- Jan 5 Gustaf af Geijerstam, Swedish author (Boken om Lillebror), born in Hed socken (d. 1909)
- Jan 7 Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, key figure in the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language (d. 1922)
- Jan 10 Heinrich Zille, German illustrator and photographer, born in Radeburg, Germany (d. 1929)
- Jan 11 Harry Gordon Selfridge, American retailer (d. 1947)
- Jan 13 Oskar Minkowski, Biologist (d. 1931)
- Jan 15 Giovanni Segantini, Italian painter, born in Arco, Italy (d. 1899)
- Jan 17 Tomas Carrasquilla, Colombian author (Frutos de mi Tierra), born in Santo Domingo, Colombia (d. 1940)
Daniel Williams (1858-1931)
Jan 18 American heart surgeon who performed the 1st open heart Immunologist, born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania
- Jan 19 Eugene Brieux, French playwright (Blanchette, Lesson Avaries), born in Paris, France (d. 1932)
- Jan 22 Beatrice Potter Webb, English sociologist, economist (founded London School of Economics) and writer (My Apprenticeship), born in Standish (d. 1943)
- Jan 22 Frederick Lugard, British Colonial administrator, mercenary and explorer (Congo, Governor of Nigeria and Hong Kong), born in Madras, British India (d. 1945)
- Jan 25 Kōkichi Mikimoto, Japanese inventor and entrepreneur (cultured pearls), born in Toba, Japan (d. 1954)
- Feb 14 Joseph Thomson, Scottish geologist and early African explorer (Thomson's Gazelle), born in Penpont, Dumfries, Scotland (d. 1895)
- Feb 15 William Pickering, astronomer (9th & 10th moons of Saturn), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1938)
- Feb 16 Laurence "Lon" Myers, American track star (top US miler)
- Feb 18 Louise, princess of Belgium, married and divorced Philipp, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1924)
- Feb 26 Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist (d. 1917)
- Feb 28 Jacob P Vis, Dutch industrialist (founder NV Royal Salt Industries)
- Mar 1 Georg Simmel, German philosopher/sociologist
- Mar 13 Maximilien Luce, French painter, born in Paris (d. 1941)
- Mar 15 Liberty Hyde Bailey, US botanist (Plantbreeding)
Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913)
Mar 18 French-born German engineer who invented the diesel engine, born in Paris
- Mar 23 Ludwig Quidde, German historian/politician (Nobel prize 1927)
- Apr 1 Arnold Aletrino, Dutch physician-criminologist/author (From Life)
- Apr 1 Gaetano Mosca, Italian sociologist (Circulation of Elite)
- Apr 3 Matthew Ricketts, 1st African American man elected to Nebraska State Legislature, born in Henry County, Kentucky (d. 1917)
- Apr 4 Remy de Gourmont, French poet, born in Bazoches-en-Houlmes, France (d. 1915)
- Apr 7 Adrien H Gerhard, Dutch socialist politician (SDAP)
- Apr 15 Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (Division du travail social), born in Épinal, France (d. 1917)
- Apr 23 Max Planck, German physicist, father of Quantum Physics (Planck Constant, Nobel 1918), born in Kiel, Duchy of Holstein (d. 1947)
- Apr 30 Mary Dimmick Harrison, 1st lady (1889-1893) as second wife of the 23rd United States president Benjamin Harrison, born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania (d. 1948)
- May 8 John Meade Falkner, English novelist (Moonfleet), born in Manningford, England (d. 1932)
- May 11 Carl Hauptmann, German writer, born in Obersalzbrunn (d. 1921)
- May 19 Roland Napoléon Bonaparte, French prince and president of the Société de Géographie, born in Paris, France (d. 1924)
- May 21 José Batlle y Ordóñez, President of Uruguay (1899, 1903-7, 1911-15), born in Montevideo, Urguay (d. 1929)
- May 24 Johan Braakensiek, Dutch political cartoonist (Green Amsterdammer), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1940)
- May 28 Carl Richard Nyberg, Swedish inventor (blowtorch), born in Arboga, Sweden (d. 1939)
- Jun 1 William Wilfred Campbell, Canadian poet (Beyond the Hills of Dream, Ian of the Orcades), born in Newmarket, Ontario (d. 1918)
- Jun 16 Gustav V, king of Sweden (1907-50), born in Stockholm (d. 1950)
- Jun 17 Eben Sumner Draper, American businessman and politician (44th Governor of Massachusetts), born in Hopedale, Massachusetts (d. 1914)
- Jun 18 Hans Schardt, Swiss geologist
- Jun 19 Dirk Fock, Dutch politician and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1921-26), born in Wijk bij Duurstede, Netherlands (d. 1941)
- Jun 20 Charles W. Chesnutt, American writer (The Conjure Woman), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1932)
- Jun 20 Medardo Rosso, Italian sculptor (portraits), born in Turin, Italy (d. 1928)
- Jun 23 William Ernst Johnson, British mathematician, born in Cambridge, England
- Jun 25 Georges Courteline [Moineau], French playwright, born in Tours, France (d. 1929)
- Jun 29 George Washington Goethals, American army general and civil engineer who supervised the construction of the Panama Canal, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1928)
Franz Boas (1858-1942)
Jul 9 German-American anthropologist and linguist (Mind of Primitive Man), born in Minden, Westphalia, Prussia
- Jul 13 Stewart Culin, American ethnographer (d. 1929)
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928)
Jul 15 British suffragette who formed the Women's Social & Political Union (1903), born in Moss Side, Manchester
- Jul 20 Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (d. 1925)
- Jul 21 Alfred Henry O'Keeffe, New Zealand artist, born in Sandhurst, Victoria (d. 1941)
- Jul 21 Lovis Corinth, German painter (d. 1925)
- Jul 21 Maria Christina of Austria, queen of Spain, born in Židlochovice Castle, Moravia (d. 1929)
- Jul 24 Wolfgang Kapp, German politician (Kapp Putsch 1920), born in NYC, New York (d. 1922)
- Jul 31 Richard Dixon Oldham, British geologist, born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1936)
- Aug 1 Paul Barth, German philosopher and sociologist, born in Oleśnica, Poland (d. 1922)
- Aug 2 Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Queen consort of William and Regent of the Netherlands, born in Arolsen Castle, Arolsen, Waldeck and Pyrmont, German Confederation (d. 1934)
- Aug 2 William Watson, British poet (Prince's Quest, Father of Forest), born in Burley-in-Wharfedale, Yorkshire (d. 1935)
Christiaan Eijkman (1858-1930)
Aug 11 Dutch physician and bacteriologist (Nobel Prize in Medicine 1929), born in Nijkerk, Netherlands
Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (1858-1889)
Aug 21 Crown Prince of Austria and heir apparent to the Imperial throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, born in Schloss Laxenburg, Lower Austria, Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Aug 27 Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and glottologist, born in Spinetta, Piedmont, Italy (d. 1932)
- Sep 9 Benjamin Kidel, English Sudan (Control of the Tropics)
- Sep 12 Fernand Khnopff, Belgian painter and sculptor, born in Grembergen, Dendermonde, Belgium (d. 1921)
- Sep 15 Charles Eugène, vicomte de Foucauld, French explorer and a hermit, born in Strasbourg, French Empire (d. 1916)
Bonar Law (1858-1923)
Sep 16 British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1922-23), born in Kingston, Colony of New Brunswick (now Canada)
- Sep 24 Eugene Foss, American politician (45th Governor of Massachusetts), born in St. Albans, Vermont (d. 1939)
- Sep 27 Þorsteinn Erlingsson, Icelandic poet (Pyrnar), born in Iceland (d. 1914)
- Oct 5 Henry von Battenberg, German son-in-law of Queen Victoria, born in Milan, Lombardy–Venetia (d. 1896)'
- Oct 9 Gerard Philips, Dutch industrialist and manufacturer (Philips), born in Zaltbommel, Netherlands (d. 1942)
- Oct 9 Mihajlo "Micheal" Pupin, Serbian-American physicist and telephone pioneer, born in Idvor, Military Frontier of Austria (now Kovačica, Serbia) (d. 1935)
- Oct 19 George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (d. 1937)
- Oct 20 John Burns, English politician and trade Unionist, born in London, England (d. 1943)
- Oct 21 Ramabai Dongre' Medhavi, India, social reformer
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
Oct 27 26th US President (R: 1901-09; Nobel 1906), born in NYC, New York
Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940)
Nov 20 Swedish author and Nobel laureate (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils), born in Mårbacka, Värmland
- Nov 25 Alfred Capus, French journalist and playwright, born in Aix-en-Provence, France (d. 1922)
- Nov 26 Katharine Drexel, American philanthropist and Roman Catholic Saint, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1955)
- Nov 30 Jagadish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist, polymath and writer, born in Munshiganj, British India (d. 1937)
Chester Greenwood (1858-1937)
Dec 4 American inventor (invented earmuffs at 15), born in Farmington, Maine
- Dec 11 Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director, born in Ozurgeti, Georgia (d. 1943)
- Dec 20 Jan Toorop, Dutch-Indonesian painter (3 Brides), born in Purworejo Regency, Indonesia (d. 1928)
- Dec 23 Vladimir Nemirovitch-Dantshenko, Russian playwright (Life in Russian Theater), born in Shemokmedi, Georgia (d. 1943)