Anniversaries 17 February

Birth

Elizabeth Bath2

English poet 1776–1844

Ellen Sturgis Hooper1

American writer 1812–1848

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer1

Spanish poet 1836–1870

Edward German8

English musician and composer 1862–1936

Tom Watson9

American businessman 1874–1956

Frank Rutter4

British art critic 1876–1937

Isabelle Eberhardt3

Swiss explorer and author 1877–1904

Dorothy Canfield Fisher3

American author and social activist 1879–1958

J. Allen Boone1

American writer 1882–1965

Otto Stern2

German physicist 1888–1969

Hans Blüher2

German journalist and writer 1888–1955

Ronald Knox12

English priest and theologian 1888–1957

Ronald Fisher28

English statistician, evolutionary biologist, geneticist, a… 1890–1962

Jibanananda Das3

Bengali poet, writer, novelist and essayist 1899–1954

Sadegh Hedayat10

Iranian writer 1903–1951

Hans Morgenthau15

American political scientist 1904–1980

Luis A. Ferré10

American politician 1904–2003

Cecilia Eusepi1

Italian saint 1910–1928

Andre Norton16

American writer of science fiction and fantasy 1912–2005

Alastair Borthwick1

British journalist 1913–2003

Julia de Burgos1

Puerto Rican politician 1914–1953

Albert L. Lehninger19

American biochemist 1917–1986

Duane Gish4

American biochemist 1921–2013

Robert Newton Peck1

American children's writer 1928

Chaim Potok21

American rabbi 1929–2002

Alejandro Jodorowsky33

Filmmaker and comics writer 1929

Ruth Rendell4

British writer 1930–2015

Barry Humphries4

Australian comedian and actor 1934

John Dominic Crossan1

American academic 1934

Jim Brown2

American former professional football player and current sp… 1936

Huey P. Newton29

Co-founder of the Black Panther Party 1942–1989

Bruce Fogle1

veterinarian and author 1944

Richard Shweder2

American anthropologist 1945

Les Brown24

American politician 1945

Susan Beth Pfeffer28

American writer 1948

José José6

Mexican singer 1948–2019

Dennis Green1

American football coach 1949–2016

Abd al-Bari Atwan1

Palestinian journalist 1950

Mark Bittman1

American journalist, food writer 1950

Patricia de Lille2

Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure 1951

Louis Frederick Kihneman2

American prelate of the Catholic Church (born 1952) 1952

Bill Sali4

American politician 1954

Rene Russo1

actress, model 1954

Don Coscarelli1

American film director, producer and screenwriter 1954

Mo Yan19

Chinese novelist 1955

Loreena McKennitt21

Canadian musician and composer 1957

Robert Dugoni1

1961

Lou Diamond Phillips1

American film, television, and stage actor 1962

Sarah Wollaston2

British politician 1962

Jane Collins2

British politician 1962

Michael Jordan46

American retired professional basketball player and busines… 1963

Larry the Cable Guy38

American stand-up comedian, actor, country music artist, vo… 1963

Dominic Purcell1

actor 1970

Hiroaki Samura1

Japanese graphic novelist 1970

Denise Richards4

American actress and model 1971

Billie Joe Armstrong26

American singer and guitarist 1972

Брайан Уайт1

American country music artist 1974

Joseph Gordon-Levitt21

American actor, director, producer, and writer 1981

Paris Hilton15

American socialite 1981

Tosin Ajibade1

Nigerian writer and blogger 1987

Jake LaTurner1

American politician 1988

Bonnie Wright2

English actress, model, screenwriter, director and producer 1991

Ed Sheeran10

English singer-songwriter and producer 1991

Meaghan Martin2

American musician and actor 1992

Death

Al-Tabari9

influential Persian scholar, historian and exegete of the Q… 839–923

Giordano Bruno62

Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer 1548–1600

Molière72

French playwright and actor 1622–1673

Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières1

French writer 1638–1694

Dharma Raja2

Maharaja of Travancore 1724–1798

James Macpherson46

Scottish writer, poet, translator, and politician 1736–1796

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi6

Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer 1746–1827

Adolphe Quetelet52

Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociolo… 1796–1874

Heinrich Heine61

German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic 1797–1856

Horace Bushnell32

American theologian 1802–1876

Geronimo7

leader of the Bedonkohe Apache 1829–1909

Edward Macnaghten, Baron Macnaghten8

Anglo-Irish rower, barrister, politician and Lord of Appeal… 1830–1913

Charles Stuart Calverley10

British poet 1831–1884

Henry Steel Olcott7

Union United States Army officer 1832–1907

Joaquin Miller43

American judge 1837–1913

William Paine Lord1

American politician 1838–1911

Frances Willard2

American suffragist 1839–1898

Wilfrid Laurier2

7th prime minister of Canada 1841–1919

L. P. Jacks26

British educator, philosopher, and Unitarian minister 1860–1955

Siegbert Tarrasch10

German chess player, chess writer, and chess theoretician 1862–1934

Alfred P. Sloan47

American businessman 1875–1966

Albert I of Belgium2

third King of the Belgians 1875–1934

Hans Hofmann67

American artist 1880–1966

Edvige Carboni2

Italian Mystic 1880–1952

Shmuel Yosef Agnon1

Israeli Hebrew writer, Nobel laureate in Literature 1888–1970

Ernst Jünger16

German writer 1895–1998

Jiddu Krishnamurti233

Indian spiritual philosopher 1895–1986

Adolf A. Berle14

American diplomat 1895–1971

Graham Sutherland1

English artist 1903–1980

Ernst Käsemann1

German theologian 1906–1998

Jesse Stuart2

American writer 1907–1984

Richard Wurmbrand18

Romanian Christian minister of Jewish descent 1909–2001

Marie-Louise von Franz30

Swiss psychologist and scholar 1915–1998

Thelonious Monk5

American jazz pianist and composer 1917–1982

Maurice Bucaille3

French physician and author 1920–1998

Kathryn Grayson2

actress from the United States 1922–2010

Ulric Neisser10

American psychologist 1928–2012

Nicolas Bouvier1

Swiss writer, artist and traveller 1929–1998

Michael Novak1

American theologian, philosopher, journalist, novelist, and… 1933–2017

Tom Regan9

American philosopher 1938–2017

Randy Shilts1

American journalist 1951–1994

Perry Moore3

Executive producer of the Narnia films and author of award-… 1971–2011