- Jan 4 Charles D J Eisen, French engraver/painter, dies at 57
Carolus Linnaeus
Jan 10 Carolus Linnaeus [Carl von Linné], Swedish botanist, explorer and the Father of Taxonomy, dies at 70
- Feb 18 Joseph Marie Terray, French statesman (b. 1715)
- Feb 20 Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and scholar, dies at 66
- Mar 7 Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist, dies at 58
- Mar 13 Charles le Beau, French historian (b. 1701)
- Apr 8 Pieter Teyler van der Hulst, Dutch founder (Teyler Museum), dies at 76
- Apr 22 James Hargreaves, British inventor (spinning jenny), dies at 57
William Pitt the Elder
May 11 William Pitt the Elder, British Prime Minister (Whig, 1756-61, 66-68) known as the `Great Commoner', dies at 69
- May 16 Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat and politician, dies at 59
Voltaire
May 30 Voltaire [Francois-Marie Arouet], French writer, philosopher and playwright (Candide), dies at 83
- Jun 12 Philip Livingston, American businessman and politician (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 62
- Jun 24 Pieter Burman the Younger, Dutch philologist, dies at 64
- Jul 2 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher, eminent political theorist, and writer whose influential works inspired French Revolution leaders and Romantic academics (Confession), dies of cerebral bleeding from a stroke at 66
- Jul 2 Bathsheba Spooner, American first woman executed after US Independence for arranging husband's murder, hanged while pregnant at 32
- Jul 3 Anna Maria Pertl Mozart, mother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. 1720)
- Aug 4 Pierre de Rigaud, Canadian-born French Governor of New France, dies at 79
- Aug 5 Charles Clémencet, French historian (b. 1703)
- Aug 12 Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general and politician (b. 1714)
- Aug 28 Jacob Wallenberg, Swedish writer/shipminister, dies
- Sep 23 Balthazar Huydecoper, Dutch translator and historian, dies at 83
- Nov 9 Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian etcher, dies at 58
- Nov 20 Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit priest and scientist, dies at 52