- Jan 12 Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, Austrian diplomat and statesman (ruled Netherlands for Holy Roman Emperor), born in Vienna (d. 1827)
- Jan 13 Friedrich Müller, painter and dramatist (d. 1825)
- Jan 16 Vittorio Alfieri, Italian count, dramatist and poet (Maria Stuarda) who is considered the founder of Italian tragedy, born in Asti, Italy (d. 1803)
- Jan 19 Isaiah Thomas, American journalist, editor and historian (Massachusetts Spy), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1831)
- Jan 29 King Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)
Comte de Mirabeau (1749-1791)
Mar 9 Comte de Mirabeau, French revolutionary (influential member of the National Constituent Assembly), born in Le Bignon, France
- Mar 19 Princess Louisa Anne of Wales (d. 1768)
- Mar 23 Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace, French mathematician, astronomer and physicist (stability of the solar system), born in Beaumount-en-Auge, Normandy, France (d. 1827)
- Mar 26 William Blount, American statesman and signer of the United States Constitution, born in Windsor, North Carolina (d. 1800)
- Apr 13 Frederik Sigismund van Bylandt, Dutch count and vice-admiral, born in Wageningen, Netherlands (d. 1828)
- May 15 Levi Lincoln, Sr., American revolutionary, statesman, politician, and acting Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1820)
Edward Jenner (1749-1823)
May 17 English physician, father of (western) immunology, pioneered smallpox vaccinations, born in Berkeley
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
Aug 28 German writer and social philosopher (Faust), born in Frankfurt am Main, Holy Roman Empire
- Aug 31 Alexander Radishchev, Russian writer (Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow), born in Moscow (d. 1802)
- Sep 8 Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe, French aristocrat, born in Palazzo Carignano, Turin, Savoy (d. 1792)
- Sep 8 Yolande de Polastron, Duchess de Polignac, French aristocrat, favorite of Marie Antoinette at Versailles, born in Paris (d. 1793)
Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre (1749-1822)
Sep 19 French mathematician and astronomer (The History of Astronomy), born in Amiens, France
- Nov 3 Daniel Rutherford, Scottish chemist and physician (isolation of nitrogen in 1772), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1819)
- Nov 23 Edward Rutledge, American founding father, Governor of South Carolina (1798-1800) and signer of the Declaration of Independence, born in Charleston, British America (d. 1800)