On this day: 17 December
Events, births and deaths on 17 December. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Henry Heimlich
- Deaths · Benjamin A. Gilman
- Deaths · Gordon Hunt
100 years ago1926
- Events · 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état
- Births · Stephen Lewis
- Births · John Hans Krebs
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 942 · Deaths · William Longsword
Events · 19
- 1807Milan Decree — 1807 decree by Napoleon I of France
- 1812Battle of the Mississinewa — battle during the War of 1812
- 1837(Julian date)Fire in the Winter Palace — December 1837 fire in Saint Petersburg, Russia
- 1892Vogue — American fashion and lifestyle magazine
- 1907Bhutan — sovereign state in South Asia
- 19261926 Lithuanian coup d'état — Lithuanian military coup d'état (1926) that eventually led to the replacement of the then democratically elected government
- 1943Magnuson Act — US Congress Act of 1943 regarding immigration from China
- 1944Malmedy massacre — WWII war crime
- 1948Finnish Security and Intelligence Service — national security agency of Finland
- 19601960 Munich Convair 340 crash — aviation accident
- 1961Niterói circus fire — 1961 fire disaster in Brazil
- 1967disappearance of Harold Holt — disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt off the coast of Portsea, Victoria
- 19731973 Rome airport attack and hijacking — 1973 terrorist attack in Italy
- 1983Harrods bombing — car bomb that exploded outside Harrods department store in central London on 17 December 1983
- 1989The Simpsons — American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening
- 1996Japanese embassy hostage crisis — hostage crisis that began on 17 December 1996 in Lima, Peru
- 1997Aerosvit Flight 241 — flight disaster
- 2010Arab Spring — protests and revolutions in the Arab world in the 2010s
- 20162016 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning — mass methanol poisoning in Irkutsk, in Siberia
Births · 60
- 1619(Julian date)Prince Rupert of the Rhine — English-German aristocrat, army officer, admiral, scientist, and colonial administrator (1619–1682)
- 1706Émilie du Châtelet — Era chiná physicist, and author (1706-1749)
- 1734Maria I of Portugal — Portuguese monarch from 1777 to 1816 (1734-1816)
- 1749Domenico Cimarosa — Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school (1749–1801)
- 1778Humphry Davy — British chemist
- 1787Jan Evangelista Purkyně — Czech biologist, physiologist, doctor, inventor and politician (1787–1869)
- 1797Joseph Henry — American scientist and the 1st Secretary of the Smithsonian (1797-1878)
- 1807John Greenleaf Whittier — American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery (1807-1892)
- 1830Jules de Goncourt — French writer (1830–1870)
- 1842Sophus Lie — Norwegian mathematician (1842–1899)
- 1847Émile Faguet — French literary critic (1847–1916)
- 1866Kazys Grinius — Third President of Lithuania from 7 June 1926 until 17 December 1926 (1866-1950)
- 1873Ford Madox Ford — English writer and publisher (1873-1939)
- 1874William Lyon Mackenzie King — 10th Prime Minister of Canada (1874–1950)
- 1891Hu Shih — Chinese scholar, writer and philosopher (1891–1962)
- 1893Erwin Piscator — German theatre director (1893–1966)
- 1900Katina Paxinou — Greek actress (1900-1973)
- 1900Mary Cartwright — British mathematician (1900–1998)
- 1903Erskine Caldwell — American novelist, short story writer, travel writer, essayist (1903–1987)
- 1905Simo Häyhä — Finnish military sniper (1905–2002)
- 1905Mohammad Hidayatullah — Vice President of India from 1979 to 1984
- 1908Willard Libby — American physical chemist
- 1915Robert A. Dahl — American political scientist (1915–2014)
- 1916Penelope Fitzgerald — British writer and poet (1916–2000)
- 1930Armin Mueller-Stahl — German actor (born 1930)
Deaths · 60
- 779(Julian date)Saint Sturm — Austrian saint
- 942(Julian date)William Longsword — Count of Normandy from 927 to 942
- 1187(Julian date)Gregory VIII — Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 1187
- 1195(Julian date)Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut — Margrave of Namur, Count of Hainaut and Flanders (1150-1195)
- 1273Rumi — Iranian poet
- 1471(Julian date)Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy — Duchess of Burgandy (1397-1471)
- 1562Eleanor of Toledo — Duchess of Florence (1522-1562)
- 1655Ukita Hideie — Daimyo of Bizen and Mimasaka provinces
- 1663Nzingha Mbande — Ambundu queen in Angola (c. 1583–1663)
- 1830Simón Bolívar — Venezuelan statesman and military officer (1783–1830)
- 1833Kaspar Hauser — man with a mysterious history (1812–1833)
- 1847Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma — Empress Consort of the French from 1810 to 1814 and Monarch of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla from 1814 to 1847
- 1857Francis Beaufort — Irish hydrographer and naval officer (1774-1857)
- 1861Johann Andreas Wagner — German zoologist (1797–1861)
- 1881Lewis H. Morgan — American anthropologist (1818–1881)
- 1891José María Iglesias Inzárruga — President of Mexico (1823-1891)
- 1907William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin — British physicist and engineer (1824–1907)
- 1909Leopold II of Belgium — King of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909 (1835–1909)
- 1917Elizabeth Garrett Anderson — English physician and feminist (1836-1917)
- 1929Manuel Gomes da Costa — Portuguese general and politician (1863–1929)
- 1930Peter Warlock — British composer and music critic (1894-1930)
- 1932Charles Winckler — Danish shot putter (1867–1932)
- 1933Thubten Gyatso — 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet (1876-1933)
- 1940Alicia Boole Stott — Irish-English mathematician (1860-1940)
- 1946Grigory Neujmin — Russian astronomer (1885–1946)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.