What happened on September 17 ?

64 - Julia Flavia, daughter of Roman Emperor Titus; lover of Domitian.

879 - King Charles III of France (d. 929)

1192 - Minamoto no Sanetomo Japanese shogun (d. 1219)

1271 - Wenceslas II of Bohemia and Poland (d. 1305)

1550 - Pope Paul V (d. 1621)

1580 - Francisco de Quevedo, Spanish writer (d. 1645)

1630 - Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma (d. 1694)

1639 - Hans Herr, Mennonite bishop (d. 1725)

1657 - Sophia Alekseyevna, regent of Russia (d. 1704)

1677 - Stephen Hales, English physiologist, chemist, and inventor (d. 1761)

1687 - Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian (d. 1772)

1730 - Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian army officer (d. 1794)

1739 - John Rutledge, 2nd (appointed) Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1800)

1743 - Marquis de Condorcet, French mathematician (d. 1794)

1819 - Thomas A. Hendricks, 21st Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)

1820 - ÿmile Augier, French dramatist (d. 1889)

1826 - Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician (d. 1866)

1857 - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian rocket scientist (d. 1935)

1869 - Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize recipient (d. 1938)

1881 - Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (d. 1955)

1883 - William Carlos Williams, American writer (d. 1963)

1884 - Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (d. 1920)

1890 - Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator

1897 - Earl Webb, baseball player (d. 1965)

1900 - John Willard Marriott, American hotelier (d. 1985)

1903 - Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (d. 1984)

1907 - Warren Burger, 15th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1995)

1918 - Chaim Herzog, President of Israel (d. 1997)

1922 - Agostinho Neto, Angolan politician (d. 1979)

1923 - Hank Williams, American musician (d. 1953)

1927 - George Blanda, American football player

1928 - Roddy McDowall, English actor (d. 1998)

1929 - Sir Stirling Moss, English race car driver

1930 - Edgar Mitchell, astronaut

1931 - Anne Bancroft, American actress (d. 2005)

1933 - Dorothy Loudon, American actress (d. 2003)

1934 - Maureen Connolly, American tennis player (d. 1969)

1935 - Ken Kesey, American author (d. 2001)

1937 - Orlando Cepeda, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player

1938 - Bobby Wine, American Major League Baseball player

1939 - David Souter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice

1941 - Bob Matsui, U.S. Congressman (d. 2005)

1942 - Des Lynam, English television presenter

1944 - Reinhold Messner, Austrian mountain climber

1946 - Billy Bonds, English footballer

1947 - Tessa Jowell, British politician

1948 - Jeff MacNelly, American political cartoonist (d. 2000)

1948 - John Ritter, American actor (d. 2003)

1950 - Narendra Modi, Indian politician

1951 - Cassandra Peterson, American actress

1954 - Joël-François Durand, French composer

1955 - Charles Martinet, American actor

1956 - Rita Rudner, American comedian

1959 - Charles Lawson, Northern Irish actor

1960 - Damon Hill, English race car driver

1960 - John Franco, American baseball player

1961 - Ty Tabor, American guitarist and singer (King's X)

1962 - Baz Luhrmann, Australian film director

1965 - Bryan Singer, American director

1965 - Yuji Naka, Japanese video game programmer

1969 - Ken Doherty, Irish snooker player

1971 - Adriana Sklena?íková, Slovak supermodel

1973 - Anastacia, American singer

1974 - Rasheed Wallace, American basketball player

1974 - Mirah, American musician

1975 - Jimmie Johnson, American race car driver

1975 - Austin St. John, American actor

1975 - Constantine Maroulis, American Idol Finalist

1977 - Simone Perrotta, Italian football player

1978 - Shawn Horcoff, Canadian Ice Hockey player

1979 - Akin Ayodele, American football player

1979 - Chuck Comeau, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)

1983 - Jennifer Peña, American singer

1984 - Eugenia Volodina, Russian supermodel

1985 - Alexander Ovechkin, Russian hockey player

1991 - Jordan McCoy, American Juniors Finalist