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Cowan George (b. 1920-02-15 / d. 2012-04-20)
He was an American physical chemist, a businessman and philanthropist. Cowan received a B.S. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1941. He did graduate studies at Princeton, where he worked under future Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner, whose investigation of uranium confirmed the feasibility of the Fermi pile. He continued his nuclear research with the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago, Oak Ridge, Columbia University, and Los Alamos. Because he was transferred to various locations as a technological troubleshooter for the effort, he was among the very few people with knowledge of the separate components of the bomb, kept apart for security reasons. He joined the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1946. He earned a Ph.D. from the Mellon College of Science in 1950. Weeks after his arrival at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1949, he directed the detection of radioactive fallout from samples collected near the Russian border indicating the Soviets were in possession of a nuclear bomb. He later served on the Bethe Panel that convinced government decision makers the radiochemistry detected represented weapons uses rather than peaceful pursuits.
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83
Born 1934-02-11. Domain:Politics. Cause of death:Operation
He was a Panamanian politician and military officer who was the de facto ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He had longstanding ties to United States intelligence agencies; however, he was removed from power by the U.S. invasion of Panama. In 1999, the Panamanian government had sought the extradition of Noriega to face murder charges in Panama because he had been found guilty in absentia in 1995 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. After Noriega was imprisoned in France, Panama asked the French government to extradite Noriega so he could face trial for human rights violations in Panama. The French government had previously stated that extradition would not happen before the case in France had run its course. On September 23, 2011, a French court ordered a conditional release for Noriega to be extradited to Panama on October 1, 2011. Noriega was extradited to Panama on December 11, 2011, and incarcerated at El Renacer prison to serve time for crimes committed during his rule. On February 5, 2012, Noriega was moved to the Hospital Santo Tomás in Panama City because of high blood pressure and a brain hemorrhage. He remained in the hospital for four days before being returned to prison. It was announced on March 21, 2012, that Noriega had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, which was later revealed to have been benign. On January 23, 2017, he was released from prison and placed under house arrest to prepare for surgery that would remove the tumor. On March 7, 2017, he suffered a brain hemorrhage during surgery which left him in a critical condition in the intensive care unit of Santo Tomas hospital. Noriega died at the age of 83. Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela announced Noriega's death on Twitter shortly before midnight, writing, "The death of Manuel A. Noriega closes a chapter in our history; his daughters and his relatives deserve to bury him in peace."
89
Born 1923-03-03. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
He was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded. He performed with his son Merle for over 15 years until Merle's death in 1985, in an accident on the family farm. Merle died in a tractor accident. In late May 2012, Watson was listed in critical condition but was responsive at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after undergoing colon surgery. Watson fell at his home earlier in the week, after which he was sent to Watauga Medical Center in nearby Boone, NC. Watson was not seriously injured in the fall, but an underlying medical condition prompted the surgery which required him to be airlifted to Winston-Salem.
75
Born 1937-01-21. Domain:Art. Cause of death:Age
He was a Canadian cartoonist, best known for his syndicated comic strip Herman which ran for 18 years in 600 newspapers in 25 countries. Unger died during sleep at his residence in Saanich, British Columbia after a period of ill health. He was predeceased by a brother who was a major influence for the Herman comic.
71
Born 1940-05-13. Domain:Journalism. Cause of death:Age
He was a movie critic, who worked for les cahiers du cinéma and Charlie Hebdo.
74
Born 1936-05-17. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:cancer (prostate)
He directed and starred in Easy Rider (1969), winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer of the film's script.
On January 14, 2010, he filed for divorce from his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy. After citing her "outrageous conduct", and stating Duffy was "insane", "inhuman", and "volatile", Hopper was granted a restraining order against her on February 11, 2010, and as a result, she has been forbidden to come within ten feet of him or contact him in any way.
On May 12, 2010, a hearing was held in front of Judge Amy Pellman in downtown Los Angeles Superior Court to decide who to designate on Hopper's life insurance policy which currently lists his wife as beneficiary. A very ill Hopper did not appear in court though his estranged wife did - case BD518046. The judge ruled that the policy should not be changed at present.
Hopper died at his home in Venice, California, from complications of prostate cancer.
33
Born 1977-03-30. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Accident
He was an American Major League Baseball player.
Robertson died after crashing his motorcycle in his hometown of Exeter, California.
74
Born 1935-11-28. Domain:Writing. Cause of death:cancer (liver)
He was an Australian writer.
He lectured in English Literature at the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia and the University of Leeds. He also worked on an Aboriginal mission as an anthropologist, used as background for To the Islands, and as a patrol officer in the Trobriand Islands, where he suffered a severe attack of malaria. He used this experience in Visitants.
31
Born 1978-01-04. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Accident
She was a French snowboarder and Olympic champion. She won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. She received a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Ruby was killed after a climbing accident on Mont Blanc when the top climber, Gilles Monchard, of five roped climbers fell into a crevasse, pulling Ruby and French climber Simon Ouest to their deaths.
21
Born 1987-02-16. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Accident
Bourdon was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He died in a motorcycle accident in Lamèque, New Brunswick, near his hometown of Shippagan, when he hit a tractor-trailer after losing control of his bike and crossing the center line. Environment Canada showed winds gusting to more than 50 km/h in the area at the time of the accident. Bourdon's agent, Kent Hughes, stated that he never knew about his client's new hobby (motorcycles). "I had no idea," he explained to CKNW in Vancouver. "Another client of ours, Kris Letang, said Luc let him know he was riding his dad's motorcycle with some friends a week or two ago. I have since been told - though I don't know - that he actually bought a motorcycle two days ago". Maryse Bourdon, Luc's step-mother, said he had purchased the motorcycle about three weeks ago.
82
Born 1921-06-05. Domain:Writing. Cause of death:Age
30
Born 1966-11-17. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Accident
Buckley drowned during an evening swim in 1997.
81
Born 1912-08-25. Domain:Politics. Cause of death:cancer (liver)
Honecker then stayed in a Soviet military hospital near Berlin before later fleeing with Margot Honecker to Moscow, to avoid prosecution over charges of Cold War crimes. He was accused by the German government of involvement in the deaths of 192 East Germans who tried to leave the GDR. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Honecker took refuge in the Chilean embassy in Moscow, but was extradited by the Yeltsin administration to Germany in 1992. However, when the trial formally opened in early 1993, Honecker was released due to ill health and on 13 January of that year moved to Chile to live with his daughter Sonja, her Chilean husband Leo Yáñez, and their son Roberto. He died in exile of liver cancer in Santiago.
43
Born 1938-09-23. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Suicide
Schneider began drinking alcohol in excess after the sudden death, on July 5, 1981, of her 14-year-old son, David. He had attempted to climb the spiked fence at his stepfather's parents home when he punctured his femoral artery. He got himself off the fence and into the house for help but by the time the ambulance got him to the hospital he had lost too much blood and died. When she was found dead in her apartment in Paris, at the age of 43, it was suggested that she had committed suicide by taking a lethal cocktail of alcohol and sleeping pills. However, no post-mortem examination was carried out. She was declared to have died from cardiac arrest.
Following her burial, it became known that her companion Laurent Petin had buried her with a large amount of gold jewellery, which led to her tomb being ransacked by thieves. Following this disaster, she was reburied in a more secure means. These circumstances were similar to those of Benny Hill after his burial.
40
Born 1905-06-03. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Murder
SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Martin Gottfried Weiss, alternatively spelled Weiß was the Commandant of Dachau concentration camp in 1945. He also served as the commandant of Neuengamme concentration camp from April 1940 until September 1942. Weiss was born in Weiden in der Oberpfalz. He was tried during the Dachau Trials of 15 November — 13 December 1945, found guilty, and was executed on 29 May 1946.
60
Born 1882-02-15. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:cirrhosis of the liver
Barrymore collapsed while appearing on a radio show and died some days later in his hospital room. His dying words were "Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him." Gene Fowler attributes different dying words to Barrymore in his biography Good Night, Sweet Prince. According to Fowler, John Barrymore roused as if to say something to his brother Lionel; Lionel asked John to repeat himself, and John simply replied, "You heard me, Mike."
In the late 1930s, alcoholism and possibly Alzheimer's Disease encroached on his ability to remember his lines, and his diminished abilities were apparent in an surviving screen test that he made for an aborted film of Hamlet in 1934. From then on, he insisted on reading his dialogue from cue cards. He continued to give creditable performances in lesser pictures, for example as Inspector Nielson in some of Paramount Pictures' Bulldog Drummond mysteries, and offered one last bravura dramatic turn in RKO's 1939 feature The Great Man Votes.