1953 deaths

Jan Czochralski ( YAN chokh-RAHL-skee, Polish pronunciation: [ˈjan t͡ʂɔˈxralskʲi]; 23 October 1885 – 22 April 1953) was a Polish chemist who invented the Czochralski method, which is used for growing single crystals and in the production of semiconductor wafers. It is still used in over 90 percent of all electronics in the world that use semiconductors. He is the most cited Polish scholar.There is evidence that Czochralski sheltered two Jewish women in his home until the Warsaw Uprising to save them from the Germans and some evidence that he was instrumental in financially helping a previously owned Jewish business in the ghetto.

Léon Alfred Fourneau (9 December 1867, in Paris – 17 May 1953, in Paris) was a French humourist, music-hall artist, playwright and songwriter. Originally trained as a lawyer he invented the stage- and pen name Xanrof by inversion of the Latin fornax of his French surname fourneau ("furnace"), before finally legally changing his name to Léon Xanrof. Yvette Guilbert experienced early success singing Xanrof's songs at Rodolphe Salis' cabaret Le Chat Noir.
Born in an bourgeois upper middle class environment, with his father a wealthy physician,young Leon Fourneau was inclined to a literary and poetry career, but his family insisted on him graduating (Baccalauréat) and taking up further éducation (he obediently undertook successful law studies and registered at the paris bar, aged 23), but he still felt inclined to song and opérette writing.
The Xanrof alias was a measure of appeasement towards his family and the bar auhorities as léon Fourneau kept writing and publishing songs for cabaret singers.
A bizarre incident then occurred: As he was crossing the bustling rue Lepic (Lower Montmartre)he was almost run down by a closed winter Fiacre (French Hansom cab with a closed body). The reason for the cab driver being neglectful was both salacious and funny: As Leon Fourneau was dusting himself he saw one of the cab's blinds briefly lifted and got a glimpse of a half-naked couple gazing at him . The cab-ride was what was termed a "course d'alcôve" (lovebed-ride),a not unfrequent instance in "Belle époque"Paris where illegitimate couples enjoyed "comprehensive flirtation" in the intimacy of a cab (At least two short humoristic tales by Alphonse Allais harp on this particular theme).
Leon Fourneau quickly wrote a witty and somewhat racy song called ''Le Fiacre, he was paid 50 gold francs for it and the song was inserted in a comic intermede in an operette called "Les Mohicans de Paris"adapted from a novel By Alexandre Dumas about Paris underworld.
In this song a cuckolded old man walking in a Parisian street hears kisses, moans, and his wife's voice coming from inside a suspiciously rolling and pitching cab. He rushes forward, trips on the slippery wooden paved road ad is squashed to death by the cab. The lady then opens the door and rejoices, telling her lover that they do not need hiding any more. She then urges her lover to pay the princely tip of cent sous (Five gold francs) to the cab driver.
The song then rocketed to French and international success when it was sung by the then-beginner Yvette Guilbert.
Yvette Guilbert's career as a singer was definitely launched and most of her best-remembered songs where written by Léon Fourneau who undertook official action to have his pen name duly registered as his official surname. In time he would resign from the bar, taking up full time operette and song writing work and being elected at the SACEM board (SACEM stands for Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs de Musique and is the mutual organisation in charge of music author's rights).

Princess María de las Mercedes of Bavaria, Infanta of Spain (3 October 1911 – 11 September 1953) was a German-Spanish princess. She was the third wife of Georgian Prince Irakli Bagration of Mukhrani. Through her father, Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria, she was a member of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach. Through her mother, Infanta María Teresa of Spain, she was a granddaughter of Alfonso XII and niece of Alfonso XIII.

Édouard-Jean Réquin (13 July 1879, in Rouen – 1953) was a French military officer.Through 1900 to 1911 he was part of an expedition to North Africa. Then in 1916-1918 a member of the General Staff of Marshals Joseph Joffre and Ferdinand Foch. It is at this time that a portrait of Réquin in military uniform was made by Kees van Dongen in 1916. From 1917-1918, as a Lieutenant Colonel, he was part of the French military delegation to Washington, D. C. In the summer of 1918 he promoted the French Army's policy of racial integration. American military officials were impressed by Réquin's depiction of the situation in the French Army where whites and blacks served side by side and were cared for in the same hospitals and by the same personnel; they had his report La Course de l'Amérique à la Victoire published in English as America's race to victory (1919). In 1919 he was a technical counsellor at Versailles Peace Conference, and later author of Projet de Traité d'Assistance Mutuelle (1924). From 1930 he was French Military Representative at the League of Nations, and 1930-1932 Chief of Cabinet of Ministry of War.
In 1938 he became a member of France's Supreme War Council, then In World War II he was a general, from 2 September 1939 to 6 July 1940 he commanded the 4th French Army against the German invasion of France.
In 1941 he retired, and in 1945 became President of the Société de la Légion d'Honneur. He published three further works: Combats pour l'Honneur, a study on General Louis Archinard in the Sudan, Archinard et le Soudan (both 1946) and his memoirs D'une guerre à l'autre 1919-1939 (1949).

Gustavo Herrera Grau (Caracas, 12 April 1890 – Caracas, 1 February 1953), was a Venezuelan lawyer and diplomat.

Jorge Alberto Negrete Moreno (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxoɾxe neˈɣɾete]; 30 November 1911 – 5 December 1953) was a Mexican singer and actor.

Roger Broders (born Paris, France, 1883, died, Paris, 1953) was a French illustrator and artist. He was best known for his travel posters promoting tourism destinations in France, typically fashionable beaches of the Côte d'Azur and skiing resorts in the French Alps in the early 20th century.Broders' illustrations were distinctive for their simple lines and bold, flat areas of color, combined with noticeable graphical perspective showing the featured mountains and seascapes in the background. Broders' illustrations depicting people show active elongated figures wearing elegant, contemporary clothes. His posters were simply and boldly lettered identifying the destination, and were supplemented with a brief slogan.
The Paris Lyon Mediteranée Company (PLM), a railway, commissioned Broders' poster art, sponsoring his travel so he could visit the subjects of his work. From 1922 to 1932, Broders fully dedicated himself to poster art, though overall he produced fewer than 100 posters. Lithographs of Broders' travel posters are still available commercially. See for instance Christie's London Ski Sale on 21 January 2010. Others are shown in the book about Railway Posters, published in Munich in 2011 and listed below.
During the 1940s he illustrated four of the works of the German author Karl May which were published by Éditions Mame at Tours in France in French language.

Marcel Herrand (8 October 1897 – 11 June 1953) was a French stage and film actor best remembered for his roles in swashbuckling or historical films.
He appeared in over 25 films between 1932 and 1952, but Herrand's best remembered role is as Lacenaire (based on Pierre François Lacenaire) in Marcel Carné's Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis, 1945). Other films in which Herrand appeared include The Last Days of Pompeii (1950) and Fanfan la Tulipe (1952), which also featured Gérard Philipe and Gina Lollobrigida, in which Herrand played the role of Louis XV of France.

Ugo Betti (4 February 1892 in Camerino – 9 June 1953 in Rome) was an Italian judge, better known as an author, who is considered by many the greatest Italian playwright next to Pirandello.

Artur Śliwiński (Polish: [ˈartur ɕliˈviɲskʲi]; 17 August 1877 – 16 January 1953) is the 8th Prime Minister of Poland from 28 June – 7 July 1922. In 1915 he had presided over the National Central Committee, which sought Polish independence from partitioning powers.