Each Year's Most Significant Death.

[Life Is Beautiful 718]

What would be the most significant death of the 20th century?

[Life Is Beautiful 718]

This is based on the overall impact (cultural/social/political) that this person had during his/her time.

Tie breaker: Shocking/unexpected deaths.

 

1900: Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
1901: Queen Victoria, UK Queen
1902: Emile Zola, French writer
1903: Paul Gauguin, French artist
1904: Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright
1905: Jules Verne, French writer
1906: Paul Cézanne, French artist
1907: Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian scientist
1908: Grover Cleveland, US president
1909: Geronimo, Indian Apache leader
1910: Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer
1911: Gustav Mahler, Austro-Bohemian composer
1912: Wilbur Wright, US aviation inventor
1913: Alfred Russel Wallace, British explorer
1914: Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria
1915: Charles Tupper, Canadian father of Confederation
1916: Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic
1917: Mata Hari, Dutch exotic dancer and spy
1918: Nicholas II of Russia, Russian royalty
1919: Theodore Roosevelt, US president
1920: Robert Peary, US arctic explorer
1921: Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor
1922: Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish inventor
1923: Warren G. Harding, US president
1924: Lenin, USSR leader and founder
1925: Sun Yat-sen, Chinese leader
1926: Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor
1927: Victoria Woodhull, American civil rights activist
1928: Emmeline Pankhurst, British civil rights activist
1929: Archibald Primrose, UK PM
1930: William Howard Taft, US president
1931: Thomas Edison, US inventor
1932: John Philip Sousa, US composer
1933: Calvin Coolidge, US president
1934: Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist
1935: T.E. Lawrence, British archaeologist
1936: King George V, UK King
1937: John D. Rockefeller, richest person in modern history
1938: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founding father of Turkey
1939: Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis
1940: Leon Trotsky, USSR thinker
1941: Virginia Woolf, English writer
1942: Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi official
1943: Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American inventor
1944: Erwin Rommel, Nazi general
1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt, US president and Adolf Hitler, Nazi leader
1946: Hermann Göring, German leader and war criminal
1947: Henry Ford, US inventor and Elizabeth Short, Black Dahlia
1948: Mahatma Gandhi, Indian ethicist
1949: Richard Strauss, German composer
1950: George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright
1951: William Randolph Hearst, US businessman
1952: King George VI, UK king
1953: Joseph Stalin, USSR leader
1954: Enrico Fermi, Italian inventor
1955: Albert Einstein, German physicist
1956: Jackson Pollock, US artist
1957: Joseph McCarthy, US Senator
1958: Pope Pius XII, Holy Pope
1959: Buddy Holly, US rock singer-songwriter
1960: Albert Camus, French philosopher
1961: Ernest Hemingway, US writer
1962: Marilyn Monroe, US actress
1963: John F. Kennedy, US president
1964: Herbert Hoover, US president
1965: Winston Churchill, UK PM
1966: Walt Disney, US animator
1967: Che Guevara, Argentine revolutionary
1968: Martin Luther King, Jr., US minister and activist
1969: Dwight D. Eisenhower, US general and president
1970: Charles de Gaulle, French President and Jimi Hendrix, US guitarist
1971: Jim Morrison, US rock singer and poet
1972: Harry S. Truman, US president
1973: Lyndon B. Johnson, US president
1974: James Chadwick, British physicist
1975: Francisco Franco, Spanish general
1976: Mao Zedong, Chinese Chairman
1977: Elvis Presley, US rock singer
1978: Pope Paul VI, Holy Pope
1979: John Wayne, US actor
1980: John  Lennon, UK singer-songwriter
1981: Anwar Sadat, Egyptian PM
1982: Leonid Brezhnev, USSR leader
1983: Tennessee Williams, US playwright
1984: Indira Gandhi, Indian PM
1985: Orson Welles, US film director
1986: Harold Macmillan, UK PM
1987: Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader
1988: Mohammad Zia Ul-Haq, Pakistani PM
1989: Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian Supreme Leader
1990: Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress
1991: Freddie Mercury, UK singer
1992: Menachem Begin, Israeli PM
1993: Audrey Hepburn, UK actress
1994: Richard M. Nixon, US president and Kurt Cobain, US singer-songwriter
1995: Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli PM
1996: François Mitterrand, French president
1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, UK royalty
1998: Frank Sinatra, US singer
1999: Wilt Chamberlain, US basketball player
2000: John Gielgud, UK actor

2001: Mohamed Atta, Egyptian terrorist and Todd Beamer, a passenger on the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93
2002: Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of the United Kingdom
2003: Katharine Hepburn, US actress
2004: Ronald Reagan, US president
2005: Pope John Paul II, Holy Pope
2006: Gerald Ford, US president and Saddam Hussein, Iraqi president
2007: Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani PM
2008: Paul Newman, US actor
2009: Michael Jackson, US singer
2010: J. D. Salinger, US writer
2011: Osama bin Laden, Saudi terrorist and Muammar Gaddafi, Lybian leader
2012: Neil Armstrong, US astronaut
2013: Nelson Mandela, South-African PM and activist
2014: Robin Williams, US actor
2015: Stéphane Charbonnier [Charb], French Charlie Hebdo cartoonist
2016: Fidel Castro, Cuban PM and leader
2017: Helmut Kohl, German chancellor

2018: George Bush Senior, US president and Stephen Hawking, UK physicist

2019: Abu-Bakr al Baghdadi, ISIS leader and Jacques Chirac, French PM

2020: Mr. Zhang, the first COVID-19 death and George Floyd, African-American police victim

2021: Larry King, US broadcaster (so far....)

 

Most significant death by decades:

1900s: Queen Victoria

1910s: Franz Ferdinand

1920s: Lenin

1930s: Sigmund Freud

1940s: Adolf Hitler

1950s: Joseph Stalin

1960s: JFK

1970s: Elvis Presley

1980s: Anwar Sadat

1990s: Yitzhak Rabin

2000s: Pope John Paul II

2010s: Osama bin Laden

2020s: George Floyd (so far...)

 

Most significant death by centuy:

20th century: JFK

21st century: Osama bin Laden

[Death Impends 8,008]

P sure we already have a thread like this. Hold on while I find it.

 

EDIT: Threads merged. Given you knew about this thread already having posted in it previously there was really no reason to make an entire thread out of your own list.

[Life Is Beautiful 718]

Perhaps we can all work on this list and move it to the first page then?

[Joey Russ 7,232]

No. Lists come down to opinions in the end. David Bowie is more significant to me than Fidel Castro. I don't think there should be an absolute official list of any kind.

[Life Is Beautiful 718]

Just now, Joey Russ said:

David Bowie is more significant to me than Fidel Castro.

Now how is that even possible? (Unless you're talking subjectively. In that case, sorry.)

I am a big fan of Bowie.  But there is no denying that the only death that came even close to Castro's in 2016 was Ali's.

[ObakeFilter 909]

While I agree for most part, here are a few changes I would have done (I didn't reach the beginning of your list so there could be more)

7 hours ago, Life Is Beautiful said:

2008: Paul Newman

Arthur C. Clarke

 

7 hours ago, Life Is Beautiful said:

2007: Benazir Bhutto

Boris Yeltsin

 

7 hours ago, Life Is Beautiful said:

2006: Gerald Ford

Saddam Hussein

 

7 hours ago, Life Is Beautiful said:

2001: Todd Beamer (United Airlines Flight 93 passenger)

George Harrison

[Prophet 251]

2000- Walter Matthau

2001- Anthony Quinn

2002- Astrid Lindgren

2003- Johnny Cash

2004- Ronald Reagan

2005- Pope John Paul

2006- Saddam Hussein

2007- Ingmar Bergman

2008- Heath Ledger

2009- Michael Jackson

2010- Dennis Hopper

2011- Osama bin Laden

2012- Neil Armstrong

2013- Paul Walker

2014- Robin Williams

2015- Leonard Nimoy

2016- Carrie Fisher

2017- Chuck Berry

[Spade_Cooley 9,552]

2014 is Roy from Shipping Wars and I will fight anyone who disagrees.

[Zsa Zsa's leg 884]

2016 is easily Bowie, Prince, or Ali. Then at Tier II it would he Castro, Fisher, or Reagan.

[RadGuy 1,614]

1 hour ago, Spade_Cooley said:

2014 is Roy from Shipping Wars and I will fight anyone who disagrees.

2014 is Car Talk co-host Tom Magliozzi and I will fight anyone who disagrees.

[msc 18,488]

2014 is Brazil's World Cup hopes in that Semifinal.

 

I wont fight anyone, just revel in how funny it was.

[Life Is Beautiful 718]

13 hours ago, ObakeFilter said:

While I agree for most part, here are a few changes I would have done (I didn't reach the beginning of your list so there could be more)

Arthur C. Clarke

 

 

Is this one of those British people that are only known by the British? (e.g. more than 10 names on this year's Deathlist)

In all seriousness though, I'm not even sure of my choice for 2008. That year had a lot of important deaths that some will argue are more significant than Newman's. Ledger, Suharto, Fischer, Scofield, Heston, Solzhenitsyn, Huntington...2008 and of course 2009 were very rich years when it comes to celebrity deaths, especially when you compare them to that borefest that was 2010.

[Life Is Beautiful 718]

13 hours ago, ObakeFilter said:

While I agree for most part, here are a few changes I would have done (I didn't reach the beginning of your list so there could be more)

Boris Yeltsin

 

Yes excellent suggestion, thanks! We can mention Pavarotti too. Although only Bhutto's had that shocking/unexpected factor.

[Life Is Beautiful 718]

13 hours ago, ObakeFilter said:

While I agree for most part, here are a few changes I would have done (I didn't reach the beginning of your list so there could be more)

Saddam Hussein

 

If we go by my criteria (cultural/social/impact of the person in question) it is very, very hard to top a US president. Heck, even Cobain didn't get more coverage and media attention than Nixon (although Saddam and Kurt are important names and had that shocking factor going on so it is still very close between them and the former presidents).

FWIW, only two years had a US president beaten by another death: 1924 with Lenin over Woodrow Wilson, and of course 1945 with Hitler over FDR.

[ObakeFilter 909]

1 minute ago, Life Is Beautiful said:

Is this one of those British people that are only known by the British? (e.g. more than 10 names on this year's Deathlist)

In all seriousness though, I'm not even sure of my choice for 2008. That year had a lot of important deaths that some will argue are more significant than Newman's. Ledger, Suharto, Fischer, Scofield, Heston, Solzhenitsyn, Huntington...2008 and of course 2009 were very rich years when it comes to celebrity deaths, especially when you compare them to that borefest that was 2010.

I'm actually not British in any way, so I guess his notability is a little more vast than you might think, but one of the most respected SciFi movies is based on his work, and he had a significant influence on a few (well, at least two) generations of writers. I think that my second choice for this year is something along the lines of Heston, or even George Carlin!

[Deadpool 166]

The most important dead of the year (or the most talked about around the world ) was the death of Chester Bennington... 

[Joey Russ 7,232]

4 minutes ago, Deadpool said:

The most important dead of the year (or the most talked about around the world ) was the death of Chester Bennington... 

Oh no he wasn't by a long shot...

[Toast 16,157]

38 minutes ago, Life Is Beautiful said:

13 hours ago, ObakeFilter said:

Arthur C. Clarke

 

Is this one of those British people that are only known by the British?

 

 

[FixedBusiness 407]

1 hour ago, Deadpool said:

The most important dead of the year (or the most talked about around the world ) was the death of Chester Bennington... 

I'd say Chris Cornell was more important and maybe more talked about.

[Joey Russ 7,232]

19 minutes ago, FixedBusiness said:

I'd say Chris Cornell was more important and maybe more talked about.

Cornell is definitely more important than Bennington. If anyone tries to argue that anyone in music who died is more important than Chuck Berry (so far), however, I would believe that there's something wrong with them...

[Life Is Beautiful 718]

16 hours ago, ObakeFilter said:

While I agree for most part, here are a few changes I would have done (I didn't reach the beginning of your list so there could be more)

 

George Harrison

Yeah I probably should agree with this one. I chose Todd Beamer as he was the victim that most symbolized that horrible day. A true American hero you might say. Without him and a few other heroes on board, the Capitol and the Oval office would have been destroyed as well.

[Life Is Beautiful 718]

1 hour ago, Joey Russ said:

Cornell is definitely more important than Bennington. If anyone tries to argue that anyone in music who died is more important than Chuck Berry (so far), however, I would believe that there's something wrong with them...

I agree Chuck is probably the most important Rock and Roll name to die this decade. A true legend and the one who is most responsible for shaping the genre and making it the guitar-centric crazefest we know and love.

 

PS: Unless Fats Domino dies this year, in that case there is no competition.

[Zsa Zsa's leg 884]

4 hours ago, FixedBusiness said:

I'd say Chris Cornell was more important and maybe more talked about.

Who's that? I don't see anybody talking about him besides your post.

[Joey Russ 7,232]

1 minute ago, Zsa Zsa's leg said:

Who's that? I don't see anybody talking about him besides your post.

He's the lead singer of Soundgarden, and he was talked about a lot when he committed suicide. You should at least recognize this song from him: