February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 317 days remaining (318 in leap years).
Events
- 1370 - Battle of Rudau
- 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt
- 1621 - Miles Standish is appointed as first commander of Plymouth colony.
- 1753 - February 17 is followed by March 1 as Sweden moves to the Gregorian from the Julian calendar.
- 1801 - An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr 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 British recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.
- 1864 - The CSS H. L. Hunley is the first submarine to engage and sink a warship.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns as Confederate forces flee from advancing 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.
- 1957 - A fire at a home for the elderly in 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 congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
- 1968 - In Springfield, Massachusetts the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.
- 1972 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T.
- 1974 - Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House with a stolen helicopter.
- 1979 - The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
- 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.
- 2003 - Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Steve Bechler dies in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one day after collapsing during a spring-training workout; doctors later link the 23-year-old’s sudden death to the dietary supplement ephedra.
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)
- 1848 - Louisa Lawson, Australian feminist, suffragist, writer (d. 1920)
- 1854 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (d. 1902)
- 1864 - Banjo Paterson, Australian poet (d. 1941)
- 1874 - Thomas J. Watson, American computer manufacturer (d. 1956)
- 1877 - André Maginot, French politician (d. 1932)
- 1888 - Otto Stern, German physicist, 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, 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
- 1949 - Fred Frith, British musician
- 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
- 1966 - Luc Robitaille, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1967 - Chanté Moore, American singer
- 1969 - Tuesday Knight, American actress
- 1970 - Dominic Purcell, English Born Actor
- 1970 - Tim Mahoney, American musician (311 (band))
- 1971 - Martyn Bennett, Canadian musician and composer (d. 2005)
- 1971 - Denise Richards, American actress
- 1972 - Billie Joe Armstrong, American singer and musician (Green Day)
- 1972 - Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater
- 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
- 1996 - Sasha Pieterse, South African 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, 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)
- 1934 - Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player (b. 1862)
- 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 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.
- World Cabbage Day.
External links
February 16 - February 18 - January 17 - March 17 -- listing of all days