August 17

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

Events

Up to 1900

310 – Pope Eusebius is banished by Emperor Maxentius to Sicily, where he dies.
682 – Pope Leo II is elected.
986 – A Byzantine army is destroyed at the pass of Trajan by Bulgarians.
1386 – Karl Topia, ruler of the Princedom of Albania, creates an alliance with the Republic of Venice.
1424 – Hundred Years' War: Battle of Verneuil – English victory over the French.
1498 – Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, becomes the first cardinal to–date to resign from his post.
1560 – Protestantism becomes the official religion of 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.
1668 – A magnitude 8.0 earthquake kills around 8,000 people in northern Anatolia, Ottoman Empire.
1740 – Pope Benedict XIV is elected.
1771 – Edinburgh botanist James Robertson makes the first recorded successful climb of Ben Nevis, the highest point in both Scotland and the whole of the present–day United Kingdom.
1786 – Frederick II of Prussia dies, having been a very influential leader in Prussia. His son, Frederick William II of Prussia, succeeds him.
1807 – Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany on the Hudson River.
1862 – American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville – Confederate forces defeat Union forces near Gainesville, Florida.
1896 – Bridget Driscoll becomes the first–recorded person to be killed in an automobile accident when she is run over in the grounds of London's Crystal Palace by a Benz car.

1901 – 2000

1908 – Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Emil Cohl is shown in Paris.
1914 – The first pilots are trained for the Royal Australian Air Force.
1915 – A category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas.
1918 – Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moises Uritsky is assassinated.
1942 – World War II: The first US bombing raid in Europe takes place.
1943 – World War II: The US Seventh Army under George S. Patton and the British 8th Army under field marshal Bernard Montgomery enter Messina, Sicily, completing the allied conquest of Sicily.
1945 – Indonesia declares independence from the Netherlands. The Netherlands only recognize Indonesian independence in 1949.
1947 – The Radcliffe Line is set to mark the border between India and Pakistan.
1959 – Quake Lake in Yellowstone National Park is formed by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake centred near Hebgen Lake, Montana.
1960 – Gabon becomes independent from France.
1962 – East German border guards kill 18–year–old Peter Fechter.
1969 – Hurricane Camille kills 243 people in the Southern United States.
1970 – The Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 is sent to the planet Venus.
1977 – Soviet nuclear icebreaker Arktika becomes the first vessel to cross the North Pole overwater.
1978 – US balloonists, Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman and Max Anderson, become the first people to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot–air balloon.
1982 – The first CDs are released to the public in Germany.
1987 – At age 18, Steffi Graf becomes women's singles Number One in tennis. She goes on to hold this position for 377 weeks.
1987 – Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, dies aged 93, as the last prisoner at Spandau Prison.
1988 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq is killed in a plane crash near Bahawalpur, Punjab.
1996 – Claudie André-Deshays becomes the first Frenchwoman in space.
1998 – US President Bill Clinton admits an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
1999 – A magnitude 7.4 earthquake hits İzmit in northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 people, and injuring around 44,000.

From 2001

2002 – The water levels of the River Elbe reach their highest–recorded level. The city of Dresden is among the places flooded.
2004 – New state symbols are adopted by Serbia.
2005 – The first forced evacuation of settlers as part of the Israeli unilateral disengagement plan begins.
2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at around 300 locations in 63 out of 64 districts in Bangladesh.
2008 – Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win 8 individual gold medals at a single Olympic Games.
2009 – An accident occurs at the Sayano–Shushenskaya dam in Khakassia, Russia, killing 75 people and shutting down the hydroelectric power station.
2015 – A bomb explodes at the Ratchaprasong Intersection near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing 23 people and injuring over 100.
2017 – 2017 Barcelona attack: A vehicle is driven at people on the street Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, killing 13 people.
2019 – A bomb attack on a wedding party in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills at least 63 people and wounds 180.

Births

Up to 1900

1465 – Philibert I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1482)
1473 – Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower (d. 1483?)
1556 – Alexander Briant, English martyr and saint (d. 1581)
1586 – Johann Andreas Valentinus Andreae, German theologian, writer and mathematician (d. 1654)
1601 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)
1603 – Lennart Torstensson, Swedish field marshal and military officer (d. 1651)
1629 – John III of Poland (d. 1696)
1686 – Nicola Porpora, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1768)
1699 – Bernard Jussieu, French naturalist (d. 1777)
1735 – Tobias Furneaux, British explorer (d. 1781)
1755 – Thomas Stothard, British painter (d. 1834)
1761 – William Carey, English botanist and missionary (d. 1824)
1768 – Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
1786 – Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, soldier (d. 1836)
1786 – Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1861)
1798 – Thomas Hodgkin, English physician (d. 1866)
1799 – Robert von Mohl, German jurist (d. 1875)
1800 – Charles Rogier, 4th, 10th and 13th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1885)
1801 – Fredrika Bremer, Swedish writer (d. 1865)
1828 – Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
1844 – Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia (d. 1913)
1863 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and photographer (d. 1924)
1866 – Julia Marlowe, née Sarah Frost, Shakespearean actress (d. 1950)
1870 – Liberato Marcial Rojas, President of Paraguay (d. 1922)
1877 – Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (d. 1923)
1877 – Princess Mathilde of Bavaria (d. 1906)
1887 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican–born American black leader (d. 1940)
1887 – Emperor Karl of Austria (d. 1922)
1887 – Samuel Stritch, American cardinal (d. 1958)
1890 – Harry Hopkins, American politician (d. 1946)
1890 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920)
1893 – Mae West, American actress and playwright (d. 1980)
1893 – Walter Noddack, German chemist (d. 1960)
1894 – Otto Suhr, German politician (d. 1957)
1896 – Johannes Kleiman, Dutch helper of Anne Frank (d. 1959)

1901 – 1950

1901 – Hedin Bru, Faroese writer (d. 1987)
1904 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)
1906 – Marcelo Caetano, Portuguese politician (d. 1980)
1907 – Gustav Schwarzenegger, Austrian police chief and postal inspector, father of Arnold Schwarzenegger (d. 1972)
1909 – Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985)
1910 – Erkki Aaltonen, Finnish composer (d. 1990)
1911 – Mikhail Botvinnik, world chess champion (d. 1995)
1911 – Martin Sandberger, German military officer (d. 2010)
1913 – Mark Felt, American agent, 'Deep Throat' in the Watergate scandal (d. 2008)
1913 – Rudy York, American Major League Baseball All-Star (d. 1970)
1913 – Oscar Alfredo Galvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989)
1914 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., son of Franklin D. Roosevelt (d. 1988)
1919 – Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006)
1920 – Maureen O'Hara, Irish–American actress (d. 2015)
1922 – Frederick B. Dent, American politician
1923 – Larry Rivers, American artist, musician, filmmaker and actor (d. 2002)
1926 – George Melly, British singer (d. 2007)
1926 – Jiang Zemin, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (d. 2022)
1926 – Jean Poiret, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1929 – Francis Gary Powers, American U–2 pilot (d. 1977)
1929 – Jimmy Donley, American singer-songwriter (d. 1963)
1930 – Glenn Corbett, actor (d. 1993)
1930 – Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998)
1932 – V. S. Naipaul, Trinidad and Tobago–born writer (d. 2018)
1932 – Jean-Jacques Sempe, French cartoonist
1933 – Tom Courtney, American athlete
1933 – Gene Kranz, American NASA flight director and manager
1934 – Carin Mannheimer, Swedish writer (d. 2014)
1936 – Margaret Hamilton, American computer scientist
1937 – Ronnie Butler, Bahamian singer
1938 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek politician
1939 – Luther Allison, American blues musician, guitarist (d. 1997)
1940 – Eduardo Mignona, Argentine director (d. 2006)
1941 – Lothar Bisky, German politician (d. 2013)
1941 – Fritz Wepper, German actor
1941 – Ibrahim Babangida, Nigerian military leader
1943 – Robert De Niro, American actor
1943 – John Humphrys, British broadcaster
1943 – Yukio Kasaya, Japanese ski jumper
1943 – Dave "Snaker" Ray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1944 – Rexhep Meidani, former President of Albania
1944 – Bobby Murdoch, Scottish footballer (d. 2001)
1946 – Patrick Manning, former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2016)
1946 – Angel Romero, Spanish guitarist and conductor
1947 – Mohamed Abdelaziz, Western Sahara politician (d. 2016)
1948 – Chico Maki, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1949 – Julian Fellowes, English actor, producer and director
1949 – Mitsunori Fujiguchi, Japanese footballer
1949 – Norm Coleman, American lawyer and politician

1951 – 1975

1951 – Robert Joy, Canadian actor
1951 – Alan Minter, boxer
1951 – Elba Ramalho, Brazilian singer-songwriter
1952 – Nelson Piquet, Brazilian racing driver
1952 – Mario Theissen, German Formula 1 team principal
1952 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentine tennis player
1953 – Herta Müller, Romanian–German writer, Nobel Prize winner
1953 – Kevin Rowland, British musician
1954 – Andrés Pastrana Arango, former President of Colombia
1956 – Fabio Armiliato, Italian tenor
1957 – Robin Cousins, British figure skater
1958 – Michael Brooks, American basketball player
1958 – Belinda Carlisle, American singer, guitarist
1958 – Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player
1958 – Fred Goodwin, Scottish banker, former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland
1959 – Jonathan Franzen, American writer
1959 – David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
1960 – Sean Penn, American actor, director
1962 – Gilby Clarke, American musician (Guns N'Roses)
1963 – Maritza Marbén, Cuban discus thrower
1963 – Shankar, Indian director and producer
1964 – Colin James, American blues musician
1965 – Sergio Vargas, Chilean footballer
1966 – Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder
1968 – Helen McCrory, British actress
1968 – Ed McCaffrey, American football player
1968 – Anthony E. Zuiker, American television producer
1968 – Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer, writer, presenter, producer and actor (d. 2015)
1968 – Andrew Koenig, American actor (d. 2010)
1969 – Christian Laettner, American basketball player
1969 – Donnie Wahlberg, American actor and singer
1970 – Jim Courier, American tennis player
1970 – Rupert Degas, Australian voice actor
1971 – Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
1971 – Jorge Posada, American Major League Baseball All-Star
1972 – Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
1974 – Tomomi Kahala, Japanese singer

From 1976

1976 – Serhiy Zakarlyuka, Ukrainian footballer (d. 2014)
1977 – William Gallas, French footballer
1977 – Thierry Henry, French footballer
1977 – Tarja Turunen, Finnish lead singer of Nightwish
1977 – Mike Lewis, Welsh guitarist
1977 – Claire Richards, English singer (Steps)
1980 – Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer
1980 – Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer
1980 – Daniel Güiza, Spanish footballer
1982 – Phil Jagielka, English footballer
1982 – Karim Ziani, French–Algerian footballer
1982 – Mark Salling, American actor (d. 2018)
1983 – Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player
1984 – Dee Brown, American basketball player
1985 – Troy Brouwer, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Marcus Berg, Swedish footballer
1986 – Denis Kornilov, Russian ski jumper
1986 – Rudy Gay, American basketball player
1989 – Rachel Corsie, Scottish footballer
1989 – Elena Hight, American snowboarder
1990 – Rachel Hurd-Wood, English actress
1991 – Austin Butler, American actor
1993 – Cinta Laura, Indonesian actress and singer
1993 – Sarah Sjöström, Swedish swimmer
1994 – Taissa Farmiga, American actress

Deaths

Up to 1900

1153 – Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne, son of King Stephen of England (b. 1130)
1304 – Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
1324 – Irene of Brunswick, Empress of Constantinople (b. 1293)
1338 – Nitta Yoshisada, Japanese samurai (b. 1301)
1510 – Edmund Dudley, English statesman (b. 1462)
1657 – Robert Blake, English admiral (b. 1598)
1673 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
1769 – Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet and writer (b. 1703)
1785 – Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut (b. 1710)
1786 – Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1712)
1838 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian poet (b. 1749)
1850 – Jose de San Martin, Argentine revolutionary (b. 1778)
1870 – Perucho Figueredo, Cuban poet, musician and freedom fighter (b. 1818)
1880 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (b. 1810)
1886 – Alexander Butlerov, Russian chemist (b. 1828)
1896 – Bridget Driscoll, English automobile accident victim (b. 1851)
1897 – William Jervois, British Governor–General of New Zealand (b. 1821)
1898 – Carl Zeller, Austrian jurist and composer (b. 1842)
1900 – Raimundo Andueza Palacio, 24th President of Venezuela (b. 1846)

1901 – 2000

1903 – Hans Gude, Norwegian painter (b. 1825)
1918 – Moisei Uritsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1873)
1925 – Ioan Slavici, Romanian journalist (b. 1848)
1935 – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American writer and feminist (b. 1860)
1935 – Adam Gunn, American athlete (b. 1860)
1939 – Wojciech Korfanty, Polish journalist and politician (b. 1873)
1942 – Herman Auerbach, Polish mathematician (b. 1901)
1954 – Billy Murray, American singer (b. 1877)
1962 – Peter Fechter, shooting victim at the Berlin Wall (b. 1944)
1969 – Otto Stern, German physicist (b. 1888)
1969 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German architect (b. 1886)
1971 – Maedayama Eigoro, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1914)
1973 – Conrad Aiken, American author and poet (b. 1889)
1974 – Aldo Palozzeschi, Italian poet and writer (b. 1885)
1979 – Vivian Vance, American actress (b. 1909)
1979 – John C. Allen, American rollercoaster designer (b. 1907)
1983 – Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (b. 1896)
1987 – Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader (b. 1894)
1988 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
1988 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., son of Franklin D. Roosevelt (b. 1914)
1990 – Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)
1994 – Luigi Chinetti, Italian–American racing driver (b. 1901)
1995 – Howard E. Koch, American screenwriter (b. 1902)
1995 – Ted Whitten, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1933)
1998 – Wladyslaw Komar, Polish athlete (b. 1940)
1998 – Tadeusz Slusarski, Polish athlete (b. 1950)
1998 – Tameo Ide, Japanese footballer (b. 1908)
1999 – Reiner Klimke, German equestrian (b. 1936)

From 2001

2003 – Mazen Dana, Palestinian journalist (b. 1962)
2005 – John N. Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934)
2006 – Shamsur Rahman, Bangladeshi poet, columnist and writer (b. 1929)
2007 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
2010 – Francesco Cossiga, 8th President of Italy (b. 1928)
2011 – Pierre Quinon, French pole vaulter (b. 1962)
2013 – Claus Jacobi, German journalist (b. 1927)
2014 – Wolfgang Leonhard, German political author and historian (b. 1921)
2014 – Sophie Masloff, American politician, 56th Mayor of Pittsburgh (b. 1917)
2014 – Pierre Vassiliu, French singer (b. 1937)
2014 – Ger van Elk, Dutch artist (b. 1941)
2015 – Eduardo Guerrero, Argentine rower (b. 1928)
2015 – László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1927)
2015 – Arsen Dedic, Croatian poet (b. 1938)
2015 – Jacob Bekenstein, Mexican–Israeli theoretical physicist (b. 1947)
2015 – Yvonne Craig, American actress (b. 1937)
2015 – Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, German football executive (b. 1933)
2016 – Arthur Hiller, Canadian–American film director (b. 1923)
2017 – Sonny Landham, American actor and politician (b. 1941)
2017 – M. T. Liggett, American sculptor (b. 1930)
2017 – Sirkka Selja, Finnish poet (b. 1920)
2017 – Fadwa Soliman, Syrian actress and activist (b. 1970)
2017 – Mohamed Refaat El-Saeed, Egyptian politician and scholar (b. 1932)
2018 – Leonard Boswell, American politician (b. 1934)
2018 – Ezzatolah Entezami, Iranian actor (b. 1924)
2018 – David McReynolds, American political activist and politician (b. 1929)
2018 – Linton Freeman, American sociologist (b. 1927)
2019 – Cedric Benson, American football player (b. 1982)
2019 – Walter Buser, Swiss Federal Chancellor (b. 1926)
2019 – Jacques Diouf, Senegalese diplomat (b. 1938)
2019 – Donald A. B. Lindberg, American physician (b. 1933)
2019 – José A. Martínez Suárez, Argentine film director and screenwriter (b. 1925)
2019 – Bill McDonagh, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1928)

Observances

Independence Day (Indonesia, Gabon)