See what makes February 17 special at Famous Daily. History, birthdays, holiday, and a quote!
What happened on February 17
- February 17, 0197 "Battle of Lugdunum - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats and kills his rival Clodius Albinus, securing full control over the Empire."
- February 17, 0763 "Shi Chaoyi's head is delivered to Chang'an, ending the An Shi Rebellion."
- February 17, 1370 Battle at Rudau Germany beats Lithuania
- February 17, 1500 Battle of Hemmingstedt.
- February 17, 1568 Holy Roman Emperor agrees to pay annual tribute to Sultan for peace
- February 17, 1598 Boris Godunov chosen tsar of Russia
- February 17, 1600 "Philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt alive at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, charged of heresy."
- February 17, 1621 Miles Standish appointed first commander of Plymouth colony
- February 17, 1621 Myles Standish is appointed as first commander of Plymouth colony.
- February 17, 1634 "William Prynne tried in Star Chamber for publishing ""Histriomastix"""
- February 17, 1670 France & Bavaria sign military assistance treaty
- February 17, 1676 Kings Charles II & Louis XIV sign secret treaty
- February 17, 1691 Thomas Neale granted British patent for American postal service
- February 17, 1714 "Parliament of Paris accepts Pope Clemens XI's ""Unigenitus"" degree"
- February 17, 1753 February 17 is followed by March 1 as Sweden moves to the Gregorian from the Julian calendar.
- February 17, 1772 "First partition of Poland-Russia & Prussia, joined later by Austria"
- February 17, 1776 "The first volume of Gibbon's ""Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire"" published"
- February 17, 1791 Messier catalogs M83 (spiral galaxy in Hydra)
- February 17, 1795 "Thomas Seddal harvests 8.3-kg potato from his garden Chester, England"
- February 17, 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.
- February 17, 1801 "The U.S. House of Representatives elects Thomas Jefferson as President, to break the electoral vote tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr, who became vice president."
- February 17, 1801 Thomas Jefferson became the 2nd US President
- February 17, 1814 Battle of Mormans.
- February 17, 1817 First US city lit by gas (Baltimore)
- February 17, 1818 "Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun patents ""draisine"" (early bicycle)"
- February 17, 1819 The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise.
- February 17, 1841 Dutch ex-king Willem I marries Henriette d'Oultremont de W‚gimont
- February 17, 1848 Toscane gets liberal Constitution
- February 17, 1854 British recognize independence of Orange Free State (South Africa)
- February 17, 1854 The British recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.
- February 17, 1864 "American Civil War: H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic."
- February 17, 1864 "Confederate sub ""HL Hunley"" sinks Union ship ""Housatonic"" the first submarine to sink an enemy ship"
- February 17, 1865 Battle of Charleston SC
- February 17, 1865 "The city of Columbia, South Carolina, is set ablaze as Confederate troops evacuate, allowing Union forces to move in."
- February 17, 1867 Gyula Andressy becomes premier of Hungary
- February 17, 1867 The first ship passes through Suez Canal
- February 17, 1870 Mississippi becomes 9th state re-admitted to US after Civil War
- February 17, 1871 The victorious Prussian Army parades though Paris after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
- February 17, 1876 Something fishy sardines are canned fo rthe first time
- February 17, 1878 First telephone exchange in San Francisco opens with 18 phones
- February 17, 1880 Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt
- February 17, 1882 The first Test Cricket match played at Sydney Cricket Ground
- February 17, 1883 A Ashwell patents free-toilet in London
- February 17, 1885 Bismarck gives Carl Peters' firm management of East-Africa
- February 17, 1896 London Country Councils' Muzzling Order becomes effective
- February 17, 1897 "The National Congress of Mothers, later to become the national congress of the PTA, is founded in Washington, DC."
- February 17, 1904 Madama Butterfly premiers at La Scala in Milan.
- February 17, 1904 The Giacomo Puccini opera Madam Butterfly premieres at La Scala.
- February 17, 1905 Frances Willard becomes first woman honored in National Statuary Hall
- February 17, 1906 Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice marries in the White House
- February 17, 1911 "First filght over water to & from a ship, by Glenn Curtiss, San Diego"
- February 17, 1913 First minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon)
- February 17, 1913 "New York Armory Show introduces Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp to US public, had we bought some pictures"
- February 17, 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."
- February 17, 1915 "Edward Stone, first US combatant to die in WWI, is mortally wounded"
- February 17, 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."
- February 17, 1925 "Harold Ross and Jane Grant found The New Yorker magazine; the debut issue is dated February 21, 1925."
- February 17, 1926 "Avalanche buries 75 in Sap Gulch Bingham UT, 40 die"
- February 17, 1930 "French government of Tardieu, falls"
- February 17, 1933 Newsweek magazine begins publication.
- February 17, 1933 The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.
- February 17, 1933 The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.
- February 17, 1933 US Senate accept Blaine Act ending prohibition
- February 17, 1936 """The Phantom"" cartoon strip by Lee Falk debuts"
- February 17, 1936 "-58§ F (-50§ C), McIntosh SD (state record)"
- February 17, 1936 "The world's first superhero, The Phantom, makes his first appearance in comics."
- February 17, 1938 The first public experimental demonstration of Baird color TV (London)
- February 17, 1940 British destroyers board German Altmark off neutral Norway (at that time) and free Allied POW's
- February 17, 1941 Joe Louis KOs Gus Dorazio in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
- February 17, 1943 Dutch churches protest at Seyss-Inquart against persecution of Jews
- February 17, 1943 General-Major Bradley flies to Washington DC
- February 17, 1943 Hitler visits field marshal von Mansteins headquarters in Zaporozje
- February 17, 1943 "New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio, enlists into the US army"
- February 17, 1944 Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins; US victory on Feb 22
- February 17, 1944 US begins night bombing of Truk
- February 17, 1947 "Dutch Roman Catholic bishops publish manifest against ""godless communism"""
- February 17, 1947 The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
- February 17, 1947 The Voice of America radio station begins broadcasting their signal to the USSR.
- February 17, 1949 Chaim Weizman elected first President of Israel
- February 17, 1950 "31 die in a train crash in Rockville Center, New York"
- February 17, 1953 Baseball star/pilot Ted Williams uninjured as plane shot down in Korea
- February 17, 1957 "A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people."
- February 17, 1957 "Fire in Warreton MO, kills 72"
- February 17, 1957 Suez Canal reopens after British and French intervention in 1956
- February 17, 1958 "Comic strip ""BC"" first appears"
- February 17, 1958 Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare of Assisi (1193~1253) the patron saint of television.
- February 17, 1959 "First weather satellite launched, Vanguard 2, 9.8 kg"
- February 17, 1959 Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2 - The first weather satellite launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
- February 17, 1962 "A storm kills more than 300 people in Hamburg, West Germany."
- February 17, 1962 "Beach Boys introduced a new musical style with their hit ""Surfin"""
- February 17, 1964 In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
- February 17, 1964 US House of Reps accept Law on the civil rights
- February 17, 1964 US Supreme court rules - 1 man 1 vote (Westberry vs Sanders)
- February 17, 1965 "US Ranger 8 launched, will transmit 7,137 lunar pictures"
- February 17, 1966 French satellite Diapason D-1A launch into Earth orbit
- February 17, 1966 Number one hit on UK music charts - Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walking
- February 17, 1967 "Beatles release ""Penny Lane"" & ""Strawberry Fields"""
- February 17, 1967 Kosmos 140 (Soyuz test) launches into Earth orbit
- February 17, 1968 "In Springfield, Massachusetts the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens."
- February 17, 1968 "The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens in Springfield, MA."
- February 17, 1969 Golda Meir sworn in as Israel's first female prime minister
- February 17, 1970 Jeffrey McDonald slices up his wife & daughter
- February 17, 1970 Joni Mitchell's final concert (Royal Albert Hall)
- February 17, 1972 British Parliament votes to join European Common Market
- February 17, 1972 Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T.
- February 17, 1974 "49 die in stampede for seats at soccer match, Cairo, Egypt"
- February 17, 1974 "Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House with a stolen helicopter."
- February 17, 1976 Macau adopts constitution (Organic Law of Macau)
- February 17, 1976 "New Zealand scores their first innings win in Test Cricket, vs India"
- February 17, 1979 China invades Vietnam
- February 17, 1979 Eric Heiden equals skating world record 1000 meter (1:14.99)
- February 17, 1979 The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
- February 17, 1981 Chrysler Corp reports largest corporate losses in US history
- February 17, 1982 "Commencement of Sri Lanka's first Test Cricket match, vs England"
- February 17, 1983 Netherlands adopts constitution
- February 17, 1985 3rd person to receive an artificial heart (Murray Haydon)
- February 17, 1985 Postage rises from 20› to 22›
- February 17, 1986 Johnson & Johnson announces it no longer sells capsule drugs
- February 17, 1986 Libyan bombers attack N'djamena Airport in Chad
- February 17, 1986 The first Francophone Summit convenes at Versailles
- February 17, 1987 "Michelle Renee Royer, 21, (Texas), crowned 36th Miss USA"
- February 17, 1988 "Lt. Col. William Higgins, a U.S. officer with the United Nations truce monitoring group, is kidnapped (and later slain) in southern Lebanon."
- February 17, 1989 "6-week study of Arctic atmosphere shows no ozone ""hole"""
- February 17, 1989 Former baseball player/manager Leo Durocher injured in a car crash
- February 17, 1989 Whitesnake's rocker David Coverdale weds actress Tawny Kitaen
- February 17, 1990 "Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan gives videotaped testimony for a second day about the Iran-Contra affair, for the trial of former national security adviser, John Poindexter"
- February 17, 1992 "A court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sentences serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to life in prison."
- February 17, 1992 "In a Milwaukee courtroom, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced to life in prison."
- February 17, 1992 Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced to life in prison.
- February 17, 1993 "Haitian ferry boat capsize in storm, 800-2,000 die"
- February 17, 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.
- February 17, 1995 Colin Fergusson found guilty of killing 6 people on the Long Island Railroad in New York
- February 17, 1995 Federal judge allows lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine was addictive & manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked
- February 17, 1995 The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a cease-fire brokered by the UN.
- February 17, 1996 "In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match."
- February 17, 1996 "in the Irian Jaya Region, Indonesia a 8.2 earthquake killed at least 108 people, 423 injured, 58 missing, 5,043 houses destroyed or damaged in the epicentral area."
- February 17, 1997 Carl Sagan Public Memorial at Pasadena CA
- February 17, 1997 Weekly Standard shows evidence Larry Flint sex abused his daughter
- February 17, 1998 "Diane Zamora, 20, Naval Academy cadet convicted of capital murder"
- February 17, 1998 Larry Wayne Harris & Bill Levitt arrested for possession of anthrax
- February 17, 2000 Microsoft releases Windows 2000
- February 17, 2003 UK hist Start of Congestion Charge for traffic entering central London
- February 17, 2006 "Over 1,000 people perished and buried alive in the town of St. Bernard in Southern Leyte, Philippines mudslide."
- February 17, 2008 "2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. It was the second declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions, the first having been proclaimed on 7 September 1990."
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