August 17
August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 136 days remaining.
Events
- 1862 - Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in Minnesota.
- 1896 - Gold discovered in Alaska triggers Klondike gold rush.
- 1915 - Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1945 - Indonesia proclaims itself independent.
- 1960 - Gabon gains independence from France.
- 1970 - Venera 7 was launched and became the first spacecraft to successfully land on another planet.
- 1978 - Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
- 1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
Births
- 1601 - Pierre de Fermat, mathematician
- 1629 - John III of Poland (+ 1696)
- 1786 - Davy Crockett, frontiersman, soldier (+ 1836)
- 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer (+ 1974)
- 1887 - Marcus Garvey, American black leader (+ 1940)
- 1887 - Emperor Karl of Austria (+ 1922)
- 1893 - Mae West, actress, playwright (+ 1980)
- 1920 - Maureen O'Hara, actress
- 1929 - Jiang Zemin, President of China
- 1929 - Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot (+ 1977)
- 1930 - Glenn Corbett, actor (+ [1933]])
- 1932 - V. S. Naipaul, writer
- 1943 - Robert De Niro, actor
- 1958 - Belinda Carlisle, singer, guitarist
- 1959 - David Koresh, cult leader (+ 1993)
- 1960 - Sean Penn, actor, director
- 1969 - Donnie Wahlberg, actor, singer
Deaths
- 1676 - Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, novelist
- 1973 - Jean Barraqué, composer
- 1979 - Vivian Vance, actress
- 1983 - Ira Gershwin, lyricist
- 1987 - Rudolf Hess, former member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle
- 1988 - Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, president of Pakistan
- 1990 - Pearl Bailey, singer
Holidays and observances
- Rastafarianism - celebration of the birth of Marcus Garvey
- Roman Empire - Portunalia in honor of Portunes
See Also:
August 16 - August 18 - July 17 - September 17 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December sts