- Jan 2 Bob Catterall, South African cricketer (1555 runs/24 Tests for South Africa 1922-31), dies at 60
- Jan 4 Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (Academy Award, Going My Way), dies at 72
Erwin Schrödinger
Jan 4 Erwin Schrodinger, Austrian physicist and Nobel Laureate (wave mechanics), dies at 73
Erwin Schrödinger
- Jan 6 Regina Ullmann, Swiss poet and writer, dies at 76
- Jan 7 Clarice Baright, 1st woman admitted to American Bar Association, dies at 74
- Jan 8 Lynwood Thomas "Schoolboy" Rowe, American baseball pitcher (Detroit Tigers), dies at 50
- Jan 9 Emily Greene Balch, American writer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- Jan 10 Dashiell Hammett, American detective writer (Thin Man, Maltese Falcon), dies at 66
- Jan 11 Elena Gerhardt, German mezzo-soprano singer (b. 1883)
- Jan 14 Ernest Thesiger, English actor (Brass Monkey, Ghoul), dies at 81
- Jan 14 Henry Geehl, English composer, dies at 79
- Jan 15 Francesco Maria Saraceni, Italian composer, dies at 49
- Jan 16 Janos Viski, Hungarian composer, dies at 54
- Jan 21 John Joseph Becker, composer, dies a day before 75th birthday
- Jan 24 Willem J M van Eysinga, people rights scholar, dies at 82
Alfred Carlton Gilbert
Jan 24 Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete, inventor, and businessman (invented the Erector Set), dies at 76
Alfred Carlton Gilbert