Remembering the Lives We Lost in 2020 Quiz

Answer:

THE TEN WHO DIED IN 2020

Katherine Johnson died on 24 February 2020, aged 101. Her calculations helped NASA plan the paths of crewed spacecraft. Before his 1962 orbital flight, John Glenn asked her to check the electronic computer's figures personally. Taraji P. Henson played her in the film "Hidden Figures", bringing her work to a wider audience.

Freeman Dyson died on 28 February 2020, aged 96. He worked in both mathematics and physics and spent more than sixty years at the Institute for Advanced Study. One of his major achievements was showing how different approaches to quantum electrodynamics fitted together. That is the branch of physics concerned with how light and matter interact.

John Horton Conway died on 11 April 2020, aged 82. He created the Game of Life, in which cells on a grid change according to simple rules about their neighbours. Those rules can produce surprisingly complicated patterns. Games were also part of his teaching: at Princeton, he used things such as cards, dice and bits of string to get people interested in mathematics.

Chuck Yeager died on 7 December 2020, aged 97. In 1947, he flew the rocket-powered Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound. That flight made him a central figure in the history of supersonic aviation. He had been a fighter pilot during the Second World War before taking on the work of testing experimental aircraft.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on 18 September 2020, aged 87. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, she became the second woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Before joining the Court, she had taught law at Rutgers and Columbia. She also helped establish the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project.

John Lewis died on 17 July 2020. He was among the civil rights marchers attacked by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. The day became known as Bloody Sunday and helped build support for the Voting Rights Act. Lewis later represented Georgia in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1987 until his death.

Diego Maradona died on 25 November 2020. He captained Argentina to victory at the 1986 football World Cup and received the tournament's Golden Ball award. His club career included a celebrated spell at Napoli in Italy. During his time there, the team won Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990, as well as the UEFA Cup in 1989.

Chadwick Boseman died on 28 August 2020. Many filmgoers knew him as T'Challa, the hero of "Black Panther". He also played real people, including baseball player Jackie Robinson in "42" and singer James Brown in "Get On Up". His training was not limited to acting: he graduated from Howard University with a degree in directing.

Ennio Morricone died on 6 July 2020, aged 91. The Italian composer wrote music for Sergio Leone's westerns, including "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". His film work also included the very different "Once Upon a Time in America". Whistles, voices and unusual combinations of sounds helped give his scores their distinctive character.

Quino died on 30 September 2020, aged 88. The Argentine cartoonist was the creator of Mafalda, a young girl with plenty of questions about the world around her. Her apparently innocent remarks allowed him to tackle politics and social problems with humour. His cartoons reached readers well beyond Argentina through translations into many languages.

THE FIVE WHO DIED IN OTHER YEARS

Stephen Hawking died on 14 March 2018. The British scientist studied the universe and spent much of his career at Cambridge. His work and writing helped bring questions about cosmology to a wide audience.

Toni Morrison died on 5 August 2019. Her novels include "The Bluest Eye", "Song of Solomon" and "Beloved". She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, and "Beloved" had already earned her a Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

Desmond Tutu died on 26 December 2021. The South African Anglican church leader campaigned against apartheid, the system of enforced racial segregation. He received the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his work against it.

Sidney Poitier died on 6 January 2022. He won the Best Actor Oscar in 1964 for "Lilies of the Field", playing a handyman who helps a group of nuns build a chapel. His other films include "In the Heat of the Night" and "To Sir, with Love".

Pelé died on 29 December 2022. The Brazilian footballer was part of the World Cup-winning teams of 1958, 1962 and 1970. He was only seventeen when he won the first of those titles in Sweden.