James Watt (1736-1819)
Jan 19 Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer and chemist (steam engine), born in Greenock, Scotland
- Jan 19 Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel, Dutch Grand Pensionary of Zeeland and Holland (1787-95) (d. 1800)
- Jan 25 Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Italian mathematician & astronomer (number theory, celestial mechanics), born in Turin, Italy (d. 1813)
- Feb 3 Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austria organist and composer (trained Beethoven), born in Klosterneuburg Austria-Hungary (d. 1809)
Ann Lee (1736-1784)
Feb 29 American founder of the Shakers, born in Manchester, England
Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
May 29 American Revolutionary and Founding Father famous for his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, born in Studley, Colony of Virginia, British America
- Jun 5 Corneille-François de Nélis, Flemish scholar and bishop of Antwerp, born in Mechelen, Belgium (d. 1798)
- Jun 7 Karl Frieberth, Austrian composer, born in Wullersdorf, Austria (d. 1816)
- Jun 14 Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist (formulated Coulomb's Law), born in Angoulême, France (d. 1806)
- Jul 6 Daniel Morgan, American soldier and politician (Battle of Cowpens, Whiskey Rebellion), born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey (d. 1802)
- Jul 10 Maria, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh, born in St James's, Westminster, Middlesex (d. 1807)
- Aug 15 Johann Christoph Kellner, German organist and composer, born in Gräfenroda, Thuringia, Germany (d. 1803)
- Aug 26 Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French chemist (d. 1790)
- Sep 8 Bernardo Ottani, Italian composer, born in Bologna, Papal States (now Italy) (d. 1827)
- Sep 10 Carter Braxton, American farmer and signer (Declaration of Independence), born in King and Queen County, Virginia (d. 1797)
- Sep 15 Jean-Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer noted for his computation of an orbit for Halley’s Comet (1759) and author of History of Ancient Astronomy from Its Origin to the Establishment of the School of Alexandria, born in Paris (d. 1793)
- Sep 16 Johann Nikolaus Tetens, German-Danish philosopher and mathematician, born in Tetenbüll, Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark (d. 1807)
- Nov 3 Christiaan Brunings, Dutch hydraulic engineer, born in Mannheim-Neckarau, Germany (d. 1805)
- Nov 11 Johann Heinrich Schepp, German-Dutch stamp engraver, born in Diez, Germany (d. after 1791)
- Nov 18 Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, German composer, born in Zerbst, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany (d. 1800)
- Nov 26 Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, French publisher (Mercure de France), born in Lille, France (d. 1798)
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