August 17th, 1944

Born on August 17th, 1944

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 29,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 113 days, exactly on October 6th, 2026, people who were born on August 17th, 1944 will be 30,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on August 17th?

August 17th, 2009

A hydroelectric turbine at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam in Russia catastrophically failed, flooding the turbine hall, killing 75 people and causing widespread power outages.

August 17th, 2008

Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, setting the record for the most gold medals won by an athlete at a single games.

August 17th, 1969

Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi coast of the United States, killing 259 people and causing $1.42 billion in damage..

August 17th, 1959

American musician Miles Davis released Kind of Blue, which became one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed jazz recordings of all time.

August 17th, 1950

Korean War: Forty-two American prisoners of war were massacred by the Korean People's Army on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea.

August 17th, 1945

Animal Farm, George Orwell's satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism, was first published.

August 17th, 1943

World War II: The Royal Air Force began a strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany's V-weapon programme by attacking the Peenemünde Army Research Center.

August 17th, 1916

World War I: Romania signed a secret treaty with the Entente Powers, agreeing to enter the war in return for promised territory in Austria-Hungary.

August 17th, 1915

A category 4 hurricane made landfall in Galveston, Texas, leaving at least 275 people dead and causing $50 million in damage.

August 17th, 1914

World War I: Ignoring orders to retreat, Hermann von François led a successful counterattack defending East Prussia at the Battle of Stallupönen and scored the first German victory in the Eastern Front.

August 17th, 1907

Pike Place Market (pictured), one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the U.S. and a popular tourist attraction, opened in Seattle, Washington.

August 17th, 1676

Scanian War: Swedish forces defeated Danish troops at the Battle of Halmstad.

August 17th, 1424

Hundred Years' War: Allied English and Burgundian forces gained a strategically important victory at the bloody Battle of Verneuil in Normandy, France.

August 17th, 0986

Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: The Bulgarians defeated Byzantine forces at the battle of the Gates of Trajan near present-day Ihtiman, with Emperor Basil II barely escaping.

August 17th, 1876

The premiere of Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner (pictured) closed the first Bayreuth Festival.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on August 17th

Born on August 17th, 1944

81

Larry Ellison

American internet entrepreneur and businessman

*August 17th, 1944, The Bronx

81

Rexhep Meidani

Albanian politician

*August 17th, 1944, Tirana

81

Jörg Friedrich

German author and historian

*August 17th, 1944, Kitzbühel

81

Rimer Cardillo

Uruguayan visual artist

*August 17th, 1944, Montevideo

81

Semra Sezer

First Lady of Turkey from 2000 to 2007

*August 17th, 1944, Yenimahalle

81

Peter de Zwaan

Dutch writer

*August 17th, 1944, Meppel

81

A C Wharton

American politician

*August 17th, 1944, Lebanon

26

Baby Huey

Anerican singer

*August 17th, 1944, Richmond †October 28th, 1970, Chicago

Same year
Born in 1944

81

Udo Kier

German actor

*October 14th, 1944, Cologne

82

Joachim Schimpke

German badminton player

*March 8th, 1944, Hohenstein-Ernstthal

81

Dieter Planck

German archaeologist

*August 14th, 1944, Rottenburg am Neckar

81

Poul Michelsen

Faroese businessperson and politician

*July 22nd, 1944, Tórshavn

73

Jonathan Demme

American film director (1944–2017)

*February 22nd, 1944, Baldwin †April 26th, 2017, Manhattan

81

Nils Ole Oftebro

Norwegian actor

*December 1st, 1944, Sarpsborg Municipality

82

John Rhys-Davies

Welsh actor

*May 5th, 1944, Ammanford

82

Gernot Erler

German politician

*May 3rd, 1944, Meissen

82

Gerhard Schröder

Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005

*April 7th, 1944, Mossenberg-Wöhren

80

Françoise Hardy

French singer, actress, and composer (1944–2024)

*January 17th, 1944, 9th arrondissement of Paris †June 11th, 2024, American Hospital of Paris

81

Michael Douglas

American actor and film producer

*September 25th, 1944, New Brunswick

82

Alice Walker

American author and activist (1944- )

*February 9th, 1944, Eatonton

82

Ban Ki-moon

8th Secretary-General of the United Nations

*June 13th, 1944, Eumseong County

82

Alexander Van der Bellen

President of Austria since 2017

*January 18th, 1944, Vienna

77

Volker Lechtenbrink

German actor and singer

*August 18th, 1944, Zelenogradsk †November 22nd, 2021, Hamburg

81

Serge Haroche

French physicist, Nobel laureate

*September 11th, 1944, Casablanca

72

László Csendes

Hungarian actor (1944-2017)

*September 21st, 1944, Rimavská Sobota †March 24th, 2017

72

Helena Štáchová

Czech actress, theatre director, manager and puppeteer (1944–2017)

*November 18th, 1944, Prague †March 22nd, 2017, Prague

72

David Chandler

American chemist (1944-2017)

*October 15th, 1944, New York City †April 18th, 2017, Berkeley

82

Nana Akufo-Addo

President of the Republic of Ghana

*March 29th, 1944, Accra

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on August 17th

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day) which are celebrated on August 17th.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Born on August 17th, 1944
Future birthdays

Leap year

Yes: 1944 is a leap year, therefore has a 29th of February with an additional leap day and a total of 366 days (instead of the usual 365 days in a normal year).

Calendar
August 1944