Curated playlist
1990 deaths
- Roald DahlRoald Dahl was blinded for six weeks after crashing his fighter plane in the desert in 1940.
- Jim HensonJim Henson made the first Kermit from a halved table tennis ball and his mother's old coat.
- Aaron CoplandComposer Aaron Copland planned one year of study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger but stayed three.
- Medard BossMedard Boss studied with Freud, then decided Freud was wrong.
- Sammy Davis Jr.Sammy Davis Jr. once answered a simple golf question with a line that became his signature. Playing a round with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. Davis replied, "Handicap?" and then went on: "Talk about handicap. I'm a…
- Oldřich NejedlýFIFA raised Oldřich Nejedlý's 1934 World Cup total from four goals to five in 2006.
- Arthur Samuel (computer scientist)Arthur Samuel's checkers program moved IBM's stock up 15 points in a single night. He coined "machine learning" in 1959.
- Samuel C. PhillipsSamuel C. Phillips froze the Minuteman missile's design knowing its range was 1,000 miles short.
- RajneeshRajneesh, born Chandra Mohan Jain, has an epitaph that says he was never born and never died. It adds that he only visited this planet Earth, between 1931 and 1990. The man behind those words was an Indian philosopher, mystic and teacher,…
- B. F. SkinnerB. F. Skinner proposed steering missiles with pigeons. The birds pecked at a screen showing the target.
- Louis AlthusserLouis Althusser used a police officer's shout on the street to explain how ideology shapes every person.
- Robert Holmes à CourtRobert Holmes à Court often made money from takeover bids that failed.
- Ronald Evans (astronaut)Ronald Evans is the last person to orbit the Moon alone. He circled it 75 times while two crewmates walked below.
- John Stewart BellJohn Bell died in 1990 without knowing he had reportedly been nominated for a Nobel Prize.
- Lev YashinLev Yashin is the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d'Or. The Soviet keeper took the award in 1963.
- Donald A. WollheimDonald A. Wollheim, the American science fiction editor, publisher, writer and fan, picked up a telephone in 1964 and called Professor J. R. R. Tolkien. According to Wollheim's daughter Betsy, Tolkien answered that he would never allow his…
- Armand HammerArmand Hammer was buried across the street from the oil company he ran for 33 years. He never practiced medicine.
- Lewis MumfordLewis Mumford argued the clock, not the steam engine, drove the Industrial Revolution. He never finished college.
- Prince Naruhiko HigashikuniA Japanese prince served as prime minister for just 54 days in 1945. No other imperial family member has led a cabinet.
- Larry O'BrienThe NBA championship trophy is named for a political operative, Larry O'Brien.
- Viktor TsoiSoviet rock star Viktor Tsoi kept his boiler room job while filling a stadium.