Did you know
In the 1960s, he established the famous Okaz newspaper and then the Kalimat al-Haqq magazine, which lasted only about eight months
Notable Deaths on February 1
105 people
583 – 2025
February 1 has seen 105 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 583 – 2025. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1991 — Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar
Saudi Arabian writer and journalist (born 1916)
Did you know
Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar was a Saudi Arabian writer, journalist and poet, best known for his works about 20th-century Islamic challenges
Did you know
Born in Mecca, capital city of Hejazi Hashemite Kingdom
Did you know
Attar wrote many works about Arabic linguistic and Islamic studies, and gained fame as a Muslim apologist, anti-communist and anti-Zionist, he who believed in flexibility of Islamic jurisprudence for modern era
Did you know
Praised by Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad, he was also noted for his defense of Modern Standard Arabic against colloquial or spoken Arabic
ruler of Palenque (born 524)
Kan Bahlam I, also known as Chan Bahlum I, was an ajaw of the Maya city-state of Palenque. He acceded to the throne on April 6, 572 at age 47 and ruled until his death. Kan Bahlam was most likely the younger brother of…
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583
Pope Stephen III was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 7 August 768 to his death on 24 January 772. Stephen was a Benedictine monk who worked in the Lateran Palace during the reign of Pope Zachary.…
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772
850
first Emperor of Trebizond
Alexios I Megas Komnenos or Alexius I Megas Comnenus with his brother David, the founder of the Empire of Trebizond and its ruler from 1204 until his death in 1222. The two brothers were the only male descendants of the…
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1222
1248
Charles IV, called the Fair in France and the Bald in Navarre, was the last king of the direct line of the House of Capet, King of France and King of Navarre from 1322 to 1328. Charles was the third son of Philip IV;…
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1328
Sigismund of Bavaria was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty. He ruled as Duke of Bavaria-Munich from 1460 to 1467, and then as Duke of Bavaria-Dachau until his death.
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1501
Italian cardinal (born 1480)
Hieronymus Aleander was a Venetian humanist, linguist, and cardinal.
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1542
Menas or Minas, throne name Admas Sagad I, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1559 until his death in 1563, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was a brother of Gelawdewos and the son of Emperor Dawit II.
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1563
English theologian and academic (born 1527)
Lawrence Humphrey DD was an English theologian, who was President of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Dean successively of Gloucester and Winchester.
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1590
Pope Alexander VIII, born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name…
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1691
1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (born 1660)
Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury was a British Whig statesman who was part of the Immortal Seven group that invited William of Orange to depose King James II of England during the Glorious Revolution.
Born to…
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1718
Polish king (born 1670)
Augustus II the Strong, was Elector of Saxony as Frederick Augustus I from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine…
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1733
English physician and author (born 1649)
Sir John Floyer was an English physician and writer.
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1734
Italian organist and composer (born 1657)
Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni was an Italian organist and composer. He became one of the leading musicians in Rome during the late Baroque era, the first half of the 18th century.
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1743
Bakar, of the Bagrationi dynasty, he governed Kartli as regent for his father from 1716 to 1719 under the Persian title Shah Navaz Khan III, and reigned briefly as king in his own right from 1723 to 1724 under the…
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1750
French priest and historian (born 1682)
Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, S.J. was a French Jesuit priest, traveller, and historian, often considered the first historian of New France.
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1761
4th Baronet, English field marshal and politician (born 1685)
Field Marshal Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet was a British Army officer and politician. As a junior officer he fought at the Battle of Schellenberg and at the Battle of Blenheim during the War of the Spanish Succession.…
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1768
2nd Viscount Barrington, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1717)
William Wildman Shute Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington, PC, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons for 38 years from 1740 to 1778. He was best known for his two periods as Secretary at War during…
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1793
Finnish economist, philosopher and Lutheran priest (born 1729)
Anders Chydenius was a Swedish-Finnish Lutheran priest, member of the Swedish Riksdag, and one of the most important champions of democratic development in 18th-century Sweden, known as the leading classical liberal of…
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1803
American judge and politician (born 1777)
Archibald DeBow Murphey was an American attorney, jurist, and politician who was known as the "Father of Education" in North Carolina. He served in the North Carolina State Senate from 1812 to 1818. While serving as a…
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1832
English novelist and playwright (born 1797)
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also edited and promoted the…
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1851
Russian composer and critic (born 1820)
Alexander Nikolayevich Serov was a Russian composer and music critic. He is notable as one of the most important music critics in Russia during the 1850s and 1860s and as the most significant Russian composer in the…
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1871
American lawyer and politician, 22nd Mayor of San Francisco (born 1824)
George Henry Sanderson was a politician of the United States Republican Party. Sanderson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and traveled to San Francisco during the 1849 Gold Rush in California. He served as the 22nd…
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1893
Austrian geologist and botanist (born 1826)
Constantin Freiherr von Ettingshausen was an Austrian botanist known for his paleobotanical studies of flora from the Tertiary era. He was the son of physicist Andreas von Ettingshausen.
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1897
Anglo-Irish physicist, mathematician, and politician (born 1819)
Sir George Gabriel Stokes, 1st Baronet, was an Irish mathematician and physicist. Born in County Sligo, Ireland, Stokes spent his entire career at the University of Cambridge, where he served as Lucasian Professor of…
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1903
French businessman (born 1858)
Léon Serpollet was a French engineer and developer of flash steam boilers and steam automobiles.
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1907
Dom Carlos I, known as "the Diplomat", "the Oceanographer" among many other names, was King of Portugal from 1889 until his assassination in 1908. He was the first Portuguese king to die a violent death since King…
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1908
English-Australian politician, 11th Premier of South Australia (born 1831)
Sir James Penn Boucaut (;) was a South Australian politician and Australian judge. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly on four occasions: from 1861 to 1862 for City of Adelaide, from 1865 to 1870…
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1916
Norwegian architect (born 1829)
Georg Andreas Bull was a Norwegian architect and chief building inspector in Christiania for forty years. He was among the major architects in the country, and performed surveying studies and archeological research.
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1917
American actor and director (born 1872)
William Desmond Taylor was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, Taylor directed fifty-nine silent films between…
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1922
American painter (born 1858)
Maurice Brazil Prendergast was a Newfoundlander-American artist who painted in oil and watercolor, and created monotypes. His delicate landscapes and scenes of modern life, characterized by mosaic-like color, are…
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1924
American baseball player and manager (born 1869)
Hugh Ambrose Jennings was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager from 1891 to 1925. Jennings was a leader, both as a batter and as a shortstop, with the Baltimore Orioles teams that won National…
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1928
Greek general and politician, 128th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1878)
Georgios Kondylis was a Greek general, politician and prime minister of Greece. He was nicknamed "Keravnos", Greek for "thunder" or "thunderbolt".
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1936
American author, created Buck Rogers (born 1888)
Philip Francis Nowlan was an American science fiction writer, best known as the creator of Buck Rogers.
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1940
1940
Dutch-American painter (born 1872)
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian, was a Dutch painter and art theoretician, who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He was one of the pioneers of 20th-century…
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1944
Romanian journalist, author, and activist (born 1880)
N. D. Cocea was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but controversial figure in the field of political satire. The founder of many newspapers and magazines,…
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1949
American conductor and composer (born 1885)
Herbert Pope Stothart was an American songwriter, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz. Stothart was widely acknowledged as a…
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1949
German general (born 1890)
Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II who is best known for his surrender of the German 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad. The battle ended in disaster for the…
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1957
American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)
Clinton Joseph Davisson was an American experimental physicist who shared the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics with George Paget Thomson "for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals."
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1958
1959
Norwegian psychiatrist (born 1869)
Johan Scharffenberg was a Norwegian psychiatrist, politician, speaker and writer.
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1965
American actress and journalist (born 1885)
Elda Furry, known professionally as Hedda Hopper, was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, more than 35 million people read her columns. A strong supporter of the House…
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1966
American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1895)
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently maintained a…
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1966
Echol Cole and Robert Walker were sanitation workers who died accidentally in Memphis, Tennessee at the corner of Colonial Rd. and Verne Rd. on February 1, 1968. While working that day, the pair sought refuge from a…
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1968
Hungarian mathematician and academic (born 1921)
Alfréd Rényi was a Hungarian mathematician known for his work in probability theory, though he also made contributions in combinatorics, graph theory, and number theory.
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1970
German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1901)
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics, and a principal scientist in the German nuclear program during World War II.
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1976
American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1878)
George Hoyt Whipple was an American physician, pathologist, biomedical researcher, and medical school educator and administrator. Whipple shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1934 with George Richards…
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1976
Turkish journalist and activist (born 1929)
Abdi İpekçi was a Turkish journalist, intellectual and human rights activist. He was murdered when he was editor-in-chief of one of the main Turkish daily newspapers Milliyet which then had a centre-left political…
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1979
Basque activist (born1961)
Yolanda González Martín was a Spanish student and communist militant murdered by two members of New Force.
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1980
Sr., American engineer and businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (born 1892)
Donald Wills Douglas Sr. was an American aircraft industrialist and engineer.
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1981
Norwegian pianist and composer (born 1908)
Geirr Tveitt was a Norwegian composer and pianist. Tveitt was a central figure of the national movement in Norwegian cultural life during the 1930s.
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1981
Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902)
Alva Myrdal was a Swedish sociologist, diplomat and politician. She was a prominent leader of the disarmament movement. She, along with Alfonso García Robles, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982. She married Gunnar…
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1986
Italian director and screenwriter (born 1900)
Alessandro Blasetti was an Italian film director and screenwriter who influenced Italian neorealism with the film Four Steps in the Clouds. Blasetti was one of the leading figures in Italian cinema during the Fascist…
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1987
American child actress (born 1975)
Heather Michele O'Rourke was an American child actress. She had her breakthrough starring as Carol Anne Freeling in the supernatural horror film Poltergeist (1982), which received critical acclaim and established her as…
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1988
American painter and academic (born 1918)
Elaine Marie Catherine de Kooning was an Abstract Expressionist and Figurative Expressionist painter in the post-World War II era. She wrote extensively on the art of the period and was an editorial associate for Art…
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1989
Uruguayan lead singer of the band "Los Iracundos" (born 1945)
Eduardo Franco Zannier was a singer and Uruguayan composer who gained international fame as the vocalist of the melodic group Los Iracundos.
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1989
French physician and surgeon (born 1909)
Jean Hamburger was a French physician, surgeon and essayist. He is particularly known for his contribution to nephrology, and for having performed the first renal transplantation in France in 1952.
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1992
Swedish modern pentathlete and épée fencer (born 1904)
Sven Alfred Thofelt was a Swedish modern pentathlete and épée fencer who competed at the 1928, 1932, 1936 and 1948 Summer Olympics.
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1993
American race car driver, pilot, and businessman (born 1915)
Ray Crawford was an American fighter ace, test pilot, race-car driver and businessman.
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1996
1997
American art collector and philanthropist (born 1907)
Paul Mellon was an American philanthropist and a breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He was…
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1999
Canadian political scientist and academic (born 1929)
André d'Allemagne was a translator, political science teacher, essayist and a militant for the independence of Quebec from Canada. Along with some 20 other people including Marcel Chaput and Jacques Bellemare, he was a…
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2001
Turkish geologist and academic (born 1951)
Aykut Barka was a Turkish geoscientist specialized in seismology. He is best known for his contributions to understanding the behaviour of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), one of the most dangerous active faults…
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2002
German actress and singer (born 1925)
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef was a German actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.
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2002
Michael Phillip Anderson was a United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. He and his six fellow crew members were killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the craft disintegrated during its re-entry…
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2003
David McDowell Brown was a United States Navy captain and NASA astronaut. He died on his first spaceflight, when the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) disintegrated during orbital reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.…
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2003
Kalpana Chawla was an Indian-American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to fly to space. Chawla expressed an interest in aerospace engineering from an early age and took…
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2003
Laurel Blair Clark was an American NASA astronaut, medical doctor, United States Navy captain, and Space Shuttle mission specialist. She died along with her six fellow crew members in the Space Shuttle Columbia…
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2003
Rick Douglas Husband was an American astronaut and fighter pilot. He traveled into space twice: as pilot of STS-96 and commander of STS-107. Husband and the rest of the crew of STS-107 were killed when Columbia…
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2003
William Cameron "Willie" McCool was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut, who was the pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107. He and the rest of the crew…
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2003
Ilan Ramon was an Israeli fighter pilot and later the first Israeli astronaut. He served as a Space Shuttle payload specialist on STS-107, the fatal mission of Columbia, in which he and the six other crew members were…
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2003
Cuban-American drummer and bandleader (born 1922)
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga and boogaloo…
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2003
2004
Canadian-American actor (born 1932)
John Keith Vernon was a Canadian actor. He made a career in Hollywood films after achieving initial television stardom in Canada, and was known for his roles as villainous authority figures.
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2005
Italian-American playwright and composer (born 1911)
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian…
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2007
Brazilian actor and businessman (born 1937)
Beto Carrero was a Brazilian theme park owner and entertainer. He was the creator of the Beto Carrero World Park, in the municipality of Penha, on the northern coast of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, which is…
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2008
American professional wrestler (born 1941)
Freddie Joe "Jack" Brisco was an American amateur wrestler and professional wrestler. As an amateur for Oklahoma State, Brisco was two-time All-American and won the NCAA Division I national championship. He turned pro…
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2010
American television host and producer (born 1936)
Donald Cortez Cornelius was an American television show host and producer widely known as the creator of the nationally syndicated dance and music show Soul Train, which he hosted from 1970 until 1993. Cornelius sold…
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2012
Polish poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923)
Maria Wisława Anna Szymborska was a Polish poet, essayist, translator, and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Prowent, she resided in Kraków until the end of her life. In Poland, Szymborska's books…
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2012
American politician (born 1918)
Helene Eleanor Hale was an American politician from the state of Hawaii.
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2013
American lawyer, judge, and politician, 105th Mayor of New York City (born 1924)
Edward Irving Koch was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989. A popular figure, Koch rode the New York City…
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2013
Indian painter and educator (born 1928)
Shanu Lahiri was a painter and art educator from Kolkata. She was one of Kolkata's most prominent public artists, often called "the city's First Lady of Public Art", undertaking extensive graffiti art drives across…
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2013
American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1947)
Cecil Dale Womack was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was one of the musical Womack brothers, and had success both as a songwriter and recording artist, notably with his second wife Linda as…
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2013
Spanish footballer and manager (born 1938)
Luis Aragonés Suárez was a Spanish football player and manager.
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2014
Russian marshal (born 1917)
Vasiliy Ivanovich Petrov was a Soviet and Russian military officer and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Ground Forces from 1980 to 1985.
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2014
American poet, painter, and critic (born 1946)
Rene Ricard was an American poet, actor, art critic, and painter.
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2014
Austrian-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1930)
Maximilian Schell was a Swiss actor, theatre director, filmmaker, and musician of Austrian origin. He was one of the most internationally acclaimed German-speaking actors of his generation, earning accolades for his…
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2014
Italian-French pianist (born 1925)
Aldo Ciccolini was an Italian pianist who became a naturalized French citizen in 1971.
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2015
German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (born 1935)
Udo Lattek was a German professional football player and coach.
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2015
2015
Guatemalan general and politician, 27th President of Guatemala (born 1930)
Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as the Head of Government from August 1983 to January 1986. A member of the military, he was head of state during the apex of…
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2016
British actor and broadcaster (born 1926)
Desmond Herbert Carrington was a British broadcaster and actor whose career spanned 75 years. He was best known for his weekly show on BBC Radio 2 which aired for 35 years, from 4 October 1981 until his final broadcast…
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2017
2018
Ugandan singer and songwriter (born 1985)
Moses Nakintije Ssekibogo, also known as Mowzey Radio, sometimes referred to as Moses Radio, was a Ugandan musician. He was one of the main performers of the Ugandan music group Goodlyfe Crew together with Jose…
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2018
English comedian, radio host and panelist (born 1961)
Jeremy James Hardy was an English comedian. Born and raised in Hampshire, Hardy studied at the University of Southampton and began his stand-up career in the 1980s, going on to win the Perrier Comedy Award at the…
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2019
English actor (born 1936)
Clive Walter Swift was an English actor and songwriter. A classically trained actor, his stage work included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was best known to television viewers for his role as…
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2019
American football player and coach (born 1959)
Charles Wade Wilson was an American professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, and…
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2019
American actor, director, stand-up comedian, and musician (born 1977)
Dustin Neil Diamond was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known for portraying Samuel "Screech" Powers throughout the Saved by the Bell franchise, appearing from the first episodes of Good Morning,…
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2021
Georgian pop singer and actor (born 1946)
Temur Tsiklauri was a Georgian pop singer, actor, and a member of the ensemble VIA Iveria. Tsiklauri was awarded the title Honored Artist of Georgia in 1980, People's Artist of Georgia in 1990, and Honorary Citizen of…
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2021
Canadian bishop of the Catholic Church (born 1924)
Remi Joseph De Roo was a Canadian bishop of the Catholic Church. He was Bishop of Victoria from 1962 to 1999 and the longest-serving Catholic bishop in Canada at the time of his retirement. He was also the last living…
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2022
Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany (born 1943)
Horst Köhler was a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties and also candidate of the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his…
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2025
American lawyer and businessman, 8th Commissioner of Baseball (born 1938)
Francis Thomas "Fay" Vincent Jr. was an American entertainment lawyer, securities regulator, and sports executive who served as the eighth commissioner of baseball from September 13, 1989, to September 7, 1992.
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2025
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Notable deaths
Who died on February 1?
Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar — Saudi Arabian writer and journalist (1916–1991)
FeaturedAhmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar
Death year1991
Known forBorn in Mecca, capital city of Hejazi Hashemite Kingdom
Deaths on this date105 (583 – 2025)
Explore February 1
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on February 1 in History
2022
Five-year-old Moroccan boy Rayan Aourram falls into a 32-meter (105 feet) deep well in Ighran village in Tamorot commune, Chefchaouen Province, Morocco, but dies four days later, before rescue workers reached him. Wikipedia →
2021
A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule. Wikipedia →
2013
See all events on February 1
The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, opens its viewing gallery to the public. Wikipedia →
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