March 17
March 17 is the 76th day of the year (77th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 289 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
Up to 1900
- 45 BC - Titus Labienus, Roman leader (b. 100 BC)
- 45 BC - Publius Attius Varus, Roman Governor of Africa
- 180 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor (b. 121)
- unknown year (probably 461 or 493) – Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
- 659 - Gertrude of Nivelles, Belgian abbess (b. 626)
- 1040 – Harold Harefoot, King of England
- 1058 - Lulach, King of the Scots
- 1199 - Jocelyn of Glasgow, Scottish monk and bishop (b. 1130)
- 1272 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (b. 1220)
- 1425 – Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (b. 1407)
- 1516 - Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1479)
- 1620 - John Sarkander, Polish-Moravian priest and saint (b. 1576)
- 1680 - François de Rochefoucauld, French author (b. 1613)
- 1741 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (b. 1674)
- 1782 – Daniel Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1700)
- 1830 - Lauren de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French politician (b. 1764)
- 1846 - Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1764)
- 1849 – King William II of the Netherlands (b. 1792)
- 1853 – Christian Doppler, Austrian physician and mathematician (b. 1803)
- 1871 - Robert Chambers, Scottish geologist and publisher (b. 1802)
- 1875 - Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1832)
- 1886 - Leopold Zunz, German Jewish scientist (b. 1794)
- 1893 - Jules Ferry, French statesman (b. 1832)
1901 – 2000
- 1917 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher (b. 1838)
- 1921 - Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky, Russian mathematician and engineer (b. 1847)
- 1926 - Aleksei Brusilov, Russian general (b. 1853)
- 1937 – Austen Chamberlain, English statesman (b. 1863)
- 1941 - Marguerite Nichols, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1946 - Dai Li, Chinese spymaster (b. 1897)
- 1956 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist (b. 1897)
- 1956 - Fred Allen, American actor (b. 1894)
- 1957 – Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
- 1958 - John Pius Boland, Irish politician and tennis player (b. 1870)
- 1961 - Susanna M. Salter, American politician (b. 1860)
- 1962 - Pat Clayton, English soldier and surveyor (b. 1896)
- 1976 - Luchino Visconti, Italian director (b. 1906)
- 1980 - Boun Oum, Laotian politician (b. 1912)
- 1983 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist (b. 1903)
- 1986 - Heinz Nixdorf, German computer pioneer and entrepreneur (b. 1925)
- 1990 - Capucine, French actress (b. 1931)
- 1993 – Charlotte Hughes, British supercentenarian (b. 1877)
- 1993 - Helen Hayes, American actress (b. 1900)
- 1994 - Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1925)
- 1995 - Sunnyland Slim, American blues musician (b. 1907)
- 1995 – Ronnie Kray, British gangster (b. 1933)
- 1996 - Rene Clement, French movie director and screenwriter (b. 1913)
- 1996 - Terry Stafford, American singer (b. 1941)
- 1999 - Jean Pierre-Bloch, French resistance activist and politician (b. 1905)
From 2001
- 2002 - Van Tien Dung, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1917)
- 2002 - William Witney, American director (b. 1915)
- 2003 - Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (b. 1902)
- 2005 - George F. Kennan, American historian and diplomat (b. 1904)
- 2006 - Oleg Cassini, American fashion designer (b. 1913)
- 2006 - G. William Miller, American politician (b. 1925)
- 2007 - John Backus, American computer scientist (b. 1924)
- 2007 - Ernst Haefliger, Swiss tenor (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Clodovil Hernandes, Brazilian politician and television host (b. 1937)
- 2010 – Alex Chilton, American musician (b. 1950)
- 2010 - Sid Fleischman, American writer (b. 1920)
- 2011 – Michael Gough, British actor (b. 1916)
- 2012 - John Demjanjuk, Ukrainian convicted Nazi war criminal (b. 1920)
- 2012 - Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, leader of the Egyptian Coptic Church (b. 1923)
- 2014 - Mareike Carrière, German actress (b. 1954)
- 2014 - L'Wren Scott, American fashion designer and model (b. 1964)
- 2014 - Oswald Morris, British cinematographer (b. 1915)
- 2014 - Antoni Opolski, Polish physicist (b. 1913)
- 2014 - Mercy Edirisinghe, Sri Lankan actress and singer (b. 1945)
- 2015 - Shaw Taylor, English television presenter and actor (b. 1924)
- 2015 - Ashley Adams, Australian Paralympic shooter (b. 1955)
- 2016 - Shozo Awazu, Japanese judoka (b. 1923)
- 2016 - Paul Daniels, English magician (b. 1938)
- 2016 - Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official (b. 1945)
- 2016 - Solomon Marcus, Romanian mathematician (b. 1925)
- 2016 - Larry Drake, American actor (b. 1950)
- 2016 - Marian Kociniak, Polish actor (b. 1935)
- 2017 - Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and playwright (b. 1930)
- 2017 - Hugh Hardy, Spanish-American architect (b. 1932)
- 2017 - Lawrence Montaigne, American actor (b. 1931)
- 2017 - Auntie Fee, American YouTube personality (b. 1957)
- 2017 - Inomjon Usmonxo'jayev, Soviet-Uzbek politician (b. 1930)
- 2018 - Phan Van Khai, former Prime minister of Vietnam (b. 1933)
- 2018 - Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell, Welsh politician (b. 1934)
- 2018 - Mike MacDonald, Canadian comedian (b. 1955)
- 2019 - Jorge Insunza Becker, Chilean engineer and politician (b. 1936)
- 2019 - Bill Burlison, American politician (b. 1931)
- 2019 - Manohar Parrikar, Indian politician (b. 1955)
- 2019 - Andre Williams, American R&B musician (b. 1936)
Births
1901 – 1950
- 1902 – Bobby Jones, American golfer (d. 1971)
- 1906 - Brigitte Helm, German actress (d. 1996)
- 1907 – Miki Takeo, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1988)
- 1907 - Jean Van Houtte, Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1991)
- 1907 - John O. Pastore, Governor of Rhode Island (d. 2000)
- 1911 - Vello Kaaristo, Estonian cross-country skier (d. 1965)
- 1912 - Bayard Rustin, American Civil rights activist (d. 1987)
- 1914 - Juan Ongania, Argentine military officer and politician (d. 1995)
- 1915 - Ray Ellington, British singer (d. 1985)
- 1919 – Nat King Cole, American singer (d. 1965)
- 1920 - Jose Tomas Sanchez, Filipino cardinal (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Meir Amit, Israeli politician and general (d. 2009)
- 1922 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bengali founder (d. 1975)
- 1925 - Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (d. 2015)
- 1926 - Siegfried Lenz, German writer (d. 2014)
- 1927 - Francisco Gonzalez Ledesma, Spanish writer (d. 2015)
- 1927 - Patrick Allen, British actor (d. 2006)
- 1929 - Peter L. Berger, Austrian philosopher (d. 2017)
- 1930 – James Irwin, American astronaut (d. 1991)
- 1933 – Penelope Lively, British writer
- 1933 - Heather Armitage, British athlete
- 1935 - Oscar Panno, Argentine chess player
- 1936 - Ken Mattingly, American admiral, pilot and astronaut
- 1937 - Adam Wade, American singer, drummer and actor
- 1937 - Galina Samsova, Russian ballet dancer
- 1938 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
- 1938 – Keith O'Brien, former Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh and cardinal (d. 2018)
- 1939 – Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian footballer and manager
- 1939 - Robin Knox-Johnston, British yachtsman
- 1939 - Bill Graham, Canadian politician
- 1940 - Mark White, 40th Governor of Texas (d. 2017)
- 1940 - Jim Telfer, Scottish rugby player
- 1941 - Paul Kantner, American musician (d. 2016)
- 1942 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (d. 1994; executed by lethal injection)
- 1943 - Jim Weatherly, American singer-songwriter
- 1943 - Bakili Muluzi, former President of Malawi
- 1944 - John Sebastian, American singer, songwriter and guitarist
- 1944 - Juan Ramon Veron, Argentine footballer and coach
- 1944 - Cito Galston, American baseball player
- 1945 – Michael Hayden, General USAF, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
- 1945 - Elis Regina, Brazilian singer (d. 1982)
- 1947 - Yury Chernavsky, Russian composer and producer
- 1948 - William Gibson, American writer
- 1949 – Patrick Duffy, American actor
- 1949 - Pat Rice, Irish footballer and coach
- 1949 - Hartmut Briesenick, East German athlete (d. 2013)
- 1949 - Stuart Rose, English businessman
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Donald Findlay, Scottish lawyer
- 1951 - Sydne Rome, American actress
- 1951 - Kurt Russell, American actor
- 1954 - Lesley-Anne Down, English actress and singer
- 1955 – Cynthia McKinney, American politician
- 1955 – Gary Sinise, American actor
- 1955 - Mark Boone Junior, American actor
- 1956 - Rory McGrath, English comedian and writer
- 1957 - Michael Kelly, American journalist (d. 2003)
- 1958 - José-Manuel Abascal, Spanish middle-distance runner
- 1958 - Christian Clemenson, American actor
- 1960 - Ruth Langsford, English television presenter
- 1960 - Michael Whitaker, English equestrian
- 1961 - Sam Bowie, American basketball player
- 1961 - Casey Siemaszko, American actor
- 1961 - Dana Reeve, American actress and activist (d. 2006)
- 1962 – Clare Grogan, Scottish singer and actress
- 1962 - Rob Sitch, Australian actor, director, producer and screenwriter
- 1962 - Kalpana Chawla, Indian astronaut (d. 2003)
- 1964 - Stefano Borgonovo, Italian footballer (d. 2013)
- 1964 – Lee Dixon, English footballer and pundit
- 1964 – Rob Lowe, American actor
- 1964 – Jacques Songo'o, Cameroonian footballer
- 1966 - Espen Hammer, Norwegian philosopher
- 1966 - Andrew Rosindell, English politician
- 1967 - Billy Corgan, American musician
- 1969 – Alexander McQueen, British fashion designer (d. 2010)
- 1969 - Bruce Parry, British former soldier, traveler and adventurer
- 1969 - Patricia Ford, American model
- 1969 - Edgar Gronspiron, French skier
- 1972 – Mia Hamm, American soccer player
- 1972 - Sean Price, American rapper an producer
- 1973 – Caroline Corr, Irish singer and musician
- 1974 – Mark Dolan, British television presenter
- 1975 – Justin Hawkins, British singer (The Darkness)
- 1975 - Puneeth Rajkumar, Indian actor, singer and producer
- 1975 - Gina Holden, Canadian actress
- 1975 - Andrew Martin, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2009)
From 1976
- 1976 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer (Boyzone) (d. 2009)
- 1976 - Alvaro Recoba, Uruguayan footballer
- 1976 - Brittany Daniel, American actress
- 1976 - Cynthia Daniel, American actress and photographer
- 1978 - Pilar Rubio, Spanish actress
- 1978 - Owen Thompson, Scottish politician
- 1979 - Sharman Joshi, Indian actor
- 1979 - Stephen Kramer Glickman, American actor and comedian
- 1979 - Million Wolde, Ethiopian runner
- 1981 - Nicky Jam, American singer and songwriter
- 1981 - Servet Cetin, Turkish footballer
- 1982 – Steven Pienaar, South African footballer
- 1983 – Raul Meireles, Portuguese footballer
- 1983 - Matteo Paro, Italian footballer
- 1984 - Ryan Rottman, American actor
- 1986 – Edin Dzeko, Bosnian footballer
- 1987 – Bobby Ryan, American ice hockey player
- 1987 - Rob Kardashian, American television personality
- 1987 - Ryan Parent, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 - Federico Fazio, Argentine footballer
- 1988 - Fraser Forster, English footballer
- 1988 - Rasmus Elm, Swedish footballer
- 1988 - Grimes, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1988 - Jack Monroe, English food writer, journalist and activist
- 1989 – Shinji Kagawa, Japanese footballer
- 1989 - Mason Musso, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1990 - Hozier, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1990 - Jean Segura, Dominican baseball player
- 1991 - Thomas Robinson, American basketball player
- 1992 - Eliza Bennett, English actress and singer
- 1992 - John Boyega, English actor
- 1992 - Yeltsin Tejeda, Costa Rican footballer
- 1997 - Katie Ledecky, American swimmer
Deaths
Holidays
- St. Patrick's Day - celebrating the patron saint of Ireland, celebrated in Ireland and in Irish communities worldwide
- Children's Day (Bangladesh)