May 17

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 MontrŽal.
   * 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)
   * 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
   * 1936 - Dennis Hopper, actor, director
   * 1937 - Hazel R. O'Leary, United States Secretary of Energy
   * 1942 - Taj Mahal, singer, guitarist
   * 1946 - Udo Lindenberg, musician
   * 1950 - Janez Drnovsek, Slovene politician
   * 1955 - Bill Paxton, actor
   * 1956 - Sugar Ray Leonard, boxer
   * 1956 - Bob Saget, actor
   * 1961 - Enya, singer, songwriter
   * 1965 - Trent Reznor, singer, songwriter ("Nine Inch Nails")
   * 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)
   * Bah‡'’ Faith - Feast of 'Azaamat (Grandeur) - First day of the forth
     month of the Bah‡'’ Calendar

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