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August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 136 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 310 – Pope Eusebius is banished by the Emperor Maxentius to Sicily, where he dies, perhaps from a hunger strike.
• 682 – Pope Leo II succeeds Pope Agatho as the 80th pope.
• 986 – Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars: Battle of the Gates of Trajan – The Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron defeat the Byzantine forces at the Gates of Trajan, with Byzantine Emperor Basil II barely escaping.
• 1186 – Georgenberg Pact: Duke Ottokar IV of Styria and Duke Leopold V of Austria sign a heritage agreement in which Ottokar gives his duchy to Leopold and to his son Frederick under the stipulation that Austria and Styria would henceforth remain undivided.
• 1386 – Karl Topia, the ruler of Princedom of Albania forges an alliance with the Republic of Venice, committing to participate in all wars of the Republic and receiving coastal protection against the Ottomans in return.
• 1424 – Hundred Years' War: Battle of Verneuil – An English force under John, Duke of Bedford defeats a larger French army under the Duke of Alençon, John Stewart, and Earl Archibald of Douglas.
• 1498 – Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, becomes the first person in history to resign the cardinalate. On the same day, the French King Louis XII names him Duke of Valentinois.
• 1549 – Battle of Sampford Courtenay – The Prayer Book Rebellion is quashed in England.
• 1560 – The Roman Catholic Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.
• 1585 – Eighty Years' War: Siege of Antwerp – Antwerp is captured by Spanish forces under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, who orders Protestants to leave the city and as a result over half of the 100,000 inhabitants flee to the northern provinces.
• 1585 – A first group of colonists sent by Sir Walter Ralegh under the charge of Ralph Lane lands in the New World to create Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina.
• 1597 – Islands Voyage: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores.
• 1611 – Gaspar de Borja y Velasco is made a cardinal by Pope Paul V.
• 1668 – An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter magnitude scale causes 8,000 deaths in Anatolia, Ottoman Empire.
• 1717 – Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18: The month-long Siege of Belgrade ends with Prince Eugene of Savoy's Austrian troops capturing the city from the Ottoman Empire.
• 1723 – Ioan Giurgiu Patachi becomes Bishop of Făgăraş and is festively installed in his position at the St. Nicolas Cathedral in Făgăraş, after being formally confirmed earlier by Pope Clement XI.
• 1740 – Pope Benedict XIV succeeds Pope Clement XII as the 247th pope.
• 1771 – Edinburgh botanist James Robertson makes the first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis in Scotland.
• 1784 – Classical composer Luigi Boccherini receives a pay rise of 12000 reals from his employer, the Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón.
• 1807 – Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York, New York, for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
• 1862 – American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Major General J.E.B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
• 1863 – American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville – Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
• 1866 – The Grand Duchy of Baden announces her withdrawal from the German Confederation and signs a treaty of peace and alliance with Prussia.
• 1883 – The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
• 1896 – Bridget Driscoll is run over by a Benz car in the grounds of The Crystal Palace, London, the world's first motoring fatality.
• 1907 – Pike Place Market, a popular tourist destination and registered historic district in Seattle, Washington, opened.
• 1908 – Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, is shown in Paris, France.
• 1914 – World War I: Battle of Stallupönen – The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Paul von Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.
• 1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia, United States.
• 1915 – A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 miles per hour (217 km/h).
• 1918 – Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
• 1942 – World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin (Butaritari).
• 1943 – World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.
• 1943 – World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
• 1943 – World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
• 1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany's V-weapon program.
• 1945 – Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
• 1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
• 1950 – Hill 303 massacre: American POWs were massacred by the North Korean Army.
• 1953 – Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
• 1958 – Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.
• 1959 – Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
• 1959 – Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.
• 1960 – Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.
• 1962 – East German border guards kill Peter Fechter, 18, as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.
• 1969 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.
• 1970 – Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
• 1977 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika became the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
• 1978 – Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
• 1980 – Azaria Chamberlain disappears, at Ayers Rock, Northern Territory, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicized trial in Australian history.
• 1982 – The first Compact Discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.
• 1988 – President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
• 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationship.
• 1999 – A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
• 2004 – The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Bože pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
• 2005 – The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
• 2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh
• 2008 – American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.
• 2009 – An accident at the Sayano–Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area.

Births

• 1473 – Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York (d. 1483)
• 1556 – Alexander Briant, English martyr (d. 1581)
• 1578 – Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
• 1601 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)
• 1629 – John III Sobieski, Polish king (d. 1696)
• 1686 – Nicola Porpora, Italian composer (d. 1768)
• 1753 – Josef Dobrovský, Czech linguist (d. 1828)
• 1768 – Louis Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
• 1786 – Davy Crockett, American soldier and politician (d. 1836)
• 1786 – Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1861)
• 1794 – Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest (d. 1849)
• 1828 – Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
• 1840 – Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, British poet and writer (d. 1922)
• 1844 – Menelik II of Ethiopia (d. 1913)
• 1863 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author (d. 1924)
• 1866 – Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, Indian 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
• 1866 – Julia Marlowe, English actress (d. 1950)
• 1873 – John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946)
• 1877 – Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (d. 1923)
• 1878 – Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
• 1880 – Percy Sherwell, South African cricketer (d. 1948)
• 1887 – Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
• 1887 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican journalist and activist, founded Black Star Line (d. 1940)
• 1888 – Monty Woolley, American actor (d. 1963)
• 1890 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish pilot (d. 1920)
• 1890 – Harry Hopkins, American politician, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1946)
• 1893 – Mae West, American actress (d. 1980)
• 1895 – Aris Maliagros, Greek actor (d. 1984)
• 1896 – Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970)
• 1896 – Oliver Waterman Larkin, American historian and author (d. 1970)
• 1904 – Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian composer (d. 1991)
• 1909 – Larry Clinton, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1985)
• 1911 – Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player (d. 1995)
• 1911 – Martin Sandberger, German military officer (d. 2010)
• 1913 – Mark Felt, American agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 2008)
• 1913 – Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine race car driver (d. 1989)
• 1913 – Rudy York, American baseball player (d. 1970)
• 1914 – Bill Downs, American broadcast journalist and original "Murrow Boy" (d. 1978)
• 1914 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., American politician (d. 1988)
• 1916 – Moses Majekodunmi, Nigerian politician (d. 2012)
• 1918 – Evelyn Ankers, Chilean-American actress (d. 1985)
• 1919 – Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006)
• 1920 – Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress and singer
• 1921 – Geoffrey Elton, German-English historian (d. 1994)
• 1922 – Roy Tattersall, England cricketer (d. 2011)
• 1926 – Valerie Eliot, British businesswoman, wife and editor of TS Eliot (d. 2012)
• 1926 – George Melly, English singer (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Jean Poiret, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
• 1926 – Jiang Zemin, Chinese politician
• 1928 – T. J. Anderson, American composer, conductor, and educator
• 1928 – Willem Duys, Dutch tennis player, sportscaster, and producer (d. 2011)
• 1929 – Jimmy Donley, American singer-songwriter (d. 1963)
• 1929 – Francis Gary Powers, American pilot (d. 1977)
• 1930 – Harve Bennett, American television and film producer and screenwriter
• 1930 – Ted Hughes, British poet laureate (d. 1998)
• 1932 – V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-British writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1933 – Glenn Corbett, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1933 – Mark Dinning, American singer (d. 1986)
• 1933 – Gene Kranz, American NASA flight director and manager
• 1934 – João Donato, Brazilian pianist and composer
• 1935 – Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor
• 1936 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, American actor, singer, and activist (d. 2007)
• 1937 – Ronnie Butler, Bahamian singer
• 1937 – Spiros Focás, Greek actor
• 1938 – Abu Bakar Bashir, Indonesian cleric
• 1938 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek politician
• 1939 – Luther Allison, American guitarist (d. 1997)
• 1940 – Eduardo Mignogna, Argentinian director (d. 2006)
• 1941 – Lothar Bisky, German politician (d. 2013)
• 1941 – Jean Pierre Lefebvre, Canadian director
• 1942 – Muslim Magomayev, Soviet and Azerbaijani singer
• 1943 – Robert De Niro, American actor
• 1943 – John Humphrys British broadcaster and journalist
• 1943 – Dave "Snaker" Ray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Koerner, Ray & Glover) (d. 2002)
• 1945 – Rachel Pollack, American science fiction author
• 1944 – Larry Ellison, American businessman, co-founded the Oracle Corporation
• 1946 – Martha Coolidge, American film director
• 1946 – Patrick Manning, Trinidadian-Tobagonian politician, 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
• 1947 – Sylvia Nasar, German-American economist and author
• 1947 – Jennifer Rhodes, American actress
• 1947 – Gary Talley, American singer-songwriter (The Box Tops)
• 1948 – Rod MacDonald, American singer-songwriter
• 1949 – Norm Coleman, American politician
• 1949 – Julian Fellowes, British member of the House of Lords, actor, director, and writer
• 1951 – Robert Joy, Canadian actor
• 1951 – Alan Minter, English boxer
• 1951 – Elba Ramalho, Brazilian singer
• 1952 – Aleksandr Maksimenkov, Russian footballer and coach (d. 2012)
• 1952 – Nelson Piquet, Brazilian race car driver
• 1952 – Mario Theissen, German motorsport director
• 1952 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
• 1953 – Mick Malthouse, Australian footballer and coach
• 1953 – Kevin Rowland, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dexys Midnight Runners)
• 1953 – Herta Müller, Romanian-German poet and novelist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1954 – Andrés Pastrana Arango, Colombian politician, 38th President of Colombia
• 1954 – Eric Johnson, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
• 1955 – Richard Hilton, American businessman
• 1956 – Gail Berman, American film executive, co-founded BermanBraun
• 1956 – Álvaro Pino, Spanish cyclist
• 1957 – Robin Cousins, British figure skater
• 1957 – Ken Kwapis, American director and screenwriter
• 1957 – Laurence Overmire, American poet and actor
• 1958 – Belinda Carlisle, American singer-songwriter, and author (The Go-Go's)
• 1958 – Fred Goodwin, British banker
• 1958 – Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player
• 1959 – Jonathan Franzen, American author
• 1959 – David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
• 1959 – Chika Sakamoto, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1959 – Eric Schlosser, American journalist and author
• 1960 – Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer-songwriter (Grauzone)
• 1960 – Sean Penn, American actor and director
• 1961 – Russell T. McCutcheon, Canadian scholar
• 1961 – Larry B. Scott, American actor
• 1962 – Gilby Clarke, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Guns N' Roses, Rock Star Supernova, and Candy)
• 1962 – John Marshall Jones, American actor
• 1962 – Buddy Landel, American wrestler
• 1962 – Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss, German actor and director
• 1963 – Shankar, Indian director and producer
• 1963 – Jon Gruden, American football coach
• 1964 – Colin James, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1965 – Steve Gorman, American drummer (The Black Crowes)
• 1964 – Maria McKee, American singer-songwriter
• 1966 – Maysa Leak, American singer and producer (Incognito)
• 1966 – Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder
• 1966 – Don Sweeney, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1967 – David Conrad, American actor
• 1968 – Andrew Koenig, American actor, director, and writer (d. 2010)
• 1968 – Ed McCaffrey, American football player
• 1968 – Helen McCrory, British actress
• 1969 – Christian Laettner, American basketball player
• 1969 – Donnie Wahlberg, American singer, actor, and producer (New Kids on the Block)
• 1970 – Jim Courier, American tennis player
• 1970 – Rupert Degas, English actor
• 1970 – Andrus Kivirähk, Estonian writer and humorist
• 1970 – Øyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer
• 1971 – Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
• 1971 – Ed Motta, Brazilian singer and musician
• 1971 – Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1971 – Shaun Rehn, Australian footballer
• 1972 – Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1974 – Tony Hajjar, Lebanese-American drummer (At the Drive-In and Sparta)
• 1974 – Nicola Kraus, American novelist
• 1975 – Giuliana Rancic, Italian-American journalist and actress
• 1976 – Scott Halberstadt, American actor
• 1976 – Geertjan Lassche, Dutch journalist
• 1977 – Nathan Deakes, Australian race walker
• 1977 – William Gallas, French footballer
• 1977 – Thierry Henry, French footballer
• 1977 – Mike Lewis, Welsh guitarist (Lostprophets and Public Disturbance)
• 1977 – Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer-songwriter and composer (Nightwish)
• 1978 – Nelson Medina, peruvian artist.
• 1978 – Karena Lam, Hong Kong actress
• 1978 – Ebon Moss-Bachrach, American actor
• 1978 – Vibeke Stene, Norwegian singer (Tristania)
• 1979 – Marcus Patric, English actor
• 1979 – Antwaan Randle El, American football player
• 1980 – Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1980 – Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer
• 1980 – Daniel Güiza, Spanish footballer
• 1980 – Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer-songwriter
• 1980 – Van Tuong Nguyen, Australian drug smuggler (d. 2005)
• 1981 – Kristin Adams, American television host
• 1982 – Cheerleader Melissa, American wrestler
• 1982 – Phil Jagielka, English footballer
• 1982 – Mark Salling, American actor, singer-songwriter, and guitarist
• 1983 – Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player
• 1984 – Dee Brown, American basketball player
• 1984 – Oksana Domnina, Russian ice dancer
• 1984 – Garrett Wolfe, American football player
• 1985 – Yū Aoi, Japanese actress
• 1985 – Brock Kelly, American actor
• 1986 – Rudy Gay, American basketball player
• 1986 – Bryton James, American actor and singer
• 1986 – Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player
• 1987 – Kemp Muhl, American model, actress, and singer
• 1987 – Matthew Shultz, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Cage the Elephant)
• 1988 – Aidan Coleman, Irish jockey
• 1988 – Bianca Collins, American actress
• 1988 – Brady Corbet, American actor
• 1988 – Erika Toda, Japanese actress
• 1989 – Elena Hight, American snowboarder
• 1989 – Frederick Lau, German actor
• 1989 – Lil B, American rapper (The Pack)
• 1990 – Colin Bates, American actor
• 1990 – Lauren Diewold, Canadian actress
• 1990 – Rachel Hurd-Wood, English actress
• 1991 – Austin Butler, American actor and singer
• 1991 – Qory Sandioriva, Indonesian model, Puteri Indonesia 2009
• 1992 – Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (d. 2013)
• 1992 – Britani Knight, American wrestler
• 1993 – Cinta Laura, German-Indonesian actress and singer
• 1993 – Madison McReynolds, American actress
• 1993 – Sarah Sjöström, Swedish swimmer
• 1994 – Taissa Farmiga, American actress
• 1996 – Ella Cruz, Filipino actress

Deaths

• 1153 – Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne (b. 1130)
• 1304 – Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
• 1324 – Irene of Brunswick, Empress of Constantinople (b. c. 1293)
• 1338 – Nitta Yoshisada, Japanese samurai (b. 1301; died in battle)
• 1405 – Thomas West, 1st Baron West (b. 1335)
• 1433 – Jan of Tarnów, Polish nobleman (b. 1367)
• 1510 – Edmund Dudley, English statesman (b. 1462)
• 1657 – Robert Blake, English admiral (b. 1599)
• 1673 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
• 1676 – Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, German novelist (b. 1621)
• 1720 – Anne Dacier, French scholar (b. 1654)
• 1723 – Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668)
• 1768 – Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)
• 1785 – Jonathan Trumbull, American politician (b. 1710)
• 1786 – Frederick the Great, Prussian king (b. 1712)
• 1834 – Husein Gradaščević, Bosnian rebel leader (b. 1802)
• 1838 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian librettist and poet (b. 1749)
• 1850 – José de San Martín, Argentine general (b. 1778)
• 1861 – Alcée Louis la Branche, American politician (b. 1806)
• 1870 – Perucho Figueredo, Cuban poet, musician, and activist (b. 1818)
• 1875 – Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827)
• 1880 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist and composer (b. 1810)
• 1896 – Bridget Driscoll, first British car accident fatality (b. 1852)
• 1897 – William Jervois, British military engineer, diplomat and colonial administrator, 10th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1821)
• 1901 – Edmond Audran, French composer (b. 1842)
• 1903 – Hans Gude, Norwegian painter (b. 1825)
• 1909 – Madan Lal Dhingra, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1883)
• 1918 – Moisei Uritsky, Russian activist and statesman (b. 1873)
• 1920 – Ray Chapman, American baseball player (b. 1891)
• 1924 – Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
• 1925 – Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian-Romanian journalist and writer (b. 1848)
• 1935 – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American activist and writer (b. 1860)
• 1935 – Adam Gunn, American decathlete (b. 1872)
• 1940 – Billy Fiske, American pilot (b. 1911)
• 1945 – Reidar Haaland, Norwegian police officer and soldier (b. 1919)
• 1949 – Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino jurist and politician (b. 1891)
• 1954 – Billy Murray, American singer (b. 1877)
• 1958 – Arthur Fox, American fencer (b. 1878)
• 1962 – Peter Fechter, German Berlin Wall escapee (b. 1944)
• 1964 – Happy Felsch, American baseball player (b. 1891)
• 1969 – Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• 1970 – Rattana Pestonji, Thai director and producer (b. 1908)
• 1971 – Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 39th Yokozuna (b. 1914)
• 1971 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880)
• 1973 – Conrad Aiken, American author (b. 1889)
• 1973 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (b. 1928)
• 1973 – Paul Williams, American singer and choreographer (The Temptations) (b. 1939)
• 1976 – William Redfield, American actor (b. 1927)
• 1979 – John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (b. 1907)
• 1979 – Vivian Vance, American actress (b. 1909)
• 1983 – Ira Gershwin, American songwriter (b. 1896)
• 1987 – Rudolf Hess, German nazi politician (b. 1894)
• 1987 – Shaike Ophir, Israeli actor (b. 1929)
• 1987 – Gary Chester, Italian drummer (b. 1924)
• 1988 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani politician, 6th President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
• 1988 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., American politician (b. 1914)
• 1988 – Victoria Shaw, Australian-American actress (b. 1935)
• 1990 – Pearl Bailey, American actress and singer (b. 1918)
• 1992 – Al Parker, American porn actor, director, and producer (b. 1952)
• 1993 – Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician (b. 1920)
• 1994 – Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver (b. 1901)
• 1994 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer (b. 1902)
• 1995 – Howard E. Koch, American screenwriter (b. 1902)
• 1995 – Ted Whitten, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1933)
• 1998 – Władysław Komar, Polish athlete (b. 1940)
• 1998 – Raquel Rastenni, Danish singer (b. 1915)
• 1998 – Tadeusz Ślusarski, Polish pole vaulter (b. 1950)
• 2003 – Mazen Dana, Palestinian journalist (b. 1962)
• 2004 – Thea Astley, Australian writer (b. 1925)
• 2004 – Gérard Souzay, French singer (b. 1918)
• 2005 – John Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934)
• 2006 – Shamsur Rahman, Bangladeshi poet and journalist (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Jos Brink, Dutch actor, producer, and author (b. 1942)
• 2007 – Bill Deedes, British journalist and politician (b. 1913)
• 2007 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
• 2008 – Franco Sensi, Italian businessman (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Francesco Cossiga, Italian politician, 8th President of Italy (b. 1928)
• 2012 – Aase Bjerkholt, Norwegian politician (b. 1915)
• 2012 – Pál Bogár, Hungarian basketball player (b. 1927)
• 2012 – Lou Martin, Irish pianist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1949)
• 2012 – Shirley W. Palmer-Ball, American politician (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (b. 1933)
• 2012 – Patrick Ricard, French businessman (b. 1945)
• 2012 – Willem G. van Maanen, Dutch journalist (b. 1920)
• 2012 – John Lynch-Staunton, Canadian politician (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Stephen Antonakos, 86, Greek-born American painter and sculptor.
• 2013 – Bo Bing, 91, Chinese English grammar academic.
• 2013 – Chow Yam-nam, 76, Thai mystic.
• 2013 – Jim Clark, 88, Australian VFL footballer (Carlton Football Club).
• 2013 – Rod Craig, 55, American baseball player.
• 2013 – Thomas Crowley, 77, American politician, member of the Vermont Senate (1967–1991).
• 2013 – Odilia Dank, 74, American politician, member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives (1994–2006)
• 2013 – Devin Gray, 41, American basketball player (Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets).
• 2013 – Jack Harshman, 86, American baseball player (Chicago White Sox).
• 2013 – Joseph Hoàng Van Tiem, 74, Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Bui Chu (since 2001).
• 2013 – John Hollander, 83, American poet.
• 2013 – Claus Jacobi, 86, German journalist, editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel (1962–1968).
• 2013 – David Landes, 89, American academic.
• 2013 – Kjell Lund, 86, Norwegian architect, songwriter and singer.
• 2013 – Frank Martínez, 89, American artist.
• 2013 – Benjamin Mwila, 70, Zambian politician, Minister of Defence (1991–1997), MP for Luanshya.
• 2013 – Thomas Nguyễn Văn Tân, 72, Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Vinh Long (since 2001).
• 2013 – Gus Winckel, 100, Dutch military pilot.

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Clare of the Cross
  • Hyacinth of Poland
  • Mammes of Caesarea (Catholic Church)
  • August 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Independence Day, celebrates the proclamation of Indonesia's independence from Japan in 1945.
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Gabon from France in 1960.
• Portunalia (Roman Empire)
• Prekmurje Union Day (Slovenia)
• San Martin Day (Argentina)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

• Days of the year
• August