Did you know
Subsequently, he became the founding director of the Genome Sequencing Centre at the BC Cancer Research Centre.
Notable Deaths on October 4
100 people
744 – 2024
October 4 has seen 100 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 744 – 2024. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
2000 — Michael Smith
English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932)
Did you know
He shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Kary Mullis for his work in developing site-directed mutagenesis
Did you know
Following a PhD in 1956 from the University of Manchester, he undertook postdoctoral research with Har Gobind Khorana at the British Columbia Research Council in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Did you know
Subsequently, Smith worked at the Fisheries Research Board of Canada Laboratory in Vancouver before being appointed a professor of biochemistry in the UBC Faculty of Medicine in 1966
Did you know
In 1996 he was named Peter Wall Distinguished Professor of Biotechnology
744
863
Vladimir Yaroslavich was Prince of Novgorod from 1036 until his death in 1052. He was the eldest son of Yaroslav I the Wise by Ingegerd Olofsdotter, a daughter of Olof Skötkonung, the king of Sweden. He is venerated as…
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1052
Queen of France (born 1141)
Constance of Castile was Queen of France as the second wife of Louis VII, who married her following the annulment of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was a daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Berengaria of…
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1160
Grand Master of the Knights Templar
Gérard de Ridefort, also called Gerard de Ridefort, was Grand Master of the Knights Templar from the end of 1184 and until his death in 1189.
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1189
Count of Ponthieu (born 1179)
William IV Talvas was William III, Count of Ponthieu and William IV. He was Count of Ponthieu, ruler of a small province in northern France that fell under the suzerainty of the dukes of Normandy since at least the mid…
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1221
Abu Muhammad ʿAbdallah 'al-ʿAdil' was an Almohad Caliph, a former governor in al-Andalus who challenged and secured the murder of his predecessor, Abd al-Wahid I. His 1224 coup ushered in a period of instability that…
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1227
1250
Emperor Kameyama was the 90th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1260 through 1274.
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1305
3rd Baron Mowbray, English baron (born 1310)
John (II) de Mowbray, 3rd Baron Mowbray was the only son of John de Mowbray, 2nd Baron Mowbray, by his first wife, Aline de Brewes, daughter of William de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose. He was born in Hovingham, Yorkshire.
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1361
1497
Spanish nun and saint (born 1515)
Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer.
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1582
Ethiopian emperor (born 1550)
Sarsa Dengel, also known as Sarsa the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne name was Malak Sagad I. He is considered one of the greatest warrior-kings of the Ethiopian Empire.
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1597
21st Earl of Arundel, English courtier and politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (born 1586)
Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel KG, was an English magistrate, diplomat and courtier who lived during the reigns of James I and Charles I. He made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather than as a…
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1646
Italian painter (born 1578)
Francesco Albani or Albano was an Italian Baroque painter of Albanian descent who was active in Bologna, Rome, Viterbo (1609–1610), Mantua (1621–1622) and Florence (1633). He was a distinguished artist of the Bolognese…
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1660
French nun and composer (born 1625)
Jacqueline Pascal, sister of Blaise Pascal and Gilberte Périer, was born at Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, France.
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1661
1669
French engineer, designed the Canal du Midi (born 1609)
Pierre-Paul Riquet, Baron de Bonrepos was the engineer and canal-builder responsible for the construction of the Canal du Midi.
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1680
2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish commander and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey (born 1678)
Field Marshal John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, 1st Duke of Greenwich,, styled Lord Lorne from 1680 to 1703, was a British army officer and politician. He served on the continent in the Nine Years' War and fought at…
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1743
Spanish corsair (born 1678)
Amaro Rodríguez-Felipe y Tejera Machado, also known as Amaro Pargo, was a Spanish privateer and merchant. He was one of the most well-known Spanish privateers during the Golden Age of Piracy. Pargo was noted for his…
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1747
Austrian soldier (born 1711)
Baron Franz von der Trenck was an Austrian soldier whose unit is considered one of the most ruthless in modern European history. A law unto itself, the unit took property, livestock, and women as it saw fit.
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1749
Prussian jurist and statesman (born 1679)
Samuel Freiherr von Cocceji was a German official from the Electorate of the Palatinate who served Brandenburg-Prussia and the Kingdom of Prussia. He was the son of Heinrich von Cocceji.
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1755
Scottish engineer, designed the Waterloo Bridge (born 1761)
John Rennie was a Scottish civil engineer who designed many bridges, canals, docks and warehouses, and a pioneer in the use of structural cast-iron.
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1821
Greek-French lexicographer and scholar (born 1785)
Grigorios Zalykis was a Greek scholar, writer and diplomat. He was the founder of the "Greek-speaking Hotel", a secret organization established in Paris in 1809 to assist Greeks against Ottoman rule.
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1827
Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (born 1767)
Manuel de Godoy y Álvarez de Faria Ríos, 1st Prince of the Peace was First Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He was one of the central Spanish political figures during…
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1851
American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Indiana (born 1795)
James Whitcomb was a United States senator and the eighth governor of Indiana. As governor during the Mexican–American War, he oversaw the formation and deployment of the state's levies. He led the movement to replace…
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1852
German publisher, founded Baedeker (born 1801)
Karl Ludwig Johannes Baedeker was a German publisher whose company, Baedeker, set the standard for authoritative guidebooks for tourists.
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1859
Canadian logger and strongman (born 1802)
Joseph "Jos" Montferrand was a French-Canadian logger, strongman, and folk hero of the working man and was the inspiration for the legendary Ottawa Valley figure Big Joe Mufferaw.
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1864
German-American priest and missionary (born 1819)
Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R., was a German Redemptorist who worked as a missionary in the United States frontier. Towards the end of his life, he went to New Orleans to minister to victims of yellow fever. He then…
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1867
South African spiritual leader and preacher (born 1801)
Charl (Sarel) Arnoldus Cilliers was a Voortrekker leader and a preacher. With Andries Pretorius, he led the Boers to a huge victory over the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838. In particular, Cilliers led the…
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1871
English theologian and saint, co-founded The Salvation Army (born 1829)
Catherine Booth was co-founder of The Salvation Army, along with her husband William Booth. Because of her influence in the formation of The Salvation Army she was known as the 'Mother of The Salvation Army'.
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1890
Austrian philosopher and author (born 1880)
Otto Weininger was an Austrian philosopher who in 1903 published the book Geschlecht und Charakter, which gained popularity after his suicide at the age of 23. Weininger had a strong influence on Ludwig Wittgenstein,…
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1903
French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (born 1834)
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was a French sculptor and painter. He is best known for designing Liberty Enlightening the World, commonly known as the Statue of Liberty, in New York City, United States.
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1904
Austrian chemist and academic (born 1847)
Carl Josef Bayer was a chemist from Austria-Hungary who invented and named the Bayer process of extracting alumina from bauxite, essential to this day to the economical production of aluminium.
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1904
Russian lawyer and politician (born 1850)
Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev was a Russian lawyer and politician, and chairman of the First Imperial Duma in 1906.
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1910
French painter and academic (born 1849)
Jean Béraud was a French painter renowned for his numerous paintings of life in Paris and especially its nightlife. His works depicting the Champs Elysees, cafés, Montmartre and the banks of the Seine are precisely…
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1935
German soprano, actress, and director (born 1874)
Marie Gutheil-Schoder was an important German operatic soprano.
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1935
German-Polish lieutenant (born 1906)
Irena Morzycka-Iłłakowicz was a Polish second lieutenant of the National Armed Forces and intelligence agent. The daughter of Bolesław Morzycki and Władysława Zakrzewska and the sister of Jerzy, she was also a polyglot…
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1943
American lawyer and politician, 42nd Governor of New York (born 1873)
Alfred Emanuel Smith was an American politician who served as the 42nd governor of New York from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's presidential nominee in the…
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1944
American race car driver and actor (born 1878)
Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield was a pioneer American racing driver. His name was "synonymous with speed in the first two decades of the 20th century". He was the winner of the inaugural AAA National Championship in 1905.
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1946
German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1858)
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German theoretical physicist. He won the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the services he rendered to the advancement of physics by his discovery of energy quanta."
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1947
American medical patient (born 1920)
Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. An immortalized…
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1951
Greek general and politician, 152nd Prime Minister of Greece (born 1883)
Alexandros Papagos was a Greek military officer who led the Hellenic Army in World War II and in the later stages of the subsequent Greek Civil War. Afterwards, he served as Prime Minister of Greece from 1952 to 1955.
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1955
1958
1961
Estonian architect (born 1904)
Alar Kotli was an Estonian architect. He studied sculpture at the art school Pallas in Tartu during 1922–1923 and mathematics at the University of Tartu. He graduated from the University of technology in Gdańsk in 1927…
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1963
American singer-songwriter (born 1943)
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and her electric stage presence.
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1970
American poet and author (born 1928)
Anne Sexton was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book Live or Die. Her poetry details her long battle with bipolar disorder,…
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1974
German economist (born 1901)
Friedrich August Lutz was a German economist who developed the expectations hypothesis.
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1975
American businesswoman and philanthropist (born 1903)
Joan Whitney Payson was an American heiress, businesswoman, philanthropist, patron of the arts and art collector, and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She co-founded, and was the majority owner of, Major League…
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1975
Argentinian activist and politician (born 1917)
José Ber Gelbard was a Polish-born Argentine activist and politician, and a member of the Argentine Communist Party. He also helped organize the Confederación General Económica (CGE), made up of small and medium-sized…
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1977
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia (born 1918)
Pyotr Mironovich Masherov was a Soviet partisan, statesman, and one of the leaders of the Belarusian resistance during World War II who governed the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic as First Secretary of the…
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1980
American baseball player and coach (born 1905)
Frederick Charles Lindstrom was an American professional baseball player who was a third baseman and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and…
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1981
Canadian pianist and conductor (born 1932)
Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist and broadcaster. Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, he was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach. His…
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1982
Greek politician, 165th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1898)
Stefanos Stefanopoulos was a Greek politician, and served as Prime Minister of Greece from 1965 to 1966.
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1982
Croatian-Canadian animator, director, and screenwriter (born 1931)
Zlatko Grgić was a Croatian animator who emigrated to Canada in the late 1960s.
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1988
English actor and screenwriter, member of Monty Python (born 1941)
Graham Chapman was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the surrealist comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel and the lead role in two Python…
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1989
1990
New Zealand race car driver (born 1936)
Denis Clive Hulme was a New Zealand racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1965 to 1974. Nicknamed "the Bear", Hulme won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1967 with Brabham, becoming the only New…
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1992
American guitarist (born 1945)
Daniel Wood Gatton Jr. was an American virtuoso guitarist who combined blues, rockabilly, jazz, and country to create a musical style he called "redneck jazz", a term which he took from fellow DC-born guitarist Evan…
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1994
German general (born 1912)
Generalmajor Otto Ernst Remer was a German Army officer who served during World War II and played a major role in stopping the 20 July plot in 1944 against Adolf Hitler. He was a captain and a major (1943-1944), and…
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1997
Japanese game designer, created the Game Boy (born 1941)
Gunpei Yokoi , sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker and video game designer. As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known as the original designer of several notable Nintendo…
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1997
Sri Lankan historian and academic (born 1930)
Sinnappah Arasaratnam was a Sri Lankan academic, historian and author, born during British colonial rule. Known as 'Arasa', he was a lecturer at the University of Ceylon, University of Malaya and University of New…
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1998
French painter and illustrator (born 1928)
Bernard Buffet was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. An extremely prolific artist, he produced a varied and extensive body of work. His style was exclusively figurative and is often classified as Expressionist…
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1999
American trumpet player and composer (born 1928)
Arthur Stewart Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, double bassist Addison…
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1999
Chinese politician, 32nd Premier of the Republic of China (born 1914)
Yu Kuo-hwa was a Taiwanese economist who served as the Premier of the Republic of China from 1984 to 1989.
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2000
American race car driver (born 1976)
Blaise Robert Alexander Jr. was an American professional stock car racer from Montoursville, Pennsylvania. He began racing at the age of twelve in go-karts, winning the coveted World Karting Association East Regional…
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2001
American guitarist (born 1913)
John Elbert Collins was an American jazz guitarist who was a member of the Nat King Cole trio.
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2001
Russian rabbi and scholar (born 1917)
Ahron (Aaron) Soloveichik was an Orthodox Jewish rosh yeshiva and scholar of Talmud and halakha.
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2001
Belgian-Spanish director and screenwriter (born 1926)
André Albert Auguste Delvaux was a Belgian film director. He co-founded the film school INSAS in 1962 and is regarded as the founder of the Belgian national cinema. Adapting works by writers such as Johan Daisne, Julien…
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2002
American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Arkansas (born 1912)
Sidney Sanders McMath was a U.S. marine, attorney and the 34th governor of Arkansas from 1949 to 1953. In defiance of his state's political establishment, he championed rapid rural electrification, massive highway and…
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2003
American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (born 1927)
Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human space program of the United…
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2004
American lawyer and politician, 40th United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1924)
Stanley Knapp Hathaway was an American politician who served as the 27th governor of Wyoming from 1967 to 1975 and as the 40th United States secretary of the interior under President Gerald Ford from June to October…
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2005
Jordanian general (born 1925)
HE Major General Qassem Pasha Al-Nasser (1925–2007) was a Jordanian officer who participated in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He was part of many battles, such as: Latrun, Bab El-wad, and Misherem, amongst others.
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2007
German footballer (born 1928)
Gerhard Kaufhold was a German footballer who spent his entire career at Kickers Offenbach. He played a total of 396 games in the Oberliga Süd for the club, scoring 112 goals. He also represented West Germany in a 3–1…
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2009
German general and pilot (born 1918)
Günther Rall was a highly decorated German military aviator, officer and General, whose military career spanned nearly forty years. Rall was the third most successful fighter pilot in aviation history, behind Gerhard…
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2009
English actor, comedian, and singer-songwriter (born 1915)
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom was an English actor, comedian, musician, and singer best known for his series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966, in which he portrayed the endearingly inept character Norman…
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2010
American actress (born 1926)
Doris Belack was an American character actress of stage, film and television.
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2011
Canadian actor and singer (born 1921)
David Anthony Stuart Atkinson was a Canadian baritone and New York Broadway actor/singer. Most of his career was spent performing in musicals and operettas in New York City from the late 1940s through the early 1970s,…
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2012
Zimbabwean historian and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1941)
Isaak Stanislaus Gorerazvo Mudenge was a Zimbabwean politician who served in the government of Zimbabwe as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 2005 and as Minister of Higher Education from 2005 to 2012.
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2012
Australian footballer, historian, and academic (born 1944)
Charles Thomas Stannage, was a prominent Western Australian historian, academic, and Australian rules football player. He edited the major work A New History of Western Australia, which was published in 1981.
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2012
Pakistani-English commander (born 1921)
John Leonard Cloudsley-Thompson DSc CBiol FSB FRES FZS was a British naturalist renowned for his work on desert fauna. He was a tank commander during the Second World War.
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2013
Trinidadian navigator, judge, and diplomat (born 1917)
Philip Louis Ulric Cross was a Trinidadian jurist, diplomat and Royal Air Force (RAF) navigator, recognised as possibly the most decorated West Indian of World War II. He is credited with helping to prevent some two…
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2013
2013
2013
Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd Minister of Defence for Vietnam (born 1911)
Võ Nguyên Giáp was a Vietnamese general, communist revolutionary and politician. Highly regarded as a military strategist, Giáp led Vietnamese communist military forces to victory in the decades long Indochina wars.…
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2013
American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1917)
Nicholas Oresko was an American combat veteran of World War II who received the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions in Germany on January 23, 1945.
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2013
German-Dutch composer and educator (born 1941)
Konrad Boehmer was a German-Dutch composer, educator, and writer.
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2014
Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1937)
Hugo Carvana de Hollanda was a Brazilian actor and film director. He appeared in more than 110 films and television shows between 1954 and 2014.
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2014
Russian footballer and manager (born 1959)
Fyodor Fyodorovich Cherenkov was a Soviet and Russian football midfielder who played for Spartak Moscow and Red Star Football Club (1990–91).
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2014
Haitian politician, 41st President of Haiti (born 1951)
Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed "Baby Doc", was a Haitian dictator who held the presidency of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father François "Papa Doc"…
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2014
2015
Indian director and producer (born 1934)
Edida Nageswara Rao was an Indian film producer and actor known for his work in Telugu cinema. He was celebrated for blending artistic values with mainstream appeal, making him one of the most respected producers in the…
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2015
2015
American actor (born 1957)
Clark Tinsley Middleton was an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Sin City, Fringe, Snowpiercer, and The Blacklist.
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2020
Japanese-French fashion designer (born 1939)
Kenzō Takada was a Japanese–French fashion designer living in France. He founded Kenzo, a worldwide clothing brand that also markets skincare and perfumes. Takada was the honorary president of the Asian Couture…
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2020
American singer-songwriter and musician (born 1932)
Loretta Lynn was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill", "Blue Kentucky Girl",…
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2022
American artist (born 1960)
Christopher Gerard Ciccone was an American visual artist, interior decorator, and designer in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. He was the younger brother of American singer Madonna.
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2024
American football player (born 1938)
William Lewis Shaw was an American professional football player who was a guard for the Buffalo Bills in the American Football League (AFL). After playing college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, he was…
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2024
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Notable deaths
Who died on October 4?
Michael Smith — Canadian biochemist, businessman and Nobel Prize laureate (1932–2000)
FeaturedMichael Smith
Death year2000
Known forHe shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Kary Mullis for his work in developing site-directed mutagenesis
Deaths on this date100 (744 – 2024)
Explore October 4
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on October 4 in History
2017
Joint Nigerien-American Special Forces are ambushed by Islamic State militants outside the village of Tongo Tongo. Wikipedia →
2010
The Ajka plant accident in Hungary releases a million cubic metres of liquid alumina sludge, killing nine, injuring 122, and severely contaminating two major rivers. Wikipedia →
2006
See all events on October 4
WikiLeaks is launched. Wikipedia →
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