- January 7 - Eliezer Ben-Yehuda , Russian-born advocate of the Hebrew language (d. 1922 )
- January 10 - Heinrich Zille , German illustrator and photographer (d. 1929 )
- January 11 - Harry Gordon Selfridge , American department store magnate (d. 1947 )
- March 10 - Kokichi Mikimoto , Japanese pearl farm pioneer (d. 1954 )
- March 18 - Rudolf Diesel , German inventor (d. 1913 )
- March 23 - Ludwig Quidde , German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1941 )
- April 23 - Max Planck , German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947 )
- June 16 - King Gustaf V Of Sweden (d. 1950 )
- June 16 - William Dickson Boyce , founder of the Boy Scouts of America (d. 1929 )
- July 9 - Franz Boas , German anthropologist (d. 1942 )
- August 1 - Hans Rott , Austrian composer (d. 1884 )
- August 11 - Christiaan Eijkman , Dutch physician and pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine (d. 1930 )
- August 27 - Giuseppe Peano , Italian mathematician (d. 1932 )
- September 18 - Kate Booth , the oldest daughter of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1955 )
- October 3 - Eleonora Duse , Italian actress (d. 1924 )
- October 27 - Theodore Roosevelt , 26th President Of The United States , recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1919 )
- November 20 - Selma Lagerlöf , Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940 )
- November 30 - Jagdish Chandra Bose , Indian physicist (d. 1937 )
- December 22 - Giacomo Puccini , Italian composer (d. 1924 )
- December 25 - Herman P. Faris , American Temperance Movement leader (d. 1936 )
|
