October 17 is the 290th day of the year (291st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 75 days remaining until the end of the year. [edit] Events - 539 BC – King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost 70 years of exile and making the first Human Rights Declaration.
- 1091 – T8/F4 tornado strikes the heart of London.
- 1346 – Battle of Neville's Cross: King David II of Scotland is captured by Edward III of England at Calais, and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years.
- 1448 – Second Battle of Kosovo, where the mainly Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi is defeated by an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II.
- 1456 – The University of Greifswald is established, making it the second oldest university in northern Europe (also for a period the oldest in Sweden, and Prussia)
- 1604 – Kepler's Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes a supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus.
- 1610 – French king Louis XIII is crowned in Rheims.
- 1660 – Nine Regicides, the men who signed the death warrant of Charles I, are hanged, drawn and quartered.
- 1662 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for 40,000 pounds.
- 1777 – American troops defeat the British in the Battle of Saratoga.
- 1781 – General Charles Cornwallis offers his surrender to the American revolutionists at Yorktown, Virginia.
- 1797 – Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria
- 1800 – England takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao.
- 1806 – Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I of Haiti is assassinated after an oppressive rule.
- 1814 – London Beer Flood occurs in London, killing nine.
- 1860 – First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).
- 1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
- 1907 – Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland.
- 1912 – Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
- 1917 – First British bombing of Germany in World War I.
- 1931 – Al Capone convicted of income tax evasion.
- 1933 – Albert Einstein, fleeing Nazi Germany, moves to the U.S..
- 1941 – For the first time in World War II, a German submarine attacks an American ship.
- 1941 – German troops execute the male population of the villages Kerdyllia in Serres, Greece and burn the houses down.
- 1943 – Burma Railway (Burma-thailand Railway) is completed.
- 1945 – A massive number of people, headed by CGT and Evita, gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to demand Juan Peron's release. This is known to the Peronists as the Día de la lealtad (day of loyalty). It's considered the birthday of Peronism.
- 1956 – The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield,in Cumbria, England.
- 1961 – Scores of Algerian protesters (some claim up to 400) are massacred by the Paris police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Prefecture of Police.
- 1965 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes after a two year run. More than 51 million people had attended the two-year event.
- 1966 – A fire at a building in New York, New York kills 12 firefighters, the New York City Fire Department's deadliest day until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
- 1970 – Montreal, Quebec: Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte murdered by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
- 1973 – OPEC starts an oil embargo against a number of western countries, considered to have helped Israel in its war against Syria.
- 1977 – German Autumn: Four days after it is hijacked, Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu, Somalia, where a team of German GSG 9 commandos later rescues all remaining hostages on board.
- 1979 – Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1979 – The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services.
- 1987 – First commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
- 1989 – 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) hits the San Francisco Bay Area and causes 57 deaths directly (and 6 indirectly).
- 1998 – At Jesse, in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, a petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 1200 villagers, some of whom are scavenging gasoline.
- 2000 – Train crash at Hatfield, north of London, leading to collapse of Railtrack.
- 2003 – The pinnacle is fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) and become the World's tallest highrise.
- 2006 – The United States population reaches 300 million.
- 2007 – The Dalai Lama receives the United States Congressional Gold Medal.
[edit] Births - 1253 – Ivo of Kermartin, Patron saint of lawyers (d. 1303)
- 1563 – Jodocus Hondius, Flemish cartographer (d. 1611)
- 1577 – Cristofano Allori, Italian painter (d. 1621)
- 1582 – Johann Gerhard, German Lutheran leader (d. 1637)
- 1623 – Francis Turretin, Swiss theologian (d. 1687)
- 1688 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (d. 1726)
- 1711 – Jupiter Hammon, American writer (d. 1806)
- 1719 – Jacques Cazotte, French writer (d. 1792)
- 1811 – Albertus van Raalte, Dutch/American religious leader (d. 1876)
- 1813 – Georg Büchner, German playwright (d. 1837)
- 1814 – Yakiv Holovatsky, Ukrainian writer and professor (d. 1888)
- 1817 – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Indian intellectual (d. 1898)
- 1853 – Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (d. 1920)
- 1864 – Elinor Glyn, British writer (d. 1943)
- 1865 – James Rudolph Garfield, American politician (d. 1950)
- 1886 – Spring Byington, American actress (d. 1971)
- 1890 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer (d. 1928)
- 1892 – Theodor Eicke, Nazi official (d. 1943)
- 1892 – Herbert Howells, English Composer (d. 1983)
- 1898 – Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese violin teacher (d. 1998)
- 1898 – Simon Vestdijk, Dutch writer (d. 1971)
- 1900 – Jean Arthur, American actress (d. 1991)
- 1902 – Irene Ryan, American actress (d. 1973)
- 1903 – Nathanael West, American writer (d. 1940)
- 1906 – Paul Derringer, American baseball player (d. 1987)
- 1908 – Red Rolfe, American baseball player (d. 1969)
- 1912 – Pope John Paul I (d. 1978)
- 1912 – Jack Owens, The Cruising Crooner, American singer/songwriter (d. 1982)
- 1914 – Jerry Siegel, American cartoonist (d. 1996)
- 1915 – Arthur Miller, American playwright (d. 2005)
- 1917 – Sumner Locke Elliott, Australian-born American novelist (d. 1991)
- 1917 – Marsha Hunt (actress), American actress
- 1918 – Rita Hayworth, American actress (d. 1987)
- 1918 – Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills
- 1919 – Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov, Russian physicist
- 1920 – Miguel Delibes, Spanish writer
- 1920 – Montgomery Clift, American actor (d. 1966)
- 1921 – Tom Poston, American actor and comedian (d. 2007)
- 1921 – Maria Gorokhovskaya, Soviet gymnast (d. 2001)
- 1922 – Pierre Juneau, Canadian film and broadcast executive
- 1922 – Luiz Bonfá, Brazilian composer (d. 2001)
- 1923 – Charles McClendon, American football coach (d. 2001)
- 1923 – Barney Kessel, American musician (d. 2004)
- 1925 – Harry Carpenter, English sports commentator
- 1926 – Julie Adams, American film actress
- 1926 – Beverly Garland, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1930 – Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (d. 2003)
- 1930 – Jimmy Breslin, American newspaper columnist and author
- 1931 – Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian writer
- 1933 – Jeanine Deckers, Belgian nun (d. 1985)
- 1933 – Bill Anders, American astronaut
- 1934 – Johnny Haynes, English footballer (d. 2005)
- 1935 – Sydney Chapman, English politician and architect
- 1936 – Hiroo Kanamori, Japanese seismologist
- 1937 – Paxton Whitehead, English actor
- 1938 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle daredevil (d. 2007)
- 1940 – Peter Stringfellow, British nightclub owner
- 1940 – Jim Smith, English footballer and manager
- 1941 – Earl Thomas Conley, American singer
- 1941 – Jim Seals American singer (Seals and Crofts)
- 1942 – Gary Puckett, American musician
- 1942 – Steve Jones, American basketball player
- 1946 – Sir Cameron Mackintosh, British stage producer
- 1946 – Adam Michnik, Polish activist
- 1946 – Bob Seagren, American athlete
- 1946 – Michael Hossack, American musician (The Doobie Brothers)
- 1946 – Drusilla Modjeska, Australian writer and editor
- 1947 – Gene Green, American politician
- 1947 – Michael McKean, American actor
- 1948 – Margot Kidder, Canadian actress
- 1948 – George Wendt, American actor
- 1948 – Robert Jordan, American novelist (d. 2007)
- 1950 – Howard Rollins, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1951 – Roger Pontare, Swedish singer
- 1954 – Carlos Buhler, American high altitude mountaineer
- 1955 – Georgios Alogoskoufis, Greek politician
- 1956 – Mae Jemison, American astronaut
- 1956 – Patrick McCrory, American politician
- 1957 – Lawrence Bender, American film producer
- 1957 – Steve McMichael, American football player
- 1958 – Alan Jackson, American singer and songwriter
- 1959 – Ron Drummond, American writer
- 1959 – Mark Peel, Australian historian and academic
- 1959 – Richard Roeper, American film critic
- 1959 – Russell Gilbert, Australian comedian
- 1960 – Rob Marshall, American director
- 1960 – Guy Henry, English actor
- 1962 – Mike Judge, American cartoonist, filmmaker and voice actor
- 1963 – Sergio Goycochea, Argentine footballer
- 1963 – Norm Macdonald, Canadian comedian and actor
- 1965 – Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1966 – Mark Gatiss, English actor and writer
- 1966 – Tommy Kendall, American race car driver and television personality
- 1966 – Danny Ferry, American basketball player
- 1967 – René Dif, Danish musician (Aqua)
- 1968 – Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician
- 1969 – Wood Harris, American actor
- 1969 – Ernie Els, South African golfer
- 1969 – Rick Mercer, Canadian comedian
- 1970 – Anil Kumble, Indian cricketer
- 1970 – John Mabry, American baseball player
- 1970 – Blues Saraceno, American guitarist
- 1971 – Chris Kirkpatrick, American singer ('N Sync)
- 1972 – Eminem, American rapper
- 1972 – Tarkan, Turkish singer
- 1972 – Wyclef Jean, Haitian-born singer
- 1972 – Sharon Leal, American actress
- 1972 – Joe McEwing, American baseball player
- 1974 – Matthew Macfadyen, British actor
- 1974 – Ariel Levy, American feminist writer
- 1974 – Janne Puurtinen, Finnish keyboardist (HIM)
- 1974 – John Rocker, American baseball player
- 1975 – Francis Bouillon, American hockey player
- 1976 – Sebastián Abreu, Uruguayan footballer
- 1977 – Dudu Aouate, Israeli footballer
- 1977 – Bryan Bertino, American film director and screenwriter
- 1979 – Marcela Bovio, Mexican singer and violinist (Stream of Passion)
- 1979 – Kimi Räikkönen, Finnish race car driver
- 1979 – Kostas Tsartsaris, Greek basketball player
- 1980 – Ekaterina Gamova, Russian volleyball player
- 1980 – Alessandro Piccolo, Italian racing driver
- 1982 – Nick Riewoldt, Australian football player
- 1983 – Daniel Booko, American actor
- 1983 – Ivan Saenko, Russian football player
- 1984 – Jelle Klaasen, Dutch darts player
- 1984 – Chris Lowell, American actor
- 1984 – Randall Munroe, American cartoonist
- 1985 – Baran Kosari, Iranian actress
- 1987 – Bea Alonzo, Filipina actress
- 1987 – Jarosław Fojut, Polish footballer
- 1992 – Sam Concepcion, Filipino performer and actor
[edit] Deaths - 532 – Pope Boniface II
- 1174 – Queen Petronila of Aragon (b. 1135)
- 1586 – Philip Sidney, English courtier, soldier, and writer (killed in battle) (b. 1554)
- 1616 – John Pitts, Catholic scholar and writer. (b. 1560)
- 1660 – Adrian Scrope, English regicide (b. 1601)
- 1673 – Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, English statesman (b. 1630)
- 1757 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist (b. 1683)
- 1776 – Pierre François le Courayer, French theologian (b. 1681)
- 1780 – William Cookworthy, English chemist (b. 1705)
- 1786 – Johann Ludwig Aberli, Swiss artist (b. 1723)
- 1806 – Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haitian independence leader (b. 1758)
- 1836 – Orest Kiprensky, Russian painter (b. 1782)
- 1837 – Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Austrian virtuoso pianist and composer (b. 1778)
- 1849 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French musician and composer (b. 1810)
- 1868 – Laura Secord, Canadian heroine of the war of 1812 (b. 1775)
- 1887 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (b. 1824)
- 1889 – Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Russian philosopher (b. 1828)
- 1910 – Julia Ward Howe, American composer and abolitionist (b. 1819)
- 1931 – Alfons Maria Jakob, German neurologist (b. 1884)
- 1934 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish histologist and neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1852)
- 1938 – Karl Kautsky, Marxist theoretician (b. 1854)
- 1943 – Stefan Starzyński, Polish politician (b. 1893)
- 1956 – Anne Crawford, British film actor (b. 1920)
- 1958 – Charlie Townsend, English cricketer (b. 1876)
- 1958 – Paul Outerbridge, American photographer (b. 1896)
- 1962 – Natalia Goncharova, Russian painter (b. 1882)
- 1963 – Jacques Hadamard, French mathematician (b. 1865)
- 1965 – John Barton King, Philadelphian cricketer (b. 1873)
- 1966 – Wieland Wagner, German stage director (b. 1917)
- 1967 – Henry Pu Yi, last Emperor of China (b. 1906)
- 1970 – Pierre Laporte, Vice-Premier of Quebec (assassinated) (b. 1921)
- 1970 – Vola Vale, American actress (b. 1897)
- 1972 – Turk Broda, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
- 1972 – Prince George of Yugoslavia (b. 1887)
- 1972 – Billy Williams, American singer (b. 1910)
- 1973 – Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian writer (b. 1926)
- 1978 – Giovanni Gronchi, 3rd President of the Italian Republic (b. 1887)
- 1979 – S. J. Perelman, American writer (b. 1904)
- 1979 – John Stuart, Scottish actor (b. 1898)
- 1981 – Albert Cohen, Swiss author (b. 1895)
- 1983 – Raymond Aron, French philosopher (b. 1905)
- 1987 – Abdul Malek Ukil,Bangladeshi politician (b. 1925)
- 1991 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and television performer (b. 1919)
- 1992 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian professor, scientist and politician (b. 1912)
- 1992 – Orestis Laskos, Greek film director, screenwriter and actor (b. 1908)
- 1993 – Criss Oliva, American musician (Savatage) (b. 1963)
- 1996 – Chris Acland, English drummer (Lush) (b. 1966)
- 1998 – Joan Hickson, British actress (b. 1906)
- 1998 – Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (b. 1920)
- 1999 – Nicholas Metropolis, Greek-American mathematician, physicist and computer scientist (b. 1915)
- 2000 – Leo Nomellini, football player and wrestler (b. 1924)
- 2000 – Joachim Nielsen, Norwegian rock musician and poet (b. 1964)
- 2001 – Jay Livingston, American songwriter (b. 1915)
- 2001 – Rehavam Zeevi, Israeli politician (b. 1926)
- 2002 – Derek Bell, Irish harpist (The Chieftans) (b. 1935)
- 2002 – Aileen Riggin, American swimmer (b. 1906)
- 2004 – Uzi Hitman, Israeli singer (b. 1952)
- 2005 – Ba Jin, Chinese writer (b. 1904)
- 2005 – Franky Gee, European techno artist (b. 1962)
- 2006 – Daniel Emilfork, French actor (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Christopher Glenn, American newscaster (b. 1938)
- 2007 – Joey Bishop, American entertainer, member of the Rat Pack (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Teresa Brewer, American pop and jazz singer (b. 1931)
- 2008 – Levi Stubbs, American baritone singer (Four Tops) (b. 1936)
- 2009 – Vic Mizzy, American composer (themes to Green Acres and The Addams Family) (b. 1916)
[edit] Holidays and observances [edit] External links
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