Famous University College London Alumni
Voting Rules
People on this list must have gone to University College London and be of some renown.
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British Rule, and in turn inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "high-souled", "venerable"), first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world. Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed nonviolent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for various social causes and for achieving Swaraj or self-rule.Gandhi led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand-spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and political protest. Gandhi's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism was challenged in the early 1940s by a new Muslim nationalism which was demanding a separate Muslim homeland carved out of India. In August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab and Bengal. Eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace. In the months following, he undertook several fasts unto death to stop religious violence. The last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 when he was 78, also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan. Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating. Among them was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest.Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence. Gandhi is commonly, though not formally considered the Father of the Nation in India. Gandhi is also called Bapu (Gujarati: endearment for father, papa).
- Age: Dec. at 78 (1869-1948)
- Birthplace: Porbandar, India
The Best Movies About Gandhi, RankedSee all
- 1Gandhi30 Votes
- 2Mahatma: Life of Gandhi, 1869–194811 Votes
- 3Alluri Seetarama Raju10 Votes
- Ricky Gervais, a British comedian, actor, writer, and producer, has firmly established himself as one of the most significant figures in the entertainment industry. Born on June 25, 1961, in Reading, England, his journey to stardom began with music before transitioning into comedy. Gervais initially pursued a pop career in the 1980s as part of the duo Seona Dancing, achieving minor success. However, it was in comedy where he found his true calling and subsequently rose to international prominence. Gervais's breakthrough came when he co-wrote and starred in the British television series The Office which aired from 2001 to 2003. His portrayal of David Brent, an awkward and often cringe-worthy office manager, resonated with audiences and critics alike. The show's unique mockumentary style and sharp, observational humor paved the way for numerous adaptations worldwide, including a popular American version. Following the success of The Office, Gervais went on to create other notable series like Extras, Derek, and After Life, further cementing his reputation as a prolific creator. In addition to his work on television, Gervais has also made a mark in film and stand-up comedy. He lent his voice to various animated films, including Valiant and Escape From Planet Earth, and starred in movies such as Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying. As a stand-up comedian, Gervais has released several acclaimed specials, known for their irreverent humor and keen social commentary. Furthermore, his role as a frequent host of the Golden Globe Awards, where his controversial and unapologetic monologues have garnered both praise and criticism, has contributed to his global recognition.
- Age: 63
- Birthplace: Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
The Best Ricky Gervais Shows and TV SeriesSee all- 1After Life123 Votes
- 2The Office83 Votes
- 3Life's Too Short43 Votes
- Christopher Nolan, one of the most influential filmmakers of the 21st century, is renowned for his complex narratives, innovative visual effects, and thematic depth. Born on July 30, 1970, in London, England, to an English father and American mother, Nolan's interest in filmmaking was sparked at the tender age of seven when he began using his father's Super 8 camera to create short films. He further honed this passion while studying English Literature at University College London, which offered him access to 16mm film equipment. Nolan's career skyrocketed following the success of his second full-length feature, Memento, a psychological thriller with a non-linear narrative structure released in 2000. This distinctive storytelling style became a hallmark of Nolan's work, as seen in subsequent films like Inception, Interstellar, Dunkrik, and the critically acclaimed Oppenheimer". His adeptness at combining art house ideas with mainstream appeal is further illustrated by his successful revitalization of the Batman franchise with the Dark Knight Trilogy. Despite the commercial success and critical acclaim, Nolan remains a staunch advocate for film preservation and the theatrical experience. He is known for shooting his films on celluloid rather than digital formats and has persistently championed the use of IMAX technology. A testament to his contribution to cinema, Nolan has received numerous awards and nominations, including multiple nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director. Notwithstanding his monumental achievements, Nolan continues to push cinematic boundaries, forever cementing his place among the pantheon of great directors.
- Age: 54
- Birthplace: London, England, UK
- Alexander Graham Bell ('Graham' pronounced ) (March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with inventing and patenting the first practical telephone. He also founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876. Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics. Although Bell was not one of the 33 founders of the National Geographic Society, he had a strong influence on the magazine while serving as the second president from January 7, 1898, until 1903.
- Age: Dec. at 75 (1847-1922)
- Birthplace: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Chris Martin, born Christopher Anthony John Martin on March 2, 1977, in Exeter, Devon, England, is a globally recognized artist known for his exceptional talent as a singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He gained international fame as the lead vocalist, keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, and one of the founding members of the rock band Coldplay, which was formed in 1996. The band's debut album, Parachutes, released in 2000, quickly shot up the charts, establishing Martin and his bandmates as major forces in the music industry. Martin's musical career has been marked by multiple accolades and widespread recognition. With Coldplay, he has won several awards, including multiple Grammy Awards from dozens of nominations. The band's third album, X&Y, was particularly well-received and became the best-selling album worldwide in 2005. Martin's lyrical genius combined with his distinctive falsetto voice and piano-playing skills have contributed significantly to the band's unique sound and success. Beyond his musical achievements, Martin has also been proactive in various philanthropic activities. He is known for his work in campaigns such as Make Trade Fair and Band Aid 20. Moreover, he has supported causes like Amnesty International and Teenage Cancer Trust.
- Age: 47
- Birthplace: Exeter, Devon, England, UK
- Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he briefly fronted The Tears, and has released four solo albums. Anderson is known for his distinctive wide-ranging voice and during Suede's early days, an androgynous appearance. Suede reformed in 2010.
- Age: 57
- Birthplace: United Kingdom, Haywards Heath
Harvey Goldstein
Professor, StatisticianHarvey Goldstein (born 30 October 1939) is a British statistician known for his contributions to multilevel modelling methodology and software, and for applying this to educational assessment and league tables. He is currently professor of social statistics in the Centre for Multilevel Modelling at the University of Bristol. From 1977 to 2005, he was professor of statistical methods at the Institute of Education of the University of London. He is the author of a monograph on multilevel statistical models. He was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1996 and awarded the Guy Medal in silver by the Royal Statistical Society in 1998.- Age: 85
- Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe (7 January 1833 – 18 December 1915) was a British chemist. He is particularly noted for early work on vanadium and for photochemical studies.
- Age: Dec. at 82 (1833-1915)
- Birthplace: London, England
- John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873), usually cited as J. S. Mill, was a British philosopher, political economist, and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory, and political economy. Dubbed "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century", Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control.Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham. He contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology, though his knowledge of the topic was based on the writings of others, notably William Whewell, John Herschel, and Auguste Comte, and research carried out for Mill by Alexander Bain. Mill engaged in written debate with Whewell.A member of the Liberal Party, he was also the second Member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage after Henry Hunt in 1832.
- Age: Dec. at 66 (1806-1873)
- Birthplace: London, England
- David Attenborough, a name synonymous with nature and wildlife documentaries, has made significant contributions to broadcasting and film-making. Born on May 8th, 1926 in London, England, his career spans over six decades, underpinning his position as one of the most enduring and revered figures in British broadcasting. He is best known for writing and presenting the BBC's Life series, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on Earth. Attenborough pursued his education at Clare College, Cambridge, where he received his degree in Natural Sciences. In 1952, his broadcasting career commenced at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). His early work included the quiz show Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? and children's series Zoo Quest. His passion for nature was palpable from the outset, setting the stage for his future iconic documentaries. His ability to bring complex scientific ideas to a wide audience without losing their essence or his infectious enthusiasm earned him recognition as a pioneer in the field of natural history television programming. Over the years, Attenborough became renowned for his environmental advocacy and efforts to combat climate change. He has numerous awards and recognitions to his name, including the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1974 and a knighthood in 1985. He has also been honored with the Michael Faraday Prize by the Royal Society for his excellent work in communicating science to the public. Attenborough's spectacular career is characterized by his indefatigable curiosity about the natural world, his commitment to promoting its preservation, and his masterful storytelling that continues to captivate audiences worldwide.
- Age: 98
- Birthplace: London, England, UK
15 David Attenborough Documentaries That Have Us Looking At The World DifferentlySee all- 1David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet34 Votes
- 2Frozen Planet33 Votes
- 3The Life of Birds by David Attenborough32 Votes
- William Champion (born 31 July 1978) is a British musician and songwriter. He is the drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Coldplay.
- Age: 46
- Birthplace: Southampton, England
- Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener, and author.
- Age: Dec. at 52 (1942-1994)
- Birthplace: Northwood, London, England, London
- Chief James Ajibola Idowu Ige, SAN (Yoruba: Bọ́lá Ìgè; 13 September 1930 – 23 December 2001), simply known as Bola Ige, was a Nigerian lawyer and politician. He also served as Federal Minister of Justice for Nigeria. He was murdered in December 2001.
- Age: Dec. at 71 (1930-2001)
- Birthplace: Zaria, Nigeria
Philip Carr-Gomm
Philip Carr-Gomm (born 1952) is an author in the fields of psychology and Druidry, a psychologist, and one of the leaders and Chosen Chief of The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.- Age: 73
- Birthplace: Sussex, United Kingdom
- Sir Antony Mark David Gormley, (born 30 August 1950), is a British sculptor. His works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in Gateshead in the North of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998, Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool, and Event Horizon, a multi-part site installation which premiered in London in 2007, around Madison Square in New York City, in 2010, in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2012, and in Hong Kong in 2015–16. In 2008 The Daily Telegraph ranked Gormley number 4 in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture".
- Age: 74
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a short time around 1910, he was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in the United Kingdom. He was the brother of the painter Gwen John. "Augustus was celebrated first for his brilliant figure drawings, and then for a new technique of oil sketching. His work was favourably compared in London with that of Gauguin and Matisse. He then developed a style of portraiture that was imaginative and often extravagant, catching an instantaneous attitude in his subjects."
- Age: Dec. at 83 (1878-1961)
- Birthplace: Tenby, United Kingdom
- Edith Abbott (September 26, 1876 – July 28, 1957) was an American economist, social worker, educator, and author. Abbott was born in Grand Island, Nebraska. Edith Abbott was a pioneer in the profession of social work with an educational background in economics. She was a leading activist in social reform with the ideals that humanitarianism needed to be embedded in education. Abbott was also in charge of implementing social work studies to the graduate level. Though she was met with resistance on her work with social reform at the University of Chicago, she ultimately was successful and was elected as the school's dean in 1924, making her the first female dean in the United States. Abbott was foremost an educator and saw her work as a combination of legal studies and humanitarian work which shows in her social security legislation. She is known as an economist who pursued implementing social work at the graduate level. Her younger sister was Grace Abbott. Social work will never become a profession—except through the professional schools The Edith Abbott Memorial Library, in Grand Island, Nebraska, is named after her.
- Age: Dec. at 80 (1876-1957)
- Birthplace: Grand Island, Nebraska
- Richard David Hughes (born 8 September 1975, Gravesend, Kent) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the British pop rock band Keane.
- Age: 49
- Birthplace: Gravesend, United Kingdom
- Guy Rupert Berryman (born 12 April 1978) is a British musician and photographer best known as the bassist for the bands Coldplay and Apparatjik. Though Berryman is left-handed, he plays the bass right-handed.
- Age: 46
- Birthplace: Kirkcaldy, United Kingdom
- Jonathan Mark Buckland (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh musician and multi-instrumentalist. He is the lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay.
- Age: 47
- Birthplace: London Borough of Islington, England, London
G. E. M. de Ste. Croix
HistorianGeoffrey Ernest Maurice de Ste. Croix (; 8 February 1910 – 5 February 2000), known informally as Croicks, was a British historian who specialised in examining the classical era from a Marxist perspective. He was Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at New College, Oxford from 1953 to 1977, where he taught scholars including Robin Lane Fox, Robert Parker and Nicholas Richardson.- Age: Dec. at 89 (1910-2000)
- Birthplace: Macau, China
- Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, and was the first female academic on the faculty of the University of Manchester. With her second husband, Humphrey Verdon Roe, Stopes founded the first birth control clinic in Britain. Stopes edited the newsletter Birth Control News, which gave explicit practical advice. Her sex manual Married Love (1918) was controversial and influential, and brought the subject of birth control into wide public discourse. Stopes publicly opposed abortion, arguing that the prevention of conception was all that was needed, though her actions in private were at odds with her public pronouncements.
- Age: Dec. at 77 (1880-1958)
- Birthplace: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Helen Jones
PoliticianHelen Mary Jones (born 24 December 1954) is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington North since 1997. Andrew Roth, writing for The Guardian, described her as an: "intelligent, battle hardened leftwing solicitor built into the Labour machine".Jones was appointed as an Assistant Government Whip in 2008, and was Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 2009 to 2010. She wrote a book, entitled "How to be a Government Whip", about her time in the Whip's Office, published by Biteback Publishing in 2016.- Age: 70
- Birthplace: Chester, England
- Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of the dramatic monologue made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. His poems are known for their irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings, and challenging vocabulary and syntax. Browning's early career began promisingly, but collapsed. The long poems Pauline and Paracelsus received some acclaim, but in 1840 the difficult Sordello, which was seen as wilfully obscure, brought his poetry into disrepute. His reputation took more than a decade to recover, during which time he moved away from the Shelleyan forms of his early period and developed a more personal style. In 1846, Browning married the older poet Elizabeth Barrett, and went to live in Italy. By the time of her death in 1861, he had published the crucial collection Men and Women. The collection Dramatis Personae and the book-length epic poem The Ring and the Book followed, and made him a leading British poet. He continued to write prolifically, but his reputation today rests largely on the poetry he wrote in this middle period. When Browning died in 1889, he was regarded as a sage and philosopher-poet who through his writing had made contributions to Victorian social and political discourse. Unusually for a poet, societies for the study of his work were founded while he was still alive. Such Browning Societies remained common in Britain and the United States until the early 20th century.
- Age: Dec. at 77 (1812-1889)
- Birthplace: Camberwell, London, United Kingdom
Jenny Jones
PoliticianJennifer Helen Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, FSA (born 23 December 1949) is a British politician and member of the Green Party of England and Wales. She is the only Green member of the House of Lords. Jones represented the Green Party in the London Assembly from its creation in 2000 until standing down in 2016. She was the Green candidate for Mayor of London in the 2012 election, coming third with 4.48% of first preferences. She served as Deputy Mayor of London from May 2003 to June 2004. She was also the sole Green councillor on Southwark Council from 2006 to 2010.On the London Assembly, Jones's prime areas of interest were transport, housing and planning, and policing, "with a strong emphasis on sustainability and localism". In addition to her period as deputy mayor, Jones served as Chair of London Food, Green Transport Advisor, and Road Safety Ambassador It was announced at the beginning of August 2013 that she was to become the first Green life peer in the House of Lords since Tim Beaumont She was introduced to the House of Lords on 5 November 2013.- Age: 75
- Birthplace: Brighton, England
Julian Baggini
PhilosopherJulian Baggini (born 1968) is a British philosopher, journalist and the author of over 20 books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine and has written for numerous international newspapers and magazines. In addition to writing on the subject of philosophy he has also written books on atheism, secularism and the nature of national identity. He is a patron of Humanists UK.- Age: 57
- Birthplace: United Kingdom
Prince Philip of Yugoslavia
Prince Philip of Yugoslavia, also known as Philip Karađorđević (Serbian Cyrillic: Филип Карађорђевић / Filip Karađorđević; born 15 January 1982), is a member of the House of Karađorđević.- Age: 43
- Birthplace: Virginia
Joanna Briscoe
Novelist, WriterJoanna Briscoe is an English writer born in London in 1963. She has written four novels and several short stories, and worked as a freelance journalist. Her first novel, Mothers and Other Lovers, won a Betty Trask Award in 1993, and her third, Sleep with Me (2005), was adapted for television.- Age: 62
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
Yi-Fu Tuan
Yi-Fu Tuan (Traditional Chinese: 段義孚, born 5 December 1930) is a Chinese-American geographer. He is one of the key figures in human geography and arguably the most important originator of humanistic geography.- Age: 94
- Birthplace: Tianjin, China
- Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematical physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and an emeritus fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. Penrose has made contributions to the mathematical physics of general relativity and cosmology. He has received several prizes and awards, including the 1988 Wolf Prize for physics, which he shared with Stephen Hawking for the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems.
- Age: 93
- Birthplace: Colchester, England, UK
- Paul Charles William Davies (born 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor at Arizona State University as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute for Quantum Studies at Chapman University in California. He has held previous academic appointments at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Adelaide and Macquarie University. His research interests are in the fields of cosmology, quantum field theory, and astrobiology. He proposed that a one-way trip to Mars could be a viable option. In 2005, he took up the chair of the SETI: Post-Detection Science and Technology Taskgroup of the International Academy of Astronautics. Davies serves on the Advisory Council of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence). He is also an adviser to the Microbes Mind Forum.
- Age: 78
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- Roger Fenton (28 March 1819 – 8 August 1869) was a British photographer, noted as one of the first war photographers. Fenton was born into a Lancashire merchant family. After graduating from London with an Arts degree, he became interested in painting and later developed a keen interest in the new technology of photography after seeing early examples of at The Great Exhibition in 1851. Within a year, he began exhibiting his own photographs. He became a leading British photographer and instrumental in founding the Photographic Society (later the Royal Photographic Society). In 1854, he was commissioned to document events occurring in Crimea, where he became one of a small group of photographers to produce images of the final stages of the Crimean War.
- Age: Dec. at 50 (1819-1869)
- Birthplace: Bury, United Kingdom
- Choman Hardi (Kurdish: چۆمان هەردی),(born 1974) is a contemporary Kurdish poet, translator and painter.
- Age: 51
- Birthplace: Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
- Sir John Ambrose Fleming FRS (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) was an English electrical engineer and physicist who invented the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, designed the radio transmitter with which the first transatlantic radio transmission was made, and also established the right-hand rule used in physics. He was the eldest of seven children of James Fleming DD (died 1879), a Congregational minister, and his wife Mary Ann, at Lancaster, Lancashire, and baptised on 11 February 1850. A devout Christian, he once preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on evidence for the resurrection. In 1932, he and Douglas Dewar and Bernard Acworth helped establish the Evolution Protest Movement. Fleming bequeathed much of his estate to Christian charities, especially those for the poor. He was a noted photographer, painted water colours, and enjoyed climbing the Alps.
- Age: Dec. at 95 (1849-1945)
- Birthplace: Lancaster, United Kingdom
Simon Holledge
Editor, WriterSimon Holledge is a British writer and environmentalist who has lived much of his life in China and Japan. He was born in London and studied Chinese at Leeds and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and archaeology at University College London. In addition to working as a travel writer-photographer, and then later as a field archaeologist, he has had a long term involvement in print and online publishing. He worked in publishing companies in London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo (on the authoritative Kodansha Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopaedia). An internet pioneer in the early 1990s, he created a series of websites, including an early political/environmental blog and a magazine devoted to opera. A live-long hill-walker and enthusiast for wild land, he has trekked in remote areas of Europe, Africa and Asia. He currently manages the Horoka Tomamu Montane Forest conservation and biodiversity project in Hokkaido with his wife, Masumi. He sees many similarities between Hokkaido and Scotland, areas of comparable size and population density, that both face the challenges of climate change and the need to improve protection of forests, wildland and biodiversity.- Age: 79
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
Edward Routh
MathematicianEdward John Routh (; 20 January 1831 – 7 June 1907), was an English mathematician, noted as the outstanding coach of students preparing for the Mathematical Tripos examination of the University of Cambridge in its heyday in the middle of the nineteenth century. He also did much to systematise the mathematical theory of mechanics and created several ideas critical to the development of modern control systems theory.- Age: Dec. at 76 (1831-1907)
- Birthplace: Québec, Canada
- John Maynard Smith (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J. B. S. Haldane. Maynard Smith was instrumental in the application of game theory to evolution with George R. Price, and theorised on other problems such as the evolution of sex and signalling theory.
- Age: Dec. at 84 (1920-2004)
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- Prince Itō Hirobumi (伊藤 博文, 16 October 1841 – 26 October 1909, born Hayashi Risuke and also known as Hirofumi, Hakubun and briefly during his youth Itō Shunsuke) was a Japanese statesman and genrō. A London-educated samurai of the Chōshū Domain and an influential figure in the early Meiji Restoration government, he chaired the bureau which drafted the Meiji Constitution in the 1880s. Looking to the West for legal inspiration, Itō rejected the United States Constitution as too liberal and the Spanish Restoration as too despotic before ultimately drawing on the British and German models, especially the Prussian Constitution of 1850. Dissatisfied with the prominent role of Christianity in European legal traditions, he substituted references to the more traditionally Japanese concept of kokutai or "national polity", which became the constitutional justification for imperial authority. In 1885, he became Japan's first Prime Minister, an office his constitutional bureau had introduced. He went on to hold the position four times, becoming one of the longest serving PMs in Japanese history, and wielded considerable power even out of office as the occasional head of Emperor Meiji's Privy Council. A monarchist, Itō favoured a large, bureaucratic government and opposed the formation of political parties. His third term in government was ended by the consolidation of the opposition into the Kenseitō party in 1898, prompting him to found the Rikken Seiyūkai party in response. He resigned his fourth and final ministry in 1901 after growing weary of party politics, but served as head of the Privy Council twice more before his death. Itō's foreign policy was ambitious. He strengthened diplomatic ties with Western powers including Germany, the United States and especially the United Kingdom. In Asia he oversaw the First Sino-Japanese War and negotiated Chinese surrender on terms aggressively favourable to Japan, including the annexation of Taiwan and the release of Korea from the Chinese Imperial tribute system. Itō sought to avoid a Russo-Japanese War through the policy of Man-Kan kōkan – surrendering Manchuria to the Russian sphere of influence in exchange for the acceptance of Japanese hegemony in Korea. A diplomatic tour of the United States and Europe brought him to Saint Petersburg in November 1901, where he was unable to find compromise on this matter with Russian authorities. Soon the government of Katsura Tarō elected to abandon the pursuit of Man-Kan kōkan, and tensions with Russia continued to escalate towards war. The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 made Itō the first Japanese Resident-General of Korea. He initially supported the sovereignty of the indigenous Joseon monarchy as a protectorate under Japan, but he eventually accepted and agreed with the increasingly powerful Imperial Japanese Army, which favoured the total annexation of Korea, resigning his position as Resident-General and taking a new position as the President of the Privy Council of Japan in 1909. Four months later, Itō was assassinated by Korean-independence activist and nationalist An Jung-geun in Manchuria. The annexation process was formalised by another treaty the following year after Ito's death. Through his daughter Ikuko, Itō was the father-in-law of politician, intellectual and author Suematsu Kenchō.
- Age: Dec. at 68 (1841-1909)
- Birthplace: Yamato, Japan
- Walter Bagehot ( BAJ-ət; 3 February 1826 – 24 March 1877) was a British journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about government, economics, literature and race.
- Age: Dec. at 51 (1826-1877)
- Birthplace: Langport, United Kingdom
- Raymond Arthur Dart (4 February 1893 – 22 November 1988) was a South African anatomist and anthropologist, best known for his involvement in the 1924 discovery of the first fossil ever found of Australopithecus africanus, an extinct hominin closely related to humans, at Taung in the North of South Africa in the province Northwest.
- Age: Dec. at 95 (1893-1988)
- Birthplace: Toowong, Australia
- Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller, CBE (born 21 July 1934) is an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist, and medical doctor. After training in medicine, and specialising in neurology, in the late 1950s, he came to prominence in the early 1960s in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett. Miller began directing operas in the 1970s. A production is his 1982 "Mafia"-styled Rigoletto set in 1950s Little Italy, Manhattan. In its early days he was an associate director at the National Theatre and later ran the Old Vic Theatre. As a writer/presenter of more than a dozen BBC documentaries, he has become a television personality and public intellectual in Britain and the United States.
- Age: 90
- Birthplace: London, England
- Sir Owen Willans Richardson, FRS (26 April 1879 – 15 February 1959) was a British physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1928 for his work on thermionic emission, which led to Richardson's law.
- Age: Dec. at 79 (1879-1959)
- Birthplace: Dewsbury, United Kingdom
- Anil Moonesinghe (15 February 1927 – 8 December 2002) was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist revolutionary politician and trade unionist. He became a member of parliament, a Cabinet Minister of Transport in 1964, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 1994-2000 and a diplomat. He authored several books and edited newspapers and magazines. He was chairman and general manager of a State corporation. He briefly held the honorary rank of Colonel.
- Age: Dec. at 75 (1927-2002)
- Birthplace: Sri Lanka
- Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912), known between 1883 and 1897 as Sir Joseph Lister, Bt., was a British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery. Lister promoted the idea of sterile surgery while working at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Lister successfully introduced carbolic acid (now known as phenol) to sterilise surgical instruments and to clean wounds. Applying Louis Pasteur's advances in microbiology, Lister championed the use of carbolic acid as an antiseptic, so that it became the first widely used antiseptic in surgery. He first suspected it would prove an adequate disinfectant because it was used to ease the stench from fields irrigated with sewage waste. He presumed it was safe because fields treated with carbolic acid produced no apparent ill-effects on the livestock that later grazed upon them. Lister's work led to a reduction in post-operative infections and made surgery safer for patients, distinguishing him as the "father of modern surgery".
- Age: Dec. at 84 (1827-1912)
- Birthplace: West Ham
- Sirkazhi Ramamrita Ranganathan (S.R.R.) (listen 12 August 1892 – 27 September 1972) was a mathematician and librarian from India. His most notable contributions to the field were his five laws of library science and the development of the first major faceted classification system, the colon classification. He is considered to be the father of library science, documentation, and information science in India and is widely known throughout the rest of the world for his fundamental thinking in the field. His birthday is observed every year as the National Librarian's Day in India.He was a university librarian and professor of library science at Banaras Hindu University (1945–47) and professor of library science at the University of Delhi (1947–55). The last appointment made him director of the first Indian school of librarianship to offer higher degrees. He was president of the Indian Library Association from 1944 to 1953. In 1957 he was elected an honorary member of the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID) and was made a vice-president for life of the Library Association of Great Britain.
- Age: Dec. at 80 (1892-1972)
- Birthplace: Sirkazhi, India
- Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, he composed a large number of other works across a range of genres, although none achieved comparable success. His distinctive compositional style was the product of many influences, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss being most crucial early in his development. The subsequent inspiration of the English folksong revival of the early 20th century, and the example of such rising modern composers as Maurice Ravel, led Holst to develop and refine an individual style. There were professional musicians in the previous three generations of Holst's family and it was clear from his early years that he would follow the same calling. He hoped to become a pianist but was prevented by neuritis in his right arm. Despite his father's reservations, he pursued a career as a composer, studying at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford. Unable to support himself by his compositions, he played the trombone professionally and later became a teacher—a great one, according to his colleague Ralph Vaughan Williams. Among other teaching activities, he built up a strong tradition of performance at Morley College, where he served as musical director from 1907 until 1924 and pioneered music education for women at St Paul's Girls' School, where he taught from 1905 until his death in 1934. He was the founder of a series of Whitsun music festivals, which ran from 1916 for the remainder of his life. Holst's works were played frequently in the early years of the 20th century, but it was not until the international success of The Planets in the years immediately after the First World War that he became a well-known figure. A shy man, he did not welcome this fame and preferred to be left in peace to compose and teach. In his later years, his uncompromising, personal style of composition struck many music lovers as too austere, and his brief popularity declined. Nevertheless, he was a significant influence on a number of younger English composers, including Edmund Rubbra, Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten. Apart from The Planets and a handful of other works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980s, when recordings of much of his output became available.
- Age: Dec. at 59 (1874-1934)
- Birthplace: Cheltenham, United Kingdom
- Walter Frank Raphael Weldon DSc FRS (15 March 1860 in Highgate, London – 13 April 1906 in Oxford) generally called Raphael Weldon, was an English evolutionary biologist and a founder of biometry. He was the joint founding editor of Biometrika, with Francis Galton and Karl Pearson.
- Age: Dec. at 46 (1860-1906)
- Birthplace: Highgate, London, United Kingdom
Robert Gunther
Scientist, Science writerFor the Minnesota politician, see Bob Gunther. Robert William Theodore Gunther (23 August 1869 – 9 March 1940) was a historian of science, zoologist, and founder of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford.Gunther's father, Albert Günther, was Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum in London. Robert Gunther was educated at University College School, attached to University College London. Towards the end of his schooling he attended lectures at University College itself. He was elected to a demyship at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1887 and took this up in 1888. He joined the Oxford University Scientific Club in his first term at Magdalen and subsequently he took up a Fellowship at the College. In 1911, Gunther and his family moved to 5 Folly Bridge, an unusual and distinctive tall house on a small island in the River Thames next to the bridge. This made the river central to his life. He was a pioneer of environmental conservation in Oxford. From 1923, Robert Gunther produced a fourteen volume set of books on Early Science in Oxford, his magnum opus, the last appearing in 1945. These were initially produced under the auspices of the Oxford Historical Society and printed at the Clarendon Press, Oxford. A fifteenth volume by his son A. E. Gunther in 1967 covered Robert Gunther himself.Between 1926 and 1930, Gunther founded the Museum of the History of Science in the Old Ashmolean building, with some difficulty: it is apparent that few of his contemporaries shared his passion for historical scientific instruments, and indeed the Early Science series makes barbed comments about the failure of predecessors in various august bodies to preserve such things. The museum's initial collection was based on the scientific instrument collection of his friend Lewis Evans, donated in 1924. Gunther died after a short illness, while staying at a friend's house in the south Oxfordshire village of South Stoke. He and his wife, Amy, are buried at Heacham, Norfolk, in the Rolfe family plot, having written their family history. He was succeeded as Curator of the Museum of the History of Science by Frank Sherwood Taylor. An archive of manuscripts collected by Gunther is held by the Museum of the History of Science.- Age: Dec. at 70 (1869-1940)
- Rajendra 'Raj' Persaud (born 13 May 1963) is an English consultant psychiatrist, broadcaster and author of books about psychiatry. He is known for raising public awareness of psychiatric and mental health issues in the general media, has published five books and received numerous awards. In October 2008, Persaud resigned from his position as consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, following a three-month suspension by the General Medical Council for dishonesty in plagiarising other sources in his book From the Edge of the Couch.
- Age: 61
- Birthplace: Reading, United Kingdom
- Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first English-speaking practitioner of psychoanalysis and became its leading exponent in the English-speaking world. As President of both the International Psychoanalytical Association and the British Psycho-Analytical Society in the 1920s and 1930s, Jones exercised a formative influence in the establishment of their organisations, institutions and publications.
- Age: Dec. at 79 (1879-1958)
- Birthplace: Glamorgan, United Kingdom
- Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936), was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Time magazine has observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out."Chesterton created the fictional priest-detective Father Brown, and wrote on apologetics. Even some of those who disagree with him have recognised the wide appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an "orthodox" Christian, and came to identify this position more and more with Catholicism, eventually converting to Catholicism from High Church Anglicanism. George Bernard Shaw, his "friendly enemy", said of him, "He was a man of colossal genius." Biographers have identified him as a successor to such Victorian authors as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, Cardinal John Henry Newman, and John Ruskin.
- Age: Dec. at 62 (1874-1936)
- Birthplace: Kensington, London, United Kingdom
- Peter Henry Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith (born 5 January 1950) is a British barrister and a former Attorney General for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland. On 22 June 2007, Goldsmith announced his resignation which took effect on 27 June 2007, the same day that prime minister, Tony Blair, stepped down. Goldsmith was the longest serving Labour Attorney General. He is currently head of European litigation practice at US law firm Debevoise & Plimpton and Vice Chairperson of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre.
- Age: 75
- Birthplace: Liverpool, England
- Miranda Yap (August 1948 – 14 October 2015) was a professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department of the National University of Singapore, and the Executive Director of the Bioprocessing Technology Institute at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore (A*STAR).
- Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright (24 June 1947 – 15 March 2014) was an English celebrity chef, television personality, writer, businesswoman, and former barrister. She was best known as one of the Two Fat Ladies, with Jennifer Paterson, in the television cooking programme. She was an accredited cricket umpire and one of only two women to become a Guild Butcher.
- Age: Dec. at 66 (1947-2014)
- Birthplace: London, England
- Dame Louisa Brandreth Aldrich-Blake (15 August 1865 – 28 December 1925) was one of the first British women to enter the world of modern medicine. Born in Chingford, then a village in Essex, she was the eldest daughter of a curate. Louisa Aldrich-Blake graduated in medicine from the Royal Free Hospital in 1893. She obtained her Master of Surgery degree and was a lead surgeon by 1910. Louisa volunteered for military medical service during the First World War. She was one of the first people to perform surgery on rectal and cervical cancers. In recognition of her commitment and achievements a statue was erected in Tavistock Square, London. This statue's position is close to her alma mater.
- Age: Dec. at 60 (1865-1925)
- Birthplace: United Kingdom
- David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include The Destruction of Dresden (1963), Hitler's War (1977), Churchill's War (1987) and Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich (1996). In his works, he argued that Adolf Hitler did not know of the extermination of Jews or, if he did, opposed it. Though Irving's negationist views of German atrocities in World War II (and Hitler's responsibility for them) were never taken seriously by mainstream historians, he was once recognised for his knowledge of Nazi Germany and his ability to unearth new historical documents. Irving marginalised himself in 1988 when, based on his reading of the pseudoscientificLeuchter report, he began to espouse Holocaust denial, specifically denying that Jews were murdered by gassing at the Auschwitz concentration camp.Irving's reputation as a historian was discredited when, in the course of an unsuccessful libel case he filed against the American historian Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books, he was shown to have deliberately misrepresented historical evidence to promote Holocaust denial. The English court found that Irving was an active Holocaust denier, antisemite and racist, who "for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence". In addition, the court found that Irving's books had distorted the history of Hitler's role in the Holocaust to depict Hitler in a favourable light.
- Age: 86
- Birthplace: England, Brentwood
- Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, DBE, FRS (née Yardley; 28 January 1903 – 1 April 1971) was an Irish-born British pacifist, prison reformer and crystallographer. She proved, in 1929, that the benzene ring is flat by using X-ray diffraction methods to elucidate the structure of hexamethylbenzene. She was the first to use Fourier spectral methods while solving the structure of hexachlorobenzene in 1931. During her career she attained several firsts for female scientists, including being one of the first two women elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1945 (along with Marjory Stephenson), first woman tenured professor at University College London, first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography, and first woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
- Age: Dec. at 68 (1903-1971)
- Birthplace: Newbridge, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland
- Christopher John Lintott (born 26 November 1980) is a British astrophysicist, author and broadcaster. He is a Professor of Astrophysics in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford. Lintott is involved in a number of popular science projects aimed at bringing astronomy to a wider audience and is also the primary presenter of the BBC television series The Sky at Night, having previously been co-presenter with Sir Patrick Moore until Moore's death in 2012. He co-authored Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe with Moore and Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May.
- Age: 45
- Birthplace: Torbay, United Kingdom
- Jomo Kenyatta (c. 1897 – 22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous head of government and played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an independent republic. Ideologically an African nationalist and conservative, he led the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party from 1961 until his death. Kenyatta was born to Kikuyu farmers in Kiambu, British East Africa. Educated at a mission school, he worked in various jobs before becoming politically engaged through the Kikuyu Central Association. In 1929, he travelled to London to lobby for Kikuyu land affairs. During the 1930s, he studied at Moscow's Communist University of the Toilers of the East, University College London, and the London School of Economics. In 1938, he published an anthropological study of Kikuyu life before working as a farm labourer in Sussex during the Second World War. Influenced by his friend George Padmore, he embraced anti-colonialist and Pan-African ideas, co-organising the 1945 Pan-African Congress in Manchester. He returned to Kenya in 1946 and became a school principal. In 1947, he was elected President of the Kenya African Union, through which he lobbied for independence from British colonial rule, attracting widespread indigenous support but animosity from white settlers. In 1952, he was among the Kapenguria Six arrested and charged with masterminding the anti-colonial Mau Mau Uprising. Although protesting his innocence—a view shared by later historians—he was convicted. He remained imprisoned at Lokitaung until 1959 and then exiled in Lodwar until 1961. On his release, Kenyatta became President of KANU and led the party to victory in the 1963 general election. As Prime Minister, he oversaw the transition of the Kenya Colony into an independent republic, of which he became President in 1964. Desiring a one-party state, he transferred regional powers to his central government, suppressed political dissent, and prohibited KANU's only rival—Oginga Odinga's leftist Kenya People's Union—from competing in elections. He promoted reconciliation between the country's indigenous ethnic groups and its European minority, although his relations with the Kenyan Indians were strained and Kenya's army clashed with Somali separatists in the North Eastern Province during the Shifta War. His government pursued capitalist economic policies and the "Africanisation" of the economy, prohibiting non-citizens from controlling key industries. Education and healthcare were expanded, while UK-funded land redistribution favoured KANU loyalists and exacerbated ethnic tensions. Under Kenyatta, Kenya joined the Organisation of African Unity and the Commonwealth of Nations, espousing a pro-Western and anti-communist foreign policy amid the Cold War. Kenyatta died in office and was succeeded by Daniel arap Moi. Kenyatta was a controversial figure. Prior to Kenyan independence, many of its white settlers regarded him as an agitator and malcontent, although across Africa he gained widespread respect as an anti-colonialist. During his presidency, he was given the honorary title of Mzee and lauded as the Father of the Nation, securing support from both the black majority and white minority with his message of reconciliation. Conversely, his rule was criticised as dictatorial, authoritarian, and neo-colonial, of favouring Kikuyu over other ethnic groups, and of facilitating the growth of widespread corruption.
- Age: Dec. at 89 (1889-1978)
- Birthplace: Gatundu, Kenya
Jonathan Dimbleby
Journalist, PresenterJonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, an author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of British TV presenter David Dimbleby.- Age: 80
- Birthplace: Aylesbury, England
- Timothy James Rice-Oxley (born 2 June 1976), is an English musician, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist, best known for being the keyboardist, singer and songwriter of the British pop rock band Keane. In 2010, Rice-Oxley formed a side-project, Mt. Desolation, with his Keane bandmate Jesse Quin.
- Age: 48
- Birthplace: Oxford, England
- Isaac Todhunter FRS (23 November 1820 – 1 March 1884), was an English mathematician who is best known today for the books he wrote on mathematics and its history.
- Age: Dec. at 63 (1820-1884)
- Birthplace: Rye, United Kingdom
- Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was a British molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. In 1953, he co-authored with James Watson the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Together with Watson and Maurice Wilkins, he was jointly awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material". The results were based partly on fundamental studies done by Rosalind Franklin, Raymond Gosling and Wilkins. Crick was an important theoretical molecular biologist and played a crucial role in research related to revealing the helical structure of DNA. He is widely known for the use of the term "central dogma" to summarize the idea that once information is transferred from nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) to proteins, it cannot flow back to nucleic acids. In other words, the final step in the flow of information from nucleic acids to proteins is irreversible.During the remainder of his career, he held the post of J.W. Kieckhefer Distinguished Research Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. His later research centered on theoretical neurobiology and attempts to advance the scientific study of human consciousness. He remained in this post until his death; "he was editing a manuscript on his death bed, a scientist until the bitter end" according to Christof Koch.
- Age: Dec. at 88 (1916-2004)
- Birthplace: Weston Favell, United Kingdom
- Alan Baker (19 August 1939 – 4 February 2018) was an English mathematician, known for his work on effective methods in number theory, in particular those arising from transcendental number theory.
- Age: 85
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- Laila Lalami (Arabic: ليلى العلمي, born 1968) is a Moroccan-American novelist, essayist, and professor. After earning her Licence ès Lettres degree in Morocco, she received a fellowship to study in the United Kingdom (UK), where she earned an MA in linguistics. In 1992 Lalami moved to the United States, where she completed a PhD in linguistics at the University of Southern California. She began publishing her writing in 1996. Her first novel, composed of linked stories, was published in 2005. In 2015 she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her 2014 novel The Moor's Account, which received strong critical praise and won several other awards.
- Age: 57
- Birthplace: Rabat, Morocco
- Sarah Louise Teather (born 1 June 1974) is a former British Member of Parliament and Minister. As a Liberal Democrat politician, she founded the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Guantanamo Bay and was chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees. On stepping down as an MP, she joined the Jesuit Refugee Service as an advocacy adviser and was appointed as country director of JRS UK in December 2015. She was first elected as an MP on 18 September 2003 at the Brent East by-election and was re-elected with an increased majority at the 2005 general election. After the seat was abolished due to boundary changes, Teather was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the successor seat, Brent Central. Her main opponent was sitting Labour MP Dawn Butler, whose Brent South seat was also abolished. Teather won by a small margin, and, after the election, she served as Minister of State in the Department for Education in the coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats until she returned to the backbenches on 4 September 2012. On 7 September 2013, she announced that she would leave the House of Commons in 2015.
- Age: 50
- Birthplace: London Borough of Enfield, London, England
Victor Horsley
Scientist, Physician, SurgeonSir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley (14 April 1857 – 16 July 1916) was an accomplished scientist and professor. He was born in Kensington, London. He was educated at Cranbrook School, Kent, and studied medicine at University College London and in Berlin, Germany (1881), and in the same year started his career as a house surgeon and registrar at the University College Hospital. From 1884 to 1890 Horsley was Professor-Superintendent of the Brown Institute. In 1886, he was appointed as Assistant Professor of Surgery at the National Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy, and as a Professor of Pathology (1887–1896) and Professor of Clinical Surgery (1899–1902) at University College London. He was a supporter for women's suffrage, and was an opponent of tobacco and alcohol.- Age: Dec. at 59 (1857-1916)
- Birthplace: Kensington, London, United Kingdom
Bernard Crick
WriterSir Bernard Rowland Crick (16 December 1929 – 19 December 2008) was a British political theorist and democratic socialist whose views can be summarised as "politics is ethics done in public". He sought to arrive at a "politics of action", as opposed to a "politics of thought" or of ideology, and he held that "political power is power in the subjunctive mood." He was a leading critic of behaviouralism.- Age: Dec. at 79 (1929-2008)
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- Sir Bernard Katz, FRS (26 March 1911 – 20 April 2003) was a German-born Australian physician and biophysicist, noted for his work on nerve physiology. He shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1970 with Julius Axelrod and Ulf von Euler. He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1969.
- Age: Dec. at 92 (1911-2003)
- Birthplace: Leipzig, Germany
- Sir Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar OBE, FNI, FASc, FRS, FRIC, FInstP (21 February 1894 – 1 January 1955) was an Indian colloid chemist, academic and scientific administrator. The first director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), he is revered as the "father of research laboratories" in India. He was also the first Chairman of the University Grants Commission(India) (UGC).In 1958, to honour his name and legacy, the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) instituted the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for scientists who have made significant contributions in various branches of science.
- Age: Dec. at 60 (1894-1955)
- Birthplace: Bhera, Pakistan
- Walter William Rouse Ball (1850–1925), known as W. W. Rouse Ball, was a British mathematician, lawyer, and fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1878 to 1905. He was also a keen amateur magician, and the founding president of the Cambridge Pentacle Club in 1919, one of the world's oldest magic societies.
- Age: Dec. at 74 (1850-1925)
- Birthplace: Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
George E. P. Box
StatisticianGeorge Edward Pelham Box FRS (18 October 1919 – 28 March 2013) was a British statistician, who worked in the areas of quality control, time-series analysis, design of experiments, and Bayesian inference. He has been called "one of the great statistical minds of the 20th century".- Age: Dec. at 93 (1919-2013)
- Birthplace: Gravesend, United Kingdom
William Bayliss
Sir William Maddock Bayliss (2 May 1860 – 27 August 1924) was an English physiologist.- Age: Dec. at 64 (1860-1924)
- Birthplace: Wednesbury, United Kingdom
- Cameron Sinclair is a co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, a charitable organisation that sought architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brings professional design and construction services to communities in need. From April 1999 to October 2013 he served as its executive director and "chief eternal optimist". In December 2013 he took over all assets associated with Worldchanging. Sinclair is executive director for the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. Additionally he runs an international design collective called The Department of Small Works, which focuses on post-conflict development and social impact projects.
- Age: 51
- Birthplace: England, London
- William Edward Ayrton, FRS (14 September 1847 – 8 November 1908) was an English physicist and electrical engineer.
- Age: Dec. at 61 (1847-1908)
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- Edward L. G. "Ted" Bowell (born 1943 in London), is an American astronomer. Bowell was educated at Emanuel School London, University College, London, and the Université de Paris. He was principal investigator of the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS). He has discovered a large number of asteroids, both as part of LONEOS and in his own right before LONEOS began. Among the latter are the Jovian asteroids 2357 Phereclos, 2759 Idomeneus, 2797 Teucer, 2920 Automedon, 3564 Talthybius, 4057 Demophon, and (4489) 1988 AK. He also co-discovered the periodic comet 140P/Bowell-Skiff and the non-periodic comet C/1980 E1. The outer main-belt asteroid 2246 Bowell was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published on 1 January 1981 (M.P.C. 5688).
- Age: 82
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- John McCormick (born November 30, 1954) is Jean Monnet Chair of European Union Politics at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), and was department chair from 2001 until 2008. He spent eight years working in the environmental movement (working for the World Wide Fund for Nature and the International Institute for Environment and Development) before becoming an academic. His research and teaching interests have moved from environmental policy to comparative politics and the politics and policies of the European Union. His 2010 book Europeanism is an attempt to pin down the political, economic and social features of Europe and Europeans. It argues that those who focus on the failures of European integration, the mixed record in the achievement of common European policies, and disagreements among European leaders, are missing the bigger picture: that a combination of history and the rise of the European Union have helped encourage Europeans to develop common positions on a wide range of issues. Europeanism today can be equated with reduced identification with the state, secularism, welfarism, cosmopolitanism, communitarianism, multiculturalism, civilian power, and multilateralism. His 2013 book Why Europe Matters makes the case for the European Union, and attempts to address the rising tide of euroscepticism by outlining the achievements of the European Union in promoting peace, democracy, open markets, and a new approach to international relations.
- Age: 71
- Birthplace: Ilfracombe, United Kingdom
- Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Gibb (12 February 1872 – 21 January 1958) was a Scottish civil engineer. After serving as Civil Engineer-in-Chief to the Admiralty and Director-General of Civil Engineering at the Ministry of Transport, he established the engineering consultancy firm Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners.
- Age: Dec. at 85 (1872-1958)
- Birthplace: Dundee, United Kingdom
- Paul Dourish (born 1966) is a computer scientist best known for his work and research at the intersection of computer science and social science. Born in Scotland, he is a professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, where he joined the faculty in 2000. He is a Fellow of the ACM, and winner of the CSCW 2016 "Lasting Impact" award. Dourish has published three books and over 100 scientific articles, and holds 19 US patents.
- Age: 59
- Birthplace: Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Colonel Holman Fred Stephens (31 October 1868 – 23 October 1931) was a British light railway civil engineer and manager. He was engaged in engineering and building, and later managing, 16 light railways in England and Wales.
- Age: Dec. at 63 (1868-1931)
- Ewen Neil McQueen (April 1889 – 1967) was an Australian headmaster, prominent educational innovator, scientist, psychologist and General Practitioner. He was most often known as Neil McQueen or E. Neil McQueen.
- Age: Dec. at 77 (1889-1967)
- Birthplace: Carlton North, Australia
- William Benjamin Carpenter CB FRS (29 October 1813 – 19 November 1885) was an English physician, invertebrate zoologist and physiologist. He was instrumental in the early stages of the unified University of London.
- Age: Dec. at 72 (1813-1885)
- Birthplace: Exeter, United Kingdom
- Chester Dent is a producer/director from the UK with prime-time credits for the BBC, Channel 4 and DCI. Originally trained as a director of actors under Mike Leigh and Stephen Frears at the UK National Film Television School, Chester has directed big-budget television drama as well as music videos and commercials. His short film “Revolver” was shown at more than forty festivals internationally and in competition at Cannes. After a brief sojourn into New Media with Apple in the mid-1990s, he re-invented himself as an observational documentarian with two acclaimed films for BBC2’s “Trouble at the Top” series. In 2006 he was hired by Tiger Aspect to direct the US version of their hit series “The Monastery” for TLC. Chester continues to make signature documentaries in Australia with his latest series “Angels in New York” to be shown later this year on SBS. He now lives and works in the Byron area of NSW.
- Age: 61
- Birthplace: Nongoma, South Africa
William Brydon
SurgeonWilliam Brydon CB (10 October 1811 – 20 March 1873) was an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, famous for reportedly being the only member of an army of 4,500 men, plus 12,000 accompanying civilians, to reach safety in Jalalabad at the end of the long retreat from Kabul.- Age: Dec. at 61 (1811-1873)
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- Sir Martin John Evans (born 1 January 1941) is a British biologist who, with Matthew Kaufman, was the first to culture mice embryonic stem cells and cultivate them in a laboratory in 1981. He is also known, along with Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies, for his work in the development of the knockout mouse and the related technology of gene targeting, a method of using embryonic stem cells to create specific gene modifications in mice. In 2007, the three shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in recognition of their discovery and contribution to the efforts to develop new treatments for illnesses in humans.He won a major scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge at a time when advances in genetics were occurring there and became interested in biology and biochemistry. He then went to University College London where he learned laboratory skills supervised by Elizabeth Deuchar. In 1978, he moved to the Department of Genetics, at the University of Cambridge, and in 1980 began his collaboration with Matthew Kaufman. They explored the method of using blastocysts for the isolation of embryonic stem cells. After Kaufman left, Evans continued his work, upgrading his laboratory skills to the newest technologies, isolated the embryonic stem cell of the early mouse embryo and established it in a cell culture. He genetically modified and implanted it into adult female mice with the intent of creating genetically modified offspring, work for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2007. Today, genetically modified mice are considered vital for medical research.
- Age: 84
- Birthplace: Stroud, United Kingdom
- William Crawford Williamson (24 November 1816 – 23 June 1895) was an English naturalist and palaeobotanist.
- Age: Dec. at 78 (1816-1895)
- Birthplace: Scarborough, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
V. K. Krishna Menon
PoliticianVengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon (3 May 1896 – 6 October 1974) was an Indian nationalist, diplomat, and politician, described by some as the second most powerful man in India, after his ally, the 1st Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.Noted for his eloquence, brilliance, and forceful, highly abrasive personality, Menon inspired widespread adulation and fervent detraction in both India and the West; to his supporters, he was an unapologetic champion of India in the face of Western imperialism, who famously "taught the white man his place"; to his Western detractors, "Nehru's evil genius". U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower characterised him as a "menace ... governed by an ambition to prove himself the master international manipulator and politician of the age", while Indian president K.R. Narayanan eulogised him as a truly great man; decades after his death, Menon remains an enigmatic and controversial figure. As a young man, Menon served as founding editor of the Pelican Imprint of Penguin Books, and led the overseas wing of the Indian independence movement, launching the India League in London, aggressively campaigning within the United Kingdom to win public support for Indian independence, and rallying the support of such superpowers as the Soviet Union. In the immediate wake of independence, Menon emerged as engineer of and spokesman for India's foreign policy, and, more generally, architect of the non-aligned movement; he headed India's diplomatic missions to the United Kingdom and the United Nations, and distinguished himself in diplomatic matters including the Suez crisis. In 1957, Menon set the record for the longest speech(8 hours) before the U.N. Security Council while defending India's rights to the disputed territory of Kashmir, in the process earning widespread popularity and the sobriquet "Hero of Kashmir".Returning to India, he was repeatedly elected to both houses of the Indian parliament from constituencies as varied as Mumbai, Bengal, and Trivandrum in his native state of Kerala, and served as a minister without portfolio, and later as Minister of Defence, overseeing the modernization of the Indian military and development of the Indian military-industrial complex, and spearheading the Indian annexation of Goa. He resigned in the wake of the Sino-Indian War, following allegations of India's military unpreparedness, but remained counselor to Nehru, member of parliament and elder statesman until his death.- Age: Dec. at 78 (1896-1974)
- Birthplace: Kozhikode, India
- Sir David John Spiegelhalter (born 16 August 1953) is a British statistician and Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. Spiegelhalter is an ISI highly cited researcher.
- Age: 71
- William Stanley Jevons FRS (; 1 September 1835 – 13 August 1882) was an English economist and logician. Irving Fisher described Jevons's book A General Mathematical Theory of Political Economy (1862) as the start of the mathematical method in economics. It made the case that economics as a science concerned with quantities is necessarily mathematical. In so doing, it expounded upon the "final" (marginal) utility theory of value. Jevons's work, along with similar discoveries made by Carl Menger in Vienna (1871) and by Léon Walras in Switzerland (1874), marked the opening of a new period in the history of economic thought. Jevons's contribution to the marginal revolution in economics in the late 19th century established his reputation as a leading political economist and logician of the time. Jevons broke off his studies of the natural sciences in London in 1854 to work as an assayer in Sydney, where he acquired an interest in political economy. Returning to the UK in 1859, he published General Mathematical Theory of Political Economy in 1862, outlining the marginal utility theory of value, and A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold in 1863. For Jevons, the utility or value to a consumer of an additional unit of a product is inversely related to the number of units of that product he already owns, at least beyond some critical quantity. Jevons received public recognition for his work on The Coal Question (1865), in which he called attention to the gradual exhaustion of Britain's coal supplies and also put forth the view that increases in energy production efficiency leads to more, not less, consumption. This view is known today as the Jevons paradox, named after him. Due to this particular work, Jevons is regarded today as the first economist of some standing to develop an 'ecological' perspective on the economy. The most important of his works on logic and scientific methods is his Principles of Science (1874), as well as The Theory of Political Economy (1871) and The State in Relation to Labour (1882). Among his inventions was the logic piano, a mechanical computer.
- Age: Dec. at 46 (1835-1882)
- Birthplace: Liverpool, United Kingdom
- James Robertson Justice (born James Norval Harald Justice; 15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British character actor who appeared in British films during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
- Age: Dec. at 68 (1907-1975)
- Birthplace: Lee, London
- Tamara Ecclestone Rutland (born 28 June 1984) is a British model, socialite, television personality, and the daughter of the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, Bernie Ecclestone and Croatian model Slavica Ecclestone.
- Age: 40
- Birthplace: Milan, Italy
- Rabindranath Tagore ( (listen); born Robindronath Thakur, 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941), and also known by his sobriquets Gurudev, Kabiguru, and Biswakabi, was a polymath, poet, musician, and artist from the Indian subcontinent. He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of the "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse" of Gitanjali, he became in 1913 the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Tagore's poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal. He is sometimes referred to as "the Bard of Bengal".A Brahmo from Calcutta with ancestral gentry roots in Jessore, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old. At the age of sixteen, he released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha ("Sun Lion"), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics. By 1877 he graduated to his first short stories and dramas, published under his real name. As a humanist, universalist, internationalist, and ardent anti-nationalist, he denounced the British Raj and advocated independence from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, he advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs; his legacy also endures in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla. The Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work.
- Age: Dec. at 80 (1861-1941)
- Birthplace: Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India
- Jaroslav Heyrovský (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjaroslav ˈɦɛjrofskiː] (listen)) (December 20, 1890 – March 27, 1967) was a Czech chemist and inventor. Heyrovský was the inventor of the polarographic method, father of the electroanalytical method, and recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1959 for his discovery and development of the polarographic methods of analysis. His main field of work was polarography.
- Age: Dec. at 76 (1890-1967)
- Birthplace: Prague, Czech Republic
- Rachel Clare Hurd-Wood (born 17 August 1990) is an English actress and model, best known for her film roles as Wendy Darling in Peter Pan (2003), Corrie McKenzie in Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010) and Sibyl Vane in Dorian Gray (2009), and her television role as Rachel Maddox in Clique (2017–present).
- Age: 34
- Birthplace: England, London
W. D. Hamilton
PsychologistWilliam Donald Hamilton, FRS (1 August 1936 – 7 March 2000) was an English evolutionary biologist, widely recognised as one of the most significant evolutionary theorists of the 20th century.Hamilton became famous through his theoretical work expounding a rigorous genetic basis for the existence of altruism, an insight that was a key part of the development of a gene-centric view of evolution. He is considered one of the forerunners of sociobiology. Hamilton also published important work on sex ratios and the evolution of sex. From 1984 to his death in 2000, he was a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford University.- Age: Dec. at 63 (1936-2000)
- Birthplace: Cairo, Egypt
- Alice Jane Evans is a British actress.
- Age: 53
- Birthplace: Bristol, England
- Peter Richard Kyle Prescott QC (born 23 January 1943) is an Anglo-Argentine barrister and was a Deputy High Court Judge of England and Wales, and a specialist on the law of copyright. He was educated at St George's College, Argentina, Dulwich College and University College London, where he gained a BSc, followed by an MSc from Queen Mary College. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1970 and was made a bencher in 2001. As a Deputy High Court Judge, he has heard a variety of intellectual property cases, including CFPH LLC's Applications (2005), which sought to bring the United Kingdom practice concerning patentable subject matter more into line with that of the European Patent Office. Prescott is regarded as one of the foremost authorities on copyright law in the United Kingdom. Laddie, Prescott and Vitoria - The Modern Law of copyright and Designs, a leading copyright text in the United Kingdom, bears his name alongside Sir Hugh Laddie and Mary Vitoria QC.
- Age: 82
- Simon Baron-Cohen (born 15 August 1958) is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the Director of the University's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1985, Baron-Cohen formulated the mind-blindness theory of autism, the evidence for which he collated and published in 1995. In 1997, he formulated the fetal sex steroid theory of autism, the key test of which was published in 2015. He has also made major contributions to the fields of typical cognitive sex differences, autism prevalence and screening, autism genetics, autism neuroimaging, autism and technical ability, and synaesthesia. However, his views on autism and sex differences, such as the fetal sex steroid theory, are controversial, some critics asserting that Baron-Cohen's theories are based on subjective perceptions.
- Age: 66
- Birthplace: England, London
David Jones
Politician, SolicitorDavid Jones may refer to:- Age: 72
- Birthplace: London, England
- Acclaimed art director Adam helped to define the 1960s and '70s look of the spy thriller with the James Bond films ("Goldfinger" 1964, "You Only Live Twice" 1967, "The Spy Who Loved Me" 1977). Born in Berlin in 1921, he immigrated to England in the mid-30s and served as the only German-born fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II. Adam entered films in the late 40s and, in addition to the Bond films, worked as art director on a number of critically-praised features including "Around the World in Eighty Days" (1956), Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" (1963) and "Barry Lyndon" (1975), Herbert Ross' "Pennies From Heaven" (1980), "Crimes of the Heart" (1986), "Addams Family Values" (1993) and "The Madness of King George" (1995).
- Age: Dec. at 95 (1921-2016)
- Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
- Sir David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons, 2nd Baronet (28 January 1851 – 19 April 1925) was a British scientific author and barrister.
- Age: Dec. at 74 (1851-1925)
- Barry Cennydd Morgan (born 31 January 1947) is a Welsh Anglican bishop and academic. From 2003 to Jan 2017, he had been the Archbishop of Wales and was therefore was both Primate and Metropolitan of the Church in Wales. He was the Bishop of Bangor from 1992 to 1999, and was the Bishop of Llandaff from 1999 until his retirement in January 2017. He was the longest serving archbishop in the entire Anglican Communion. On 23 August 2016, the Church in Wales announced that Morgan would retire on 31 January 2017.
- Age: 78
- Birthplace: Neath, United Kingdom
- Anthony John Fox (born 25 April 1946) is a British statistician, who has worked in both the public service and academia. He was born on 25 April 1946, the son of Fred Frank Fox OBE. He was educated at Dauntsey's School, University College London (BSc) and Imperial College London (PhD). He was a statistician at the Employment Medical Advisory Service, 1970-5 and then the Medical Statistics Division of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) until 1979. In the latter job, he helped to set up the England and Wales Longitudinal Survey, which monitors the health, address changes and fertility of a 1% sample of the population of England and Wales over time for statistical purposes. During 1980-8, he was Professor of Social Statistics at City University, building up his department into one of the world's leading centres for social statistics. He returned to OPCS in 1988 as the United Kingdom Chief Medical Statistician. In 1990, he took on the additional post of honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 1996, following the creation of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) (into which OPCS was incorporated), cuts in the senior Civil Service meant that his responsibilities were widened to include demographic statistics and he became Director of the Census, Population and Health Group there. In 1999, he moved to the Department of Health as Director of Statistics. Due to further cuts in senior statistical posts in the Civil Service, he soon became the most senior government statistician outside the ONS. In 2004, he became the "Change Manager" responsible for setting up the new English Information Centre for Health and Social Care (since renamed the Health and Social Care Information Centre), which officially came into existence on 1 April 2005. This centre was an NHS special health authority, so he and his staff were part of the NHS. He was the Director of Customer and Stakeholder Engagement. The permanent Chief Executive from July 2005 is Professor Denise Lievesley, formerly director of Statistics at UNESCO. John has published several books on mortality and health statistics.
- Age: 78
- Joseph James Fletcher (7 January 1850 – 15 May 1926) was an Australian biologist, winner of the 1921 Clarke Medal. Fletcher was born at Auckland, New Zealand the son of the Rev Joseph Horner Fletcher, a Methodist clergyman, and his wife Kate, née Green. The family arrived in Australia early in 1861, and, after a term of four years in Queensland (where Joseph James studied at Ipswich Grammar School), Rev. Fletcher went to Sydney to become principal of Newington College, from 1865 to 1887. J. J. Fletcher completed his schooling at Newington (1865–1867) and then went to the University of Sydney and graduating BA in 1870 and MA in 1876. In between these years he was a master at Wesley College, Melbourne, under Professor M. H. Irving. As no science degree was offered in Australia, in 1876 resigned from Wesley and went to London, initially studying at the Royal School of Mines and University College, University of London where he studied biology and took his BSc degree there in 1879. He studied for a time at Cambridge and in 1881 published his first paper.In 1881 Fletcher decided to return to Australia, and, before leaving England, prepared a Catalogue of Papers and Works relating to the Mammalian orders, Marsupialla and Monotremata, which was published in Sydney soon after his arrival. There were no openings for young scientists in Sydney at this period, so Fletcher joined the staff of Newington College where his father was still principal. He spent four years at the school and was a successful teacher, encouraging his pupils to find out things for themselves instead of merely trying to remember what their teacher had told them. During this period he joined the Linnean Society of New South Wales, met Sir William Macleay, and in 1885 was given the position of director and librarian of the society. This title was afterwards changed to secretary. He began his duties on 1 January 1886 and for over 33 years devoted his life to the service of the society. During this period he edited 33 volumes of Proceedings with the greatest care. Fletcher also published in 1892 a selection of Sermons, Addresses and Essays by his father, with a biographical sketch, and in 1893 edited The Macleay Memorial Volume, for which he wrote an excellent memoir of Macleay. He had done some very good research work in connexion with the embryology of the marsupials, and on Australian earthworms. Later he took up the amphibia, on which he eventually became an authority. In January 1900, he was president of the biology section at the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, and chose for the subject of his address "The Rise and early Progress of our Knowledge of the Australian Fauna", a work of much value to all interested in the history of research in the natural history of Australia. In addition to being secretary of the Linnean Society and editor of its Proceedings, Fletcher was an executor of Macleay's will and he had much work in carrying out the provisions of it as financial and legal difficulties arose in connexion with the appointment of a bacteriologist and the foundation of the research fellowships. In his later years Fletcher gave more and more time to botany, and did important work on acacias, grevilleas and Loranthaceae. On 31 March 1919 he resigned his position as secretary to the Linnean Society and was elected president in 1920 and 1921. His address on "The Society's Heritage from the Macleays", a very interesting record, occupies nearly 70 pages in volume XLV of the Proceedings. After an accident in 1922 he was much confined to his home for the remainder of his life. He overhauled and completed the arranging and labelling of his own zoological collection in 1923 before presenting it to the Australian Museum. Fletcher also gave more than 300 books and pamphlets to the Mitchell Library. Fletcher died suddenly at his home in Hunters Hill, New South Wales on 15 May 1926, leaving a widow. Fletcher was awarded the Clarke Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1921. His contribution to Australian herpetology is suggested to have been as an important catalyst amongst his contemporaries in assembling records and collections of Australian reptiles and amphibians, a neglected area of research. These efforts were particularly noted for his association with the Horn expedition to central Australia.
- Age: Dec. at 76 (1850-1926)
- Birthplace: Auckland, New Zealand
- Major-General Chaim Herzog (Hebrew: חיים הרצוג; 17 September 1918 – 17 April 1997) was an Israeli politician, general, lawyer and author who served as the sixth President of Israel between 1983 and 1993. Born in Belfast and raised predominantly in Dublin, the son of Ireland's Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, he emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935 and served in the Haganah Jewish paramilitary group during the 1936–39 Arab revolt. In the British Army during World War II, latterly as an officer, he received the nickname "Vivian" because the British could not pronounce "Chaim". He returned to Palestine after the war and, following the end of the British Mandate and Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948, operated in the battles for Latrun during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He retired from the Israel Defence Forces in 1962 with the rank of Major-General. After leaving the military, Herzog practised law. In 1972 he was a co-founder of Herzog, Fox & Ne'eman, which would become one of Israel's largest law firms. Between 1975 and 1978 he served as Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in which capacity he repudiated UN General Assembly Resolution 3379—the "Zionism is Racism" resolution—and symbolically tore it up before the assembly. Herzog entered politics in the 1981 elections, winning a Knesset seat as a member of the Alignment. Two years later, in March 1983, he was elected to the largely ceremonial role of President. He served for two five-year terms before retiring in 1993. He died four years later and was buried on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem. His son Isaac Herzog has led the Israeli Labour Party and the parliamentary Opposition in the Knesset since 2013.
- Age: Dec. at 78 (1918-1997)
- Birthplace: Belfast, United Kingdom
- Sir John Hamilton Baker, QC, LLD, FBA, FRHistS is an English legal historian. He was Downing Professor of the Laws of England at the University of Cambridge from 1998 to 2011.
- Age: 80
- Birthplace: Sheffield, United Kingdom
Laurence Baxter
Mathematician, Scientist, StatisticianLaurence Alan Baxter (28 February 1954, London – 8 November 1996, Long Island) was professor of statistics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.- Age: Dec. at 42 (1954-1996)
- Jennifer Louise Tonge, Baroness Tonge (née Smith; born 19 February 1941) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond Park in London from 1997 to 2005. In June 2005 she was made a life peer as Baroness Tonge, of Kew in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, which entitles her to a seat in the House of Lords. Critical of Israel and vocal in support of the Palestinian cause, controversial acts and comments led to accusations of antisemitism and to her eventual suspension from the Liberal Democrats group in the Lords in 2012, then her suspension and resignation from the party itself in October 2016. She has sat as an independent in the Lords since 2012.
- Age: 83
- Birthplace: Walsall, United Kingdom
Raymond Gosling
Physicist, ScientistRaymond George Gosling (15 July 1926 – 18 May 2015) was a British scientist. While a PhD student at King's College, London he worked under the supervision of Rosalind Franklin. Their crystallographic experiments, together with those of Maurice Wilkins of the same laboratory, produced data that helped James Watson and Francis Crick to infer the structure of DNA.- Age: 99
- Kenneth Martin Follett, (born 5 June 1949) is a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 160 million copies of his works. Many of his books have achieved high ranking on best seller lists. For example, in the USA, many reached the number 1 position on the New York Times Best Seller list, including Edge of Eternity, Fall of Giants, A Dangerous Fortune, The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, Triple, Winter of the World, and World Without End.
- Age: 75
- Birthplace: Cardiff, United Kingdom
Romesh Chunder Dutt
EconomistRomesh Chunder Dutt (Bengali: রমেশচন্দ্র দত্ত; 13 August 1848 – 30 November 1909) was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, writer, and translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata.- Age: Dec. at 61 (1848-1909)
- Birthplace: Kolkata, India
Stafford Cripps
PoliticianSir Richard Stafford Cripps, (24 April 1889 – 21 April 1952) was a British Labour politician of the twentieth century. A wealthy barrister by background, he first entered Parliament at a by-election in 1931, and was one of a handful of Labour frontbenchers to retain his seat at the general election that autumn. He became a leading spokesman for the left-wing and co-operation in a Popular Front with Communists before 1939, in which year he was expelled from the Labour Party. During World War II, he served as Ambassador to the USSR (1940–42), during which time he grew wary of the Soviet Union, but achieved great public popularity because of the entry of the USSR into the war, causing him to be seen in 1942 as a potential rival to Winston Churchill for the premiership. He became a member of the War Cabinet of the wartime coalition, but failed in his efforts (the "Cripps Mission") to resolve the wartime crisis in India, where his proposals were too radical for Churchill and the Cabinet, and too conservative for Mahatma Gandhi and other Indian leaders. He later served as Minister of Aircraft Production, an important post but outside the inner War Cabinet.Cripps rejoined the Labour Party in 1945, and after the war; served in the Attlee Ministry, first as President of the Board of Trade and between 1947 and 1950 as Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the latter position, Cripps was responsible for laying the foundations of British post-war economic prosperity, and was, according to historian Kenneth O. Morgan, "the real architect of the rapidly improving economic picture and growing affluence from 1952 onwards". The economy improved after 1947, benefiting from American money given through grants from the Marshall Plan as well as loans. However, the pound had to be devalued in 1949. He kept the wartime rationing system in place to hold down consumption during an "age of austerity", promoted exports and maintained full employment with static wages. The public especially respected "his integrity, competence, and Christian principles".- Age: Dec. at 62 (1889-1952)
- Birthplace: London, England
Heinz Wolff
ScientistHeinz Siegfried Wolff, (29 April 1928 – 15 December 2017) was a German-born British scientist as well as a television and radio presenter. He was best known for the BBC television series The Great Egg Race.- Age: 96
- Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
- Sylvia Lim Swee Lian (simplified Chinese: 林瑞莲; traditional Chinese: 林瑞蓮; pinyin: Lín Ruìlián; born 28 March 1965) is a Singaporean politician, criminal lawyer and academic. She is currently a member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and an elected Member of Parliament (MP) representing Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (Aljunied GRC). She is in charge of Serangoon division. Lim previously served in the Singapore Police Force and subsequently joined Temasek Polytechnic as a law lecturer. Lim re-entered the legal sector following the 2011 general election. She is currently senior associate in Peter Low LLC, helmed by former Law Society president Peter Low.
- Age: 59
- Birthplace: Singapore
- Khairy Jamaluddin (Jawi: خيري بن جمال الدين; born 10 January 1976), commonly known as Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar or KJ, is a Malaysian politician. A member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, he served as the federal Minister of Youth and Sports from May 2013 to May 2018. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) representing Rembau in Negeri Sembilan since 2008 and the president of UMNO's youth wing from 2009 to 2018. He is the son-in-law of the fifth Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
- Age: 49
- Birthplace: Kuwait City, Kuwait
Salimuzzaman Siddiqui
Chemist, ScientistSalimuzzaman Siddiqui (Urdu: سلیم الزّماں صدّیقی [səˈliːmʊzzəmɑːn sɪˈd̪d̪iːqi]; 19 October 1897 – 14 April 1994), HI, MBE, SI, FPAS, FRS was a Pakistani organic chemist specialising in natural product chemistry. Siddiqui studied philosophy at Aligarh Muslim University and later studied chemistry at Frankfurt University, where he received his PhD in 1927. On return to British India, he worked at the Tibbia College Delhi and the Indian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He later moved to Pakistan and worked in the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and went on to establish the Pakistan National Science Council and was appointed as its first chairman in 1961. In the same year he became the Fellow of the Royal Society. He later also co-founded Pakistan Academy of Sciences, and after retirement from the government, he founded the Hussain Ebrahim Jamal Research Institute of Chemistry.Siddiqui is credited for pioneering the isolation of unique chemical compounds from the Neem (Azadirachta indica), Rauwolfia, and various other flora. As the founder director of H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, he revolutionised the research on pharmacology of various domestic plants found in South Asia to extract novel chemical substances of medicinal importance. During his career, Siddiqui published more than 300 research papers and obtained 40 patents mainly from the field of natural product chemistry. In addition to his scientific talents, Siddiqui was also an avid painter, a poet, and a great connoisseur of Western music. His paintings were exhibited in the United States, Germany, India, and Pakistan.- Age: Dec. at 96 (1897-1994)
- Birthplace: Lucknow, India
- Ahmad Hasan Dani (Urdu: احمد حسن دانی) FRAS, SI, HI (20 June 1920 – 26 January 2009) was a Pakistani archaeologist, historian and linguist. He was an authority on Central Asian and South Asian archaeology and history. He introduced archaeology as a discipline in higher education in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Throughout his career, Dani held various academic positions and international fellowships, apart from conducting archaeological excavations and research. He is particularly known for archaeological work on pre-Indus Civilization and Gandhara sites in Northern Pakistan. He was also the recipient of various civil awards in Pakistan and abroad. He was able to speak 35 local and international languages and dialects.
- Age: Dec. at 88 (1920-2009)
- Birthplace: Basna, India
Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids
WriterCaroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids (1857–1942) was a British writer and translator. She made a contribution to economics before becoming widely known as an editor, translator, and interpreter of Buddhist texts in the Pāli language. She was honorary secretary of the Pāli Text Society from 1907, and its president from 1923 to 1942.- Age: Dec. at 84 (1857-1942)
- Birthplace: Wadhurst, United Kingdom
Louis Jacobs
RabbiLouis Jacobs CBE (17 July 1920 – 1 July 2006) was the founder of Masorti (Conservative) Judaism in the United Kingdom, and a leading writer and theologian. He was also the focus of what has become known as "The Jacobs Affair" that took place in the British Jewish community in the early 1960s.- Age: Dec. at 85 (1920-2006)
- Birthplace: Manchester, United Kingdom
- Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in English, notable for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R. K. Narayan, Ahmad Ali and Raja Rao, was one of the first India-based writers in English to gain an international readership. Anand is admired for his novels and short stories, which have acquired the status of classics of modern Indian English literature; they are noted for their perceptive insight into the lives of the oppressed and for their analysis of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune. He is also noted for being among the first writers to incorporate Punjabi and Hindustani idioms into English, and was a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan.
- Age: Dec. at 98 (1905-2004)
- Birthplace: Peshawar, Pakistan
