July 17
July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years ) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar , with 167 days remaining.
Events
180 - Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa, executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.
1762 - Catherine II becomes tzar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia .
1771 - Massacre at Bloody Falls : Chipewyan chief Matonabbee traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his arctic overland journey, massacre a group of unsuspecting Inuit .
1791 - Massacre at the Champ de Mars , Paris, during the French Revolution . 1200-1500 people were killed, including women and children.
1815 - Napoleonic Wars : In France , Napoleon surrenders at Rochefort, Charente-Maritime to British forces.
1867 - In Boston, Massachusetts , USA, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established as the first dental school in the United States .
1897 - Klondike gold rush begins when first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle, Washington , USA.
1898 - Spanish-American War : Battle of Santiago Bay - Troops under United States General William R. Shafter take the city of Santiago de Cuba from the Spanish .
1917 - King George V of the United Kingdom issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British royal family will bear the surname Windsor .
1936 - Spanish Civil War : A conservative rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the Spanish civil war .
1944 - Port Chicago disaster : Near the San Francisco Bay , two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California killing 232.
1944 - World War II : The largest convoy of the war embarks from Halifax, Nova Scotia under Royal Canadian Navy protection.
1945 - World War II: Potsdam Conference - At Potsdam , the three main Allied leaders begin their final summit of the war. The meeting will end on August 2 .
1955 - Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California .
1962 - Nuclear testing : The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site .
1975 - Apollo-Soyuz Test Project : An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
1979 - Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami .
1981 - Hyatt Hotel disaster : Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded atrium lobby killing 114.
1984 - Laurent Fabius becomes Prime Minister of France
1995 - The Midwestern heat wave in the United States reaches its peak. Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin , among other cities, set all-time high temperature records. The heat claims over 400 lives on this day alone.
1995 - The Nasdaq stock index closes above the 1,000 mark for the first time.
1996 - Off the coast of Long Island, New York , a Paris -bound Boeing 747 carrying TWA flight 800 explodes killing all 230 on board.
1997 - The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.
1998 - In St. Petersburg , Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried in St. Catherine Chapel 80 years after he and his family were killed by Bolsheviks .
1998 - A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 1,500, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless.
1998 - Biologists report in the journal Science how they sequenced the genome of the bacterium that causes syphilis , Treponema pallidum .
Births
1674 - Isaac Watts , English hymnwriter (d. 1748 )
1698 - Pierre Louis Maupertuis , French mathematician (d. 1759 )
1787 - Friedrich Krupp , industrialist (d. 1826 ), see Krupp
1877 - Ernst von Dohnanyi , Hungarian conductor (d. 1960 )
1888 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon , Israeli writer (d. 1970 )
1899 - James Cagney , actor (d. 1986 )
1899 - Erle Stanley Gardner , author (d. 1970 )
1901 - Bruno Jasieński , Polish poet (d. 1938 )
1912 - Art Linkletter , television host
1917 - Phyllis Diller , comedienne
1917 - Margarete Mitscherlich , physician
1920 - Juan Antonio Samaranch , former chairman of the International Olympic Committee
1920 - Kenneth Wolstenholme , sports commentator (d. 2002 )
1928 - Vince Guaraldi , musician, composer (d. 1976 )
1935 - Diahann Carroll , singer
1935 - Donald Sutherland , actor
1938 - Franz Alt , journalist
1939 - Maria Ilva Biolcati , known as Milva, singer
1941 - Spencer Davis
1941 - Jürgen Flimm , theatre director and manager
1942 - Tim Brooke-Taylor , comedian
1947 - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (formerly Parker Bowles), former British royal mistress and now wife of Prince Charles
1948 - Luc Bondy , film and theatre director
1949 - Charlie Steiner , sports anchor
1952 - David Hasselhoff , actor, musician
1954 - J. Michael Straczynski , science fiction author
1956 - Peter D'Adamo , physician, author
1960 - Mark Burnett , reality TV producer
1963 - Matti Nykänen , Finnish ski jumper
1971 - Cory Doctorow , author, activist
1973 - Eric Moulds , American football player
1975 - Konnie Huq , television presenter
Deaths
1070 - Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (b. 1030 )
1790 - Adam Smith , Scottish economist
1793 - Charlotte Corday , French aristocrat
1887 - Dorothea Dix , American social activist (b. 1802 )
1918 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (Gregorian calendar date)
1918 - Grand Duchess Olga of Russia
1918 - Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia
1918 - Tsarevich Alexei of Russia
1918 - Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia
1918 - Tsarina Alexandra of Russia
1918 - Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia
1959 - Billie Holiday , singer
1959 - Eugene Meyer , American businessman and newspaper publisher (The Washington Post 1961 - Ty Cobb , Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1886 )
1967 - John Coltrane , jazz musician
1975 - Konstantine Gamsakhurdia , Georgian writer and public benefactor
1980 - Boris Delaunay , Soviet /Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
1995 - Juan Manuel Fangio , Argentinian race car driver (b. 1911 )
2001 - Katharine Graham , Washington Post publisher (b. 1917 )
2003 - Hans Abich , German tv producer
2003 - Antje , walrus , long-time mascot of German tv station NDR
2003 - Rosalyn Tureck , American pianist and harpsichordist
2003 - Dr. David Kelly , UN weapons inspector
2004 - Pat Roach , wrestler and actor
Holidays and observances
External links
July 16 - July 18 - June 16 - August 18 -- listing of all days
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