Christopher Columbus
1506 Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer and navigator who discovered the "New World" for Spain and initiated European colonization, dies around the age of 54
Christopher Columbus
- 1509 Catharina Sforza, Italian duchess of Forli, dies at 45
- 1550 Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shogun (b. 1510)
- 1597 Dutch commander Matthijs Heldt, dies in battle
- 1622 Osman II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1618-22), dies at 17
- 1648 Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland (1632-48), dies of kidney stones at 52
- 1669 Joris van der Hagen, landscape painter, dies
- 1677 George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (b. 1612)
- 1713 Thomas Sprat, English writer (b. 1635)
- 1717 John Trevor, British statesman (b. 1637)
- 1722 Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist, dies at 52
- 1732 Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (b. 1676)
- 1782 William Emerson, British mathematician (b. 1701)
- 1793 Charles Bonnet, Swiss naturalist and writer, dies at 73
- 1795 Ignác Martinovics, Hungarian physicist/revolutionary, beheaded
- 1825 Papaflessas, Greek priest and government official (b. 1788)
- 1834 Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert de Motier, nobleman, dies
Marquis de Lafayette
1834 Marquis de Lafayette, American patriot and French revolutionary, dies at 76
Marquis de Lafayette
- 1841 Joseph Blanco White, theological writert, dies
- 1847 Mary Lamb, British writer (Tales from Shakespeare), dies at 82
- 1864 John Clare, English poet (Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery), dies at 70
- 1873 Sir George-Étienne Cartier, French-Canadian statesman (b. 1814)
- 1875 Amalia, wife of King Otto of Greece, dies at 58
- 1876 Harold, grandson of English queen Victoria, dies at 8 days old
- 1876 Khristo Botev, Bulgarian poet, dies
- 1880 Eugene LFC prince the Ligne, Belgian prince of Ambise, dies at 76
- 1883 William Chambers, Scottish author and publisher (Basis of Communication & Coding), dies at 83
- 1917 Philipp von Ferrary, Italian philatelist (b. 1850)
- 1917 Valentine Fleming, Scottish politician (b. 1887)
- 1919 Jacob Verdam, philosopher, dies
- 1923 Hans Goldschmidt, German chemist, dies
- 1932 Bipin Chandra Pal, Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, dies at 73
- 1935 Ivans [Jacob van Schevichaven], Dutch lawyer and detective writer, dies at 68
- 1940 Joris van Severen, Flemish politician and founder of the Alliance of Dietsche National Solidarists, dies at 45
- 1940 Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish poet and novelist (Charles Men, Nobel 1916), dies at 80
- 1946 Jacob Ellehammer, Danish watchmaker and inventor (powered flight), dies at 74
- 1947 Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist (Nobel 1905), dies at 84
- 1949 Randolph West, American biochemist, known for the Dakin-West reaction (b. 1890)
- 1956 Max Beerbohm, English caricaturist, writer and parodist (Saturday Review), dies at 83
- 1959 Alfred Schütz, Austrian-American architect and philosopher, dies at 60
- 1961 Josef "Pips" Priller, German fighter ace (b. 1915)
- 1961 Nannie Helen Burroughs, American educator and civil rights activist (founded National Training School for Women and Girls), dies at 82
- 1968 Kees van Dongen, Dutch/French painter, dies at 91
- 1971 Waldo Williams, Welsh poet (b. 1904)
- 1972 Cornelis Jakob van der Klauw, Dutch biologist and zoologist, dies at 78
- 1972 Walter Winchell, American newspaper columnist and narrator (Untouchables), dies at 75
- 1975 Dame Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor, dies in fire at 72
- 1976 Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan politician, member of the Christian-Democrat party, and Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz "disappeared"
- 1986 Willem Pee, Belgian linguist, dies at 83
- 1989 Erzsébet Galgoczi, Hungarian writer, dies at 58
- 1989 John R. Hicks, English economist (Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Sciences 1972), dies at 85
- 1992 Roger Keith Coleman, American murder who protested his innocence, is executed at 33
- 1993 Max Klein, inventor (paint by numbers), dies at 77
- 1994 Dallas Pratt, American collector (The American Museum in Britain), dies at 79
- 1994 Vivien John, English painter and daughter of Augustus John, dies at 79
- 1996 George Malcolm Thomson, British journalist, dies at 96
- 1996 Janaki Ramachandran, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Indian state of Tamil Nadu (1988), dies at 72
- 1996 Julius Marmur, American biochemist and geneticist (DNA research), dies at 70
- 1996 Lewis B Combs, American civil engineer and US Navy officer (1917-45), founding member and commander of the "Seabees", dies at 101
- 1997 Virgilio Boat, president of Colombia (1986-90), dies
- 1999 Robert Rhodes James, British politician historian (Gallipoli), dies at 66
Stephen Jay Gould
2002 Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist and popular science writer, dies of cancer at 60
Stephen Jay Gould
- 2004 Lord Murray of Epping Forest, British labour politician and union leader, dies of emphysema and pneumonia at 82
- 2005 Paul Ricoeur, French philosopher (b. 1913)
- 2005 William Seawell, United States Army Brigadier General (b. 1918)
- 2008 Ali Sadikin, Indonesian politician and governor of Jakarta (1966-77), dies at 79
- 2008 Hamilton Jordan, former Carter White House Chief of Staff (b. 1944)
- 2009 Arthur Erickson, Canadian architect (b.1924)
- 2012 Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi, convicted bomber (Pan Am 103), dies from prostate cancer at 60
- 2015 Brian Cubbon, British senior civil servant, dies at 87