May 17

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

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Events

• 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason.
• 1590 – Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland.
• 1642 – Paul Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve (1612–1676) 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 French to Austrian.
• 1846 – The Saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax.
• 1863 – Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, her first book in Galician language.
• 1865 – International Telegraph Union (later International Telecommunication Union) is established.
• 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.
• 1900 – Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.
• 1902 – Archaeologist Spyridon Stais finds the Antikythera mechanism.
• 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (Herbert Henry Asquith) falls.
• 1919 – Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike.
• 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 Egypt.
• 1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, 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 are killed by terrorist bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland.
• 1983 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
• 1984 – Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend," sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture.
• 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 – After 18 years as the mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac takes office as President of France.
• 1999 – Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.
• 2003 – Mozilla Firefox. Browser renamed from Phoenix to Firebird.
• 2004 – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Massachusetts.

Births

• 1628 – Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria, Regent of the Tyrol and Further Austria
• 1743 – Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (d. 1784)
• 1749 – Edward Jenner, inventor of the vaccine (d. 1823)
• 1758 – John St Aubyn, British fossil collector (d. 1839)
• 1768 – Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales (d. 1821)
• 1794 – Anna Brownell Jameson, British writer (d. 1860)
• 1821 – Sebastian Kneipp, naturopathist (d. 1897)
• 1836 – Wilhelm Steinitz, chess player (d. 1900)
• 1842 – August Thyssen, industrialist (d. 1926)
• 1844 – Julius Wellhausen, German biblical scholar (d. 1918)
• 1866 – Erik Satie, French composer (d. 1925)
• 1873 – Henri Barbusse, French novelist and journalist (d. 1935)
• 1873  – Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (d. 1957)
• 1879 – Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (d. 1926)
• 1886 – Alfonso XIII of Spain (d. 1941)
• 1888 – Tich Freeman, record-breaking Kent leg-spinner (d. 1965)
• 1898 – Alfred Joseph Casson painter (d. 1992)
• 1900 – Ruhollah Khomeini, (d. 1981)
• 1901 – Werner Egk, composer (d. 1983)
• 1903 – Cool Papa Bell, baseball player (d. 1991)
• 1904 – Jean Gabin, actor (d. 1976)
• 1906 – Zinka Milanov, Croatian opera soprano (d. 1989)
• 1911 – Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (d. 1998)
• 1918 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish soprano
• 1919 – Merle Miller, Presidential biographer (d. 1986)
• 1921 – Dennis Brain, English French horn player (d. 1957)
• 1922 – Antje Weisgerber, actress
• 1924 – Hannes Messemer, actor (d. 1991)
• 1935 – Dennis Potter, writer (d. 1994)
• 1936 – Dennis Hopper, actor, director
• 1937 – Hazel R. O'Leary, United States Secretary of Energy
• 1942 – Taj Mahal, singer, guitarist
• 1945 – Tony Roche, Australian tennis player
• 1946 – Udo Lindenberg, musician
• 1948 – William Bruford, drummer, songwriter
• 1950 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovene politician
• 1955 – Bill Paxton, actor
• 1956 – Sugar Ray Leonard, boxer
• 1956  – Bob Saget, actor
• 1959 – Paul Di'Anno, singer
• 1959  – Jim Nantz, broadcaster
• 1961 – Enya, singer, songwriter
• 1962 – Lise Lyng Falkenberg, Danish writer
• 1965 – Trent Reznor, singer, songwriter ("Nine Inch Nails")
• 1966 – Qusay Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (d. 2003)
• 1971 – Maxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, wife of Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
• 1971 – Shaun Hart, Australian rules footballer
• 1974 – Andrea Corr, singer ("The Corrs")
• 1975 – Sasha Alexander, American actress
• 1975 – Laura Voutilainen, Finnish singer

Deaths

• 1510 – Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (b. 1445)
• 1575 – Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1504)
• 1727 – Catherine I of Russia (b. 1683 or 1684)
• 1729 – Samuel Clarke, English philosopher (b. 1675)
• 1765 – Alexis Claude Clairault, French mathematician (b. 1713)
• 1829 – John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1745)
• 1838 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French diplomat (b. 1754)
• 1839 – Archibald Alison, Scottish author (b. 1757)
• 1875 – John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States (b. 1821)
• 1917 – Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (b. 1829)
• 1935 – Paul Dukas, French composer (b.1865)
• 1946 – William Jefferson Blythe III, father of U.S. President Bill Clinton (b. 1918)
• 1947 – George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1869)
• 1985 – Abe Burrows, songwriter, composer, and writer
• 1992 – Lawrence Welk, American musician (b. 1903)
• 2000 – Donald Coggan, 101st Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1909)
• 2002 – Dave Berg, cartoonist (b. 1920)
• 2002 – Sharon Sheeley, songwriter (b. 1940)
• 2002 – Davey Boy Smith, professional wrestler (b. 1962)
• 2004 – Tony Randall, actor (b. 1920)
• 2004 – Jørgen Nash, artist (b. 1920)
• 2004 – Ezzedine Salim, leader of Iraqi Governing Council

Holidays and observances

• Day of the Galician Letters – Día das Letras Galegas – holiday in Galicia, honoring Galician language
• Norwegian Constitution Day – Syttende Mai
• Bahá'í Faith – Feast of 'Azaamat (Grandeur) – First day of the fourth month of the Bahá'í Calendar

External links

• BBC: On This Day

May 16 – May 18 – April 17 – June 17 — listing of all days