January 17

January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 348 days remaining until the end of the year (349 in leap years). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56).

Events

• 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
• 395 – Upon the death of Emperor Theodosius I, the Roman Empire is permanently divided into the Eastern Roman Empire under Arcadius, and the Western Roman Empire under Honorius.
• 1287 – King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
• 1377 – Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
• 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
• 1562 – France recognizes the Huguenots by the Edict of Saint-Germain.
• 1595 – Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
• 1608 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
• 1648 – England's Long Parliament passes the "Vote of No Addresses", breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
• 1773 – Captain James Cook commands the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.
• 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
• 1799 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
• 1811 – Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
• 1852 – The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.
• 1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.
• 1885 – A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
• 1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani.
• 1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
• 1904 – Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
• 1912 – Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
• 1913 – Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France.
• 1915 – Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I.
• 1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
• 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
• 1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
• 1941 – Franco-Thai War: French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
• 1943 – World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew.
• 1944 – World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
• 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.
• 1945 – The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
• 1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
• 1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.
• 1950 – The Great Brink's Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company's offices in Boston.
• 1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.
• 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
• 1966 – Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.
• 1969 – Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
• 1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
• 1983 – The tallest department store in the world, Hudson's flagship store in downtown Detroit, closes.
• 1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
• 1991 – Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.
• 1992 – During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
• 1994 – The 6.5–6.7 Mw Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
• 1995 – The 6.9 Mw Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of VII, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.
• 1996 – The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
• 1997 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
• 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website.
• 2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
• 2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea's nuclear testing.
• 2008 – British Airways Flight 38 crash lands just short of London Heathrow Airport in England with no fatalities. It is the first complete hull loss of a Boeing 777.
• 2010 – Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths.

Births

• 1463 – Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)
• 1472 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian captain (d. 1508)
• 1484 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (d. 1545)
• 1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
• 1504 – Pope Pius V (d. 1572)
• 1560 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist, physician, and academic (d. 1624)
• 1574 – Robert Fludd, English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (d. 1637)
• 1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681)
• 1612 – Thomas Fairfax, English general and politician (d. 1671)
• 1640 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (d. 1724)
• 1659 – Antonio Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1745)
• 1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (d. 1723)
• 1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian and author (d. 1766)
• 1706 – Benjamin Franklin, American publisher, inventor, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (d. 1790)
• 1712 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (d. 1786)
• 1719 – William Vernon, American businessman (d. 1806)
• 1728 – Johann Gottfried Müthel, German pianist and composer (d. 1788)
• 1732 – Stanisław August Poniatowski, Polish-Lithuanian king (d. 1798)
• 1734 – François-Joseph Gossec, French composer and conductor (d. 1829)
• 1761 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (d. 1832)
• 1789 – August Neander, German historian and theologian (d. 1850)
• 1793 – Antonio José Martínez, Spanish-American priest, rancher and politician (d. 1867)
• 1814 – Ellen Wood, English author (d. 1887)
• 1820 – Anne Brontë, English author and poet (d. 1849)
• 1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
• 1828 – Ede Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1898)
• 1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American historian and academic (d. 1906)
• 1834 – August Weismann, German biologist, zoologist, and geneticist (d. 1914)
• 1850 – Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Brazilian cardinal (d. 1930)
• 1850 – Alexander Taneyev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1918)
• 1851 – A. B. Frost, American author and illustrator (d. 1928)
• 1853 – T. Alexander Harrison, American painter and academic (d. 1930)
• 1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
• 1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French-American engineer (d. 1935)
• 1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian author (d. 1940)
• 1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish academic and politician, 1st President of Ireland (d. 1949)
• 1863 – David Lloyd George, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)
• 1863 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (d. 1938)
• 1865 – Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
• 1867 – Carl Laemmle, German-born American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1939)
• 1867 – Sir Alfred Rawlinson, 3rd Baronet, English colonel, pilot, and polo player (d. 1934)
• 1871 – David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty English admiral (d. 1936)
• 1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1940)
• 1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan journalist and playwright (d. 1910)
• 1876 – Frank Hague, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Jersey City (d. 1956)
• 1877 – May Gibbs, English-Australian author and illustrator (d. 1969)
• 1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1960)
• 1881 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
• 1881 – Harry Price, English psychologist and author (d. 1948)
• 1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
• 1882 – Arnold Rothstein, American businessman (d. 1928)
• 1883 – Compton Mackenzie, English-Scottish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1972)
• 1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American pilot and businessman, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (d. 1955)
• 1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
• 1888 – Babu Gulabrai, Indian philosopher and author (d. 1963)
• 1895 – John Duff, Chinese-Canadian race car driver (d. 1958)
• 1897 – Marcel Petiot, French physician and serial killer (d. 1946)
• 1899 – Al Capone, American mob boss (d. 1947)
• 1899 – Robert Maynard Hutchins, American philosopher and academic (d. 1977)
• 1899 – Nevil Shute, English engineer and author (d. 1960)
• 1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-American philosopher and author (d. 1973)
• 1904 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai painter and illustrator (d. 1969)
• 1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
• 1905 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, educator, and critic (d. 1950)
• 1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1966)
• 1905 – Jan Zahradníček, Czech poet and translator (d. 1960)
• 1907 – Henk Badings, Indonesian-Dutch composer and engineer (d. 1987)
• 1908 – Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager and trainer (d. 1985)
• 1911 – Busher Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1966)
• 1911 – John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (d. 1981)
• 1911 – George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
• 1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Italian-Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
• 1914 – Irving Brecher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
• 1914 – Paul Royle, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 2015)
• 1914 – William Stafford, American poet and author (d. 1993)
• 1916 – Peter Frelinghuysen, Jr., American lieutenant and politician (d. 2011)
• 1917 – M. G. Ramachandran, Indian actor, director, and politician, 5th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 1987)
• 1918 – Keith Joseph, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Education (d. 1994)
• 1918 – George M. Leader, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2013)
• 1920 – Georges Pichard, French author and illustrator (d. 2003)
• 1921 – Lorna Cooke deVaron, American conductor and educator
• 1921 – Herbert Ellis, American actor
• 1921 – Asghar Khan, Pakistani general and politician
• 1921 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
• 1922 – Luis Echeverría, Mexican academic and politician, 50th President of Mexico
• 1922 – Nicholas Katzenbach, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 65th United States Attorney General (d. 2012)
• 1922 – Betty White, American actress, comedian, and game show panelist
• 1923 – Rangeya Raghav, Indian author and playwright (d. 1962)
• 1924 – Rik De Saedeleer, Belgian footballer and journalist (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Robert Cormier, American author and journalist (d. 2000)
• 1925 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer and author (d. 1996)
• 1925 – Patricia Owens, Canadian-American actress (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and politician
• 1926 – Moira Shearer, Scottish-English ballerina and actress (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Thomas Anthony Dooley III, American physician and humanitarian (d. 1961)
• 1927 – Norman Kaye, Australian actor and composer (d. 2007)
• 1927 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
• 1927 – Harlan Mathews, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
• 1927 – E. W. Swackhamer, American director and producer (d. 1994)
• 1928 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
• 1928 – Vidal Sassoon, English-American hairdresser and businessman (d. 2012)
• 1929 – Jacques Plante, Canadian-Swiss ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1986)
• 1929 – Tan Boon Teik, Malaysian-Singaporean lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (d. 2012)
• 1930 – Eddie LeBaron, American football player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2015)
• 1931 – James Earl Jones, American actor
• 1931 – Douglas Wilder, American sergeant and politician, 66th Governor of Virginia
• 1931 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
• 1932 – Sheree North, American actress and dancer (d. 2005)
• 1933 – Dalida, Egyptian-French singer and actress (d. 1987)
• 1933 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-Pakistani diplomat, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (d. 2003)
• 1933 – Shari Lewis, American actress, puppeteer/ventriloquist, and television host (d. 1998)
• 1934 – Donald Cammell, Scottish-American director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
• 1934 – Zlatko Papec, Croatian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
• 1934 – Cedar Walton, American pianist and composer (d. 2013)
• 1935 – Ruth Ann Minner, American businesswoman and politician, 72nd Governor of Delaware
• 1936 – John Boyd, English academic and diplomat, British ambassador to Japan
• 1936 – A. Thangathurai, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1997)
• 1937 – Alain Badiou, French philosopher and academic
• 1938 – John Bellairs, American author and academic (d. 1991)
• 1938 – Percy Qoboza, South African journalist and author (d. 1988)
• 1939 – Christodoulos of Athens, Greek archbishop (d. 2008)
• 1939 – Maury Povich, American talk show host and producer
• 1940 – Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan runner
• 1940 – Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Egyptian-Armenian patriarch (d. 2015)
• 1940 – Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguayan physician and politician, 39th President of Uruguay
• 1941 – István Horthy, Jr., Hungarian physicist and architect
• 1941 – Gillian Weir, New Zealand-English organist and educator
• 1942 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer and activist (d. 2016)
• 1942 – Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist and author
• 1942 – Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist and educator
• 1942 – Nigel McCulloch, English bishop
• 1943 – René Préval, Haitian agronomist and politician, 52nd President of Haiti
• 1944 – Ann Oakley, English sociologist, author, and academic
• 1945 – Javed Akhtar, Indian poet, playwright, and composer
• 1945 – Anne Cutler, Australian psychologist and academic
• 1948 – Davíð Oddsson, Icelandic politician, 21st Prime Minister of Iceland
• 1948 – Michael Rake, English businessman and academic
• 1949 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2003)
• 1949 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (d. 2014)
• 1949 – Augustin Dumay, French violinist and conductor
• 1949 – Andy Kaufman, American actor and comedian (d. 1984)
• 1949 – Dick Nanninga, Dutch footballer (d. 2015)
• 1949 – Mick Taylor, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1950 – Luis López Nieves, Puerto Rican-American author and academic
• 1950 – Lee Young-ha South Korean actor
• 1952 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
• 1952 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese pianist, composer, and producer
• 1953 – Jeff Berlin, American bass player and educator
• 1953 – Carlos Johnson, American singer and guitarist
• 1954 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer, radio host, and environmentalist
• 1955 – Steve Javie, American basketball player and referee
• 1956 – Damian Green, English journalist and politician, Minister of State for Immigration
• 1956 – Paul Young, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1957 – Steve Harvey, American comedian, actor, and game show host
• 1957 – Ann Nocenti, American journalist and author
• 1957 – Michel Vaarten, Belgian cyclist
• 1958 – Tony Kouzarides, English biologist, cancer researcher
• 1959 – Susanna Hoffs, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
• 1960 – John Crawford, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1960 – Chili Davis, Jamaican-American baseball player and coach
• 1961 – Brian Helgeland, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1962 – Jun Azumi, Japanese broadcaster and politician, 46th Japanese Minister of Finance
• 1962 – Jim Carrey, Canadian-American actor and producer
• 1962 – Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author
• 1963 – Kai Hansen, German singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1964 – Michelle Fairley, Northern Irish actress
• 1964 – Michelle Obama, American lawyer and activist, 46th First Lady of the United States
• 1964 – Andy Rourke, English bass player
• 1965 – Nikos Nioplias, Greek footballer and manager
• 1965 – Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1966 – Joshua Malina, American actor
• 1967 – Richard Hawley, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1967 – Song Kang-ho, South Korean actor
• 1968 – Rowan Pelling, English journalist and author
• 1968 – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch author, poet, and scholar
• 1969 – Naveen Andrews, English actor
• 1969 – Yoon Yoo-sun, South Korean actress
• 1969 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish director, screenwriter, and author
• 1970 – Cássio Alves de Barros, Brazilian footballer
• 1970 – Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player and actor
• 1970 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-American animator, director, and producer
• 1971 – Giorgos Balogiannis, Greek basketball player
• 1971 – Richard Burns, English race car driver (d. 2005)
• 1971 – Lil Jon, American rapper, producer, and actor
• 1971 – Kid Rock, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1971 – Sylvie Testud, French actress, director, and screenwriter
• 1971 – Paolo Vaccari, Italian rugby player and manager
• 1973 – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer and actor
• 1973 – Chris Bowen, Australian politician, 37th Treasurer of Australia
• 1973 – Liz Ellis, Australian netball player and sportscaster
• 1973 – Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
• 1974 – Yang Chen, Chinese footballer and manager
• 1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian viola player, composer, and producer
• 1974 – Derrick Mason, American football player
• 1975 – Freddy Rodriguez, American actor
• 1975 – Rami Yacoub, Swedish songwriter and producer
• 1977 – Kevin Thorn, American wrestler
• 1977 – Leigh Whannell, Australian actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1978 – Ricky Wilson, English singer-songwriter
• 1980 – Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian-American dancer and choreographer
• 1980 – Zooey Deschanel, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1980 – Modestas Stonys, Lithuanian footballer
• 1981 – Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer and manager
• 1981 – Ray J, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1982 – Hwanhee, South Korean singer and actor
• 1982 – Dwyane Wade, American basketball player
• 1982 – Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer
• 1983 – Álvaro Arbeloa, Spanish footballer
• 1983 – Johannes Herber, German basketball player
• 1983 – Rick Kelly, Australian race car driver
• 1983 – Marcelo Garcia, Brazilian martial artist
• 1984 – Calvin Harris, Scottish singer-songwriter, DJ, and producer
• 1984 – Samuel Shaw, American wrestler
• 1984 – Jang Shin-young, South Korean actress
• 1985 – Pablo Barrientos, Argentinian footballer
• 1985 – Betsy Ruth, American wrestler and manager
• 1985 – Simone Simons, Dutch singer-songwriter
• 1985 – Kangin, South Korean singer
• 1987 – Cody Decker, American major league baseball player
• 1987 – Oleksandr Usyk, Ukrainian boxer
• 1988 – Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2013)
• 1988 – Will Genia, Australian rugby player
• 1988 – Héctor Moreno, Mexican footballer
• 1989 – Hollie-Jay Bowes, English singer-songwriter and actress
• 1989 – Björn Dreyer, German footballer
• 1989 – Taylor Jordan, American baseball player
• 1990 – Santiago Tréllez, Colombian footballer
• 1991 – Trevor Bauer, American baseball player
• 2000 – Kang Chan-hee, South Korean actor

Deaths

• 395 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (b. 347)
• 1229 – Albert of Riga, German bishop (b. 1165)
• 1334 – John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond (b. 1266)
• 1345 – Henry of Asti, Greek patriarch
• 1345 – Martino Zaccaria, Aegean ruler
• 1369 – Peter I of Cyprus (b. 1328)
• 1468 – Skanderbeg, Albanian soldier and politician (b. 1405)
• 1598 – Feodor I of Russia (b. 1557)
• 1617 – Fausto Veranzio, Croatian bishop and lexicographer (b. 1551)
• 1705 – John Ray, English botanist and historian (b. 1627)
• 1718 – Benjamin Church, American colonel (b. 1639)
• 1737 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)
• 1738 – Jean-François Dandrieu, French organist and composer (b. 1682)
• 1751 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1671)
• 1826 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish-French composer (b. 1806)
• 1834 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1762)
• 1861 – Lola Montez, Irish actress and dancer (b. 1821)
• 1863 – Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)
• 1869 – Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
• 1874 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Thai conjoined twins (b. 1811)
• 1878 – Edward Shepherd Creasy, English historian and jurist (b. 1812)
• 1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist and herpetologist (b. 1804)
• 1887 – William Giblin, Australian lawyer and politician, 13th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
• 1888 – Big Bear, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1825)
• 1891 – George Bancroft, American historian and politician, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1800)
• 1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American general, lawyer, and politician, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)
• 1903 – Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
• 1908 – Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
• 1909 – Francis Smith, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819)
• 1911 – Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, and geographer (b. 1822)
• 1927 – Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
• 1931 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (b. 1864)
• 1932 – Ahmet Derviş, Turkish general (b. 1881)
• 1932 – Albert Jacka, Australian captain, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1893)
• 1933 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (b. 1848)
• 1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1885)
• 1942 – Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
• 1947 – Pyotr Krasnov, Russian historian and general (b. 1869)
• 1947 – Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, Canadian cardinal (b. 1883)
• 1951 – Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Indian poet, playwright, and director (b. 1903)
• 1952 – Walter Briggs, Sr., American businessman (b. 1877)
• 1956 – Blind Alfred Reed, American singer-songwriter (b. 1880)
• 1961 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
• 1964 – T. H. White, Indian-English author (b. 1906)
• 1967 – Evelyn Nesbit, American model and actress (b. 1884)
• 1970 – Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoon player and educator (b. 1890)
• 1972 – Betty Smith, American author and playwright (b. 1896)
• 1977 – Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (b. 1940)
• 1980 – Barbara Britton, American actress (b. 1919)
• 1981 – Loukas Panourgias, Greek footballer and lawyer (b. 1899)
• 1984 – Kostas Giannidis, Greek pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1903)
• 1987 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentinian director and screenwriter (b. 1908)
• 1988 – Percy Qoboza, South African journalist and author (b. 1938)
• 1991 – Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Frank Pullen, English soldier and businessman (b. 1915)
• 1993 – Albert Hourani, English-Lebanese historian and academic (b. 1915)
• 1994 – Yevgeni Ivanov, Russian spy (b. 1926)
• 1994 – Helen Stephens, American runner, shot putter, and discus thrower (b. 1918)
• 1996 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1936)
• 1996 – Mostafa Sid Ahmed, Sudanese singer (b. 1953)
• 1997 – Bert Kelly, Australian farmer and politician, 20th Australian Minister for the Navy (b. 1912)
• 1997 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (b. 1906)
• 1999 – Robert Eads, American trans man (b. 1945)
• 2000 – Philip Jones, English trumpet player and educator (b. 1928)
• 2000 – Ion Rațiu, Romanian journalist and politician (b. 1917)
• 2001 – Gregory Corso, American poet (b. 1930)
• 2002 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Eddie Meduza, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1948)
• 2002 – Roman Personov, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1932)
• 2003 – Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926)
• 2004 – Raymond Bonham Carter, English banker (b. 1929)
• 2004 – Harry Brecheen, American baseball player and coach (b. 1914)
• 2004 – Ray Stark, American film producer (b. 1915)
• 2004 – Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Charlie Bell, Australian businessman (b. 1960)
• 2005 – Virginia Mayo, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Albert Schatz, American microbiologist and academic (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Zhao Ziyang, Chinese politician, 3rd Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)
• 2006 – Pierre Grondin, Canadian surgeon (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Art Buchwald, American journalist and author (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian engineer and politician (b. 1951)
• 2008 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (b. 1943)
• 2008 – Ernie Holmes, American football player, wrestler, and actor (b. 1948)
• 2009 – Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist and historian (b. 1943)
• 2010 – Gaines Adams, American football player (b. 1983)
• 2010 – Michalis Papakonstantinou, Greek journalist and politician, Foreign Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
• 2010 – Erich Segal, American author and screenwriter (b. 1937)
• 2011 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (b. 1934)
• 2012 – Ernie Alexander, American educator and politician (b. 1933)
• 2012 – Aengus Fanning, Irish journalist (b. 1942)
• 2012 – Carlos Guirao, Spanish guitarist, keyboard player, and composer (b. 1954)
• 2012 – Julius Meimberg, German soldier and pilot (b. 1917)
• 2012 – Johnny Otis, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1921)
• 2012 – Marty Springstead, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1937)
• 2013 – Mehmet Ali Birand, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1941)
• 2013 – Jakob Arjouni, German author (b. 1964)
• 2013 – Yves Debay, Belgian journalist (b. 1954)
• 2013 – John Nkomo, Zimbabwean politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (b. 1934)
• 2013 – Lizbeth Webb, English soprano and actress (b. 1926)
• 2014 – Mohammed Burhanuddin, Indian spiritual leader, 52nd Da'i al-Mutlaq (b. 1915)
• 2014 – Francine Lalonde, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1940)
• 2014 – Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (b. 1942)
• 2014 – John J. McGinty III, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1940)
• 2014 – Sunanda Pushkar, Indian-Canadian businesswoman (b. 1962)
• 2015 – Ken Furphy, English footballer and manager (b. 1931)
• 2015 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress and producer (b. 1931)
• 2015 – Don Harron, Canadian actor and screenwriter (b. 1924)
• 2016 – Blowfly, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
• 2016 – Mondli Cele, South African footballer (b. 1989)
• 2016 – Melvin Day, New Zealand painter and historian (b. 1923)
• 2016 – Dale Griffin, English drummer and producer (b. 1948)
• 2016 – V. Rama Rao, Indian lawyer and politician, 12th Governor of Sikkim (b. 1935)
• 2016 – Sudhindra Thirtha, Indian religious leader (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Anthony the Great (Roman Catholic and Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church)
  • Blessed Angelo Paoli
  • Blessed Gamelbert of Michaelsbuch
  • Charles Gore (Church of England)
  • Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
  • Mildgyth
  • Our Lady of Pontmain
  • Sulpitius the Pious
  • January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Hardware Freedom Day (International observance)
• National Day (Minorca)
• The opening ceremony of Patras Carnival, celebrated until Clean Monday. (Patras)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to January 17.

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Today in Canadian History