January 2 - Newspapers in London, England erroneously report the death of Mark Twain. It is believed that the rumors began when Twain's cousin had become ill. Twain makes his famous statement "the report of my death was an exaggeration."
... Parry[?], (born 1790), Arctic explorer
Robert Edwin Peary, (1856-1920), first man to reach the North Pole
Auguste Piccard, (1884-1962), physicist and ...