February 17

### Up to 1900

- 364 – Roman Emperor Jovian dies under suspicious circumstances, after a short reign of eight months.
- 1164 – A major flood on what is now Germany's North Sea coast, kills 20,000 people.
- 1370 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.
- 1400 – The body of Richard II of England is put on display at the Old St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
- 1600 – Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned to death for heresy in Rome.
- 1621 – Myles Standish is appointed as the first commander of Plymouth Colony.
- 1753 – Sweden changes from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. February 17 is followed by March 1.
- 1801 – The United States House of Representatives chooses Thomas Jefferson to become the next President of the United States.
- 1854 – The United Kingdom recognises the independent Orange Free State.
- 1863 – A group of citizens from Geneva founds the International Committee for Relief of the Wounded, which later becomes the International Red Cross.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The _H. L. Hunley_ becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS _Housatonic_.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Union troops capture Columbia, South Carolina. As this state is particularly seen as responsible for starting the war, the city is virtually flattened.
- 1867 – Gyula Andrassy is declared Prime Minister of Hungary after the creation of the co-operative monarchy of Austria-Hungary.
- 1871 – The victorious Prussian Army parades through Paris after the end of the Siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War.
- 1900 – Wilhelm II of Germany declares the Western Samoan Islands a "German Protectorate".

### 1901 – 2000

- 1904 – _Madame Butterfly_ premieres at La Scala opera house in Milan.
- 1913 – The Armory Art Show begin in New York City, showing works by artists who become influential later in the 20th century.
- 1917 – The French troop transporter _Athos_ is sunk, killing 754 people.
- 1924 – Johnny Weissmuller sets a world record in the 100-metre freestyle swimming.
- 1933 – _Newsweek_ magazine is published for the first time.
- 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins, ending in an American victory over Japanese forces on February 22.
- 1949 – Chaim Weizmann becomes President of Israel.
- 1959 – Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, is launched to measure cloud–cover distribution.
- 1962 – Parts of northern Germany are severely flooded in the night from February 16, causing 300 deaths in the city of Hamburg alone.
- 1964 – President of Gabon Leon M'ba is removed from office in a coup by his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame. M'ba is reinstated by France the next day.
- 1965 – Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 space probe is launched to the "Sea of Tranquility" on the Moon.
- 1968 – In Springfield, Massachusetts, the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.
- 1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon visits China.
- 1974 – Michele Catain, an American crew member and real estate agent, marries David Thomas Durboraw, an American businessman, in Los Angeles, California.
- 1979 – The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
- 1980 – Krzyzstof Wielicki and Leszek Clichy becomes the first people to reach the top of Mount Everest during the winter season.
- 1992 – American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced to life imprisonment.
- 1993 – The _Neptune_ ferry sinks off Haiti. It is not known exactly how many people were killed, though it is thought to have been at least 1,500.
- 1995 – The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador is ended by a United Nations ceasefire.
- 1996 – An earthquake of magnitude 8.2 strikes Irian Jaya, the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea, killing 166 people.
- 1996 – The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft is launched to the asteroid 433 Eros.
- 1996 – After being defeated in a game of chess on February 10, Garry Kasparov wins a six-match series 4–2 against the computer Deep Blue.
- 1998 – Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Armenian troops kill between 70 and 90 Azerbaijani civilians in the village of Qaradagli.

### From 2001

- 2003 – London's Congestion charging system begins.
- 2006 – A massive mudslide in Southern Leyte, Philippines, kills 1,126 people.
- 2008 – Kosovo declares independence from Serbia. However, Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as an independent state, and its status is still in dispute as of 2014.
- 2011 – Bahraini security forces launch a pre-dawn raid on protesters at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama.
- 2011 – Protests begin in Libya against Muammar al-Gaddafi. Soon after, Libya enters into a state of civil war between pro– and anti-Gaddafi fighters. Gaddafi is killed in October.
- 2012 – President of Germany Christian Wulff resigns over a home-loan scandal, becoming the shortest-serving President ever of the Federal Republic of Germany. Horst Seehofer becomes interim-President until a successor can be found. Joachim Gauck becomes President just over a month later.
- 2014 – A building collapse in Geongju, South Korea, kills at least 10 people, most of them students.

### Up to 1800

- 624 – Wu Zetian, Chinese Empress of the Zhou Dynasty (d. 705)
- 1192 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (d. 1219)
- 1490 – Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (d. 1527)
- 1519 – Francis, Duke of Guise, French soldier and politician (d. 1563)
- 1524 – Charles of Guise, French cardinal (d. 1574)
- 1581 – Fausto Poli, Italian cardinal (d. 1653)
- 1653 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (d. 1713)
- 1699 – Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, Prussian soldier, painter and architect (d. 1753)
- 1718 – Matthew Tilgh, American Continental Congressman (d. 1790)
- 1723 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (d. 1762)
- 1740 – John Sullivan, American general, politician and Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1795)
- 1752 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (d. 1831)
- 1754 – Nicolas Baudin, French explorer (d. 1803)
- 1781 – René Laennec, French physician (d. 1826)
- 1782 – Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, Russian aristocrat (d. 1846)
- 1792 – Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist (d. 1876)
- 1796 – Giovanni Pacini, Italian opera composer (d. 1867)
- 1796 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (d. 1886)

### 1801 – 1900

- 1817 – Edouard Thilges, 7th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1904)
- 1820 – Elzear-Alexandre Taschereau, French cardinal (d. 1898)
- 1820 – Henri Vieutemps, Belgian composer (d. 1881)
- 1821 – Lola Montez, Irish dancer (d. 1861)
- 1836 – Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, Spanish poet (d. 1870)
- 1848 – Louisa Lawson, Australian writer and feminist (d. 1920)
- 1848 – Albert Gustaf Dahlman, Swedish executioner (d. 1920)
- 1854 – Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (d. 1902)
- 1861 – Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont (d. 1922)
- 1862 – Mori Ogai, Japanese novelist and poet (d. 1922)
- 1862 – Eugen Schmidt, Danish athlete (d. 1931)
- 1863 – Fyodor Sologub, Russian writer (d. 1927)
- 1864 – Banjo Paterson, Australian poet (d. 1941)
- 1866 – Henry Hollis Horton, 40th Governor of Tennessee (d. 1934)
- 1877 – Isidora Sekulic, Serbian writer (d. 1958)
- 1877 – Andre Maginot, French politician (d. 1932)
- 1885 – Romano Guardini, German theologian (d. 1968)
- 1887 – Joseph Bech, Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1975)
- 1888 – Otto Stern, German physicist (d. 1969)
- 1890 – Ronald Fisher, English statistician, biologist and geneticist (d. 1962)
- 1891 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician (d. 1965)
- 1892 – Marjorie Fielding, British actress (d. 1956)
- 1893 – Wally Pipp, American baseball player (d. 1965)
- 1894 – Hendrik Kramers, Dutch physicist (d. 1952)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1901 – Philotheus Boehner, German monk and medieval scholar (d. 1955)
- 1903 – Sadeq Hedayat, Iranian writer (d. 1951)
- 1904 – Hans Morgenthau, German political philosopher (d. 1980)
- 1908 – Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (d. 2005)
- 1908 – Jacobus van Egmond, Dutch cyclist (d. 1969)
- 1910 – Arthur Hunnicutt, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1916 – Alexander Obolensky, Russian prince and England rugby player (d. 1940)
- 1917 – Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian philosopher (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena, Mexican inventor (d. 1965)
- 1918 – Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, Prime Minister of Ukraine (d. 1990)
- 1919 – Kathleen Freeman, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1920 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian animated movie director (d. 2001)
- 1920 – Annie Glenn, American activist (d. 2020)
- 1923 – Buddy DeFranco, American jazz musician (d. 2014)
- 1923 – John M. Allegro, English archaeologist and author (d. 1988)
- 1923 – Alden W. Clausen, American banker (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Margaret Truman, American writer (d. 2008)
- 1925 – Hal Holbrook, American actor
- 1925 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor
- 1927 – Juan Almeida Bosque, Cuban Communist revolutionary (d. 2009)
- 1929 – Alejandro Jodorowsky, Chilean writer
- 1929 – Patricia Routledge, British actress
- 1930 – Ruth Rendell, British writer (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Buddy Ryan, American football coach (d. 2016)
- 1931 – Jirina Jiraskova, Czech actress (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Craig L. Thomas, American politician (d. 2007)
- 1933 – Larry Jennings, American magician (d. 1997)
- 1934 – Barry Humphries, Australian actor and comedian
- 1934 – Alan Bates, British actor (d. 2003)
- 1935 – Christina Pickles, British actress
- 1937 – Willi Koslowski, German footballer
- 1937 – Rita Süssmuth, German politician
- 1937 – Mary Ann Mobley, American actress and beauty queen (d. 2014)
- 1939 – Clement Richard, Canadian businessman and politician
- 1940 – Gene Pitney, American singer (d. 2006)
- 1941 – Julia McKenzie, English actress and theatre director
- 1942 – Huey Newton, American political activist (d. 1989)
- 1943 – Costas Azariadis, Greek economist
- 1944 – Bruce Fogle, Canadian-born British veterinarian and writer
- 1944 – Karl Jenkins, Welsh saxophonist, keyboardist and composer
- 1945 – Brenda Fricker, Irish actress
- 1946 – André Dussollier, French actor
- 1948 – Rick Majerus, American basketball player
- 1948 – Don Scardino, American television director and actor
- 1948 – José José, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer and actor
- 1949 – Fred Frith, English musician and composer
- 1949 – Dennis Green, American football coach (d. 2016)
- 1950 – Rickey Medlocke, American guitarist
- 1950 – Graham Stringer, English politician

### 1951 – 1975

- 1954 – Rene Russo, American actress
- 1955 – Mo Yan, Chinese novelist and Nobel Prize winner
- 1957 – Loreena McKennitt, Canadian singer-songwriter, harpist and pianist
- 1959 – Aryeh Deri, Israeli rabbi and politician
- 1959 – Rowdy Gaines, American swimmer
- 1961 – Andrey Korotayev, Russian anthropologist and economic historian
- 1961 – Panna Rittikrai, Thai actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2014)
- 1961 – Angela Eagle, English politician
- 1961 – Maria Eagle, English politician
- 1962 – Sarah Wollaston, English politician
- 1962 – Lou Diamond Phillips, American actor
- 1963 – Michael Jordan, American basketball player
- 1963 – Alison Hargreaves, British mountain climber (d. 1995)
- 1963 – Larry the Cable Guy, American comedian and actor
- 1964 – Jim Jordan, American politician
- 1965 – Michael Bay, American director and producer
- 1966 – Luc Robitaille, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1968 – Giuseppe Signori, Italian footballer
- 1969 – Tuesday Knight, American actress
- 1970 – Dominic Purcell, English-Australian actor
- 1971 – Denise Richards, American actress
- 1971 – Carlos Gamarra, Paraguayan footballer
- 1972 – Billie Joe Armstrong, American lead singer of Green Day
- 1972 – Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater
- 1972 – Taylor Hawkins, American musician
- 1973 – Shirley Clamp, Swedish singer

### From 1976

- 1976 – Kelly Carlson, American actress
- 1979 – Cara Black, Zimbabwean tennis player
- 1981 – Paris Hilton, American socialite and heiress
- 1981 – Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor
- 1981 – Pontus Segerström, Swedish footballer (d. 2014)
- 1981 – Andrew Stephenson, English politician
- 1982 – Daniel Merriwether, Australian singer
- 1982 – Adriano Leite Ribeiro, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Nguyen Tien Minh, Vietnamese badminton player
- 1984 – AB de Villiers, South African cricketer
- 1984 – Drew Miller, American ice hockey player
- 1985 – Anders Jacobsen, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1985 – Mario Bolatti, Argentine footballer
- 1988 – Natascha Kampusch, Austrian kidnapping victim
- 1989 – Rebecca Adlington, British swimmer
- 1989 – Stacey McClean, British singer
- 1989 – Chord Overstreet, American actor
- 1991 – Ed Sheeran, British singer-songwriter
- 1991 – Bonnie Wright, British actress
- 1992 – Meaghan Jette Martin, American actress
- 1993 – Marc Marquez, Spanish racing driver
- 1993 – Nicola Leali, Italian footballer
- 1993 – Philip Wiegratz, German actor
- 1996 – Sasha Pieterse, South African-born American actress

### Up to 1900

- 197 – Clodius Albinus, would-be Roman emperor (killed in battle)
- 306 – Theodore of Amasea, Roman soldier and Christian martyr
- 364 – Jovian, Roman emperor (b. _ca._ 332)
- 1339 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria
- 1371 – Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria
- 1600 – Giordano Bruno, Italian religious reformer (burned at the stake) (b. 1548)
- 1609 – Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1549)
- 1652 – Gregorio Allegri, Italian composer (b. 1582)
- 1673 – Molière, French playwright (b. 1622)
- 1680 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch scientist (b. 1637)
- 1768 – Arthur Onslow, English lawyer and politician (b. 1691)
- 1827 – Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss educator and reformer (b. 1746)
- 1848 – George W. Campbell, Scottish-born 5th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1769)
- 1854 – John Martin, English painter (b. 1789)
- 1856 – Heinrich Heine, German writer (b. 1797)
- 1883 – Vasudeo Balwant Phadke, Indian revolutionary (b. 1855)
- 1883 – Napoleon Coste, French guitarist, composer (b. 1806)
- 1890 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American inventor (b. 1819)
- 1891 – Theophil Hansen, Danish-Austrian educator and architect (b. 1813)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1901 – Ethelbert Nevin, American pianist and composer (b. 1862)
- 1905 – William Bickerton, English-American religious leader (b. 1815)
- 1909 – Geronimo, Apache leader (b. 1829)
- 1912 – Edgar Evans, Welsh navy officer (b. 1876)
- 1919 – Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841)
- 1924 – Oskar Merikanto, Finnish composer (b. 1868)
- 1934 – King Albert I of Belgium (b. 1875)
- 1934 – Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player (b. 1862)
- 1939 – Willy Hess, German violinist (b. 1859)
- 1943 – Konstantin Bogaevsky, Russian painter (b. 1872)
- 1943 – Armand J. Piron, American jazz musician (b. 1888)
- 1946 – Dorothy Gibson, American actress and singer (b. 1889)
- 1961 – Nita Noldi, American actress (b. 1894)
- 1962 – Joseph Kearns, American actor (b. 1907)
- 1962 – Bruno Walter, German conductor (b. 1876)
- 1970 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer (b. 1888)
- 1970 – Alfred Newman, American movie composer (b. 1900)
- 1982 – Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (b. 1917)
- 1982 – Lee Strasberg, American acting teacher, actor (b. 1901)
- 1986 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (b. 1895)
- 1988 – Karpoori Thakur, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1924)
- 1988 – John M. Allegro, English archaeologist and scholar (b. 1923)
- 1989 – Lefty Gomez, American baseball player (b. 1908)
- 1990 – Jean-Marc Bolvin, French mountaineer (b. 1951)
- 1994 – Gretchen Fraser, American ski racer (b. 1919)
- 1994 – Randy Shilts, writer, AIDS activist (b. 1951)
- 1998 – Ernst Jünger, militaristic German writer (b. 1895)

### From 2001

- 2001 – Khalid Abdul Muhammed, Nation of Islam spokesman (b. 1948)
- 2004 – José López Portillo, former President of Mexico (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Dan O'Herlihy, Irish movie actor (b. 1919)
- 2005 – Omar Sivori, Argentine footballer (b. 1935)
- 2007 – Maurice Papon, French Nazi collaborator (b. 1910)
- 2010 – Kathryn Grayson, American singer and actress (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Perry Moore, American writer and movie producer (b. 1971)
- 2012 – Ulric Neisser, German-born American psychologist (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Richard Briers, British actor (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Mindy McCready, American country music singer (b. 1975)
- 2014 – Frankie Kao, Taiwanese singer (b. 1950)
- 2014 – Loni Nest, German-American actress (b. 1915)
- 2014 – Joe Bell, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1923)
- 2015 – Andrzej Koszewski, Polish composer (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Cathy Ubels-Veen, Dutch politician (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Egyptian journalist (b. 1923)
- 2016 – Alexander Gutman, Russian film director (b. 1945)
- 2016 – Akbar Kakkattil, Indian writer (b. 1954)
- 2016 – Andrzej Zulawski, Polish film director and writer (b. 1940)
- 2017 – Nicole Bass, American bodybuilder and professional wrestler (b. 1964)
- 2017 – Warren Frost, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Börge Hellström, Swedish writer (b. 1957)
- 2017 – Erland Kops, Danish badminton player (b. 1937)
- 2017 – Robert H. Michel, American politician (b. 1923)
- 2017 – Michael Novak, American theologian and writer (b. 1933)
- 2017 – Tom Regan, American philosopher (b. 1938)
- 2017 – Peter Skellern, English singer-songwriter (b. 1947)

## Observances

- Celebrated as Independence Day in Kosovo
- Revolution Day (Libya)