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What happened in history on this day: August 17?
On August 17 in ...
- 682 - Saint Leo II begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
- 1512 - French army burns Smolensk, Russia.
- 1601 - Birth of Pierre de Fermat mathematician who needed wider margins.
- 1717 - Pioneer Daniel Boone's grandfather George sets sail from England to America.
- 1786 - Birth of Davy Crockett; US frontiersman/adventurer/politician.
- 1787 - Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups.
- 1807 - Robert Fulton's American steamboat Clermont leaves New York City, inaugurating the world's first commercial steamboat service.
- 1812 - (to August 18) Battle of Polotsk, the right wing of the Russian army halts Napoleon's Grand Army, preventing advance on Saint Petersburg.
- 1839 - Royal assent is given to the British Postal Reform Bill, providing for uniform 1-penny postal rate throughout the country, and for the issuance of 1-penny and 2-pence adhesive postage stamps, for release January 10, 1840.
- 1840 - Birth of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt in England; writer (Irish Land League).
- 1844 - Birth of Menelik II, King of Ethiopia (1896-1913).
- 1846 - US takes Los Angeles.
- 1848 - Yucatán officially unites with Mexico.
- 1850 - José Francisco de San Martin, South American revolutionary hero, dies.
- 1863 - Federal batteries and ships bombard Fort Sumter, Charleston.
- 1865 - Near Memphis, Tennessee, USA, a magnitude 5.0 earthquake occurs. Felt from St. Louis, Missouri, to Jackson, Mississippi.
- 1869 - First international boat race (Thames River) (Oxford beats Harvard).
- 1870 - First ascent of Mount Rainier, Washington.
- 1870 - Birth of Frederick Russell; developed first successful typhoid fever vaccine.
- 1876 - Birth of Eric Drummond; first Secretary-General of League of Nations (1919-33).
- 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos.
- 1887 - Birth of Marcus Garvey; began back-to-Africa movement among US blacks.
- 1888 - Birth of Monty Wooley in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Pied Piper, The Man Who Came to Dinner).
- 1893 - Birth of Mary Jane West AKA Baby Mae AKA Jane Mast AKA Mae West in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, USA; actress (Night After Night, She Done Him Wrong, I'm No Angel, Klondike Annie, My Little Chickadee) (dies 1980).
- 1900 - Birth of Quincy Howe in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; newscaster (CBS Weekend News).
- 1901 - Birth of Henri Tomasi in Marseilles, France; composer (Don Juan de Mañara).
- 1905 - Birth of John Hay Whitney; publisher (New York Herald Tribune 1961-67).
- 1908 - The film Fantasmagorie is shown in Paris, France, the first animated film to tell a story. The film is 2 minutes long, made by Emile Cohl for Léon Gaumont.
- 1914 - Birth of Franklin D Roosevelt Junior, son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt; American politician (Democrat for New York in House of Representatives, 1949-55).
- 1915 - Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Georgia, USA after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life.
- 1915 - Hurricane kills 275 in Galveston, Texas with $50 million damage.
- 1918 - Birth of Mort Marshall in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Cully - Dumplings).
- 1918 - Samuel Riddle buys Man O' War race horse for $5,000.
- 1920 - Birth of Georgia Gibbs in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; singer ("Ballin the Jack", "Kiss of Fire").
- 1920 - Ray Chapman, hit in the head by New York Yankees' Carl Mays' pitch, dies.
- 1921 - Birth of Maureen O'Hara in Dublin, Ireland; actress (Miracle on 34th Street).
- 1922 - Birth of Ralph Roberts in North Carolina, USA; actor (Tradition, Gone are the Days).
- 1923 - Birth of Larry Rivers; modern/abstract painter (Washington crossing Delaware-1953).
- 1926 - Birth of Haakon Barfod in Norway; yachting (Olympic-gold-1948, 1952).
- 1927 - Birth of Robert Moore in Detroit, Michigan, USA; actor (Marshall - Diana).
- 1929 - Birth of Francis Gary Powers; US spy (USSR captures him in 1959 U-2 incident).
- 1932 - Birth of Chet Allen in Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA; actor (Jerry - Bonino, Slats - Troubleshooter).
- 1932 - Birth of V.S. Naipaul in Trinidad; novelist (Middle Passage).
- 1933 - Lou Gehrig breaks record by playing in his 1,308th straight baseball game.
- 1938 - Henry Armstrong won his third concurrent boxing championship.
- 1939 - The Wizard of Oz movie opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in New York.
- 1939 - Birth of Luther Allison in Arkansas, USA; guitarist ("Bad News is Coming").
- 1940 - Birth of Thomas Williams; American ice hockey player (Olympic-gold-1960).
- 1940 - US President Franklin Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister William King meet at Ogdensburg, New York for a conference on hemispheric defence. They announce a joint defence commission on North American defence.
- 1941 - Birth of Boog Powell; baseball player (American League Most Valuable Player 1970).
- 1942 - US bombers stage first independent raid on Europe, attacking Rouen, France.
- 1943 - Birth of Robert De Niro in New York City; actor (Bang the Drum Slowly, Taxi Driver).
- 1943 - Birth of Yukio Kasaya in Japan; 70m ski jumper (Olympic-gold-1972).
- 1944 - Canadian army forces in France capture Falaise. A pocket of 100,000 German forces is nearly surrounded, with only a gap 40 miles long, 11-15 miles wide.
- 1944 - New York Yankees' Johnny Lindell ties record with four consecutive doubles in a game.
- 1945 - Poland and Russia sign a treaty establishing the Russian-Polish border, basicly the Curzon Line established after the First World War, with a few deviations in Poland's favor.
- 1945 - Sukarno declares Indonesian independence from Netherlands, with himself as President.
- 1948 - Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent.
- 1948 - Philadelphia Phillies commit 8 errors in a game.
- 1950 - Indonesia gains independence from the Netherlands.
- 1951 - Birth of Alain Mimoun in France; marathon runner (Olympic-gold-1956).
- 1951 - Birth of Alan Minter in England; light-middleweight boxer (Olympic-bronze-1972).
- 1951 - Hurricane winds drive six ships ashore, at Kingston, Jamaica.
- 1952 - Birth of Kathryn C Thornton in Montgomery, Alabama, USA; PhD/astronaut (STS 33, sk: 49).
- 1953 - Birth of Kevin Rowlands; rocker (Dexy's Midnight Runners - "Come on Eileen").
- 1955 - Hurricane Diane, following hurricane Connie floods Connecticut River killing 190 and doing $1.8 billion damage.
- 1958 - Birth of Belinda Carlisle in Hollywood, California, USA; singer (The Go Gos, "Heaven on Earth").
- 1958 - World's first Moon probe, USA's Thor-Able, explodes 77 seconds after launch.
- 1959 - The Miles Davis album Kind of Blue is released.
- 1959 - Quake Lake is formed in Yellowstone National Park in Montana by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake.
- 1960 - Birth of Sean Penn; actor (Fast Times at Ridgemont High).
- 1960 - CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers is found guilty of espionage by the Soviet Union, sentenced to ten years in prison.
- 1960 - Gabon gains independence from France.
- 1961 - US Government establishes Alliance for Progress.
- 1962 - The Beatles replace Pete Best with Ringo Starr.
- 1962 - East German border guards shot and kill Peter Fechter, 18, attempting to cross Berlin Wall into western sector.
- 1963 - Jim Hickman becomes the first New York Mets player to hit for the cycle.
- 1963 - Baltimore Orioles' Dick Hall retires his 28th consecutive player in relief.
- 1965 - Birth of Glen Goldsmith; rocker ("What You See is What You Get").
- 1966 - Pioneer 7 launched into solar orbit.
- 1969 - Birth of Donald E Wahlberg Junior in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; rocker (New Kids - "Hangin' Tough").
- 1969 - New York Jets beat New York Giants 37-14 in their first meeting (pre season).
- 1969 - Death of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe AKA Ludwig Mies in Chicago, Illinois, USA; architect (director of Bauhaus in Dessau, Armour Institute in Chicago, Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago, Seagram Building in New York City (1956-58), Bacardi Building in Mexico City (1961), Federal Center in Chicago (1964), Public Library in Washington D.C. (1967), New National Gallery in Berlin (1968)).
- 1970 - Venera 7 is launched by USSR.
- 1971 - Horace McMahon, actor (Martin Kane Private Eye), dies at age 64.
- 1972 - Philadelphia Phillies' Steve Carlton wins his 15th straight game.
- 1972 - In the New Britain region, Papua New Guinea, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurs.
- 1973 - Conrad Aiken, Pulitzer winning poet, dies at age 74.
- 1973 - At Shea Stadium, 42-year old New York Mets' outfielder, Willie Mays, hits his 660th and final home run of his career.
- 1973 - Death of Paul Williams at age 34 by suicide; singer (The Temptations - "The Way You Do the Things You Do", "My Girl", "Just My Imagination").
- 1975 - Sig Arno of Hamburg, Germany, actor (My Friend Irma), dies at age 80.
- 1976 - William Redfield, actor (Jimmy Hughes Rookie Cop), dies at age 48.
- 1978 - Birth of Vibeke Stene, Norwegian rock singer (Tristania).
- 1978 - Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, USA to Miserey, France.
- 1979 - Death of Vivian Vance AKA Vivian Roberta Jones of bone cancer at age 70; actress (Ethel Mertz - I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show).
- 1982 - The first compact discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.
- 1982 - Death of Barney Phillips at age 68; actor (Dragnet radio and TV shows, Twelve O'Clock High, Dan August, Jabberjaw, Betty White Show, Felony Squad).
- 1982 - South Bend, Indiana jury acquits self-avowed racist Joseph Paul Franklin.
- 1983 - In Luzon, Philippine Islands, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurs. Sixteen people killed, 47 injured and extensive damage in the Pasuquin-Laoag-Batac and Serrat areas.
- 1983 - Ira Gershwin, American lyricist, dies in Beverly Hills, California, at age 86 (born 1896).
- 1984 - Pete Rose returns to Cincinnati Reds as player-manager (gets two hits).
- 1985 - Dave Kingman hits his 400th home run.
- 1985 - Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India.
- 1986 - Bronze pig statue unveiled at Seattle's Pike Place Market.
- 1987 - Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,700 for first time (2,700.57).
- 1987 - Rudolf Hess is found dead in his cell in Spandau Prison in Berlin, Germany, where he served 46 years. Hess, age 93, is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself with an electrical flex. He was the last remaining prisoner at the complex. Hess served the Nazi Party as deputy Führer; he flew to England in 1941 hoping to convince Winston Churchill to join with Germany in the war.
- 1988 - Butch Reynolds of USA sets the 400m record (43.29) in Zurich, Switzerland.
- 1988 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Junior, American lawyer and politician (Representative-Democrat-New York, 1949-55) dies on 74th birthday (born 1914).
- 1988 - The Pakistani president, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Raphel, are killed when the president's air force plane crashes on takeoff from Bhawalpur.
- 1988 - New York City first case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (9-year-old Bronx boy).
- 1990 - Death of Pearl Bailey at age 72 of heart disease; singer ("Takes Two to Tango"), actress (As the World Turns TV show), and comedienne.
- 1991 - In Sydney, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots seven people and injures six others before turning the gun on himself.
- 1991 - West of Crescent City, California, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurs.
- 1993 - A nuclear submarine and a supertanker collide off the French Riviera, creating an oil slick which is quickly contained.
- 1997 - Antony Wheeler dies of accidental hanging while playing Judas in a Greek production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
- 1998 - Russia devalues the ruble.
- 1998 - US President Bill Clinton testifies before a grand jury, acknowledging that he had had an extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky.
- 1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Izmit and levels much of northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
- 1999 - Baltimore Orioles' pitcher Jesse Orosco sets a major league mark pitching in his 1,072nd game.
- 2005 - The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, begins.
- 2005 - Bangladesh is hit by bomb explosions.
- 2005 - Sellapan Ramanathan gains victory in the Singapore Presidential elections.
- 2007 - Disney film High School Musical 2 is shown on TV in the USA, becoming the single most-watched basic cable telecast, with about 17.2 million viewers.
- 2007 - Vladimir Putin issues a statement, revealing that Russia is to resume the flight exercises of its strategic bombers in remote areas. The flights were suspended in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- 2007 - The US Federal Reserve reduces the discount rate from 6.25 to 5.75 percent.
- 2007 - Death of Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (born 1982).
- 2008 - Michael Phelps wins his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games, in the 4x100 medley relay, in record time of 3:29.34. Phelps now holds the record for most gold medals at an Olympics event.
- 2009 - Reader's Digest Association of New York announces it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its U.S. businesses as part of a plan to cut debt by 75 percent.
- 2010 - Death of Francesco Cossiga, 63rd Prime Minister and 8th President of Italy (born 1928).
- 2010 - A suicide bomber blows himself up at an army recruitment center in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 57 recruits and soldiers and wounding 123.
- 2011 - Russian space agency launches Turkey's first self-designed and built satellite, the RASAT.
- 2015 - A bombing takes place inside the Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok, Thailand, killing 20 people and injuring 125.
- 2017 - The first observation of a collision of two neutron stars (GW170817) is hailed as a breakthrough in multi-messenger astronomy when both gravitational and electromagnetic waves from the event are detected. Data from the event provide confirmatory evidence for the r-process theory of the origin of heavy elements like gold.
- 2020 - Death of Mário de Araújo Cabral, Portuguese Formula One driver (born 1934).
- 2021 - Death of Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (born 1973).
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