1906 births

William Maurice "Doc" Ewing (May 12, 1906 – May 4, 1974) was an American geophysicist and oceanographer.Ewing has been described as a pioneering geophysicist who worked on the research of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean basins, ocean bottom photography, submarine sound transmission (including the SOFAR channel), deep sea core samples of the ocean bottom, theory and observation of earthquake surface waves, fluidity of the Earth's core, generation and propagation of microseisms, submarine explosion seismology, marine gravity surveys, bathymetry and sedimentation, natural radioactivity of ocean waters and sediments, study of abyssal plains and submarine canyons.

Alma Vessells John (September 27, 1906 – April 8, 1986) was an American nurse, newsletter writer, radio and television personality, and civil rights activist. Born in Philadelphia in 1906, she moved to New York to take nursing classes after graduating from high school. She completed her nursing training at Harlem Hospital School of Nursing in 1929 and worked for two years as a nurse before being promoted to the director of the educational and recreational programs at Harlem Hospital. After being fired for trying to unionize nurses in 1938, she became the director of the Upper Manhattan YWCA School for Practical Nurses, the first African American to serve as director of a school of nursing in the state of New York. (Adah Belle Thoms had served as acting director of Lincoln School for Nurses between 1906 and 1923). In 1944, John became a lecturer and consultant with the National Nursing Council for War Service, serving until the war ended, and was the last director of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses from 1946 until it dissolved in 1951. Her position at both organizations was to expand nursing opportunities for black women and integrate black nurses throughout the nation into the health care system.
In 1949, John wrote a script titled Brown Women in White for production on WNBC, which led to a second career in radio and television. In 1952, she presented The Homemaker's Club on station WWRL in New York. The following year, she became the first black radio personality to be invited as a member of the New York chapter of the Association of Women in Radio and Television. She campaigned successfully for the organization meetings to be held in unsegregated facilities. In 1957, she received the McCall's Golden Mike Award for her show What's Right with Teenagers and in 1959 she became the director of women's programming at WWRL. Over her 25-year career at the radio station, she wrote and produced numerous programs giving household tips, health care advice, and providing community service information. In 1970, John began appearing on television shows at WPIX-TV. She interviewed prominent black figures on her shows Black Pride and Positively Black. John worked up to her death in 1986 and is remembered mainly for her pioneering role in radio.

Howard Samuel Bargreen (July 6, 1906 – December 18, 1987) was an American politician in the state of Washington. He served in the Washington House of Representatives and Washington State Senate.

Heinz Rein (pseudonym: Reinhard Andermann) was an influential German novelist writing before and after the Second World War. He became a major figure in the "rubble literature" period, and his famous novel Berlin Finale, published in 1947, was one of the first bestsellers of the German rebuilding period.

Kurt Heinrich Hohenemser (January 3, 1906 – April 7, 2001) was a German-born American aerospace engineer and pioneer in the field of helicopter design.

Kurt "Kutte" Widman (2 March 1906 – 27 November 1954) was a German bandleader and jazz musician.
Widmann started out on drums, then later learned to play accordion and trombone. He was playing locally by 1924, and led a quintet at the Hotel Imperator in Berlin in 1933 which played swing jazz; Hans Berry was one of his sidemen. He directed his own dance orchestra from 1938 to 1942, which frequently appeared at the Haus Vaterland. He recorded in 1938–1939, including under various pseudonyms such as Billy Blackmoore, John Weepster, and John Webb. Once war began with England, censorship forbade these names, but the band was allowed to continue performing, including at events for German troops. Widmann was drafted to the Wehrmacht during the war but was released in 1944 due to health reasons. He continued playing events in Germany even as Allied troops began invading, playing cinema houses in between films.
After the war, Widmann formed a new band which played during the American occupation, sometimes using older arrangements from the war period, but also employing Berlin-based arranger Walter Jenson. He recorded again in the late 1940s, and died of a stroke in 1954. The 1955 film Music in the Blood, directed by Erik Ode, is based on his life with Viktor de Kowa in the lead role.

Irena Morzycka-Iłłakowicz (also as Iłłakowiczowa, 26 July 1906 – 4 October 1943) was a Polish second Lieutenant of the National Armed Forces and intelligence agent. The daughter of Bolesław Morzycki and Władysława Zakrzewska and the sister of Jerzy, she was also a polyglot who spoke seven languages: Polish, French, English, Persian, Finnish, German and Russian.

Ulrich Heyse (20 September 1906 in Berlin-Friedenau – 19 November 1970 in Flensburg) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Kurt Alfred Georg Mendelssohn FRS (7 January 1906, Berlin-Schoeneberg – 18 September 1980) was a German-born British medical physicist, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1951.

Ilse Trautschold (27 February 1906 – 17 May 1991) was a German actress. She appeared in 45 films and television shows between 1929 and 1983.