Did you know about Winston Churchill
Ideologically an adherent to economic liberalism and imperialism, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955.
Notable Deaths on January 24
January 24 has 66 recorded notable deaths across history, from 41 to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
1965 — Winston Churchill
English statesman, soldier, and writer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1874)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
66 source records
41 – 2025
Today in history
Major events on January 24
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1990 Japan launches Hiten, the country's first lunar probe, the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States. Source
- 1857 The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first fully fledged university in South Asia. Source
Did you know about L. Ron Hubbard
Hubbard created Scientology in 1952 after losing the intellectual rights to his literature on Dianetics in bankruptcy.
Did you know about Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was the Supreme Court's first African-American justice.
Did you know about Homi J. Bhabha
Homi J. Bhabha was the first chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
Did you know about Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterised by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and figures — works that were not received well during his lifetime, but later became much sought after.
More major people who died on January 24
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1986
L. Ron Hubbard
American religious leader and author, founded the Church of Scientology (born 1911)
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was an American author and the founder of Scientology. A prolific writer of pulp science fiction and fantasy novels in his early career, in 1950 he authored the pseudoscientific book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health and established organizations to promote and practice Dianetics techniques. Hubbard created Scientology in 1952 after losing the intellectual rights to his literature on Dianetics in bankruptcy. He would lead the Church of Scientology – variously described as a cult, a new religious movement, or a business – until his death in 1986.
1993
Thurgood Marshall
American lawyer and jurist, 32nd United States Solicitor General (born 1908)
Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall was an American lawyer who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-American justice. Before his judicial service, he was an attorney who fought for civil rights, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Marshall was a prominent figure in the movement to end racial segregation in American public schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the Supreme Court, culminating in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1967. A staunch liberal, he frequently dissented as the Court became increasingly conservative.
1966
Homi J. Bhabha
Indian physicist and academic (born 1909)
Homi Jehangir Bhabha was an Indian nuclear theoretical physicist who is widely credited as the "father of the Indian nuclear programme". He was the founding director and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), as well as the founding director of the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) which was renamed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour. TIFR and AEET served as the cornerstone to the Indian nuclear energy and weapons programme. He was the first chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). By supporting space science projects which initially derived their funding from the AEC, he played an important role in the birth of the Indian space programme.
1920
Amedeo Modigliani
Italian painter and sculptor (born 1884)
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterised by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and figures — works that were not received well during his lifetime, but later became much sought after. Modigliani was born and spent his youth in Italy, where he studied the art of antiquity and the Renaissance. In 1906, he moved to Paris, where he came into contact with such artists as Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brâncuși. By 1912, Modigliani was exhibiting highly stylised sculptures with Cubists of the Section d'Or group at the Salon d'Automne.
2016
Marvin Minsky
American computer scientist and academic (born 1927)
Marvin Lee Minsky was an American mathematician who conducted research in the cognitive and computer science aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). After three years as a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows, Minsky joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1958 and spent the rest of his career at that institution. There, he co-founded MIT's AI laboratory, among other initiatives, and wrote extensively about AI and philosophy. Minsky, Claude Shannon, Nathaniel Rochester, and John McCarthy have been called the "fathers of AI" due to their participation in the Dartmouth workshop. At the time he was made emeritus, Minsky was the Toshiba Professor of Media Art & Sciences at MIT.
1983
George Cukor
American director and producer (born 1899)
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director and producer. He concentrated primarily on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's head of production, assigned Cukor to direct several of RKO's major films, including What Price Hollywood? (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Our Betters (1933), and Little Women (1933). When Selznick moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933, Cukor followed and directed Dinner at Eight (1933) and David Copperfield (1935) for Selznick, and Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Camille (1936) for Irving Thalberg.
2015
Otto Carius
German lieutenant and pharmacist (born 1922)
Otto Carius was a German tank commander in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He fought on the Eastern Front in 1943 and 1944 and on the Western Front in 1945. Carius is considered a "panzer ace", some sources credited him with destroying more than 150 enemy tanks, although Carius, in an interview claims he had around 100 kills or less. This was also due to the fact that he did not count kills as a commander, and rather only as a gunner. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
2002
Elie Hobeika
Lebanese commander and politician (born 1956)
Elie Hobeika was a Lebanese militia commander in the Lebanese Forces militia during the Lebanese Civil War and one of Bachir Gemayel's close confidants. He became infamous for his overseeing of the 1982 Sabra and Shatilla massacre. Hobeika initially supported the IDF during their invasion, but later switched sides and supported the Syrians. He became head of the Lebanese Forces until he was ousted in 1986. He then founded the Promise Party and was elected to serve two terms in the Parliament of Lebanon. In January 2002, he was assassinated in a car bombing at his house in Beirut, shortly before he was to testify about the Sabra and Shatila massacre in a Belgian court.
2007
Emiliano Mercado del Toro
Puerto Rican-American soldier (born 1891)
Emiliano Mercado del Toro was a Puerto Rican supercentenarian and military veteran who was, at age 115, the world's oldest person following the death of 116-year-old Elizabeth Bolden on December 11, 2006, until his own death on January 24, 2007. He had already been the world's oldest man from November 19, 2004, upon the death of Fred Harold Hale. At the time of his death in January 2007, aged 115 years and 156 days, Mercado was the second oldest fully validated male ever, behind Danish-American Christian Mortensen's record of 115 years 252 days. Japanese man, Shigechiyo Izumi, was still believed to be older at the time of Mercado's death, but his record was withdrawn by Guinness World Records in 2010.
1970
Caresse Crosby
American fashion designer and publisher, co-founded the Black Sun Press (born 1891)
Caresse Crosby was an American publisher and writer. Time called her the "literary godmother to the Lost Generation of expatriate writers in Paris." As an American patron of the arts, she and her second husband, Harry Crosby, founded the Black Sun Press, which was instrumental in publishing some of the early works of many authors who would later become famous, among them Anaïs Nin, Kay Boyle, Ernest Hemingway, Archibald MacLeish, Henry Miller, Charles Bukowski, Hart Crane, and Robert Duncan. She was also the recipient of a patent for the first successful modern bra.
2025
Iris Cummings
American swimmer and aviator (born 1920)
Iris Cummings, also known by her married name Iris Critchell, was an American aviator and competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. After an active athletic career in swimming, which included a reign as U.S. national 200-meter breaststroke champion from 1936 to 1939, she was accepted into the University of Southern California's first Civilian Pilot Training Program in 1939. After graduation, she worked as a flight instructor prior to being selected to serve her country during World War II as a member of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). Following the conflict, she returned to California, where she developed and taught a curriculum on civilian flight for veterans returning from the war at the University of Southern California.
2004
Leônidas
Brazilian footballer and manager (born 1913)
Leônidas da Silva was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. He is regarded as one of the most important players of the first half of the 20th century. At the height of his career, Leônidas was very popular amongst the people of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro. Leônidas played for the Brazil national team in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups, and was the top scorer of the latter tournament. He was known as the "Black Diamond" and the "Rubber Man" due to his agility.
1989
Ted Bundy
American serial killer (born 1946)
Theodore Robert Bundy was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered dozens of young women and girls between 1974 and 1978. His modus operandi typically consisted of convincing his target that he was in need of assistance or duping them into believing he was an authority figure. He would then lure his victim to his vehicle, at which point he would bludgeon them unconscious, then restrain them with handcuffs before driving them to a remote location to be sexually assaulted and killed.
2014
Shulamit Aloni
Israeli lawyer and politician, 11th Israeli Minister of Education (born 1928)
Shulamit Aloni was an Israeli politician. She founded the progressive Ratz party, was leader of the Meretz party, Leader of the Opposition from 1988 to 1990, and served as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993. In 2000 she won the Israel Prize. Throughout her decades-long political career, Aloni advocated for secularism, a peaceful solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, equal treatment of Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians and introduced the law that decriminalised homosexuality.
2018
Mark E. Smith
British singer-songwriter (born 1957)
Mark Edward Smith was an English singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the Sex Pistols' 20 July 1976 gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, and was its leader until his death. During their 42-year existence, the Fall's line-up included some sixty musicians, with whom Smith released 31 studio albums and numerous singles and EPs.
1988
Werner Fenchel
German-Danish mathematician and academic (born 1905)
Moritz Werner Fenchel was a German-Danish mathematician known for his contributions to geometry and to optimization theory. Fenchel established the basic results of convex analysis and nonlinear optimization theory which would, in time, serve as the foundation for nonlinear programming. A German-born Jew and early refugee from Nazi suppression of intellectuals, Fenchel lived most of his life in Denmark. Fenchel's monographs and lecture notes are considered influential.
1946
Morris Alexander
South African politician (born 1877)
Morris Alexander was a South African lawyer and politician who was a leading figure of Cape Town's Jewish community. He is best known for his successful campaign to have Yiddish recognized as a European language by colonial authorities, allowing thousands of Jews to immigrate to South Africa. A prominent liberal, Alexander served in the South African House of Assembly from 1910 until his death in 1946.
1709
George Rooke
English admiral and politician (born 1650)
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rooke was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and again at the Battle of Schooneveld during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. As a captain, he conveyed Prince William of Orange to England and took part in the Battle of Bantry Bay during the Williamite War in Ireland.
2010
Pernell Roberts
American actor (born 1928)
Pernell Elven Roberts Jr. was an American stage, film, and television actor, activist, and singer. In addition to guest-starring in over 60 television series, he was best known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son Adam Cartwright on the Western television series Bonanza (1959–1965), and as chief surgeon John McIntyre, the title character on Trapper John, M.D. (1979–1986).