Deaths in History on February 11

René Descartes (1596-1650)

French philosopher "I think therefore I am", stops thinking due to pneumonia at 53

1680 Elisabeth of the Palatinate, German philosopher and abbess (corresponded with René Descartes), dies at 61
1685 David Teniers III, Flemish painter, dies at 46
1713 Jahandar Shah, Mughal emperor of India (b. 1664)
1755 Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist (b. 1675)
1763 William Shenstone, English poet, dies at 48
1829 Alexandr Griboyedov, Russian playwright (b. 1795)
1841 J H Ferdinand Olivier, German painter, dies at 55
1862 Elizabeth Siddal, British poet and artist (b. 1829)
1868 Leon Foucault, French physicist whose pendulum proved that the Earth rotates, dies at 48
1870 Jacob de Kempenaer, Dutch lawyer and Minister of Internal Affairs (1848-49), dies at 76
1878 Gideon Welles, 24th U.S. secretary of the navy under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, dies at 75
1879 Honore Daumier, caricaturist/painter, dies
1879 Willem Josephus van Zeggelen, Dutch author, dies at 67
1888 William Kelly, American inventor (pneumatic process of steelmaking), dies at 76
1899 George Morgan, 1st English motorist to die in an motor accident, dies
1901 Milan I, King of Serbia, dies at 56
1907 Peter J Savelberg, Dutch Limbourg monastery founder, dies at 80
1911 Albert Salomon Anselm von Rothschild, Austrian banker and member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria, dies at 66
1917 Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician (b. 1872)
1918 Taytu Betul, Empress of Ethiopia (1889-13) and founder of Addis Ababa, dies at 66 or 67
1922 Gerard Bolland, Dutch philosopher (Bolland Society), dies at 67
1923 Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician (b. 1847)
1931 Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor (steam turbine), dies at 76
1937 Walter Burley Griffin, American architect (L-shaped floor plan, Carport) who designed Australia's capital Canberra and the NSW towns of Griffith and Leeton, dies of peritonitis at 60 after gall bladder surgery in Lucknow, India
1938 James A. Ten Eyck, American champion rower and coach (Ten Eyck Trophy namesake), dies at 86
1940 John Buchan, Scottish politician, Governor-General of Canada (1935-40), writer (The Thirty-Nine Steps) and historian dies at 64
1941 Rudolf Hilferding, German economist/Min of Finance (SPD), suicide at 63
1945 J S H Lokerman, Dutch resistance fighter, dies in Neugengamme
1948 Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director (Battleship Potemkin), dies at 50
1952 Charles Scribner III, American book publisher, dies at 62
1954 Adolph M. Christianson, justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court (b. 1877)
1958 Ernest Jones, Welsh psychoanalyst (biographer of Freud - Life & Work of Sigmund Freud), dies at 79
1961 Kate Carew [Mary Williams], American caricaturist, dies at 91

Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961)

Congolese revolutionary, 1st prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, assassinated by the Belgian government at 34

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

American poet (The Colossus; Three Women), novelist (The Bell Jar), and posthumous Pulitzer Prize winner (Poetry, 1982), commits suicide at 30

1971 Whitney Young Jr, National Urban League director, drowns in Nigeria
1972 Jan Wils, architect (Olympian Stadium, Amsterdam), dies at 80
1973 Elisabeth Achelis, American heiress, writer, and proponent of the 13-month World Calendar, dies at 93
1973 J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist (Nobel prize 1963), dies at 65
1975 Richard Ratsimandrava, Malagasy soldier and statesman, assassinated (b. 1931)
1976 Alexander Lippisch, German scientist and pioneer of aerodynamics, dies at 81
1976 Frank Arnau [Heinrich Schmitt], German crime fiction writer, dies at 81
1977 Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Indian leader and 5th President of India (1974-77), dies of a heart attack at 72
1977 Louis J M Beel, Dutch premier (1946-48, 58-59), dies at 74
1978 Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist and poet (Trade Wind-Nobel 1974), dies at 73
1978 James B. Conant, American chemist and President of Harvard University, dies at 84
1985 Ben Abruzzo, American businessman and balloonist (b. 1930)
1986 Evelio Javier, Filipino politician, lawyer, and civil servant (b. 1942)
1986 Frank Herbert, American sci-fi author (Dune series), dies of a massive pulmonary embolism after surgery for pancreatic cancer at 65
1989 Leon Festinger, American psychologist, dies at 69
1991 Ajla Rachmanova, Russian-Austrian author (Students), dies at 92
1991 Oscar Nitzchke, German architect (Alcoa building, Centre Pompidou), dies at 90
1991 Robert W. Holley, American biochemist who worked with RNA (Nobel Prize 1968), dies at 71
1993 George A Stephen, inventor (Weber Kettle Grill), dies at 71
1994 Vincent Wigglesworth, British entomologist (Metamorphosis hormones), dies at 94
1996 Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet, commits suicide at 65
1996 Bob Shaw, Irish sci-fi writer, dies of cancer at 64
1996 Kebby Musokotwane, prime minister of Zambia in (1985-89), dies
2000 Jacqueline Auriol, French aviator, dies at 82
2000 Roger Vadim, French director (b. 1928)
2004 Ryszard Kukliński, Polish colonel and Cold War spy for NATO, dies at 73
2005 Jack L. Chalker, American author (b. 1944)

Peter Benchley (1940-2006)

American novelist (Jaws, The Deep), dies at 65

2007 Marianne Fredriksson, Swedish author (Simon and the Oaks), dies at 79
2008 Frank Piasecki, American aeronautical designer and helicopter aviation pioneer, dies at 88
2008 Tom Lantos, American politician (Rep-D-California 1981-2008), dies at 80
2009 Willem J Kolff, Dutch-American Physician and Biomedical Engineer (artificial kidney, hemodialysis), dies at 97
2010 [Lee} Alexander McQueen, English fashion designer, commits suicide at 40
2015 Jerry Tarkanian, American collegiate basketball coach, 1961-2002 (California State, UNLV, Fresno State; career record: 784–202), dies at 84