February 17
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 317 days remaining after February 17 until the end of the year (318 in leap years).
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[change] Births
- 1519 – Francis, Duke of Guise, French soldier and politician (d. 1563)
- 1653 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (d. 1713)
- 1699 – Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, Prussian soldier, painter and architect (d. 1753)
- 1752 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (d. 1831)
- 1781 – Rene Laennec, French physician (d. 1826)
- 1782 – Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, Russian aristocrat (d. 1846)
- 1796 – Giovanni Pacini, Italian opera composer (d. 1867)
- 1796 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (d. 1886)
- 1821 – Lola Montez, Irish dancer (d. 1861)
- 1848 – Albert Gustaf Dahlman, Swedish executioner (d. 1920)
- 1854 – Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (d. 1902)
- 1861 – Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont (d. 1922)
- 1862 – Mori Ogai, Japanese novelist and poet (d. 1922)
- 1864 – Banjo Paterson, Australian poet (d. 1941)
- 1885 – Romano Guardini, German theologian (d. 1968)
- 1888 – Otto Stern, German physicist (d. 1969)
- 1891 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician (d. 1965)
- 1904 – Hans Morgenthau, German political philosopher (d. 1980)
- 1916 – Alexander Obolensky, Russian prince and England rugby player (d. 1940)
- 1917 – Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian philosopher (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena, Mexican inventor (d. 1965)
- 1919 – Kathleen Freeman, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1924 – Margaret Truman, American writer (d. 2008)
- 1927 – Juan Almeida Bosque, Cuban Communist revolutionary (d. 2009)
- 1929 – Patricia Routledge, British actress
- 1930 – Ruth Rendell, British writer
- 1934 – Barry Humphries, Australian actor and comedian
- 1934 – Alan Bates, British actor (d. 2003)
- 1937 – Willi Koslowski, German footballer
- 1940 – Gene Pitney, American singer (d. 2006)
- 1942 – Huey Newton, American political activist (d. 1989)
- 1944 – Bruce Fogle, Canadian-born British veterenarian and author
- 1954 – Rene Russo, American actress
- 1962 – Lou Diamond Phillips, American actor
- 1963 – Michael Jordan, American basketball player
- 1963 – Alison Hargreaves, British mountain climber (d. 1995)
- 1963 – Larry the Cable Guy, American comedian and actor
- 1965 – Michael Bay, American director and producer
- 1968 – Giuseppe Signori, Italian footballer
- 1971 – Denise Richards, American actress
- 1972 – Billie Joe Armstrong, American lead singer of Green Day
- 1972 – Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater
- 1972 – Taylor Hawkins, American musician
- 1979 – Cara Black, Zimbabwean tennis player
- 1981 – Paris Hilton, American socialite and heiress
- 1981 – Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor
- 1982 – Daniel Merriwether, Australian singer
- 1982 – Adriano Leite Ribeiro, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Mario Bolatti, Argentine footballer
- 1988 – Natascha Kampusch, Austrian kidnapping victim
- 1989 – Rebecca Adlington, British swimmer
- 1991 – Ed Sheeran, British singer-songwriter
- 1991 – Bonnie Wright, British actress
- 1996 – Sasha Pieterse, South African-born American actress
[change] Deaths
- 197 – Clodius Albinus, would-be Roman emperor (killed in battle)
- 364 – Jovian, Roman emperor (b. ca. 332)
- 1339 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria
- 1600 – Giordano Bruno, Italian religious reformer (burned at the stake) (b. 1548)
- 1609 – Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1549)
- 1673 – Molière, French playwright (b. 1622)
- 1680 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch scientist (b. 1637)
- 1854 – John Martin, English painter (b. 1789)
- 1856 – Heinrich Heine, German writer (b. 1797)
- 1883 – Napoleon Coste, French guitarist, composer (b. 1806)
- 1890 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American inventor (b. 1819)
- 1909 – Geronimo, Apache leader (b. 1829)
- 1919 – Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841)
- 1934 – King Albert I of Belgium (b. 1875)
- 1934 – Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player (b. 1862)
- 1943 – Konstantin Bogaevsky, Russian painter (b. 1872)
- 1943 – Armand J. Piron, jazz musician (b. 1888)
- 1962 – Bruno Walter, German conductor (b. 1876)
- 1970 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer (b. 1888)
- 1982 – Thelonious Monk, jazz pianist (b. 1917)
- 1982 – Lee Strasberg, acting teacher, actor (b. 1901)
- 1994 – Randy Shilts, author, AIDS activist (b. 1951)
- 1998 – Ernst Jünger, militaristic German author (b. 1895)
- 2001 – Khalid Abdul Muhammed, Nation of Islam spokesman (b. 1948)
- 2004 – José López Portillo, former President of Mexico (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Dan O'Herlihy, Irish film actor (b. 1919)
- 2005 – Omar Sivori, Argentine footballer (b. 1935)
- 2007 – Maurice Papon, French Nazi collaborator (b. 1910)
- 2010 – Kathryn Grayson, American singer and actress (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Perry Moore, American author and film producer (b. 1971)
[change] Events
- 364 – Roman Emperor Jovian dies under suspicious circumstances, after a short reign of eight months.
- 1164 – A major flood on what is now Germany's North Sea coast, kills 20,000 people.
- 1370 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.
- 1753 – Sweden changes from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as February 17 is followed by March 1.
- 1801 – The United States House of Representatives chooses Thomas Jefferson to become the next President of the United States.
- 1854 – The United Kingdom recognises the independent Orange Free State.
- 1867 – Gyula Andrassy is declared Prime Minister of Hungary after the creation of the co-operative monarchy of Austria-Hungary.
- 1871 – The victorious Prussian Army parades through Paris after the end of the Siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War.
- 1904 – Madame Butterfly premieres at La Scala opera house in Milan.
- 1917 – The French troop transporter Athos is sunk, killing 754 people.
- 1924 – Johnny Weissmuller sets a world record in the 100-metre freestyle swimming.
- 1933 – Newsweek magazine is published for the first time.
- 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins, ending in an American victory over Japanese forces on February 22.
- 1965 – Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 space probe is launched to the "Sea of Tranquility" on the Moon, where the Apollo 11 astronauts will land in 1969.
- 1968 – In Springfield, Massachusetts, the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.
- 1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon visits China.
- 1979 – The Sino-Vietnamese war begins.
- 1980 – Krzyzstof Wielicki and Leszek Clichy becomes the first people to reach the top of Mount Everest during the Winter season.
- 1992 – American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced to life imprisonment.
- 1995 – The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador is ended by a UN ceasefire.
- 1996 – The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft is launched to the asteroid 433 Eros.
- 1996 – After being defeated in a game of chess on February 10, Garry Kasparov wins a six-match series 4-2 against the computer Deep Blue.
- 1998 – Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Armenian troops kill between 70 and 90 Azerbaijani civilians in the village of Qaradagli.
- 2003 – London's Congestion charging system begins.
- 2006 – A massive mudslide in Southern Leyte, Philippines, kills 1,126 people.
- 2008 – Kosovo declares independence from Serbia. Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as an independent state.
- 2011 – Bahraini security forces launch a pre-dawn raid on protesters at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama.
- 2011 – Protests begin in Libya against Muammar al-Gaddafi. Soon after, Libya enters into a state of Civil War between pro- and anti-Gaddafi fighters, with Gaddafi being killed in October.
- 2012 – President of Germany Christian Wulff resigns over a home-loan scandal, becoming the shortest-serving President of the Federal Republic of Germany ever. Horst Seehofer becomes interim-President until a successor can be found.
[change] Observances
- Celebrated as Independence Day in Kosovo
