- Jan 17 Nevil Shute [Norway], novelist (On the Beach, Town Like Alice), born in London, England
- Jan 17 Robert Maynard Hutchins, American educator/civil libertarian
- Jan 17 Roel [Martinus F] Houwink, Dutch literary (1 Man Without Character)
- Jan 20 Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese engineer, born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka (d. 1990)
- Jan 22 Guido Kisch, Czech/German/American historian (Jews in medieval Germany)
- Jan 23 Joseph Nathan Kane, American non-fiction writer & journalist (Famous Firsts), born in NYC, New York (d. 2002)
- Jan 26 Wyllis Cooper, American TV narrator (Volume One), born in Pekin, Illinois (d. 1955)
- Jan 28 Elias Simojoki, Finnish clergyman and politician (d. 1940)
- Jan 30 Max Theiler, South African-American virologist who developed vaccine for Yellow Fever (Nobel Prize 1951), born in Pretoria (d. 1972)