May 17
From Wikinfo
May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (138th in leap years). There are 228 days remaining.
Contents |
Events
- 1590 - Anne of Denmark is crowned queen of Scotland.
- 1642 - Sieur de Maisonneuve founds the Ville Marie de Montréal.
- 1673 - Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.
- 1792 - The New York Stock Exchange is formed.
- 1809 - Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French empire.
- 1814 - Norway gets its own constitution
- 1814 - Occupation of Monaco changes from the hands of the French to Austrian
- 1846 - The Saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax
- 1875 - Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby
- 1900 - Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking
- 1902 - Archaeologist Spyridon Stais finds the Antikythera mechanism
- 1919 - Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike
- 1915 - The last British Liberal Party government (Herbert Henry Asquith) falls.
- 1933 - Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling - the national-socialist party of Norway.
- 1940 - World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium
- 1943 - World War II: Surviving RAF Dam Busters return.
- 1943 - The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
- 1944 - Type IX U-boat: U-884 is launched
- 1954 - The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
- 1967 - Six-Day War: President Abdul Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Israel.
- 1969 - Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins to descend into Venus', atmosphere sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
- 1970 - Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
- 1973 - Watergate scandal: Hearings begin in the United States Senate and are televised.
- 1974 - Los Angeles, California police raid Symbionese Liberation Army headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall
- 1974 - Thirty-three people die from bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland.
- 1983 - Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
- 1987 - Iran-Iraq War: The USS Stark (FFG-31) is struck by a missile from an Iraqi Mirage fighter killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
- 1995 - Jacques Chirac assumes the presidency of France
- 1999 - Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.
Births
- 1749 - Edward Jenner, inventor of the vaccine (+ 1823)
- 1768 - Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales (+ 1821)
- 1794 - Anna Brownell Jameson, British writer (+ 1860)
- 1821 - Sebastian Kneipp, naturopathist (+ 1897)
- 1842 - August Thyssen, industrialist (+ 1926)
- 1844 - Julius Wellhausen, German biblical scholar (+ 1918)
- 1866 - Erik Satie, French composer (+ 1925)
- 1873 - Henri Barbusse, French novelist and journalist (+ 1935)
- 1873 - Dorothy Richardson, writer (+ 1957)
- 1879 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (+ 1926)
- 1886 - Alfonso XIII of Spain (+ 1941)
- 1898 - Alfred Joseph Casson painter (+ 1992)
- 1900 - Ruhollah Khomeini, (+ 1981)
- 1901 - Werner Egk, composer (+ 1983)
- 1903 - Cool Papa Bell, baseball player (+ 1991)
- 1904 - Jean Gabin, actor (+ 1976)
- 1911 - Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (+ 1998)
- 1922 - Dennis Brain, French horn player (+ 1957)
- 1922 - Antje Weisgerber, actress
- 1924 - Hannes Messemer, actor (+ 1991)
- 1935 - Dennis Potter, writer
- 1936 - Dennis Hopper, actor, director
- 1937 - Hazel R. O'Leary, United States Secretary of Energy
- 1942 - Taj Mahal, singer, guitarist
- 1946 - Udo Lindenberg, musician
- 1950 - Janez Drnovsek, Slovene politician
- 1955 - Bill Paxton, actor
- 1956 - Sugar Ray Leonard, boxer
- 1956 - Bob Saget, actor
- 1961 - Enya, singer, songwriter
- 1965 - Trent Reznor, singer, songwriter ("Nine Inch Nails")
- 1966 - Qusay Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein († 2003)
- 1971 - Maxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, wife of Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
Deaths
- 1510 - Sandro Botticelli, painter of The birth of Venus
- 1575 - Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1727 - Catherine I of Russia
- 1729 - Samuel Clarke, English philosopher
- 1765 - Alexis Claude Clairault, French mathematician
- 1829 - John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States
- 1838 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French diplomat
- 1839 - Archibald Alison, Scottish author
- 1875 - John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States
- 1917 - Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak
- 1935 - Paul Dukas, composer
- 1947 - George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1956 - Austin Osman Spare, magician
- 1985 - Abe Burrows, songwriter, composer, writer
- 1992 - Lawrence Welk, musician
- 2002 - Dave Berg, cartoonist for Mad magazine
Holidays and Observances
- National holiday of Norway (Constitution Day)
- Bahá'í Faith - Feast of 'Azaamat (Grandeur) - First day of the fourth month of the Bahá'í Calendar
See Also:
May 16 - May 18 - April 17 - June 17 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "May 17" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_17 December 27, 2003
