Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 - October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist. He also investigated fake spiritualists and was a skeptic.
Life and career.
He was born in Budapest to Jewish parents and was named "Ehrich Weiss", but changed his name to Harry Houdini when he became a professional magician. At first he did not have much success in his career. In 1899 his acts got better when he met his manager Martin Beck. Mr Beck was impressed with Houdini's handcuff stunts and within a year Houdini was famous.
Houdini also appeared in several early movies and made many early airplane flights. He made the first successful airplane flight in Australia, on 18 March 1910, in Victoria.
Death.
Houdini died in Detroit, Michigan, on October 31, 1926. Two weeks before his death, a college student approached Houdini and asked him if he could withstand a punch in the stomach, a challenge which Houdini often took, and the former punched him several times. Houdini became sick afterwards, but continued to perform. Houdini's official cause of death was peritonitis (inflammation in the abdomen). Some speculate that it was caused by a ruptured appendix from that incident.