Abraham Lincoln 1809 -1865:

There is some controversy as to which photograph is the last picture of Abraham Lincoln taken before he was assassinated. I ran across three different photos on the Internet that claim last picture. However from information recently discovered the general consensus is the photo pictured above is the one. It was taken by Henry J. Warren during a photo session around the time of his inauguration. Warren took some candid photographs of crowd scenes on March 4 and two days later on March 6 Warren took this picture out on the White House Balcony.

A little over a month after this picture was taken on April 14, 1865 Lincoln attended a play at Ford's Theater. John Wilkes Booth a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland crept up behind the President's box and waited for the funniest line of the play, hoping the laughter would cover the noise of the gunshot. When the laughter came Booth jumped into the box with the President and aimed a single-shot, round-slug .44 caliber Derringer at his head, firing at point-blank range.

Interesting Fact:

As mentioned above many Internet sites claim a different last picture taken of Lincoln claiming a date of April 10, 1865. (Just 4 days before the assassination) New evidence indicates what they thought was the last photo was used to paint a portrait. That particular portrait was painted February 5, 1865. This being the case, the Warren photo suddenly became the last picture taken of Lincoln alive.

Albert Einstein 1879 -1955

The photograph above is the last known picture of Einstein, taken in March, 1955. There are not a lot of details concerning this photo but he is probably at his home near Princeton, New Jersey. A month later on April 17, 1955, Einstein experienced internal bleeding caused by the rupture of an aortic aneurysm, which had previously been diagnosed and reinforced. He went to the hospital and took a draft of a speech he was preparing for a television appearance commemorating the State of Israel.(tm)s seventh anniversary with him. Unfortunately he did not live long enough to complete it. The following day Einstein died at the age of 76.

Interesting Fact:

Einstein's brain was removed within seconds of his death (without the permission of his family) in hope that future neuroscience would be able to discover what made Einstein so intelligent. Recent scientific studies have suggested that regions involved in speech and language are smaller, while regions involved with numerical and spatial processing are larger.

Bill Biggart 1947-2001:

Photojournalist Bill Biggart was covering the events of September 11th and was tragically killed as the second tower of the World Trade Center came down. Four days later Biggart's body was recovered from the rubble and his personal effects, including his cameras were given to his wife. Biggart's widow later handed over the camera bag to a good friend and fellow photographer. She was convinced that no pictures had survived because the falling debris had blown off the backs of the two film cameras and the lids of the film canisters had been peeled back. His friend turned his attention to the digital camera that was covered by ash. The lens had been sheared off but when he opened the chamber that held the flash card he discovered it was in pristine condition. The card contained 150 pictures including the last picture taken shown above which is time stamped 10:28 am and 24 seconds. The time was 10:30am when the second tower came down.

Interesting Fact: When Biggart's wife reached him on his cell phone shortly after the first tower fell. He told her not to worry, and would meet her in 20 minutes at his studio. I'm safe, he assured her,I'm with the firemen.. It was the last time they ever spoke. About 20 minutes later, the second tower collapsed.

Anne Frank 1929 -1945:

This is believed to be the last known photo of Anne Frank with her sister Margot taken in early to mid 1942. Later that year In July her sister Margot would be among the first to receive notice that she was to be sent to Nazi Germany ordering her to report for relocation to a work camp. Anne was then told by her father that the family would go into hiding. The Frank family was discovered and arrested on the morning of August 4, 1944. Having been arrested in hiding, they were considered criminals and were sent to the Punishment Barracks for hard labour. In March 1945, a typhus epidemic spread through the camp and killed approximately 17,000 prisoners. Witnesses later testified that Margot fell from her bunk in her weakened state and was killed by the shock, and that a few days later Anne Frank died.

Interesting Fact:

In April 1945 just weeks after Anne Frank's death, the camp was liberated by British troops.