1968 deaths

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister who was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination, which most commonly affected African Americans.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight, became the first person to journey into outer space. Travelling on Vostok 1, Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961, with his flight taking 108 minutes. By achieving this major milestone for the Soviet Union amidst the Space Race, he became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including his country's highest distinction: Hero of the Soviet Union.

American deafblind author, political activist, lecturer, scholar (1880-1968)

American writer (1902–1968)

Soviet theoretical physicist (1908–1968)

Robert Francis Kennedy, also known by his initials RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy served as the 64th United States attorney general from 1961 to 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New York from 1965 until his assassination in 1968. Like his brothers John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, he is considered an icon of modern American liberalism in the 21st century.

German chemist and physicist (1879-1968)

Italian writer (1901-1968)

Austrian-Swedish physicist

French painter, sculptor, and chess player (1887–1968)

English author (1897–1968)

1st Secretary-General of the United Nations (1896–1968)

Swiss Protestant theologian (1886-1968)

American writer (1878–1968)

Soviet and Polish military commander (1896-1968)

Russian-American theoretical physicist and cosmologist (1904–1968)

Australian pathologist (1898-1968)

English pharmacologist, Nobel laureate (1875–1968)

Danish film director (1889–1968)

Bohemian-Israeli author, composer, and journalist (1884–1968)

Italian saint, priest, stigmatist and mystic

British racecar driver (1936–1968)

Belgian physiologist (1892-1968)

Russian writer (1892–1968)

actress

American actress (1893–1968)

Soviet marshal (1897–1968)

Dutch painter (1877-1968)

priest and author (1915–1968)

Uruguayan footballer (1901-1968)

German art historian (1892–1968)

German writer (1887-1968)

Italian football player and manager (1886-1968)

Soviet marshal (1897–1968)

Italian journalist, cartoonist and humorist (1908-1968)

American novelist, short story writer and playwright (1885–1968)

Ukrainian composer, conductor, teacher (1894–1968)

French film director (1873–1968)

German field marshal (1881–1968)

Prime minister of Greece (1888–1968)

Uruguayan footballer (1902-1968)

Duchess of Kent from 1934 to 1968

French writer (1884–1968)

Thai singer

Russian-born French philosopher and statesman

American actor (1905-1968)

Polish physicist (1898–1968)

American swimmer, surfer and actor (1890-1968)

American jazz guitarist (1923–1968)

American actress (1898–1968)

English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art (1893-1968)

Mexican actor (1899–1968)

Princess Consort (1919-1926), later Queen Consort of King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan (1926-1929)

American actress (1894-1968)

Italian general (1883-1968)

Spanish philologist (1869-1968)

British archaeologist and first female Professor at the University of Cambridge (1892-1968)

Soviet film director and screenwriter (1901-1968)

Soviet marshal (1899–1968)

Swedish writer (1907–1968)