The 17t o December is the 351t day o the year (352t in lowp years) in the Gregorian Calendar, wi 14 days bidin.
- 1619 - Prince Ruprecht o the Palainate, Duke o Cumberland (d. 1682)
- 1778 - Humphry Davy, Cornish chemist (d. 1829)
- 1797 - Joseph Henry, American scientist (d. 1878)
- 1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet (d. 1892)
- 1824 - John Kerr, Scots pheesicist (d. 1907)
- 1849 - Peter Hume Brown, Scots historian an professor (d. 1918)
- 1874 - William Lyon Mackenzie King, Prime meenister o Canadae (d. 1950)
- 1908 - Willard Libby, American pheesical chemist (d. 1980)
- 1915 - Stuart Hood, Scots novelist (d. 2011)
- 1930 - Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor
- 1936 - Pape Francis
- 1942 - Muhammadu Buhari, Preses o Nigerie
- 1947 - Mykola Azarov, Ukrainian politeecian, umwhile Prime meenister o Ukraine
- 1958 - Mike Mills, American muisicker (R.E.M.)
- 1967 - Gigi D'Agostino, Italian DJ an sangster
- 1973 - Paula Radcliffe, Inglis athlete
- 1974 - Sarah Paulson, American actress
- 1974 - Giovanni Ribisi, American actor
- 1975 - Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-American model an actress
- 1976 - Xanthé Mallett, Scots forensic anthropologist, creeminologist an telly presenter
- 1978 - Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer an politeecian
- 1987 - Chelsea Manning, American sodger an activist
- 1988 - David Rudisha, Kenyan runner
- 1991 - Tom Walker, Scots sangster-sangwriter
- 1187 - Pape Gregory VIII (b. 1100)
- 1648 - George Gillespie, Scots theologian (b. 1613)
- 1830 - Simon Bolivar, Sooth American revolutionary (b. 1783)
- 1907 - William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Erse-Scots pheesicist an ingineer (b. 1824)
- 1909 - Leopold II o Belgium (b. 1835)
- 1921 - Thomas Algernon Chapman, Scots entomologist; b. 1842
- 1964 - Victor Francis Hess, Austrick pheesicist (b. 1883)
- 1967 - Harold Holt, Prime Meenister o Australie (b. 1908)
- 2009 - Jennifer Jones, American actress (b. 1919)
- 2011 - Kim Jong-il, leader o North Korea (b. 1941)
- 2012 - Daniel Inouye, American politeecian (b. 1924)
- 2018 - Penny Marshall, American actress (b. 1943)