1897 births

Adelbert Mühlschlegel (June 16, 1897 – July 29, 1980) was a prominent German Baháʼí from a Protestant family. He became a Baháʼí in 1920, translated Baháʼí literature and served as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany.
He was appointed a Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi in February 1952, individuals who have been considered to have achieved a distinguished rank in service to the religion. He was the first of three believers who decisively influenced the German Baháʼís. after which he travelled to visit the Baháʼís in many countries. He died in Athens, Greece.

Ulrich Ewald Berthold Bettac (2 May 1897 – 20 April 1959), was an Austrian actor and theatre director. He was especially well known for his work as a character actor at the Burgtheater in Vienna; he also had a fairly extensive film career.

Alejandro Hannig (21 October 1897 – 17 February 1987) was a Chilean sprinter. He competed in the men's 200 metres at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Marta Brunet (August 9, 1897 in Chillán, Chile – October 27, 1967 in Montevideo), was a Chilean writer. She was a recipient of the National Prize for Literature.

Paul Ben-Haim (or Paul Ben-Chaim, Hebrew: פאול בן חיים) (5 July 1897 – 14 January 1984) was an Israeli composer. Born Paul Frankenburger in Munich, Germany, he studied composition with Friedrich Klose and he was assistant conductor to Bruno Walter and Hans Knappertsbusch from 1920 to 1924. He served as conductor at Augsburg from 1924 to 1931, and afterwards devoted himself to teaching and composition, including teaching at the Shulamit Conservatory in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Ben-Haim emigrated to the then British Mandate of Palestine in 1933 and lived in Tel Aviv, near Zina Dizengoff Square. He Hebraized his name, becoming an Israeli citizen upon that nation's independence in 1948. He composed chamber music, works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments, and songs. He championed a specifically Jewish national music: his own compositions are in a late Romantic vein with Middle Eastern overtones, somewhat similar to Ernest Bloch.His students include Eliahu Inbal, Henri Lazarof, Ben-Zion Orgad, Ami Maayani, Shulamit Ran, Miriam Shatal, Rami Bar-Niv and Noam Sheriff. [See: List of music students by teacher: A to B#Paul Ben-Haim.] Ben-Haim won the Israel Prize for music in 1957.The archive of Ben-Haim is preserved in the National Library of Israel.

Vasco Ronchi (Italian: [ˈvasko ˈroŋki]; December 19, 1897 – October 31, 1988) was an Italian physicist known for his work in optics. He was born on 19 December 1897 in Florence, Italy. Along with Enrico Fermi, he was a student of Luigi Puccianti. He studied at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Pisa from 1915 to 1919.
In 1922 Ronchi published work describing testing methods for optics using simple equipment. The Ronchi test is widely used in amateur telescope making. The Ronchi ruling also bears his name.
He served numerous terms as the President of the 'Union Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences' within the UNESCO.
Ronchi authored 900 papers and 30 books.

Princess Hilda of Luxembourg (French: Hilda Sophie Marie Adélaïde Wilhelmine de Nassau-Weilburg, Princesse de Luxembourg; 15 February 1897 – 8 September 1979) was a Princess of Luxembourg by birth and the Princess of Schwarzenberg by marriage.

Brice Parain (10 March 1897 – 20 March 1971) was a French philosopher and essayist.
He appeared as himself in Jean-Luc Godard's 1962 film Vivre sa vie. In Éric Rohmer's film My Night at Maud's (1969), conversations about Pascal's Wager are directly inspired by a similar debate between Parain and Dominique Dubarle in an episode of the television series En profil dans le texte called l'Entretien sur Pascal ("The Interview on Pascal") in 1965, also produced by Rohmer.

James Guthrie (23 May 1897 – 8 August 1937) was a Scottish motorcycle racer.
A motorcycle garage proprietor and professional motorcycle racer from Hawick Roxburghshire, Jimmie Guthrie was known as the “Flying Scotsman,” with a hard-charging motor-cycle racing style winning 14 European Continental Grand Prix in a three-year period 1934–1937 out of a total of 19 European Grand Prix victories .While racing with the works Norton motorcycle team, Jimmie Guthrie won the 500cc FICM 500cc European motor-cycle championship for three consecutive years 1934–1937 and the 350cc category in 1937. During the 1930s, Jimmie Guthrie won the North West 200 races on three occasions and a further six wins at the Isle of Man TT races.
While leading on the last lap of the 1937 German Grand Prix, Jimmie Guthrie crashed for reasons that are still not entirely clear, speculated to be an incident with another competitor, or a mechanical issue. He later died later in hospital from the injuries.

Jean Herbert was one of the first generation of interpreters for the United Nations organization. He was a former chief interpreter of the United Nations interpretation service in New York City.