August 17

August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 136 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 986 – A Byzantine army is destroyed in the pass of the Gate of Trajan by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron. The Byzantine emperor Basil II narrowly escaped.
• 1807 – Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York, New York, for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
• 1862 – American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Major General J.E.B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
• 1863 – American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville – Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
• 1883 – The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
• 1907 – Pike Place Market, a popular tourist destination and registered historic district in Seattle, Washington, opened.
• 1908 – Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, is shown in Paris, France.
• 1914 – World War I: Battle of Stallupönen – The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Paul von Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.
• 1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia, United States.
• 1915 – A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 miles per hour (217 km/h).
• 1918 – Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
• 1942 – World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin (Butaritari).
• 1943 – World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.
• 1943 – World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
• 1943 – World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
• 1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany's V-weapon program.
• 1945 – Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
• 1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
• 1950 – Hill 303 massacre: American POWs were massacred by the North Korean Army.
• 1953 – Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
• 1958 – Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.
• 1959 – Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
• 1959 – Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.
• 1960 – Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.
• 1962 – East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.
• 1969 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.
• 1970 – Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
• 1977 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika became the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
• 1978 – Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
• 1980 – Azaria Chamberlain disappears, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicized trial in Australian history.
• 1982 – The first Compact Discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.
• 1988 – President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
• 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationship.
• 1999 – A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
• 2004 – The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Bože pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
• 2005 – The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
• 2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh
• 2008 – American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.
• 2009 – An accident at the Sayano–Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area.

Births

• 1473 – Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York (d. 1483)
• 1556 – Alexander Briant, English martyr (d. 1581)
• 1578 – Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
• 1601 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)
• 1629 – John III Sobieski, Polish king (d. 1696)
• 1686 – Nicola Porpora, Italian composer (d. 1768)
• 1753 – Josef Dobrovský, Czech linguist (d. 1828)
• 1768 – Louis Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
• 1786 – Davy Crockett, American soldier and politician (d. 1836)
• 1786 – Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1861)
• 1794 – Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest (d. 1849)
• 1828 – Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
• 1840 – Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, English poet and writer (d. 1922)
• 1844 – Menelik II of Ethiopia (d. 1913)
• 1863 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author (d. 1924)
• 1866 – Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, Indian 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
• 1866 – Julia Marlowe, English actress (d. 1950)
• 1873 – John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946)
• 1877 – Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (d. 1923)
• 1878 – Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
• 1880 – Percy Sherwell, South African cricketer (d. 1948)
• 1887 – Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
• 1887 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican journalist and activist, founded Black Star Line (d. 1940)
• 1888 – Monty Woolley, American actor (d. 1963)
• 1890 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish pilot (d. 1920)
• 1890 – Harry Hopkins, American politician, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1946)
• 1893 – Mae West, American actress (d. 1980)
• 1895 – Aris Maliagros, Greek actor (d. 1984)
• 1896 – Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970)
• 1904 – Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian composer (d. 1991)
• 1909 – Larry Clinton, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1985)
• 1911 – Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player (d. 1995)
• 1911 – Martin Sandberger, German military officer (d. 2010)
• 1913 – Mark Felt, American agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 2008)
• 1913 – Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine race car driver (d. 1989)
• 1913 – Rudy York, American baseball player (d. 1970)
• 1914 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., American politician (d. 1988)
• 1916 – Moses Majekodunmi, Nigerian politician (d. 2012)
• 1918 – Evelyn Ankers, Chilean-American actress (d. 1985)
• 1919 – Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006)
• 1920 – Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress and singer
• 1921 – Geoffrey Elton, German-English historian (d. 1994)
• 1922 – Roy Tattersall, England cricketer (d. 2011)
• 1926 – Valerie Eliot, English businesswoman and editor
• 1926 – George Melly, English singer (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Jean Poiret, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
• 1926 – Jiang Zemin, Chinese politician
• 1928 – T. J. Anderson, American composer, conductor, and educator
• 1928 – Willem Duys, Dutch tennis player, sportscaster, and producer (d. 2011)
• 1929 – Jimmy Donley, American singer-songwriter (d. 1963)
• 1929 – Francis Gary Powers, American pilot (d. 1977)
• 1930 – Harve Bennett, American television and film producer and screenwriter
• 1930 – Glenn Corbett, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1930 – Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998)
• 1932 – V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-English writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1933 – Glenn Corbett, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1933 – Mark Dinning, American singer (d. 1986)
• 1933 – Gene Kranz, American NASA flight director and manager
• 1934 – João Donato, Brazilian pianist and composer
• 1935 – Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor
• 1936 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, American actor, singer, and activist (d. 2007)
• 1937 – Ronnie Butler, Bahamian singer
• 1937 – Spiros Focás, Greek actor
• 1938 – Abu Bakar Bashir, Indonesian cleric
• 1938 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek politician
• 1939 – Luther Allison, American guitarist (d. 1997)
• 1940 – Eduardo Mignogna, Argentinian director (d. 2006)
• 1941 – Jean Pierre Lefebvre, Canadian director
• 1943 – Robert De Niro, American actor
• 1943 – John Humphrys Welsh broadcaster and journalist
• 1943 – Dave "Snaker" Ray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Koerner, Ray & Glover) (d. 2002)
• 1944 – Larry Ellison, American businessman, co-founded the Oracle Corporation
• 1946 – Patrick Manning, Trinidadian-Tobagonian politician, 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
• 1947 – Sylvia Nasar, German-American economist and author
• 1947 – Jennifer Rhodes, American actress
• 1948 – Rod MacDonald, American singer-songwriter
• 1949 – Norm Coleman, American politician
• 1949 – Julian Fellowes, English actor, director, and writer
• 1951 – Robert Joy, Canadian actor
• 1951 – Alan Minter, English boxer
• 1951 – Elba Ramalho, Brazilian singer
• 1952 – Aleksandr Maksimenkov, Russian footballer and coach (d. 2012)
• 1952 – Nelson Piquet, Brazilian race car driver
• 1952 – Mario Theissen, German motorsport director
• 1952 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
• 1953 – Mick Malthouse, Australian footballer and coach
• 1953 – Kevin Rowland, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dexys Midnight Runners)
• 1953 – Herta Müller, Romanian-German poet and novelist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1954 – Andrés Pastrana Arango, Colombian politician, 38th President of Colombia
• 1954 – Eric Johnson, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
• 1955 – Richard Hilton, American businessman
• 1956 – Gail Berman, American film executive, co-founded BermanBraun
• 1956 – Álvaro Pino, Spanish cyclist
• 1957 – Robin Cousins, English figure skater
• 1957 – Ken Kwapis, American director and screenwriter
• 1957 – Laurence Overmire, American poet and actor
• 1958 – Belinda Carlisle, American singer-songwriter, and author (The Go-Go's)
• 1958 – Fred Goodwin, English banker
• 1958 – Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player
• 1959 – Jonathan Franzen, American author
• 1959 – David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
• 1959 – Chika Sakamoto, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1959 – Eric Schlosser, American journalist and author
• 1960 – Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer-songwriter (Grauzone)
• 1960 – Sean Penn, American actor and director
• 1961 – Russell T. McCutcheon, Canadian scholar
• 1961 – Larry B. Scott, American actor
• 1962 – Gilby Clarke, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Guns N' Roses, Rock Star Supernova, and Candy)
• 1962 – John Marshall Jones, American actor
• 1962 – Buddy Landel, American wrestler
• 1962 – Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss, German actor and director
• 1963 – Shankar, Indian director and producer
• 1963 – Jon Gruden, American football coach
• 1964 – Colin James, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1964 – Maria McKee, American singer-songwriter
• 1966 – Maysa Leak, American singer and producer (Incognito)
• 1966 – Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder
• 1966 – Don Sweeney, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1967 – David Conrad, American actor
• 1968 – Andrew Koenig, American actor, director, and writer (d. 2010)
• 1968 – Ed McCaffrey, American football player
• 1968 – Helen McCrory, English actress
• 1969 – Christian Laettner, American basketball player
• 1969 – Donnie Wahlberg, American singer, actor, and producer (New Kids on the Block)
• 1970 – Jim Courier, American tennis player
• 1970 – Rupert Degas, English actor
• 1970 – Øyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer
• 1971 – Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
• 1971 – Ed Motta, Brazilian singer and musician
• 1971 – Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1971 – Shaun Rehn, Australian footballer
• 1972 – Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1974 – Tony Hajjar, Lebanese-American drummer (At the Drive-In and Sparta)
• 1975 – Giuliana Rancic, Italian-American journalist and actress
• 1976 – Scott Halberstadt, American actor
• 1976 – Geertjan Lassche, Dutch journalist
• 1977 – Nathan Deakes, Australian race walker
• 1977 – William Gallas, French footballer
• 1977 – Thierry Henry, French footballer
• 1977 – Mike Lewis, Welsh guitarist (Lostprophets and Public Disturbance)
• 1977 – Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer-songwriter and composer (Nightwish)
• 1978 – Karena Lam, Hong Kong actress
• 1978 – Ebon Moss-Bachrach, American actor
• 1978 – Vibeke Stene, Norwegian singer (Tristania)
• 1979 – Marcus Patric, English actor
• 1979 – Antwaan Randle El, American football player
• 1980 – Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1980 – Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer
• 1980 – Daniel Güiza, Spanish footballer
• 1980 – Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer-songwriter
• 1981 – Kristin Adams, American television host
• 1982 – Cheerleader Melissa, American wrestler
• 1982 – Phil Jagielka, English footballer
• 1982 – Mark Salling, American actor, singer-songwriter, and guitarist
• 1983 – Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player
• 1984 – Dee Brown, American basketball player
• 1984 – Garrett Wolfe, American football player
• 1985 – Yū Aoi, Japanese actress
• 1985 – Brock Kelly, American actor
• 1986 – Rudy Gay, American basketball player
• 1986 – Bryton James, American actor and singer
• 1986 – Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player
• 1987 – Kemp Muhl, American model, actress, and singer
• 1987 – Matthew Shultz, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Cage the Elephant)
• 1988 – Aidan Coleman, Irish jockey
• 1988 – Bianca Collins, American actress
• 1988 – Brady Corbet, American actor
• 1988 – Erika Toda, Japanese actress
• 1989 – Elena Hight, American snowboarder
• 1989 – Frederick Lau, German actor
• 1989 – Lil B, American rapper (The Pack)
• 1990 – Colin Bates, American actor
• 1990 – Lauren Diewold, Canadian actress
• 1990 – Rachel Hurd-Wood, English actress
• 1991 – Austin Butler, American actor and singer
• 1991 – Qory Sandioriva, Indonesian model, Puteri Indonesia 2009
• 1992 – Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (d. 2013)
• 1992 – Britani Knight, American wrestler
• 1993 – Cinta Laura, German-Indonesian actress and singer
• 1993 – Madison McReynolds, American actress
• 1994 – Taissa Farmiga, American actress
• 1996 – Ella Cruz, Filipino actress

Deaths

• 1153 – Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne (b. 1130)
• 1304 – Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
• 1510 – Edmund Dudley, English statesman (b. 1462)
• 1657 – Robert Blake, English admiral (b. 1599)
• 1673 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
• 1676 – Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, German novelist (b. 1621)
• 1720 – Anne Dacier, French scholar (b. 1654)
• 1723 – Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668)
• 1768 – Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)
• 1785 – Jonathan Trumbull, American politician (b. 1710)
• 1786 – Frederick the Great, Prussian king (b. 1712)
• 1834 – Husein Gradaščević, Bosnian rebel leader (b. 1802)
• 1838 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian librettist and poet (b. 1749)
• 1850 – José de San Martín, Argentine general (b. 1778)
• 1861 – Alcée Louis la Branche, American politician (b. 1806)
• 1870 – Perucho Figueredo, Cuban poet, musician, and activist (b. 1818)
• 1875 – Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827)
• 1880 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist and composer (b. 1810)
• 1896 – Bridget Driscoll, English automobile fatality (b. 1852)
• 1897 – William Jervois, English colonial administrator, 10th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1821)
• 1901 – Edmond Audran, French composer (b. 1842)
• 1903 – Hans Gude, Norwegian painter (b. 1825)
• 1909 – Madan Lal Dhingra, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1883)
• 1918 – Moisei Uritsky, Russian activist and statesman (b. 1873)
• 1920 – Ray Chapman, American baseball player (b. 1891)
• 1924 – Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
• 1925 – Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian-Romanian journalist and writer (b. 1848)
• 1935 – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American activist and writer (b. 1860)
• 1935 – Adam Gunn, American decathlete (b. 1872)
• 1940 – Billy Fiske, American pilot (b. 1911)
• 1945 – Reidar Haaland, Norwegian police officer and soldier (b. 1919)
• 1949 – Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino jurist and politician (b. 1891)
• 1954 – Billy Murray, American singer (b. 1877)
• 1958 – Arthur Fox, American fencer (b. 1878)
• 1962 – Peter Fechter, German murder victim (b. 1944)
• 1964 – Happy Felsch, American baseball player (b. 1891)
• 1969 – Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• 1970 – Rattana Pestonji, Thai director and producer (b. 1908)
• 1971 – Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 39th Yokozuna (b. 1914)
• 1971 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880)
• 1973 – Conrad Aiken, American author (b. 1889)
• 1973 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (b. 1928)
• 1973 – Paul Williams, American singer and choreographer (The Temptations) (b. 1939)
• 1976 – William Redfield, American actor (b. 1927)
• 1979 – John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (b. 1907)
• 1979 – Vivian Vance, American actress (b. 1909)
• 1983 – Ira Gershwin, American songwriter (b. 1896)
• 1987 – Rudolf Hess, German nazi politician (b. 1894)
• 1987 – Shaike Ophir, Israeli actor (b. 1929)
• 1987 – Gary Chester, Italian drummer (b. 1924)
• 1988 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani politician, 6th President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
• 1988 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., American politician (b. 1914)
• 1988 – Victoria Shaw, Australian-American actress (b. 1935)
• 1990 – Pearl Bailey, American actress and singer (b. 1918)
• 1992 – Al Parker, American porn actor, director, and producer (b. 1952)
• 1993 – Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician (b. 1920)
• 1994 – Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver (b. 1901)
• 1994 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer (b. 1902)
• 1995 – Howard E. Koch, American screenwriter (b. 1902)
• 1995 – Ted Whitten, Australian footballer (b. 1933)
• 1998 – Władysław Komar, Polish athlete (b. 1940)
• 1998 – Raquel Rastenni, Danish singer (b. 1915)
• 1998 – Tadeusz Ślusarski, Polish pole vaulter (b. 1950)
• 2003 – Mazen Dana, Palestinian journalist (b. 1962)
• 2004 – Thea Astley, Australian writer (b. 1925)
• 2004 – Gérard Souzay, French singer (b. 1918)
• 2005 – John Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934)
• 2006 – Shamsur Rahman, Bangladeshi poet and journalist (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Jos Brink, Dutch actor, producer, and author (b. 1942)
• 2007 – Bill Deedes, English journalist and politician (b. 1913)
• 2007 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
• 2008 – Franco Sensi, Italian businessman (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Francesco Cossiga, Italian politician, 8th President of Italy (b. 1928)
• 2012 – Aase Bjerkholt, Norwegian politician (b. 1915)
• 2012 – Pál Bogár, Hungarian basketball player (b. 1927)
• 2012 – Lou Martin, Irish pianist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1949)
• 2012 – Shirley W. Palmer-Ball, American politician (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (b. 1933)
• 2012 – Patrick Ricard, French businessman (b. 1945)
• 2012 – Willem G. van Maanen, Dutch journalist (b. 1920)
• 2012 – John Lynch-Staunton, Canadian politician (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Clare of the Cross
  • Hyacinth of Poland
  • Mammes of Caesarea (Catholic Church)
  • August 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Independence Day, celebrates the proclamation of Indonesia's independence from Japan in 1945.
• Portunalia (Roman Empire)
• Prekmurje Union Day (Slovenia)
• San Martin Day (Argentina)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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