February 17

Events

1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt

1621 - Miles Standish is appointed as first commander of Plymouth, Massachusetts|Plymouth colony.

1753 - February 17 is followed by March 1 as Sweden moves to the Gregorian from the Julian calendar.

1801 - An U.S. Electoral College|electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President of the United States|Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.

1814 - Battle of Mormans

1819 - The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise.

1854 - The United Kingdom|British recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.

1865 - American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns as Confederate States of America|Confederate forces flee from advancing United States|Union forces.

1867 - The first ship passes through the Suez Canal.

1895 - ''Swan Lake'', with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, is first performed at full length in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1913 - The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.

1924 - In Miami, Florida, Johnny Weissmuller sets a new world record in the 100-yard freestyle swimming competition with a time of 52-2/5 seconds.

1933 - The magazine ''Newsweek'' is published for the first time.

1933 - The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.

1944 - World War II: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ends in an American victory on February 22.

1947 - The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.

1955 - Christian Pineau becomes Prime Minister of France

1957 - A fire at an elderly home in Warrenton, Missouri|Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people.

1958 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare of Assisi (1193~1253) the patron saint of television

1959 - The first weather satellite, Vanguard 2, was launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.

1962 - A storm kills more than 300 people in Hamburg, West Germany.

1964 - In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress of the United States|congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.

1968 - In Springfield, Massachusetts the James Naismith|Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.

1972 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T.

1974 - Robert Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House with a stolen helicopter.

1979 - The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.

1991 - on this day the minister for the principlity of chipmuun, Andrew Buchorn was assassinated in his home in Denmark.

1992 - A court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sentences serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to life in prison.

1995 - Colin Ferguson is convicted of six counts of murder for the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings and later receives a 200+ year sentence.

1995 - The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a cease-fire brokered by the UN.

1996 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.

Births

1490 - Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, Constable of France (d. 1527)

1519 - Francis, Duke of Guise, French soldier and politician (d. 1563)

1524 - Charles of Guise, French cardinal (d. 1574)

1581 - Fausto Poli, Italian Catholic priest (d. 1653)

1646 - Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (d. 1714)

1653 - Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (d. 1713)

1718 - Matthew Tilghman, American Continental Congressman (d. 1790)

1723 - Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (d. 1762)

1752 - Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (d. 1831)

1754 - Nicolas Baudin, French explorer (d. 1803)

1781 - René Laënnec, French physician (d. 1826)

1792 - Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist (d. 1876)

1796 - Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (d. 1866)

1817 - King William III of the Netherlands (d, 1890)

1820 - Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian composer (d. 1881)

1821 - Lola Montez, Mexican dancer, actress, friend of monarchs (d. 1861)

1836 - Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Spanish poet (b. 1870)

1844 - Aaron Montgomery Ward, American department store founder (d. 1913)

1854 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (d. 1902)

1863 - David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)

1864 - Banjo Paterson, Australian poet (d. 1941)

1874 - Thomas J. Watson, American computer manufacturer (b. 1874)

1877 - André Maginot, French politician (d. 1932)

1888 - Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)

1887 - Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer (d. 1947)

1908 - Red Barber, baseball announcer (d. 1992)

1910 - Marc Lawrence, American actor

1912 - Andre Norton, American author

1914 - Arthur Kennedy (actor)|Arthur Kennedy, American actor (d. 1990)

1919 - Kathleen Freeman, American actress (d. 2001)

1920 - Ivo Caprino, Norwegian animated film director

1922 - Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)

1924 - Margaret Truman, American novelist

1925 - Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (d. 2003)

1925 - Hal Holbrook, American actor

1929 - Chaim Potok, American author (d. 2002)

1929 - Patricia Routledge, English actress

1930 - Ruth Rendell, English writer

1932 - Buck Trent, American banjo player

1934 - Alan Bates, English actor (d. 2003)

1934 - Barry Humphries, Australian actor and comedian

1936 - Jim Brown, American football player

1939 - Mary Ann Mobley, American actress and beauty queen

1940 - Christina Pickles, British actress

1941 - Gene Pitney, American singer

1942 - Huey P. Newton, American founder of the Black Panther Party (d. 1989)

1944 - Karl Jenkins, Welsh composer

1945 - Zina Bethune, American actress

1945 - Brenda Fricker, Irish actress

1953 - Janice Dickinson, American model

1953 - Norman Pace, British actor and comic

1954 - Rene Russo, American actress

1956 - Richard Karn, American actor

1957 - Loreena McKennitt, Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter

1962 - Alison Hargreaves, British mountaineer (d. 1995)

1962 - Lou Diamond Phillips, American actor

1963 - Michael Jordan, American basketball player

1963 - Larry the Cable Guy, American actor and comedian

1967 - Chanté Moore, American singer

1969 - Tuesday Knight, American actress

1972 - Billie Joe Armstrong, American singer and musician (Green Day)

1972 - Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater

1972 - Denise Richards, American actress

1973 - Amy Van Dyken, American swimmer

1974 - Jerry O'Connell, American actor

1974 - Bryan White, American singer

1975 - Wish Bone, American rapper

1975 - Vaclav Prospal, Czech hockey player

1978 - Jacob Wetterling, American kidnapping victim

1980 - Jason Ritter, American actor

1981 - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor

1981 - Paris Hilton, American actress and heiress

1982 - Adriano Leite Ribeiro, Brazilian footballer

1991 - Bonnie Wright, British actress

Deaths

197 - Clodius Albinus, Roman usurper (killed in battle)

364 - Jovian, Roman Emperor

1339 - Duke Otto of Austria (b. 1301)

1596 - Friedrich Sylburg, German classical scholar (b. 1536)

1600 - Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher (burned at the stake) (b. 1548)

1609 - Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1549)

1624 - Juan de Mariana, Spanish historian (b. 1536)

1659 - Abel Servien, French diplomat (b. 1593)

1673 - Molière, French playwright (b. 1622)

1680 - Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, English statesman and writer (b. 1599)

1680 - Jan Swammerdam, Dutch scientist (b. 1637)

1715 - Antoine Galland, French archaeologist (b. 1646)

1732 - Louis Marchand, French organist and harpsichordist (b. 1669)

1768 - Arthur Onslow, English politician (b. 1691)

1780 - Andreas Felix von Oefele, German historian and librarian (b. 1706)

1841 - Ferdinando Carulli, Italian guitarist

1854 - John Martin (painter)|John Martin, English painter (b. 1789)

1856 - Heinrich Heine, German writer (b. 1797)

1883 - Napoleon Coste, French guitarist and composer (b. 1806)

1909 - Geronimo, Apache leader (b. 1829)

1919 - Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841)

1934 - King Albert I of Belgium (b. 1875)

1939 - Willy Hess, German violinist (b. 1859)

1943 - Armand J. Piron, American jazz violinist and composer (b. 1888)

1961 - Nita Naldi, American actress (b. 1897)

1962 - Bruno Walter, German conductor (b. 1876)

1970 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)

1970 - Alfred Newman, American film composer (b. 1901)

1977 - Janani Luwum, Ugandan Archbishop (shot) (b. 1922)

1982 - Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (b. 1917)

1982 - Lee Strasberg, Austrian-born actor (b. 1901)

1990 - Erik Rhodes, American actor (b. 1906)

1994 - Randy Shilts, American author and activist (AIDS) (b. 1951)

1998 - Ernst Jünger, German author (b. 1895)

2001 - Khalid Abdul Muhammed, American Nation of Islam spokesman (brain aneurysm) (b. 1948)

2004 - José López Portillo, President of Mexico (b. 1920)

2005 - Dan O'Herlihy, Irish actor (b. 1919)

2005 - Omar Sivori, Argentine football player (b. 1935)

Holidays and observances

Roman Empire - Quirinalia in honor of Quirinus

Ancient Latvia - Tanis Diena observed

External links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/17

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050217.html ---- February 16 - February 18 - January 17 - March 17 -- Historical anniversaries|listing of all days