Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1897
Born in 1897? Meet the well-known people who share your birth year, from the biggest names to the ones you might not expect, month by month.
Turning 129 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Rooster
The 1890s
The most famous people born in 189738
1897–1962William Faulkner
American novelist of The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, set in his imaginary Mississippi county, and a Nobel laureate
Photo: Carl Van Vechten · Public domain
1897–1945Joseph Goebbels
Nazi propaganda minister who controlled German media and culture, spread antisemitic hatred and killed himself in Hitler's bunker
Photo: Heinrich Hoffmann · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
1897–1939Amelia Earhart
American aviator who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and disappeared over the Pacific in 1937
Photo: NBC Photo-NBC Radio · Public domain
1897–1978Paul VI
Italian pope who completed the Second Vatican Council, was the first pope to fly and travel widely, and was later canonised
Photo: Fotografia Felici · Public domain
Irène Joliot-Curie
French chemist, daughter of Marie Curie, who discovered artificial radioactivity with her husband and won the Nobel Prize
Photo: Nobel Foundation · Public domain
1897–1977Anthony Eden
British Prime Minister during the Suez Crisis of 1956
Photo: Walter Stoneman · Public domain
1897–1968Enid Blyton
Prolific children's author who created the Famous Five and Noddy
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1897–1977Ludwig Erhard
Second Chancellor of West Germany and architect of economic recovery
Photo: Engelbert Reineke · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Born in 1897, month by month
- January
- Pola Negri (January 3) · Silent film star and first European actress signed to Hollywood
- Subhas Chandra Bose (January 23) · Indian nationalist leader who campaigned for independence from British rule
- February
- Ludwig Erhard (February 4) · Second Chancellor of West Germany and architect of economic recovery
- Zakir Husain (February 8) · Former President of India and prominent academic
- John Franklin Enders (February 10) · Scientist known as the father of modern vaccines
- Marian Anderson (February 21) · Celebrated American contralto and pioneer for Black classical musicians
- March
- Josep Pla (March 8) · Influential Catalan journalist and prolific author of the twentieth century
- Yeghishe Charents (March 13) · Influential Armenian poet and writer of the early twentieth century
- Wilhelm Reich (March 24) · Psychoanalyst known for his theories on a vital energy called orgone
- April
- Thornton Wilder (April 17) · Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright and novelist
- Lester B. Pearson (April 23) · Canadian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
- May
- Odd Hassel (May 17) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist who pioneered the study of molecular structure
- Frank Capra (May 18) · Director of classic Hollywood films including It's a Wonderful Life
- John Cockcroft (May 27) · British physicist who was the first to split the atom
- June
- Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (June 10) · Daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and second child of the Romanovs
- Anthony Eden (June 12) · British Prime Minister during the Suez Crisis of 1956
- Paavo Nurmi (June 13) · Finnish distance runner who won nine Olympic gold medals
- Georg Wittig (June 16) · Nobel Prize-winning German chemist who developed the Wittig reaction
- Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (June 19) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist who studied chemical reaction rates
- July
- Tadeusz Reichstein (July 8) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist who first isolated the hormone cortisone
- Plaek Phibunsongkhram (July 14) · Former Prime Minister and military leader of Thailand
- Amelia Earhart (July 24) · American aviator who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and disappeared over the Pacific in 1937
- Ngô Đình Diệm (July 27) · Former leader of South Vietnam during the start of the Vietnam War
- August
- Enid Blyton (August 11) · Prolific children's author who created the Famous Five and Noddy
- Yun Po-sun (August 26) · Second president of South Korea who served in the early 1960s
- Fredric March (August 31) · American actor and two-time Academy Award winner
- September
- Georges Bataille (September 10) · French intellectual and author of transgressive literature and philosophy
- Irène Joliot-Curie (September 12) · French chemist, daughter of Marie Curie, who discovered artificial radioactivity with her husband and won the Nobel Prize
- William Faulkner (September 25) · American novelist of The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, set in his imaginary Mississippi county, and a Nobel laureate
- Paul VI (September 26) · Italian pope who completed the Second Vatican Council, was the first pope to fly and travel widely, and was later canonised
- October
- Louis Aragon (October 3) · French poet and novelist who helped found the Surrealist movement
- Joseph Goebbels (October 29) · Nazi propaganda minister who controlled German media and culture, spread antisemitic hatred and killed himself in Hitler's bunker
- November
- Dorothy Day (November 8) · American social activist and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement
- Ronald George Wreyford Norrish (November 9) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist who pioneered the study of fast chemical reactions
- Patrick Blackett (November 18) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist known for his work on cosmic rays
- Ivan Bagramyan (November 20) · Highly decorated Soviet military commander during the Second World War
- December
- Kurt Schuschnigg (December 14) · Last Chancellor of Austria before the Nazi annexation in 1938
- Ivan Konev (December 16) · High-ranking Soviet commander during the Second World War