Confucius (c. 551-479 BC)
Chinese philosopher and founder of Confucianism, born in Zou, Lu state, China
- 1330 Nicolas Flamel, French scribe alchemist (believed to have created the Philosopher's Stone), born in Pontoise region, France (d. 1418)
- 1493 Agnolo Firenzuola, Italian poet and litterateur, born in Florence, Italy (d. 1543)
- 1565 Alessandro Tassoni, Italian political writer (Rape of Bucket), born in Modena, Italy (d. 1635)
- 1596 Vredius [Olivier de Wree], Flemish historian and mayor of Brugge, born in Brugge, Belgium (d. 1652)
- 1605 Ismaël Bullialdus, French astronomer (Astronomia Philolaica) and mathematician, born in Loudun, Vienne, France (d. 1694)
- 1612 Michel Anguier, French sculptor, born in Eu, Normandy, France (d. 1686)
- 1667 Asano Naganori, Japanese warlord (daimyō), born in Edo, Japan (d. 1701)
- 1698 Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, French mathematician and astronomer (Système de la nature), born in Saint-Malo, France (d. 1759)
- 1705 Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English corrupt politician (Chiswick), born in Kensington, London (d. 1774)
Augustus FitzRoy (1735-1811)
3rd Duke of Grafton, British Prime Minister (1768-70), born in Derbyshire, England
- 1746 William Jones, British orientalist and jurist (Indo-European languages), born in London (d. 1794)
- 1761 François Budan de Boislaurent, French mathematician, born in Limonade, Cap-Français, Saint-Domingue (d. 1840)
- 1780 Élie, Duke Decazes, French Bourbon Restoration politician (4th Prime Minister of France), born in Sainte-Martin-de-Laye, France (d. 1860)
- 1789 Richard Bright, English physician (Bright's Disease/nephritis), born in Bristol, England (d. 1858)
- 1793 Denis-Auguste Affre, Archbishop of Paris (1840-48) and opponent of King Louis-Philippe, born in Saint-Rome-de-Tarn, Aveyron, France (d. 1848)
- 1796 David Walker, African-American abolitionist (Appeal to Colored Citizens), born in Wilmington, North Carolina (d. 1830)
- 1803 Prosper Mérimée, French author (Carmen), born in Paris (d. 1870)
- 1807 Arnold Henry Guyot, Swiss-American geologist, geographer and meteorologist, born in Boudevilliers, Switzerland (d. 1884)
- 1811 Friedrich Hecker, German revolutionary republican politician, born in Eichtersheim, Germany (d. 1881)
- 1819 Jacob Gijsbert de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch vicar and theologian, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1893)
- 1821 Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American politician (Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction of Florida) and Presbyterian minister, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1874)
- 1823 Alexandre Cabanel, French painter (Birth of Venus), born in Montpellier, France (d. 1889)
- 1824 Alfred Gilpin Jones, 8th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (1900-06), born in Weymouth, NOva Scotia, Canada (d. 1906)
- 1824 Francis Turner Palgrave, English poet (Golden Treasury), born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England (d. 1897)
- 1828 Friedrich Albert Lange, German philosopher and socialist (Neo-Kantianism), born in Wald, Solingen, Germany (d. 1875)
- 1833 James Deering Fessenden, American lawyer, politician, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Westbrook, Maine (d. 1862)
- 1836 Thomas Crapper, English plumber and inventor (ballcock), born in Thorne, Yorkshire (d. 1910)
- 1839 Frances Willard, American educator and founder (Woman's Christian Temperance Union), born in Churchville, New York (d. 1898)
- 1840 Rudolf Baumbach, German writer of student drinking songs, born in Kranichfeld, Germany (d. 1905)
- 1840 Sandie [Alexander Swift] Pendleton, American Lieutenant Colonel (Confederate Army), born in Alexandria, Virginia (d. 1864)
Georges Clémenceau (1841-1929)
Prime Minister of France (Radical-Socialist Party: 1906-09, 1917-20) who defended Dreyfuss, born in Mouilleron-en-Pareds, France
- 1844 Robert Stout, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1884-87), born in Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland (d. 1930)
- 1849 Dudley Allen Sargent, American physician and educator (Harvard U gymnasium), born in Belfast, Maine (d. 1924)
- 1851 Henry Arthur Jones, English playwright (Judah), born in Grandborough, Buckinghamshire, England (d. 1929)
Henri Moissan (1852-1907)
French chemist who isolated the element "fluorine" from its compounds (Nobel 1906), born in Paris
John French (1852-1925)
1st Earl of Ypres and British WWI field marshal, born in Ripple, Kent, England
- 1854 Adam Sedgwick, English zoologist (Peripatus), born in Norwich, England (d. 1913)
- 1855 Thomas Frederick Tout, British historian (Manchester school of historiography), born in London, England (d. 1929)
- 1856 Edward Herbert Thompson, American diplomat and archaeologist (Mayan civilization), born in Worcester, Massachusetts (d. 1935)
- 1856 Kate Douglas Wiggin, American author (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1923)
- 1860 Paul Ulrich Villard, French chemist and physicist who discovered gamma rays, born in Saint-Germain-au-Mont-d'Or, France (d. 1934)
- 1861 Amélie of Orléans, Queen of Portugal, wife of Carlos I, born in Twickenham, London (d. 1951)
- 1863 Carlos I, King of Portugal (1889-1908), born in Ajuda National Palace, Lisbon (d. 1908)
- 1864 Barry Pain, English writer (Punch), born in Cambridge, England (d. 1928)
- 1867 Hiranuma Kiichirō, 24th Prime Minister of Japan, born in Tsuyama, Japan (d. 1952)
Pietro Badoglio (1871-1956)
41st Prime Minister of Italy (1943-44) and Italian General (1922-43), born in Grazzano Monferrato, Italy
- 1872 Tom Terriss, English director (His Buddy's Wife, Sumuru), born in London, England (d. 1964)
- 1873 Julian Coolidge, American mathematician (Study-Segre school), born in Brookline, Massachusetts (d. 1954)
- 1873 Wacław Rawicz [Berent], Polish biologist and writer, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1940)
- 1880 Ralph Flanders, American politician (Senator-Vermont 1946-59), born in Barnet, Vermont (d. 1970)
- 1882 Eugenio d'Ors, Spanish Catalan essayist and philosopher, born in Barcelona, Spain (d. 1954)
- 1888 Herman McNeile, English soldier, novelist (Bull-Dog Drummond), born in Cornwall, England
- 1892 Edmond Thieffry, Belgian WW I pilot/air pioneer
Elmer Rice (1892-1967)
American playwright (Pulitzer-Street Scene) and novelist, born in NYC, New York
- 1893 Marie V Felix, prince of Luxemburg/Bourbon-Parma
- 1895 Charles Petrie, British historian known for his study of royalism and Jacobitism (If: A Jacobite Fantasy), born in Liverpool, England (d. 1977)
- 1897 Muchtar Auezov, Kazakh writer, born in Semipalatinsk Oblast, Russia (d. 1961)
- 1898 Carl Clauberg, Nazi concentration camp doctor (d. 1957)
- 1901 Kurt Otto Friedrichs, German-American mathematician, and educator (Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences), born in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, German Empire (d. 1982)
- 1904 Hendrik J Hofstra, Dutch minister of Finance (PvdA)
Bhagat Singh (1907-1931)
Indian freedom fighter, born in Jaranwala Tehsil, Punjab
- 1909 Al Capp [Alfred Gerald Caplin], cartoonist (Li'l Abner), born in New Haven, Connecticut
- 1909 Stephen Spender, English poet (Oxford Poets), born in London, England (d. 1995)
- 1910 Diosdado Macapagal, President of the Philippines (1961-65)
- 1913 Edith Pargeter, English author (wrote as Ellis Peters), born in Horsehay, Shropshire (d. 1995)
- 1913 Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss artist and illustrator
- 1914 Harold Taylor, Canadian educator (Art & the Future)
- 1914 Lord Abinger [James Richard Scarlett], Datchet, Berkshire, English Conservative peer, campaigned for reform of the ancient law on treasure trove
- 1916 Lord Cockfield, Horsham, United Kingdom, British politician (European Commissioner)
- 1919 Lenn Hjortzberg, Swedish director (Persona, Devil's Eye), born in Karlskrona, Sweden
- 1922 Phyllis Friend, British chief nursing officer (DHSS)
- 1923 Fred Robbins, American DJ (Coke Time with Eddie Fisher, Robbins Nest), born in Baltimore, Maryland
- 1923 John Scott, Duke of Buccleuch, Scottish peer, then largest landowner in Scotland, 1st MP in a wheelchair (d. 2007)
- 1924 Antonio Jacinto, Angolan poet, born in Paulo de Luanda, Portuguese West Africa (d. 1991)
- 1925 Seymour Cray, American inventor (Cray Research, Cray I supercomputer), born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin (d. 1996)
- 1927 Thomas J.J. Altizer, US Radical theologian (God is Dead), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 2018)
- 1929 Nigel Althaus, British government broker
- 1929 Nikolay Ryzhkov, Premier of USSR (1985-1991)
- 1930 Robin Buchanan, CEO (NHS Supplies Auth, Wessex Regional Health Auth)
- 1932 Michael G[reatrex] Coney, Canadian sci-fi author (Cat Karina)
- 1933 Madeleine Kunin, Swiss born American diplomat and politician (1st Jewish Governor of Vermont 1985-91), born in Zürich, Switzerland
- 1933 Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Spanish sculptor, born in Villanueva de Algaidas, Málaga (d. 2006)
- 1936 Sherwood Boehlert, American politician (Rep-R-NY, 1983-2007), born in Utica, New York (d. 2021)
- 1937 Colin Berry, British professor of morbid anatomy
- 1939 Stuart Kauffman, American theoretical biologist (Origins of Order)
- 1940 Alekander Sergeyevich Ivanchenkov, USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 29/31, T-6)
- 1940 Aleksandr Y Kalery, Russian cosmonaut
- 1940 George Greenstein, author (Secret of a Jewish Baker)
- 1941 Edmund Stoiber, German politician
- 1943 Mike Kreidler, American physician and politician (Rep-D-Washington 1993-95), born in Tacoma, Washington
- 1943 Warren Lieberfarb, American media executive
- 1947 Bob Carr, Australian politician
- 1947 Gillian Rose, philosopher/writer
- 1947 Jon Snow, British TV journalist (Channel 4)
- 1947 Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi politician, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (2009-), born in Tungipara, East Pakistan
- 1950 Brian Keenan, Irish author (An Evil Cradling), born in Belfast, Northern Ireland
- 1951 Wei Chen, Canadian journalist (Canada AM), born in Taiwan
- 1955 Stéphane Dion, Canadian politician (Liberal Party leader), born in Quebec City
- 1957 Bill Cassidy, American politician (Senator-R-Louisiana 2015-), born in Highland Park, Illinois
- 1958 Lory Del Santo, Verona Italy, Miss Italy (1980)
- 1961 Quentin Kawananakoa, pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii
- 1969 Ben Greenman, American author and editor (The New Yorker)
- 1972 Dita Von Teese [Heather Sweet], American burlesque artist, born in West Branch, Michigan
- 1976 Fedor Emelianenko, Russian mixed martial artist
- 1996 Celeste & Johnny Edison, Assyria & Pele's twins, boy & girl
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