman (born 1257)

Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford was the son and heir of Robert de Vere, 5th Earl of Oxford, by his wife Alice de Sanford.

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17/04/1321

Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso III of Portugal (born 1259)

Blanche of Portugal, was an infanta and nun, the firstborn child of King Afonso III of Portugal and his second wife Beatrice of Castile. Named after her great-aunt Blanche of Castile, queen of France, Blanche was the Lady of Las Huelgas, Montemor-o-Velho, Alcocer and Briviesca, the city which she founded.

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17/04/1298

Árni Þorláksson, Icelandic bishop (born 1237)

Árni Þorláksson was an Icelandic Roman Catholic clergyman, who became the tenth bishop of Iceland (1269–1298).

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17/04/1111

Robert of Molesme, Christian saint and abbot (born 1027)

Robert of Molesme was an abbot, and a founder of the Cistercian Order. He is venerated as a Christian saint.

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17/04/1080

Harald III of Denmark (born 1041)

Harald Hen was King of Denmark from 1076 to 1080. Harald III was an illegitimate son of Danish king Sweyn II Estridsson, and contested the crown with some of his brothers. He was a peaceful ruler who initiated a number of reforms. Harald was married to his cousin Margareta Hasbjörnsdatter, but did not leave any heirs, and was succeeded by his brother Canute IV the Saint. Four of his half-brothers were in turn crowned Danish kings.

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17/04/1071

Manuel Komnenos, Byzantine military commander (born c. 1045)

Manuel Komnenos was a Byzantine aristocrat and military leader, the oldest son of John Komnenos and brother of the future emperor Alexios I Komnenos. A relative by marriage of Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes, he was placed in charge of expeditions against Turkish raids from 1070, until his sudden death by illness in April 1071.

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17/04/0858

Benedict III, pope of the Catholic Church

Pope Benedict III was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 29 September 855 to his death on 17 April 858.

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17/04/0818

Bernard of Italy, Frankish king (born 797)

Bernard was the King of Italy, from 810 to 817, within the Carolingian Empire. He was an illegitimate son and successor of King Pepin of Italy. He plotted against his uncle, Emperor Louis the Pious, when the latter's Ordinatio Imperii made Bernard a vassal of his cousin Lothair. When his plot was discovered, Louis had him deposed by the end of 817, and then condemned and blinded, a procedure which killed him.

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17/04/0744

Al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph (born 706)

Al-Walid ibn Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik, commonly known as al-Walid II, was the eleventh Umayyad caliph, ruling from 743 until his assassination in 744. He succeeded his uncle, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik.

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17/04/0648

Xiao, empress of the Sui dynasty

Empress Xiao, formally Empress Min, was an empress of the Chinese Sui dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Yang of Sui.

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17/04/0617

Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint

Saint Donnán of Eigg was a Gaelic priest, likely from Ireland, who attempted to introduce Christianity to the Picts of northwestern Scotland during the Early Middle Ages. Donnán is the patron saint of Eigg, the island in the Inner Hebrides where he was killed.

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17/04/0485

Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (born 412)

Proclus Lycius, called Proclus the Successor, was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism and, through later interpreters and translators, exerted an influence on Byzantine philosophy, early Islamic philosophy, scholastic philosophy, and German idealism, especially G. W. F. Hegel, who called Proclus's Platonic Theology "the true turning point or transition from ancient to modern times, from ancient philosophy to Christianity."

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