Famous people born on 17 December

• Pope Francis266th pope of the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025 · 1936–2025
  88 yrs
• Humphry DavyBritish chemist · 1778–1829
  50 yrs
• Muhammadu BuhariFormer President of Nigeria from 1983 to 1985 and 2015 to 2025 · 1942–2025
  82 yrs
• Willard LibbyAmerican physical chemist · 1908–1980
  71 yrs
• Joseph HenryAmerican scientist and the 1st Secretary of the Smithsonian · 1797–1878
  80 yrs
• Émilie du Châtelet ↗Era chiná physicist, and author · 1706–1749
  42 yrs
• Simo Häyhä ↗Finnish military sniper · 1905–2002
  96 yrs
• Maria I of Portugal ↗Portuguese monarch from 1777 to 1816 · 1734–1816
  81 yrs
• Sophus Lie ↗Norwegian mathematician · 1842–1899
  56 yrs
• Katina Paxinou ↗Greek actress · 1900–1973
  72 yrs
• William Lyon Mackenzie King ↗10th Prime Minister of Canada · 1874–1950
  75 yrs
• Domenico Cimarosa ↗Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school · 1749–1801
  51 yrs
• Erskine Caldwell ↗American novelist, short story writer, travel writer, essayist · 1903–1987
  83 yrs
• Jan Evangelista Purkyně ↗Czech biologist, physiologist, doctor, inventor and politician · 1787–1869
  81 yrs
• Bernard Hill ↗British actor · 1944–2024
  79 yrs
• Klaus Kinkel ↗Chairman of the FDP · 1936–2019
  82 yrs
• Robert A. Dahl ↗American political scientist · 1915–2014
  98 yrs
• Hu Shih ↗Chinese scholar, writer and philosopher · 1891–1962
  70 yrs
• John Kennedy Toole ↗American novelist · 1937–1969
  31 yrs
• Mohammad Hidayatullah ↗Vice President of India from 1979 to 1984 · 1905–1992
  86 yrs
• Archduke Franz Karl of Austria ↗Austrian archduke · 1802–1878
  75 yrs
• John Greenleaf Whittier ↗American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery · 1807–1892
  84 yrs
• Penelope Fitzgerald ↗British writer and poet · 1916–2000
  83 yrs
• Ford Madox Ford ↗English writer and publisher · 1873–1939
  65 yrs
• Jules de Goncourt ↗French writer · 1830–1870
  39 yrs
• Mary Cartwright ↗British mathematician · 1900–1998
  97 yrs
• Kazys Grinius ↗Third President of Lithuania from 7 June 1926 until 17 December 1926 · 1866–1950
  83 yrs
• Peter Snell ↗New Zealand athlete · 1938–2019
  80 yrs
• Émile Faguet ↗French literary critic · 1847–1916
  68 yrs

Only people with a known day of birth are listed, and only people who have died. Dates are from Wikidata (CC0), last updated 22 October 2026.

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