Did you know
Swartz helped define the syntax of the lightweight markup language format Markdown, and was a co-owner of the social news aggregation website Reddit and contributed to its development until he left the company in 2007.
Notable Deaths on January 11
2013 — Aaron Swartz
American programmer and activist (born 1986)
January 11 has 133 recorded notable deaths across history, from 140 to 2026. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
133 source records
140 – 2026
Today in history
Major events on January 11
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1964 Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts. Source
- 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei: Municipal health officials in Wuhan announce the first recorded death from COVID-19. Source
- 1996 Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour. Source
- 1943 The Republic of China agrees to the Sino-British New Equal Treaty and the Sino-American New Equal Treaty. Source
Did you know
The song with Key's lyrics became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" and slowly gained in popularity as an unofficial anthem, finally achieving official status as the national anthem more than a century later in 1931.
Did you know
Miep Gies was Austrian by birth, but in 1920, at the age of eleven, she was taken in as a foster child by a Dutch family in Leiden to whom she became very attached.
Did you know
After a period of rejection by publishers, her career was revived in 1977 when the critic Lord David Cecil and the poet Philip Larkin nominated her as the most underrated writer of the previous 75 years.
Did you know
Fabrizio Cristiano De André was an Italian singer-songwriter and the most-prominent cantautore of his time.
More major people who died on January 11
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1843
Francis Scott Key
American lawyer, author, and songwriter (born 1779)
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland, best known as the author of the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry", which was set to a popular British tune and eventually became the…
2010
Miep Gies
Austrian-Dutch humanitarian (born 1909)
Hermine "Miep" Gies was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank, her family and four other Dutch Jews from the Nazis in an annex above Otto Frank's business premises during World War II.
1980
Barbara Pym
English author (born 1913)
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym was an English novelist. In the 1950s, she published a series of social comedies, of which the best known are Excellent Women (1952) and A Glass of Blessings (1958).
1999
Fabrizio De André
Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1940)
Fabrizio Cristiano De André was an Italian singer-songwriter and the most-prominent cantautore of his time.
2013
Nguyễn Khánh
Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd President of South Vietnam (born 1927)
Nguyễn Khánh was a Vietnamese military officer and politician.
1999
Brian Moore
Irish-Canadian author and screenwriter (born 1921)
Brian Moore, was a novelist and screenwriter from Northern Ireland who emigrated to Canada and later lived in the United States.
2013
Tom Parry Jones
Welsh chemist, invented the breathalyzer (born 1935)
Thomas Parry Jones OBE was a Welsh scientist, inventor and entrepreneur, who was responsible for developing and marketing the first handheld electronic breathalyser, winning the Queen's Award for Technological…
1836
John Molson
Canadian businessman, founded the Molson Brewing Company (born 1763)
John Molson was an English-born brewer and entrepreneur in colonial Quebec, which during his lifetime became Lower Canada.
1902
Johnny Briggs
English cricketer and rugby player (born 1862)
Johnny Briggs was an English left arm spin bowler who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club between 1879 and 1900 and remains the second-highest wicket-taker in the county's history after Brian Statham.
1947
Eva Tanguay
Canadian singer (born 1879)
Eva Tanguay was a Canadian and American singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous".
2014
Muhammad Habibur Rahman
Indian-Bangladeshi jurist and politician, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (born 1928)
Muhammad Habibur Rahman was a Bangladeshi jurist and statesman who served as Chief Justice of Bangladesh in 1995.
1996
Roger Crozier
Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1942)
Roger Allan Crozier was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was a goaltender for fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals.
887
Boso of Provence
Frankish nobleman
Boso of Provence was the first non-Carolingian pretender to the royal throne of West Francia in 879, who failed to achieve wider recognition, being accepted only in Lower Burgundy and Provence, where he ruled as king…
2015
Jenő Buzánszky
Hungarian footballer and coach (born 1925)
Jenő Buzánszky was a Hungarian football player and coach. He played as a right back for Hungary and during the 1950s he was a member of the legendary squad known as the Golden Team.
2018
Edgar Ray Killen
American murderer (born 1925)
Edgar Ray Killen was an American Ku Klux Klan organizer who planned and directed the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, three civil rights activists participating in the Freedom Summer of…
2007
Robert Anton Wilson
American psychologist, author, poet, and playwright (born 1932)
Robert Anton Wilson was an American writer, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic.
1554
Min Bin
king of Arakan (born 1493)
Min Bin was a king of Arakan, a former state in Myanmar (Burma), from 1531 to 1554, "whose reign witnessed the country's emergence as a major power".
2013
Mariangela Melato
Italian actress (born 1941)
Mariangela Caterina Melato, sometimes billed as Maria Angela Melato, was an Italian actress.
1954
Oscar Straus
Austrian composer (born 1870)
Oscar Nathan Straus was a Viennese composer of operettas, film scores, and songs. He also wrote about 500 cabaret songs, chamber music, and orchestral and choral works.