On This Day

Deaths in History on July 29

  • 238 Balbinus, Roman Emperor, ruled 3 months with Pupienus, murdered by the Praetorian guard at about 60
  • 238 Pupienus, Roman Emperor ruled 3 months with Balbinus, murdered by the Praetorian guard at about 70
  • 1030 Olaf II Haraldsson, King of Norway, dies in battle of Stiklestad at 34 or 35
  • 1095 Ladislaus I, Árpád dynasty King of Hungary (1077-95), and King of Croatia (1091-95), dies at 55
  • 1099 Urban II [Odo van Lagery], French Pope who began the First Crusade (1088-99), dies at about 64

Philip IPhilip I (1052-1108)

King of the Franks (1060-1108), dies at 56

Philip I
  • 1507 Martin Behaim, German navigator and geographer, dies at 47
  • 1566 Agnes Waterhouse, British woman hanged after being convicted of witchcraft at approximately 63
  • 1573 John Caius, English physician, dies at 62
  • 1573 Ruy Gómez de Silva, Spanish prince of Eboli (advisor to Spanish King Philip II), dies at 56
  • 1596 Jacobus Latomus, Flemish poet (Psalms/Jeremias), dies at about 84
  • 1612 Jacques Bongars, French scholar and diplomat (b. 1554)
  • 1632 Samuel Ampzing, Dutch poet (Biblical Treasures), dies at 42
  • 1644 Urban VIII [Maffeo Barberini], Pope (1623-44), dies
  • 1649 David Teniers I, Flemish painter (altaar stukken), dies
  • 1752 Peter Warren, British admiral who served in the Americas, dies at 47 or 48
  • 1781 Johann Kies, German astronomer and mathematician, dies at 73
  • 1792 René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, Chancellor of France (b. 1714)
  • 1813 Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (b. 1771)

William WilberforceWilliam Wilberforce (1759-1833)

British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade, dies at 73

William Wilberforce
  • 1839 Gaspard de Prony, French mathematician (b. 1755)
  • 1857 Charles Lucien Bonaparte, French prince of Canino and Musignano, dies at 54
  • 1857 Thomas Dick, Scottish scientific teacher and writer (b. 1774)
  • 1863 Edward Needle Kirk, US Union brigadier general, dies in battle at about 35
  • 1886 Solomon Gazfried, Ukrainian rabbi and author (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch), dies (b. 1804)

Agostino DepretisAgostino Depretis (1813-1887)

Italian statesman, Prime Minister of Italy (1876-78, 1778-79, 1881-87), dies at 74

Agostino Depretis

Vincent van GoghVincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Dutch artist, painter and pioneer of Expressionism (The Potato Eaters, Irises, Sunflowers), dies 2 days after shooting himself at 37

Vincent van Gogh
  • 1891 Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, father of Bengali prose (Exile of Sita), dies at 70
  • 1897 Joost Gerard Kist, Dutch lawyer and president of High Council (1885-97), dies at 74
  • 1900 Umberto I of Italy, King of Italy (1878-1900), shot four times and assassinated by Italian-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci at 56
  • 1913 Tobias Asser, Dutch advocate of world law (Nobel 1911), dies at 75
  • 1918 Ernest William Christmas, Australian painter (b. 1863)
  • 1922 Edward Gailliard, Flemish linguist and archaeologist, dies at 81
  • 1938 Nikolai Krylenko, Russian/Soviet jurist and politician (b. 1885)
  • 1947 Willem Vliegen, Dutch journalist and chairman (SDAP), dies at 84
  • 1956 Ludwig Klages, German philosopher (study of graves), dies at 83
  • 1960 Richard Simon, American book publisher (co-founder of Simon & Shuster), dies at 61
  • 1973 Norm Smith, Australian rules footballer and coach (b. 1915)
  • 1974 Erich Kästner, German author (b. 1899)
  • 1976 Mickey Cohen, American gangster (Cohen crime family), dies at 62
  • 1979 Herbert Marcuse, German-American communist philosopher (Eros & Civilization), dies at 81
  • 1981 Robert Moses, American public official and urban planner (oversaw rebuilding of Long Island and NYC parks and roads), dies at 92
  • 1982 Cor[nelis R J] Kieboom, resistor/President Feyenoord, dies at 81
  • 1982 Richard Gale, English general and airborne commander (Normandy), dies at 86

Vladimir ZworykinVladimir Zworykin (1888-1982)

Russian-American inventor (development of television, cathode ray tube), dies at 94

Vladimir Zworykin
  • 1983 J. B. Charles [Willem H. Nagel], Dutch criminologist and writer, dies at 83
  • 1983 Luis Buñuel, director (Monk), dies of cirrhosis of liver at 83
  • 1987 Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay, Bengali author (b. 1894)
  • 1990 Bruno Kreisky, union chancellor Austria, dies
  • 1992 Tavio Amorin, Togolese politician, murdered
  • 1993 AJA Quintus Bosz, Indonesian/Suriname lawyer, dies at 78

Dorothy HodgkinDorothy Hodgkin (1910-1994)

British biochemist who developed protein crystallography to study molecular structure, including that of vitamin B12 (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1964), dies of a stroke at 84 [1]

Dorothy Hodgkin
  • 1994 Francisco Veguillas, Spanish general, murdered at 68
  • 1994 James Herman Barrett Jr, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel killed by anti-abortion extremist Paul Hill at 74
  • 1994 John Bayard Britton, American doctor who performed abortions, and killed by anti-abortion extremist Paul Hill, in Pensacola, Florida
  • 1996 Aruna Asaf Ali, Indian independence activist and politician (first Mayor of Delhi), dies at 88
  • 1996 Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, French mathematician, dies at 75
  • 1996 Ric Nordman, Canadian politician (b. 1919)
  • 2000 Kobie Coetsee, South African Minister of Defense (1993-94) and Minister of Justice (1980-93), dies at 69
  • 2001 Edward Gierek, Polish politician (b. 1913)
  • 2001 Wau Holland, German computer hacker (b. 1951)
  • 2003 Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leonean rebel leader (b. 1937)
  • 2006 Jim Olin, American politician (Rep-D-VA, 1983-93), dies at 86
  • 2007 Marvin Zindler, American television reporter (b. 1921)
  • 2008 Eric Varley, British politician and cabinet minister, dies at 75
  • 2009 Gayatri Devi, 3rd Maharani consort of Jaipur, India (1940-49), dies of lung failure and gastric problems at 90
  • 2016 Marta Marzotto, Italian countess and designer, dies at 85
  • 2016 Zelda Fichandler, American theater director and producer (Raisin, K2), dies at 91
  • 2021 Carl Levin, American attorney and politician (U.S. Senator from Michigan, 1979-2015), dies at 87


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