- Change theme
Search by Keyword
Search by Date
This Day On History
| Date | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 17th of May 1521 | EVENT | Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason. |
| 17th of May 1536 | EVENT | George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason. |
| 17th of May 1590 | EVENT | Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland. |
| 17th of May 1642 | EVENT | Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve (1612 : 1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montreal. |
| 17th of May 1673 | EVENT | Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River. |
| 17th of May 1775 | EVENT | American Revolutionary War: the Continental Congress bans trade with Canada. |
| 17th of May 1792 | EVENT | The New York Stock Exchange is formed. |
| 17th of May 1805 | EVENT | Muhammad Ali becomes Wali of Egypt. |
| 17th of May 1809 | EVENT | Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. |
| 17th of May 1814 | EVENT | Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian. |
| 17th of May 1814 | EVENT | The Constitution of Norway is signed and the Danish Crown Prince Christian Frederik is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly. |
| 17th of May 1849 | EVENT | A large fire nearly burns St. Louis, Missouri to the ground. |
| 17th of May 1863 | EVENT | Rosalia de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language. |
| 17th of May 1865 | EVENT | The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris. |
| 17th of May 1869 | EVENT | Imperial Japanese forces defeat the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Battle of Hakodate to end the Boshin War. |
| 17th of May 1875 | EVENT | Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby. |
| 17th of May 1900 | EVENT | Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking. |
| 17th of May 1902 | EVENT | Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer. |
| 17th of May 1914 | EVENT | The Protocol of Corfu is signed recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty. |
| 17th of May 1915 | EVENT | The last British Liberal Party government (led by Herbert Henry Asquith) falls. |
| 17th of May 1919 | EVENT | The British War Department orders use of National Star Insignia on all airplanes. |
| 17th of May 1933 | EVENT | Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling -- the national-socialist party of Norway. |
| 17th of May 1939 | EVENT | The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City. |
| 17th of May 1940 | EVENT | World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium. |
| 17th of May 1940 | EVENT | World War II: the old city centre of the Dutch town of Middelburg is bombed by the German Luftwaffe, to force the surrender of the Dutch armies in Zeeland. |
| 17th of May 1943 | EVENT | World War II: the Dambuster Raids by No. 617 Squadron RAF on German dams. |
| 17th of May 1943 | EVENT | The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC. |
| 17th of May 1954 | EVENT | The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. |
| 17th of May 1967 | EVENT | Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt. |
| 17th of May 1969 | EVENT | Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure. |
| 17th of May 1970 | EVENT | Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean. |
| 17th of May 1973 | EVENT | Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate. |
| 17th of May 1974 | EVENT | Police in Los Angeles, California, raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall. |
| 17th of May 1974 | EVENT | Dublin and Monaghan bombings: Thirty-three civilians are killed when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) explodes car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. |
| 17th of May 1980 | EVENT | On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho, starting the Internal conflict in Peru. |
| 17th of May 1980 | EVENT | General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations. |
| 17th of May 1983 | EVENT | The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request. |
| 17th of May 1983 | EVENT | Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. |
| 17th of May 1984 | EVENT | Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend," sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture. |
| 17th of May 1987 | EVENT | An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew. |
| 17th of May 1990 | EVENT | The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases. |
| 17th of May 1992 | EVENT | Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, many disappearances, hundreds of injuries, and over 3,500 arrests. |
| 17th of May 1994 | EVENT | Malawi holds its first multi-party elections. |
| 17th of May 1997 | EVENT | Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo. |
| 17th of May 2004 | EVENT | Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage. |
| 17th of May 2006 | EVENT | The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef. |
| 17th of May 2007 | EVENT | Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953. |
| 17th of May 2009 | EVENT | Dalia Grybauskaite is elected the first female President of Lithuania. |
| 17th of May 2011 | EVENT | Queen Elizabeth II's historic first visit to the Republic of Ireland. The first visit of a British monarch to Ireland since the visit of George V and Queen Mary in 1911. |
| 17th of May 1155 | BIRTHDAY | Jien, Japanese poet and historian (d. 1225) |
| 17th of May 1443 | BIRTHDAY | Edmund, Earl of Rutland, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (d. 1460) |
| 17th of May 1551 | BIRTHDAY | Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (d. 1601) |
| 17th of May 1628 | BIRTHDAY | Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria, Regent of Tyrol (d. 1662) |
| 17th of May 1682 | BIRTHDAY | Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate (d. 1722) |
| 17th of May 1706 | BIRTHDAY | Andreas Felix von Oefele, German historian and librarian (d. 1780) |
| 17th of May 1718 | BIRTHDAY | Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat and politician (d. 1778) |
| 17th of May 1743 | BIRTHDAY | Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (d. 1784) |
| 17th of May 1749 | BIRTHDAY | Edward Jenner, English medical researcher (d. 1823) |
| 17th of May 1758 | BIRTHDAY | John St Aubyn, British fossil collector (d. 1839) |
| 17th of May 1768 | BIRTHDAY | Caroline of Brunswick, German-born Queen consort of George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1821) |
| 17th of May 1768 | BIRTHDAY | Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English general (d. 1854) |
| 17th of May 1794 | BIRTHDAY | Anna Brownell Jameson, British writer (d. 1860) |
| 17th of May 1821 | BIRTHDAY | Sebastian Kneipp, German naturopathist (d. 1897) |
| 17th of May 1836 | BIRTHDAY | Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian chess player (d. 1900) |
| 17th of May 1836 | BIRTHDAY | Virginie Loveling, Belgian writer and poet (d. 1923) |
| 17th of May 1844 | BIRTHDAY | Julius Wellhausen, German biblical scholar (d. 1918) |
| 17th of May 1845 | BIRTHDAY | Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan poet (d. 1902) |
| 17th of May 1866 | BIRTHDAY | Erik Satie, French composer (d. 1925) |
| 17th of May 1868 | BIRTHDAY | Horace Elgin Dodge, American automobile manufacturer (d. 1920) |
| 17th of May 1873 | BIRTHDAY | Henri Barbusse, French novelist and journalist (d. 1935) |
| 17th of May 1873 | BIRTHDAY | Dorothy Richardson, English writer (d. 1957) |
| 17th of May 1879 | BIRTHDAY | Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (d. 1926) |
| 17th of May 1886 | BIRTHDAY | King Alfonso XIII of Spain (d. 1941) |
| 17th of May 1888 | BIRTHDAY | Tich Freeman, English cricketer (d. 1965) |
| 17th of May 1891 | BIRTHDAY | Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife (d. 1959) |
| 17th of May 1891 | BIRTHDAY | Napoleon Zervas, Greek general and resistance leader during World War II (d. 1957) |
| 17th of May 1895 | BIRTHDAY | Mary Josephine Ray, Canadian supercentenarian (d. 2010) |
| 17th of May 1895 | BIRTHDAY | Saul Adler FRS, Russian-born British-Israeli expert on parasitology (d. 1966) |
| 17th of May 1897 | BIRTHDAY | Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981) |
| 17th of May 1898 | BIRTHDAY | Alfred Joseph Casson, Canadian painter (d. 1992) |
| 17th of May 1901 | BIRTHDAY | Werner Egk, German composer (d. 1983) |
| 17th of May 1903 | BIRTHDAY | Cool Papa Bell, baseball player (d. 1991) |
| 17th of May 1904 | BIRTHDAY | Jean Gabin, French actor (d. 1976) |
| 17th of May 1906 | BIRTHDAY | Zinka Milanov, Croatian soprano (d. 1989) |
| 17th of May 1909 | BIRTHDAY | Julius Sumner Miller, American physicist (d. 1987) |
| 17th of May 1911 | BIRTHDAY | Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish-born supermodel (d. 1992) |
| 17th of May 1911 | BIRTHDAY | Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish actress (d. 1998) |
| 17th of May 1912 | BIRTHDAY | Ace Parker, American baseball and football player |
| 17th of May 1913 | BIRTHDAY | Hans Ruesch, Swiss racing driver (d. 2007) |
| 17th of May 1918 | BIRTHDAY | Birgit Nilsson, Swedish soprano (d. 2005) |
| 17th of May 1918 | BIRTHDAY | A. C. Lyles, American film producer |
| 17th of May 1919 | BIRTHDAY | Merle Miller, American biographer (d. 1986) |
| 17th of May 1919 | BIRTHDAY | Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer and actor (d. 2007) |
| 17th of May 1921 | BIRTHDAY | Dennis Brain, English French horn player (d. 1957) |
| 17th of May 1921 | BIRTHDAY | Bob Merrill, American composer and lyricist (d. 1998) |
| 17th of May 1926 | BIRTHDAY | Franz Sondheimer, German-born British chemist (d. 1981) |
| 17th of May 1931 | BIRTHDAY | Marshall Applewhite, American cult leader of Heaven's Gate (d. 1997) |
| 17th of May 1934 | BIRTHDAY | Friedrich-Wilhelm Kiel, German politician |
| 17th of May 1935 | BIRTHDAY | Dennis Potter, English writer (d. 1994) |
| 17th of May 1936 | BIRTHDAY | Dennis Hopper, American actor and director (d. 2010) |
| 17th of May 1937 | BIRTHDAY | Hazel R. O'Leary, 7th United States Secretary of Energy |
| 17th of May 1938 | BIRTHDAY | Jason Bernard, American actor (d. 1996) |
| 17th of May 1939 | BIRTHDAY | Gary Paulsen, American author |
| 17th of May 1940 | BIRTHDAY | Alan Kay, American computer scientist |
| 17th of May 1940 | BIRTHDAY | Reynato Puno, Filipino Supreme Court Chief Justice |
| 17th of May 1941 | BIRTHDAY | David Cope, American composer and author |
| 17th of May 1941 | BIRTHDAY | Grace Zabriskie, American actress |
| 17th of May 1941 | BIRTHDAY | Ben Nelson. 40th Governor of Nebraska & United States Senator from Nebraska |
| 17th of May 1942 | BIRTHDAY | Taj Mahal, American musician |
| 17th of May 1943 | BIRTHDAY | Johnny Warren, Australian footballer (d. 2004) |
| 17th of May 1945 | BIRTHDAY | Tony Roche, Australian tennis player |
| 17th of May 1946 | BIRTHDAY | F. Paul Wilson, American novelist |
| 17th of May 1946 | BIRTHDAY | Udo Lindenberg, German musician |
| 17th of May 1947 | BIRTHDAY | Andrew Latimer, English musician (Camel (band)) |
| 17th of May 1948 | BIRTHDAY | Dick Gaughan, Scottish musician, singer and songwriter |
| 17th of May 1949 | BIRTHDAY | Bill Bruford, English drummer (Yes, King Crimson) |
| 17th of May 1950 | BIRTHDAY | Howard Ashman, American lyricist (d. 1991) |
| 17th of May 1950 | BIRTHDAY | Valeria Novodvorskaya, Russian politician, dissident, founder and chairwoman of the Democratic Union party |
| 17th of May 1950 | BIRTHDAY | Janez Drnovsek, Slovenian politician (d. 2008) |
| 17th of May 1951 | BIRTHDAY | Simon Hughes, British politician |
| 17th of May 1952 | BIRTHDAY | Howard Hampton, Canadian politician |
| 17th of May 1953 | BIRTHDAY | Luca Prodan, Italian-Scottish singer and musician (Sumo, Hurlingham Reggae Band) |
| 17th of May 1955 | BIRTHDAY | Bill Paxton, American actor and film director |
| 17th of May 1956 | BIRTHDAY | Bob Saget, American actor |
| 17th of May 1956 | BIRTHDAY | Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer |
| 17th of May 1956 | BIRTHDAY | Dave Sim, Canadian cartoonist |
| 17th of May 1957 | BIRTHDAY | Pascual Perez, Dominican baseball player |
| 17th of May 1958 | BIRTHDAY | Paul Di'Anno, English singer (Iron Maiden) |
| 17th of May 1959 | BIRTHDAY | Marcelo Loffreda, Argentine rugby player and coach |
| 17th of May 1959 | BIRTHDAY | Jim Nantz, American broadcaster |
| 17th of May 1960 | BIRTHDAY | Lou DiBella, American boxing promoter |
| 17th of May 1961 | BIRTHDAY | Enya, Irish singer and songwriter |
| 17th of May 1962 | BIRTHDAY | Craig Ferguson, Scottish actor and comedian |
| 17th of May 1962 | BIRTHDAY | Lise Lyng Falkenberg, Danish writer |
| 17th of May 1963 | BIRTHDAY | Page McConnell, American musician and songwriter (Phish) |
| 17th of May 1963 | BIRTHDAY | Jon Koncak, American basketball player |
| 17th of May 1964 | BIRTHDAY | Stratos Apostolakis, Greek footballer |
| 17th of May 1964 | BIRTHDAY | Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (d. 1999) |
| 17th of May 1965 | BIRTHDAY | Trent Reznor, American musician (Nine Inch Nails) |
| 17th of May 1965 | BIRTHDAY | Jeremy Vine, British journalist and presenter |
| 17th of May 1965 | BIRTHDAY | Paige Turco, American actress |
| 17th of May 1966 | BIRTHDAY | Hill Harper, American actor |
| 17th of May 1966 | BIRTHDAY | Mark Kratzmann, Australian tennis player |
| 17th of May 1966 | BIRTHDAY | Danny Manning, American basketball player |
| 17th of May 1969 | BIRTHDAY | Tabatha Coffey, Australian hairstylist and television personality |
| 17th of May 1969 | BIRTHDAY | Alan Doyle, Canadian musician (Great Big Sea) |
| 17th of May 1969 | BIRTHDAY | Thom Filicia, American television personality |
| 17th of May 1970 | BIRTHDAY | Hubert Davis, American basketball player |
| 17th of May 1970 | BIRTHDAY | Jordan Knight, American singer (New Kids on the Block) |
| 17th of May 1970 | BIRTHDAY | Matt Lindland, American mixed martial arts fighter |
| 17th of May 1970 | BIRTHDAY | Angelica Agurbash, Belarusian singer, actress and model |
| 17th of May 1971 | BIRTHDAY | Shaun Hart, Australian footballer |
| 17th of May 1971 | BIRTHDAY | Princess Maxima of the Netherlands |
| 17th of May 1973 | BIRTHDAY | Steve Barakatt, Canadian composer |
| 17th of May 1973 | BIRTHDAY | Josh Homme, American musician and songwriter (Queens of the Stone Age) |
| 17th of May 1973 | BIRTHDAY | Sasha Alexander, American television actress |
| 17th of May 1973 | BIRTHDAY | Matthew McGrory, American actor (d. 2005) |
| 17th of May 1974 | BIRTHDAY | Andrea Corr, Irish singer (The Corrs) |
| 17th of May 1974 | BIRTHDAY | Wiki Gonzalez, Venezuelan baseball player |
| 17th of May 1974 | BIRTHDAY | Eddie Lewis, American football (soccer) player |
| 17th of May 1974 | BIRTHDAY | Sendhil Ramamurthy, American actor |
| 17th of May 1975 | BIRTHDAY | Jonti Picking, British cartoonist |
| 17th of May 1975 | BIRTHDAY | Cheick Kongo, French martial artist |
| 17th of May 1975 | BIRTHDAY | Kostas Sommer, Greek actor |
| 17th of May 1975 | BIRTHDAY | Laura Voutilainen, Finnish singer |
| 17th of May 1975 | BIRTHDAY | Alex Wright, German professional wrestler |
| 17th of May 1976 | BIRTHDAY | Jose Guillen, Dominican baseball player |
| 17th of May 1976 | BIRTHDAY | Leehom Wang, American-born Taiwanese musician and composer |
| 17th of May 1978 | BIRTHDAY | Paddy Kenny, Irish football goalkeeper |
| 17th of May 1978 | BIRTHDAY | John Foster, American baseball player |
| 17th of May 1978 | BIRTHDAY | Carlos Pena, Dominican baseball player |
| 17th of May 1979 | BIRTHDAY | Wayne Thomas, English footballer |
| 17th of May 1980 | BIRTHDAY | Davor Dzalto, Serbian/Croatian art historian |
| 17th of May 1980 | BIRTHDAY | Dallas Taylor, American singer (Underoath) |
| 17th of May 1981 | BIRTHDAY | Benat Albizuri, Spanish cyclist |
| 17th of May 1981 | BIRTHDAY | Leon Osman, English footballer |
| 17th of May 1981 | BIRTHDAY | Giannis Taralidis, Greek footballer |
| 17th of May 1981 | BIRTHDAY | Shiri Maimon, Israeli singer |
| 17th of May 1981 | BIRTHDAY | Lim Jeong Hee, Korean singer |
| 17th of May 1982 | BIRTHDAY | Matt Cassel, American football player |
| 17th of May 1982 | BIRTHDAY | Tony Parker, French-American basketball player |
| 17th of May 1982 | BIRTHDAY | Reiko Nakamura, Japanese swimmer |
| 17th of May 1983 | BIRTHDAY | Nicky Hofs, Dutch footballer |
| 17th of May 1983 | BIRTHDAY | Jeremy Sowers, American baseball player |
| 17th of May 1983 | BIRTHDAY | Channing Frye, American basketball player |
| 17th of May 1983 | BIRTHDAY | Chris Henry, American football player (d. 2009) |
| 17th of May 1984 | BIRTHDAY | Christine Robinson, Canadian water polo player |
| 17th of May 1984 | BIRTHDAY | Christian Bolanos, Costa Rican footballer |
| 17th of May 1985 | BIRTHDAY | Matt Ryan, American football player |
| 17th of May 1985 | BIRTHDAY | Derek Hough, American dancer and singer |
| 17th of May 1986 | BIRTHDAY | Tahj Mowry, American actor |
| 17th of May 1988 | BIRTHDAY | Nikki Reed, American actress |
| 17th of May 1989 | BIRTHDAY | Tessa Virtue, Canadian ice dancer |
| 17th of May 1990 | BIRTHDAY | Leven Rambin, American actress |
| 17th of May 1991 | BIRTHDAY | Daniel Curtis Lee, American actor |
| 17th of May 1991 | BIRTHDAY | Adil Omar, Pakistani rapper |
| 17th of May 1996 | BIRTHDAY | Ryan Ochoa, American teen actor |
| 17th of May 0290 | DEATH | Sima Yan (Jin Wudi), Chinese emperor of the Jin Dynasty (Born 236) |
| 17th of May 1189 | DEATH | Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (Born 1159) |
| 17th of May 1336 | DEATH | Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (Born 1288) |
| 17th of May 1365 | DEATH | Louis VI the Roman, Duke of Bavaria and Elector of Brandenburg (Born 1328) |
| 17th of May 1395 | DEATH | Constantine Dragas, Serbian ruler of a semi-independent realm |
| 17th of May 1464 | DEATH | Thomas de Ros, 10th Baron de Ros, English politician (executed) (Born 1427) |
| 17th of May 1510 | DEATH | Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (Born 1445) |
| 17th of May 1521 | DEATH | Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, English politician (Born 1478) |
| 17th of May 1536 | DEATH | George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, English diplomat (executed) (Born c. 1504) |
| 17th of May 1536 | DEATH | Francis Weston, English courtier and Gentleman of the Privy Chamber (executed) (Born 1511) |
| 17th of May 1536 | DEATH | Henry Norris, English courtier and Groom of the Stool (executed) (Born c. 1482) |
| 17th of May 1536 | DEATH | William Brereton, English courtier and Groom of the Privy Chamber (executed) |
| 17th of May 1536 | DEATH | Mark Smeaton, English courtier and musician (executed) (Born c. 1512) |
| 17th of May 1575 | DEATH | Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (Born 1504) |
| 17th of May 1626 | DEATH | Juan Pujol, Catalan composer (Born 1570) |
| 17th of May 1643 | DEATH | Giovanni Picchi, Italian composer |
| 17th of May 1727 | DEATH | Empress Catherine I of Russia (Born 1684) |
| 17th of May 1729 | DEATH | Samuel Clarke, English philosopher (Born 1675) |
| 17th of May 1765 | DEATH | Alexis Claude Clairaut, French mathematician (Born 1713) |
| 17th of May 1797 | DEATH | Michel-Jean Sedaine, French dramatist (Born 1719) |
| 17th of May 1801 | DEATH | William Heberden, English physician (Born 1710) |
| 17th of May 1807 | DEATH | John Gunby, Maryland Soldier in the American Revolutionary War (Born 1745) |
| 17th of May 1809 | DEATH | Leopold Auenbrugger, Austrian physician (Born 1722) |
| 17th of May 1822 | DEATH | Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, French-Russian statesman (Born 1766) |
| 17th of May 1829 | DEATH | John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States (Born 1745) |
| 17th of May 1838 | DEATH | Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French diplomat (Born 1754) |
| 17th of May 1838 | DEATH | Rene Caille, French explorer (Born 1799) |
| 17th of May 1839 | DEATH | Archibald Alison, Scottish author (Born 1757) |
| 17th of May 1868 | DEATH | Isami Kondo, Japanese Shinsengumi Commander (Born 1834) |
| 17th of May 1875 | DEATH | John C. Breckinridge, 14th Vice President of the United States (Born 1821) |
| 17th of May 1879 | DEATH | Asa Packer, American railroad magnate and founder of Lehigh Valley Railroad (Born 1805) |
| 17th of May 1886 | DEATH | John Deere, American blacksmith and manufacturer (Born 1804) |
| 17th of May 1888 | DEATH | Giacomo Zanella, Italian poet (Born 1820) |
| 17th of May 1911 | DEATH | Frederick August Otto Schwarz, American entrepreneur (Born 1836) |
| 17th of May 1916 | DEATH | Boris Borisovich Galitzine, Russian physicist (Born 1862) |
| 17th of May 1917 | DEATH | Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (Born 1829) |
| 17th of May 1919 | DEATH | Guido von List, German occult author (Born 1848) |
| 17th of May 1927 | DEATH | Harold Geiger, U.S. Army aviation pioneer (Born 1884) |
| 17th of May 1935 | DEATH | Paul Dukas, French composer (Born 1865) |
| 17th of May 1936 | DEATH | Panagis Tsaldaris, twice Greek prime minister (Born 1868) |
| 17th of May 1938 | DEATH | Jakob Ehrlich, Austrian politician and zionist (Born 1877) |
| 17th of May 1947 | DEATH | George William Forbes, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (Born 1869) |
| 17th of May 1947 | DEATH | Zhang Lingfu, a general of the National Revolutionary Army (Born 1903) |
| 17th of May 1963 | DEATH | John Wilce, American physician and former head football coach at the Ohio State University (Born 1888) |
| 17th of May 1964 | DEATH | Nandor Fodor, Hungarian-born psychologist and parapsychologist (Born1895) |
| 17th of May 1966 | DEATH | Randy Turpin, English boxer, known as the Leamington Licker, (Born 1928) |
| 17th of May 1974 | DEATH | Ernest Nash, German-born archaeologist (Born 1898) |
| 17th of May 1985 | DEATH | Abe Burrows, American songwriter, composer, and writer (Born 1910) |
| 17th of May 1987 | DEATH | Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (Born 1898) |
| 17th of May 1992 | DEATH | Lawrence Welk, American musician (Born 1903) |
| 17th of May 1995 | DEATH | Hector "Toe" Blake, Canadian ice hockey player and NHL coach (Born 1912) |
| 17th of May 1996 | DEATH | Kevin Gilbert, American singer, composer and instrumentalist (Born 1966) |
| 17th of May 1996 | DEATH | Scott Brayton, American race car driver (Born 1959) |
| 17th of May 1999 | DEATH | Bruce Fairbairn, Canadian record producer and musician (Born 1949) |
| 17th of May 2000 | DEATH | Donald Coggan, 101st Archbishop of Canterbury (Born 1909) |
| 17th of May 2001 | DEATH | Frank G. Slaughter, American novelist and physician (Born 1908) |
| 17th of May 2002 | DEATH | Dave Berg, American cartoonist (Born 1920) |
| 17th of May 2002 | DEATH | Sharon Sheeley, American songwriter (Born 1940) |
| 17th of May 2002 | DEATH | Ladislao Kubala, Hungarian-Spanish footballer (Born 1927) |
| 17th of May 2003 | DEATH | Frank "Pop" Ivy, American and Canadian football coach (Born 1916) |
| 17th of May 2004 | DEATH | J?rgen Nash, Danish artist (Born 1920) |
| 17th of May 2004 | DEATH | Tony Randall, American actor (Born 1920) |
| 17th of May 2004 | DEATH | Ezzedine Salim, leader of the Iraqi Governing Council (Born 1943) |
| 17th of May 2005 | DEATH | Frank Gorshin, American actor (Born 1934) |
| 17th of May 2006 | DEATH | Cy Feuer, American playwright (Born 1911) |
| 17th of May 2006 | DEATH | Eric Forth, British Member of Parliament (Born 1944) |
| 17th of May 2006 | DEATH | Captain Nichola Goddard, Canadian soldier (Born 1980) |
| 17th of May 2007 | DEATH | Lloyd Alexander, American author (Born 1924) |
| 17th of May 2007 | DEATH | T.K. Doraiswamy (also known as Nakulan), Indian poet and author (Born 1921) |
| 17th of May 2009 | DEATH | Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet (Born 1920) |
| 17th of May 2009 | DEATH | Jung Seung-hye, South Korean film producer (Born 1965) |
| 17th of May 2010 | DEATH | Walasse Ting, Chinese/American painter (Born 1929) |
| 17th of May 2011 | DEATH | Harmon Killebrew, American baseball player (Born 1936) |
| 17th of May 2011 | DEATH | Edward Hardwicke, English actor (Born 1932) |