Did you know
Initially presiding over an oligarchic one-party system that governed by plurality, he became the de facto dictator of the Soviet Union by the 1930s.
Notable Deaths on March 5
1953 — Joseph Stalin
Soviet dictator and politician of Georgian descent, 2nd leader of the Soviet Union (born 1878)
March 5 has 92 recorded notable deaths across history, from 254 to 2017. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
92 source records
254 – 2017
Today in history
Major events on March 5
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 2023 The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time. Source
- 1981 The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 11⁄2 million units around the world. Source
- 1616 Nicolaus Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published. Source
- 1960 Indonesian President Sukarno dismisses the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), 1955 democratically elected parliament, and replaces it with DPR-GR, the parliament of his own selected members. Source
Did you know
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was a Venezuelan politician, revolutionary, and military officer who was the president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013.
Did you know
Kiley originated the role of Don Quixote in the original 1965 production of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha and was the first to sing and record "The Impossible Dream", the hit song from the show.
Did you know
As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous music genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century.
Did you know
Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile in 1799, and reported the results of his experiments in a two-part letter to the president of the Royal Society in London, which was published in 1800.
More major people who died on March 5
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
2013
Hugo Chávez
Venezuelan colonel and politician, President of Venezuela (born 1954)
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was a Venezuelan politician, revolutionary, and military officer who was the president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013.
1999
Richard Kiley
American actor and singer (born 1922)
Richard Paul Kiley was an American stage, film, and television actor and singer. He is best known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
1953
Sergei Prokofiev
Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1891)
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who later worked in the Soviet Union.
1827
Alessandro Volta
Italian physicist and academic (born 1745)
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was an Italian chemist and physicist who was a pioneer of electricity and power, and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the discoverer of methane.
1815
Franz Mesmer
German physician and astrologist (born 1734)
Franz Anton Mesmer was a German physician with an interest in astronomy.
1981
Yip Harburg
American songwriter and composer (born 1896)
Edgar Yipsel "Yip" Harburg was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers.
2016
Hassan Al-Turabi
Sudanese activist and politician (born 1932)
Hassan al-Turabi was a Sudanese politician and scholar. He was the alleged architect of the 1989 Sudanese military coup that overthrew Sadiq al-Mahdi and installed Omar al-Bashir as president.
1778
Thomas Arne
English composer and educator (born 1710)
Thomas Augustine Arne was an English composer of the late Baroque and early Classical periods.
1895
Nikolai Leskov
Russian author, playwright, and journalist (born 1831)
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and journalist, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky.
1539
Nuno da Cunha
Portuguese admiral and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (born 1487)
Nuno da Cunha was a Portuguese admiral who was governor of Portuguese possessions in India from 1529 to 1538.
1955
Antanas Merkys
Lithuanian lawyer and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Lithuania (born 1888)
Antanas Merkys was the last Prime Minister of independent Lithuania, serving from November 1939 to June 1940.
1963
Hawkshaw Hawkins
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1921)
Harold Franklin "Hawkshaw" Hawkins was an American country music singer popular from the 1950s into the early 1960s. He was known for his rich, smooth vocals and music drawn from blues, boogie and honky tonk.
1940
Cai Yuanpei
Chinese philosopher and academic (born 1868)
Cai Yuanpei, spelt Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei during his lifetime, was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was an influential figure in the history of Chinese modern education.
1967
Mohammad Mosaddegh
Iranian political scientist and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Iran (born 1882)
Mohammad Mosaddegh was an Iranian politician, author and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 16th Majlis.
1827
Pierre-Simon Laplace
French mathematician and astronomer (born 1749)
Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace was a French polymath, a scholar whose work has been instrumental in the fields of physics, astronomy, mathematics, engineering, statistics, and philosophy.
2016
Ray Tomlinson
American computer programmer and engineer (born 1941)
Raymond Samuel Tomlinson was an American computer programmer who invented the first email program on the ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971; it was the first system able to send mail between users on…
1967
Mischa Auer
Russian-American actor (born 1905)
Mischa Auer was a Russian-American actor who moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s. He first appeared in film in 1928. Auer had a long career playing in many of the era's best known films.
1945
Lena Baker
African American held captive post slavery-era (born 1900)
Lena Baker was an African American woman in Cuthbert, Georgia, United States, who was convicted of capital murder of Ernest Knight, a white man who had sexually assaulted her.
1950
Edgar Lee Masters
American poet, author, and playwright (born 1868)
Edgar Lee Masters was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist.