2011 deaths

Ellen Rae Greenberg was an American woman who died after sustaining 20 stab wounds. Her death was officially ruled a suicide despite the 20 stab wounds and 11 bruises, sparking extensive debate as to whether the cause of death was actually homicide. The mysterious circumstances surrounding the manner of death have prompted significant political activity, legal action, and global media coverage.

Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman, inventor, and investor. A pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, Jobs co-founded Apple Inc. with his early business partner Steve Wozniak as Apple Computer Company in 1976. After the company's board of directors fired him in 1985, he founded NeXT the same year and purchased Pixar in 1986, becoming its chairman and majority shareholder until 2007. Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 as CEO, where he was closely involved with the creation and promotion of many of the company's most influential products until his resignation in 2011.

Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician, and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until his overthrow by Libyan rebel forces in 2011 during the First Libyan Civil War. He came to power through a bloodless military coup, first becoming Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977, Secretary General of the General People's Congress from 1977 to 1979, and then the Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1979 to 2011. Initially ideologically committed to Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Gaddafi later ruled according to his own Third International Theory.

Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda from 1988 until his death in 2011. A pan-Islamist, bin Laden organized and funded numerous jihadist or anti-Western militants and terrorist attacks worldwide. Al-Qaeda's attacks against the United States on 11 September 2001 (9/11) directly killed 2,977 victims, causing the global war on terror.

Czech statesman, playwright, and former dissident, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic (1936–2011)

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was a British and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She then became the world's highest-paid movie star in the 1960s, remaining a well-known public figure for the rest of her life. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her seventh on its list of the greatest female screen legends.

Supreme Leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011

Amy Jade Winehouse was a British singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman. She is known for her distinctive contralto vocals, expressive and autobiographical songwriting, and eclectic blend of genres such as soul, rhythm and blues, and jazz. Her music, along with her fashion and highly publicised personal life, made her an influential figure in popular culture.

American computer scientist, co-inventor of the Unix operating system and the C programming language

American medical physicist (1921-2011)

English American author and journalist (1949–2011)

Dutch physicist (1925–2011)

Indian-American molecular biologist (1922-2011)

German nuclear physicist and Noble Prize in Physics

Cape Verdean singer-songwriter (1941–2011)

American boxer (1944–2011)

First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977

American director, producer and screenwriter (1924–2011)

Argentine writer, painter and physicist (1911-2011)

Indian spiritual guru (1926–2011)

Head of the House of Habsburg and German politician

American exercise instructor (1914–2011)

American computer scientist and cognitive scientist (1927-2011)

American physician, geneticist and Nobel prize winner (1925–2011)

German novelist and essayist (1929–2011)

American physicist (1915–2011)

American actor (1927–2011)

Brazilian politician (1930-2011)

Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira (19 February 1954 – 4 December 2011), simply known as Sócrates , was a Brazilian footballer who played as a midfielder. His medical degree and his political awareness, combined with style and quality of his play, earned him the nickname "Doctor Socrates". Easily recognizable for his beard and headband, Sócrates became the "symbol of cool for a whole generation of football supporters". In 1983, he was named South American Footballer of the Year. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. He i

Venezuelan-American immunologist

Northern Irish musician (1952–2011)

23rd Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey (1926–2011)

Joseph Stalin's daughter (1926–2011)

Nobel Prize-winning American inorganic and organic chemist

Afghanistan politician, former President of Afghanistan (1992-2001)

American actress (1921–2011)

British composer and conductor (1933–2011)

American evolutionary biologist (1938–2011)

Abkhazian politician (1949-2011)

French actress (1931-2011)

Canadian immunologist and cell biologist (1943–2011)

American mathematician (1917–2011)

former First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania, 1st President of the Republic of Albania (1925-2011)

Dutch actor, singer and entertainer (1903–2011)

American actor (1923–2011)

French actress (1952-2011)

English actor (1916–2011)

British painter and engraver (1922-2011)

English character actor (1946–2011)

Hungarian politician (1931-2011)

former President of Zambia (1991–2002)

English children's fantasy writer (1934–2011)

Soviet and Russian theater and film actress, singer, composer, director (1935—2011)

Polish cabaret star, singer, actress, composer, songwriter (1938-2011)

U.S. Secretary of State (1925-2011)

Indian actor, producer, director

Italian motorcycle racer (1987–2011)

American pathologist, euthanasia activist (1928-2011)

Soviet and Russian footballer and football coach (1934-2011)

Indian artist (1915–2011)