List of Famous people who died in 1955

Erich Rudolf Alexander Regener was a German physicist known primarily for the design and construction of instruments to measure cosmic ray intensity at various altitudes. He is also known for predicting a 2.8 K cosmic background radiation, for the invention of the scintillation counter which contributed to the discovery of the structure of the atom, for his calculation of the charge of an electron and for his early work on atmospheric ozone. He is also credited with the first use of rockets for scientific research.

George Herbert Putnam was an American librarian. He was the eighth Librarian of Congress from 1899 to 1939. He implemented his vision of a universal collection with strengths in many languages, especially from Europe and Latin America.

Sigrid Marie Elisabeth Neiiendam née Andersen (1873–1955) was a Danish actress who played some 200 parts at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen. She is remembered in particular for her interpretations of Ludvig Holberg's plays.

Adelbert Ames Jr. was an American scientist who made contributions to physics, physiology, ophthalmology, psychology, and philosophy. He pioneered the study of physiological optics at Dartmouth College, serving as a research professor, then as director of research at the Dartmouth Eye Institute. He conducted important research into aspects of binocular vision, including cyclophoria and aniseikonia. Ames is perhaps best known for constructing illusions of visual perception, most notably the Ames room and the Ames window. He was a leading light in the Transactionalist School of psychology and also made contributions to social psychology.

Johannes de Jong was a Dutch Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Utrecht from 1936 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII.

Szőke Szakáll, known in the English-speaking world as S. Z. Sakall, was a Hungarian-American stage and film character actor. He appeared in many films, including Casablanca (1942), in which he played Carl, the head waiter, Christmas in Connecticut (1945), In the Good Old Summertime (1949), and Lullaby of Broadway (1951). Sakall played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood musicals and comedies in the 1940s and 1950s. His rotund cuteness caused studio head Jack Warner to bestow on Sakall the nickname "Cuddles".

Wilhelm Höcker was a German politician and former Minister-President of Mecklenburg.

Sidney Fiske Kimball was an American architect, architectural historian and museum director. A pioneer in the field of architectural preservation in the United States, he played a leading part in the restoration of Monticello and Stratford Hall Plantation in Virginia.

Matthew Alexander Henson was an American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic over a period of nearly 23 years. They spent a total of 18 years on expeditions together. He is best known for his participation in the 1908–1909 expedition that claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole on April 6, 1909. Henson said he was the first of their party to reach the pole.