February 17

February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 317 days remaining until the end of the year (318 in leap years).

Events

Up to 1900

• 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.
• 1400 – The body of Richard II of England is put on display at the Old St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
• 1600 – Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned to death for heresy in Rome.
• 1621 – Myles Standish is appointed as the first commander of Plymouth Colony.
• 1753 – Sweden changes from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. 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.
• 1863 – A group of citizens from Geneva founds the International Committee for Relief of the Wounded, which later becomes the International Red Cross.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.
• 1865 – American Civil War: Union troops capture Columbia, South Carolina. As this state is particularly seen as responsible for starting the war, the city is virtually flattened.
• 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.
• 1900 – Wilhelm II of Germany declares the Western Samoan Islands a "German Protectorate".

1901 – 2000

• 1904 – Madame Butterfly premieres at La Scala opera house in Milan.
• 1913 – The Armory Art Show begin in New York City, showing works by artists who become influential later in the 20th century.
• 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.
• 1949 – Chaim Weizmann becomes President of Israel.
• 1959 – Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, is launched to measure cloud–cover distribution.
• 1962 – Parts of northern Germany are severely flooded in the night from February 16, causing 300 deaths in the city of Hamburg alone.
• 1964 – President of Gabon Leon M'ba is removed from office in a coup by his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame. M'ba is reinstated by France the next day.
• 1965 – Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 space probe is launched to the "Sea of Tranquility" on the Moon.
• 1968 – In Springfield, Massachusetts, the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.
• 1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon visits China.
• 1974 – Michele Catain, an American crew member and real estate agent, marries David Thomas Durboraw, an American businessman, in Los Angeles, California.
• 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.
• 1993 – The Neptune ferry sinks off Haiti. It is not known exactly how many people were killed, though it is thought to have been at least 1,500.
• 1995 – The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador is ended by a United Nations ceasefire.
• 1996 – An earthquake of magnitude 8.2 strikes Irian Jaya, the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea, killing 166 people.
• 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.

From 2001

• 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. However, Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as an independent state, and its status is still in dispute as of 2014.
• 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. Gaddafi is killed in October.
• 2012 – President of Germany Christian Wulff resigns over a home-loan scandal, becoming the shortest-serving President ever of the Federal Republic of Germany. Horst Seehofer becomes interim-President until a successor can be found. Joachim Gauck becomes President just over a month later.
• 2014 – A building collapse in Geongju, South Korea, kills at least 10 people, most of them students.

Births

Up to 1800

• 624 – Wu Zetian, Chinese Empress of the Zhou Dynasty (d. 705)
• 1192 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (d. 1219)
• 1490 – Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (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 cardinal (d. 1653)
• 1653 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (d. 1713)
• 1699 – Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, Prussian soldier, painter and architect (d. 1753)
• 1718 – Matthew Tilgh, American Continental Congressman (d. 1790)
• 1723 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (d. 1762)
• 1740 – John Sullivan, American general, politician and Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1795)
• 1752 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (d. 1831)
• 1754 – Nicolas Baudin, French explorer (d. 1803)
• 1781 – René Laennec, French physician (d. 1826)
• 1782 – Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, Russian aristocrat (d. 1846)
• 1792 – Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist (d. 1876)
• 1796 – Giovanni Pacini, Italian opera composer (d. 1867)
• 1796 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (d. 1886)

1801 – 1900

• 1817 – Edouard Thilges, 7th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1904)
• 1820 – Elzear-Alexandre Taschereau, French cardinal (d. 1898)
• 1820 – Henri Vieutemps, Belgian composer (d. 1881)
• 1821 – Lola Montez, Irish dancer (d. 1861)
• 1836 – Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, Spanish poet (d. 1870)
• 1848 – Louisa Lawson, Australian writer and feminist (d. 1920)
• 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)
• 1862 – Eugen Schmidt, Danish athlete (d. 1931)
• 1863 – Fyodor Sologub, Russian writer (d. 1927)
• 1864 – Banjo Paterson, Australian poet (d. 1941)
• 1866 – Henry Hollis Horton, 40th Governor of Tennessee (d. 1934)
• 1877 – Isidora Sekulic, Serbian writer (d. 1958)
• 1877 – Andre Maginot, French politician (d. 1932)
• 1885 – Romano Guardini, German theologian (d. 1968)
• 1887 – Joseph Bech, Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1975)
• 1888 – Otto Stern, German physicist (d. 1969)
• 1890 – Ronald Fisher, English statistician, biologist and geneticist (d. 1962)
• 1891 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician (d. 1965)
• 1892 – Marjorie Fielding, British actress (d. 1956)
• 1893 – Wally Pipp, American baseball player (d. 1965)
• 1894 – Hendrik Kramers, Dutch physicist (d. 1952)

1901 – 1950

• 1901 – Philotheus Boehner, German monk and medieval scholar (d. 1955)
• 1903 – Sadeq Hedayat, Iranian writer (d. 1951)
• 1904 – Hans Morgenthau, German political philosopher (d. 1980)
• 1908 – Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (d. 2005)
• 1908 – Jacobus van Egmond, Dutch cyclist (d. 1969)
• 1910 – Arthur Hunnicutt, American actor (d. 1979)
• 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)
• 1918 – Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, Prime Minister of Ukraine (d. 1990)
• 1919 – Kathleen Freeman, American actress (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian animated movie director (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Annie Glenn, American activist (d. 2020)
• 1923 – Buddy DeFranco, American jazz musician (d. 2014)
• 1923 – John M. Allegro, English archaeologist and author (d. 1988)
• 1923 – Alden W. Clausen, American banker (d. 2013)
• 1924 – Margaret Truman, American writer (d. 2008)
• 1925 – Hal Holbrook, American actor
• 1925 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor
• 1927 – Juan Almeida Bosque, Cuban Communist revolutionary (d. 2009)
• 1929 – Alejandro Jodorowsky, Chilean writer
• 1929 – Patricia Routledge, British actress
• 1930 – Ruth Rendell, British writer (d. 2015)
• 1931 – Buddy Ryan, American football coach (d. 2016)
• 1931 – Jirina Jiraskova, Czech actress (d. 2013)
• 1933 – Craig L. Thomas, American politician (d. 2007)
• 1933 – Larry Jennings, American magician (d. 1997)
• 1934 – Barry Humphries, Australian actor and comedian
• 1934 – Alan Bates, British actor (d. 2003)
• 1935 – Christina Pickles, British actress
• 1937 – Willi Koslowski, German footballer
• 1937 – Rita Süssmuth, German politician
• 1937 – Mary Ann Mobley, American actress and beauty queen (d. 2014)
• 1939 – Clement Richard, Canadian businessman and politician
• 1940 – Gene Pitney, American singer (d. 2006)
• 1941 – Julia McKenzie, English actress and theatre director
• 1942 – Huey Newton, American political activist (d. 1989)
• 1943 – Costas Azariadis, Greek economist
• 1944 – Bruce Fogle, Canadian-born British veterinarian and writer
• 1944 – Karl Jenkins, Welsh saxophonist, keyboardist and composer
• 1945 – Brenda Fricker, Irish actress
• 1946 – André Dussollier, French actor
• 1948 – Rick Majerus, American basketball player
• 1948 – Don Scardino, American television director and actor
• 1948 – José José, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer and actor
• 1949 – Fred Frith, English musician and composer
• 1949 – Dennis Green, American football coach (d. 2016)
• 1950 – Rickey Medlocke, American guitarist
• 1950 – Graham Stringer, English politician

1951 – 1975

• 1954 – Rene Russo, American actress
• 1955 – Mo Yan, Chinese novelist and Nobel Prize winner
• 1957 – Loreena McKennitt, Canadian singer-songwriter, harpist and pianist
• 1959 – Aryeh Deri, Israeli rabbi and politician
• 1959 – Rowdy Gaines, American swimmer
• 1961 – Andrey Korotayev, Russian anthropologist and economic historian
• 1961 – Panna Rittikrai, Thai actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2014)
• 1961 – Angela Eagle, English politician
• 1961 – Maria Eagle, English politician
• 1962 – Sarah Wollaston, English politician
• 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
• 1964 – Jim Jordan, American politician
• 1965 – Michael Bay, American director and producer
• 1966 – Luc Robitaille, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1968 – Giuseppe Signori, Italian footballer
• 1969 – Tuesday Knight, American actress
• 1970 – Dominic Purcell, English-Australian actor
• 1971 – Denise Richards, American actress
• 1971 – Carlos Gamarra, Paraguayan footballer
• 1972 – Billie Joe Armstrong, American lead singer of Green Day
• 1972 – Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater
• 1972 – Taylor Hawkins, American musician
• 1973 – Shirley Clamp, Swedish singer

From 1976

• 1976 – Kelly Carlson, American actress
• 1979 – Cara Black, Zimbabwean tennis player
• 1981 – Paris Hilton, American socialite and heiress
• 1981 – Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor
• 1981 – Pontus Segerström, Swedish footballer (d. 2014)
• 1981 – Andrew Stephenson, English politician
• 1982 – Daniel Merriwether, Australian singer
• 1982 – Adriano Leite Ribeiro, Brazilian footballer
• 1983 – Nguyen Tien Minh, Vietnamese badminton player
• 1984 – AB de Villiers, South African cricketer
• 1984 – Drew Miller, American ice hockey player
• 1985 – Anders Jacobsen, Norwegian ski jumper
• 1985 – Mario Bolatti, Argentine footballer
• 1988 – Natascha Kampusch, Austrian kidnapping victim
• 1989 – Rebecca Adlington, British swimmer
• 1989 – Stacey McClean, British singer
• 1989 – Chord Overstreet, American actor
• 1991 – Ed Sheeran, British singer-songwriter
• 1991 – Bonnie Wright, British actress
• 1992 – Meaghan Jette Martin, American actress
• 1993 – Marc Marquez, Spanish racing driver
• 1993 – Nicola Leali, Italian footballer
• 1993 – Philip Wiegratz, German actor
• 1996 – Sasha Pieterse, South African-born American actress

Deaths

Up to 1900

• 197 – Clodius Albinus, would-be Roman emperor (killed in battle)
• 306 – Theodore of Amasea, Roman soldier and Christian martyr
• 364 – Jovian, Roman emperor (b. ca. 332)
• 1339 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria
• 1371 – Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria
• 1600 – Giordano Bruno, Italian religious reformer (burned at the stake) (b. 1548)
• 1609 – Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1549)
• 1652 – Gregorio Allegri, Italian composer (b. 1582)
• 1673 – Molière, French playwright (b. 1622)
• 1680 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch scientist (b. 1637)
• 1768 – Arthur Onslow, English lawyer and politician (b. 1691)
• 1827 – Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss educator and reformer (b. 1746)
• 1848 – George W. Campbell, Scottish-born 5th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1769)
• 1854 – John Martin, English painter (b. 1789)
• 1856 – Heinrich Heine, German writer (b. 1797)
• 1883 – Vasudeo Balwant Phadke, Indian revolutionary (b. 1855)
• 1883 – Napoleon Coste, French guitarist, composer (b. 1806)
• 1890 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American inventor (b. 1819)
• 1891 – Theophil Hansen, Danish-Austrian educator and architect (b. 1813)

1901 – 2000

• 1901 – Ethelbert Nevin, American pianist and composer (b. 1862)
• 1905 – William Bickerton, English-American religious leader (b. 1815)
• 1909 – Geronimo, Apache leader (b. 1829)
• 1912 – Edgar Evans, Welsh navy officer (b. 1876)
• 1919 – Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841)
• 1924 – Oskar Merikanto, Finnish composer (b. 1868)
• 1934 – King Albert I of Belgium (b. 1875)
• 1934 – Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player (b. 1862)
• 1939 – Willy Hess, German violinist (b. 1859)
• 1943 – Konstantin Bogaevsky, Russian painter (b. 1872)
• 1943 – Armand J. Piron, American jazz musician (b. 1888)
• 1946 – Dorothy Gibson, American actress and singer (b. 1889)
• 1961 – Nita Noldi, American actress (b. 1894)
• 1962 – Joseph Kearns, American actor (b. 1907)
• 1962 – Bruno Walter, German conductor (b. 1876)
• 1970 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer (b. 1888)
• 1970 – Alfred Newman, American movie composer (b. 1900)
• 1982 – Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (b. 1917)
• 1982 – Lee Strasberg, American acting teacher, actor (b. 1901)
• 1986 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (b. 1895)
• 1988 – Karpoori Thakur, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1924)
• 1988 – John M. Allegro, English archaeologist and scholar (b. 1923)
• 1989 – Lefty Gomez, American baseball player (b. 1908)
• 1990 – Jean-Marc Bolvin, French mountaineer (b. 1951)
• 1994 – Gretchen Fraser, American ski racer (b. 1919)
• 1994 – Randy Shilts, writer, AIDS activist (b. 1951)
• 1998 – Ernst Jünger, militaristic German writer (b. 1895)

From 2001

• 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 movie 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 writer and movie producer (b. 1971)
• 2012 – Ulric Neisser, German-born American psychologist (b. 1928)
• 2013 – Richard Briers, British actor (b. 1934)
• 2013 – Mindy McCready, American country music singer (b. 1975)
• 2014 – Frankie Kao, Taiwanese singer (b. 1950)
• 2014 – Loni Nest, German-American actress (b. 1915)
• 2014 – Joe Bell, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1923)
• 2015 – Andrzej Koszewski, Polish composer (b. 1922)
• 2015 – Cathy Ubels-Veen, Dutch politician (b. 1928)
• 2016 – Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Egyptian journalist (b. 1923)
• 2016 – Alexander Gutman, Russian film director (b. 1945)
• 2016 – Akbar Kakkattil, Indian writer (b. 1954)
• 2016 – Andrzej Zulawski, Polish film director and writer (b. 1940)
• 2017 – Nicole Bass, American bodybuilder and professional wrestler (b. 1964)
• 2017 – Warren Frost, American actor (b. 1925)
• 2017 – Börge Hellström, Swedish writer (b. 1957)
• 2017 – Erland Kops, Danish badminton player (b. 1937)
• 2017 – Robert H. Michel, American politician (b. 1923)
• 2017 – Michael Novak, American theologian and writer (b. 1933)
• 2017 – Tom Regan, American philosopher (b. 1938)
• 2017 – Peter Skellern, English singer-songwriter (b. 1947)

Observances

• Celebrated as Independence Day in Kosovo
• Revolution Day (Libya)