List of Famous people who died at 73

Traude Dierdorf was an Austrian politician.

David Dacko was a Central African politician who served as the 1st President of the Central African Republic from 14 August 1960 to 1 January 1966, and 3rd President from 21 September 1979 to 1 September 1981. After his second removal from power in a coup d'état led by General André Kolingba, he pursued an active career as an opposition politician and presidential candidate with many loyal supporters; Dacko was an important political figure in the country for over 50 years.

Ralph John Cicerone was an American atmospheric scientist and administrator. From 1998 to 2005, he was the chancellor of the University of California, Irvine. From 2005 to 2016, he was the president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). He was a "renowned authority" on climate change and atmospheric chemistry, and issued an early warning about the grave potential risks of climate change.

Raјko Đurić was a Serbian Romani writer and academic. He was also politically active as the leader of one of Romani parties in Serbia - Roma Union of Serbia.

H. Jay Melosh was an American geophysicist specialising in impact cratering. He earned a degree in physics from Princeton University and a doctoral degree in physics and geology from Caltech in 1972. His PhD thesis concerned quarks. Melosh's research interests include impact craters, planetary tectonics, and the physics of earthquakes and landslides. His recent research includes studies of the giant impact origin of the moon, the Chicxulub impact that is thought to have extinguished most dinosaurs, and studies of ejection of rocks from their parent bodies. He was active in astrobiological studies that relate chiefly to the exchange of microorganisms between the terrestrial planets.

Thomas Samuel Kuhn was an American philosopher of science whose 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term paradigm shift, which has since become an English-language idiom.

Ling Jiefang, better known by his pen name Eryue He, was a Chinese historical fiction writer. He is best known for writing biographical novels of three Qing dynasty emperors, all of which have been adapted into award-winning television series.

Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin was a Soviet aviator, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1934 for the rescue of SS Chelyuskin crew from an improvised airfield on the frozen surface of the Chukchi Sea near Kolyuchin Island.

Bernard Piras was a French politician, a member of the Senate of France, representing the Drôme department between 1996 and 2014. He was also the mayor of Bourg-lès-Valence from 2001 to 2014.

Muammer Aksoy was a Turkish academic of law, politician, columnist and intellectual. He was assassinated.