List of Famous people who died in 2008

Thomas Michael Disch was an American science fiction author and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book – previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book" – in 1999, and he had two other Hugo nominations and nine Nebula Award nominations to his credit, plus one win of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, a Rhysling Award, and two Seiun Awards, among others.

George Emil Palade ForMemRS HonFRMS was a Romanian-American cell biologist. Described as "the most influential cell biologist ever", in 1974 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine along with Albert Claude and Christian de Duve. The prize was granted for his innovations in electron microscopy and cell fractionation which together laid the foundations of modern molecular cell biology, the most notable discovery being the ribosomes of the endoplasmic reticulum – which he first described in 1955.

Henri Paul Cartan was a French mathematician who made substantial contributions to algebraic topology. He was the son of the French mathematician Élie Cartan and the brother of composer Jean Cartan.

Carol Doris Chomsky was an American linguist and education specialist who studied language acquisition in children.

Peter Wynford Innes Rees, Baron Rees, was a British Conservative politician and barrister. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dover and Deal from 1974 to 1983 and MP for Dover from 1970 to 1974 and 1983 to 1987. He was Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1983 until 1985. He was created a life peer as Baron Rees, of Goytre, in 1987.

Eva Renate Reich developed a type of infant massage.

Eugenia Perpetua Butler (1947–2008) was an American conceptual artist. In 1993 she hosted a series of televised conversations called "The Kitchen Table" at the Art/LA93 art fair. She is best known for the "Book of Lies" project, started in 1991 and celebrated with a traveling exhibition that was installed at the 18th Street Arts Center Gallery in Santa Monica in 2007.