On this day in history

December 17

29 births · 15 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

122

First Powered Flight

122 years ago

Born this day

1936

Pope Francis

Would be 89

Photo (modified): Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Jeon Han) · CC BY-SA 2.0

Oldest record

752nd

Rumi

death anniversary

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Famous births29

1706 · 319 yrs

Émilie du Châtelet

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (French:; 17 December 1706 – 10 September 1749) was a French mathematician and physicist. Her most recognized achievement is her philosophical magnum opus, Institutions de Physique (Paris, 1740, first edition; Foundations of Physics).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 42

View profile Photo (modified): Maurice Quentin de La Tour · Public domain

1734 · 291 yrs

Maria I of Portugal

Dona Maria I (Maria Francisca Isabel Josefa Antónia Gertrudes Rita Joana; 17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816), also known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil, was Queen of Portugal from 24 February 1777 until her death in 1816.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 81

View profile Photo (modified): Giuseppe Troni / Thomas Hickey · Public domain

1778 · 247 yrs

Humphry Davy

Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet (17 December 1778 – 29 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and an early form of arc lamp.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 50

View profile Photo (modified): Thomas Phillips · Public domain

1797 · 228 yrs

Joseph Henry

Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Henry Ulke (1821-1910) · Public domain

1842 · 183 yrs

Sophus Lie

Marius Sophus Lie ( LEE; Norwegian:; 17 December 1842 – 18 February 1899) was a Norwegian mathematician. He largely created the theory of continuous symmetry and applied it to the study of geometry and differential equations.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 56

View profile Photo (modified): L. Szaciński (Christiania) · No restrictions

1874 · 151 yrs

William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal, he was the dominant politician in Canada from the early 1920s to the late 1940s.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 75

View profile Photo (modified): Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress) · Public domain

1904 · 121 yrs

Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky

Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky (Russian: Дми́трий Бори́сович Кабале́вский; 30 December 1904 – 14 February 1987) was a Soviet composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue of Russian gentry descent. He helped set up the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow and remained one of its leading figures during his lifetime.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 121

View profile Photo (modified): na · Public domain

1905 · 120 yrs

Simo Häyhä

Simo Häyhä (17 December 1905 – 1 April 2002), often referred to by his nickname The White Death, was a Finnish military sniper during the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union in World War II. He used a Finnish-produced M/28-30 rifle (a variant of the Mosin–Nagant) and a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 120

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1905 · 120 yrs

Daniil Kharms

Daniil Ivanovich Kharms (né Yuvachev; Russian: Даниил Иванович Хармс; 30 December 1905 – 2 February 1942) was a Russian avant-gardist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist in the early Soviet era.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 120

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1908 · 117 yrs

Willard Libby

Willard Frank Libby (December 17, 1908 – September 8, 1980) was an American physical chemist noted for his role in the 1949 development of radiocarbon dating, a process which revolutionized archaeology and palaeontology.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 117

View profile Photo (modified): unknown · CC BY-SA 4.0

1936 · 89 yrs

Pope Francis

Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 13 March 2013 until his death in 2025.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 89

View profile Photo (modified): Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Jeon Han) · CC BY-SA 2.0

1942 · 83 yrs

Muhammadu Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari ( 17 December 1942 – 13 July 2025) was a Nigerian general and politician who ruled as military dictator of Nigeria from 1983 to 1985, and later served as the democratically elected civilian president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 83

View profile Photo (modified): Bayo Omoboriowo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Showing 12 of 29

Famous deaths15

1273 · 752 yrs

Rumi

Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), commonly known as Rumi, was a Sufi mystic, poet, and founder of the Islamic brotherhood known as the Mevlevi Order. His family hailed from Balkh.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 66

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1830 · 195 yrs

Simón Bolívar

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y Blanco (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military officer and statesman who led what are currently the countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela to independence from the Spanish Empire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryDied aged 47

View profile Photo (modified): Ricardo Acevedo Bernal · Public domain

1847 · 178 yrs

Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma

Marie Louise (Maria Ludovica Leopoldina Franziska Theresia Josepha Lucia; 12 December 1791 – 17 December 1847) was Duchess of Parma from 11 April 1814 until her death in 1847.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 56

View profile Photo (modified): François Gérard · Public domain

1881 · 144 yrs

Lewis H. Morgan

Lewis Henry Morgan (November 21, 1818 – December 17, 1881) was an American anthropologist and social theorist, who worked as a railroad lawyer. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evolution, and his ethnography of the Iroquois.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1907 · 118 yrs

William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin

William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (26 June 1824 – 17 December 1907) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer. Born in Belfast, he was the professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 83

View profile Photo (modified): T. & R. Annan & Sons; restored by Adam Cuerden [ 1 ] · Public domain

1909 · 116 yrs

Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 74

View profile Photo (modified): London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company · Public domain

1933 · 92 yrs

Thubten Gyatso

The 13th Dalai Lama (born Thubten Gyatso; full spiritual name: Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal; Tibetan: ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: Thub Bstan Rgya Mtsho) (12 February 1876 – 17 December 1933) was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet enthroned during a turbulent modern era.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 150

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1957 · 68 yrs

Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy Leigh Sayers ( SAIRZ; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime novelist, playwright, translator and critic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 133

View profile Photo (modified): uncredited; published by Boni and Liveright in connexion with her 1925 release Whose Body · Public domain

1962 · 63 yrs

Thomas Mitchell

Thomas John Mitchell (Irish: Tomás Séan Mistéal; July 11, 1892 – December 17, 1962) was an American character actor, writer, and theater director. He is considered one of the both greatest supporting and character actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood and a leading man on Broadway.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 134

View profile Photo (modified): Trailer screenshot · Public domain

1964 · 61 yrs

Victor Francis Hess

Victor Franz Hess (German:; 24 June 1883 – 17 December 1964) was an Austrian–American experimental physicist who shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics with Carl David Anderson for his discovery of cosmic rays.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 143

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1987 · 38 yrs

Marguerite Yourcenar

Marguerite Yourcenar (UK:, US:; French:; born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour; 8 June 1903 – 17 December 1987) was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist who became a US citizen in 1947.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 123

View profile Photo (modified): Winoksbergen Bernhard De Grendel · CC BY-SA 4.0

2009 · 16 yrs

Jennifer Jones

Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental-health advocate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 107

View profile Photo (modified): Studio Publicity · Public domain

Showing 12 of 15

Events5

1903 · 122 yrs

First Powered Flight

The Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft.

Science

1944 · 81 yrs

Malmedy massacre

The Malmedy massacre was a German war crime committed by soldiers of the Waffen-SS on 17 December 1944 at the Baugnez crossroads near the city of Malmedy, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1957 · 68 yrs

Ballon d'Or 1957

The 1957 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to Alfredo Di Stéfano on 17 December 1957.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

2010 · 15 yrs

Arab Spring

The Arab Spring (Arabic: الربيع العربي, romanized: ar-rabīʻ al-ʻarabī) was a series of pro-democracy anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to the death of Mohamed Bouazizi by self-immolation.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2018 · 7 yrs

Miss Universe 2018

Miss Universe 2018 was the 67th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani in Pak Kret, Nonthaburi, Thailand, on 17 December 2018. At the conclusion of the event, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa crowned Catriona Gray of the Philippines as Miss Universe 2018.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

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