Wikipedia: May 17

May 17
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (138th in leap years). There are 228 days remaining.

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)
1906 - Zinka Milanov, Croatian opera soprano (+ 1989)
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 (+ 1994)
1936 - Dennis Hopper, actor, director
1937 - Hazel R. O'Leary, United States Secretary of Energy
1942 - Taj Mahal, singer, guitarist
1946 - Udo Lindenberg, musician
1948 - William Bruford, drummer, songwriter
1950 - Janez Drnovsek, Slovene politician
1955 - Bill Paxton, actor
1956 - Sugar Ray Leonard, boxer
1956 - Bob Saget, actor
1959 - Paul Di'Anno, singer
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