On this day in History - Feb. 17

• 197 - Battle of Lugdunum, Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats his rival Clodius Albinus, securing full control over the Roman Empire.
• 197 - Clodius Albinus, dies, would-be Roman emperor (killed in battle) .
• 364 - Jovian, dies, Roman emperor (b. ca. 332) .
• 1339 - Otto the Merry, dies, Duke of Austria.
• 1370 - At the Battle at Rudau, Germany beat Lithuania.
• 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt .
• 1600 - Giordano Bruno, dies burned at skate (b. 1548) religious reformer advocate of Copernican theory.
• 1621- Miles Standish is appointed as first commander of Plymouth colony.
• 1653 - Arcangelo Corelli, was born, composer (d. 1713) .
• 1673 - Molière, dies, writer (b. 1622) .
• 1680 - Jan Swammerdam, dies, Dutch scientist (b. 1637) .
• 1699 - Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, was born, master builder (d. 1753) .
• 1753 - February 17 is followed by March 1 as Sweden moves to the Gregorian from the Julian calendar.
• 1772 - Rússia e Prússia firmam convênio secreto para repartir a Polônia.
• 1774- Raphael Peale, was born, painter.
• 1781 - René Laënnec nascimento de (m. 1826), médico francês inventor do estetoscópio .
• 1798 - Auguste Comte, was born, "father" of sociology (d. 1857) .
• 1801 - An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.
• 1814 - Battle of Mormans .
• 1819 - The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise.
• 1821 - Lola Montez, was born,dancer, actress, friend of monarchs (d. 1861) .
• 1827 - Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, muere, pedagogo reformador suizo.
• 1831 - Se aprueba en Bruselas la primera Constitución de Bélgica como país independiente.
• 1836 - Nace Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, poeta romántico español.
• 1844 - Aaron Montgomery Ward, was born, department store founder .
• 1854 - The British recognize the independence of the Orange Free State.
• 1854 - John Martin, dies, English painter .
• 1854 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp, was born, German industrialist (d. 1902) .
• 1856 - Heinrich Heine, dies, writer (b. 1797) .
• 1864 - Banjo Paterson, was born, Australian poet (d. 1941) .
• 1865 - American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.
• 1867 - The first ship passes through the Suez Canal.
• 1867 - Born this day, William Cadbury, in England, chocolate manufacturer (Cadbury).
• 1874 - Thomas J. Watson, was born, computer pioneer, first president of IBM .
• 1877 - André Maginot, was born, politician, Maginot Line (d. 1932) .
• 1880 - O czar Alexandre II da Rússia sobrevive a uma tentativa de assassinato quando uma bomba explode na sala de jantar do Palácio de Inverno, em São Petersburgo.
• 1883 - Napoleon Coste, dies, French guitarist, composer (b. 1806) .
• 1888 - Otto Stern, was born, physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (d. 1969) .
• 1895 - Swan Lake, one of the most famous and critically-acclaimed ballets, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was first performed at full length in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
• 1901 - Questão Calmon. A filha do cônsul do Brasil no Porto sofre uma tentativa de rapto, com o objectivo de levar a rapariga para uma casa religiosa, para onde desejava entrar contra a vontade dos pais.
• 1908 - Red Barber, was born, baseball announcer, sports journalist (d. 1992) .
• 1909 - Geronimo, dies, Apache leader (b. 1829) .
• 1913 - The Armory Show opens in New York City. It displays works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.
• 1915 - Muere Francisco Giner de los Ríos, pedagogo y escritor español.
• 1919- Wilfrid Laurier, dies, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841).
• 1920 - Ivo Caprino, was born, Norwegian animated film director.
• 1922 - Marshall Teague, was born, race car driver (d. 1959) .
• 1924 - Margaret Truman, was born, novelist, daughter of Harry S. Truman .
• 1924 - In Miami, Florida, Johnny Weissmuller sets a new world record in the 100-yard freestyle swimming competition with a time of 52-2/5 seconds.
• 1925 - Hal Holbrook, was born, actor .
• 1929 - Chaim Potok, was born, author (d. 2002) .
• 1929 - Patricia Routledge, was born, actress .
• 1930 - Ruth Rendell, was born, writer .
• 1933 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.
• 1933 - The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.
• 1934 - Alan Bates, was born, actor (d. 2003) .
• 1934 - Barry Humphries was born, (aka "Dame Edna Everage"), Australian actor, comedian .
• 1934 - King Albert I of Belgium dies, (b. 1875) .
• 1935 - O Marechal Carmona é reeleito Presidente da República Portuguesa.
• 1936 - In Paraguay, the army rebelled against President Eusebio Ayala. This resulted in the creation of South America’s first fascist regime.
• 1936 - Jim Brown, was born, American football star.
• 1937 - Rita Süssmuth, was born, politician .
• 1937 - Muere el barón francés Pierre de Cobertin, promotor de los Juegos Olímpicos de la era moderna.
• 1941 - Julia McKenzie, was born, actress .
• 1941 - Gene Pitney, was born, singer .
• 1942 - Huey P. Newton, was born, founder of the Black Panther Party .
• 1943 - Armand J. Piron, dies, jazz musician (b. 1888).
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ended in an American victory on February 22.
• 1945 - Brenda Fricker, was born, actress .
• 1947 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
• 1948 - Muere en Buenos Aires el notable cirujano argentino Enrique Finochietto.
• 1953 - Norman Pace, was born, actor, comic .
• 1954 - Rene Russo,was born, actress (Ransom) .
• 1955 - Christian Pineau becomes Prime Minister of France .
• 1958 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare of Assisi (1193~1253) the patron saint of television.
• 1959 - The first weather satellite, Vanguard 2, was launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
• 1962 - Lou Diamond Phillips, was born, actor .
• 1962 - Bruno Walter, dies, conductor (b. 1876) .
• 1963 - Michael Jordan, was born, basketball star.
• 1964 - In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
• 1967 - Muere Ciro Alegría, escritor peruano.
• 1968 - In Springfield, Massachusetts the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.
• 1969 - Russia and Peru signed their first trade accord.
• 1970 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, dies, Israeli writer (b. 1888).
• 1972 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T ?(15 million).
  1971 - Carlos Alberto Gamarra, jogador de futebol paraguaio .
• 1972 - Billie Joe Armstrong, was born, musician ("Green Day") .
• 1972 - Philippe Candeloro, was born, figure skater .
• 1972 - Denise Richards, was born, actress .
• 1972 - O Parlamento britânico vota pela união à Comunidade Européia.
• 1973 - Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho, o Pixinguinha, compositor brasileiro.
• 1974 - Robert Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House with a stolen helicopter.
• 1975 - Vaclav Prospal, was born, NHL hockey player .
• 1978 - Jacob Wetterling, was born, kidnapping victim (missing since 1989) .
• 1979 - The Sino-Vietnamese War began.
• 1981 - Paris Hilton, was born, actress and heiress to the Hilton Hotel chain .
• 1982 - Thelonious Monk, dies, jazz pianist (b. 1917) .
• 1982 - Lee Strasberg, dies, acting teacher, actor .
• 1984 -O grupo musical Culture Club, com a música “Karma Chameleon”, recebe disco de ouro pela venda de 500,000 cópias do single.
• 1987 - Setenta pessoas morrem e 300 ficam feridas após o choque entre trens urbanos em São Paulo.
• 1992 - A court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sentences serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to life in prison.
• 1994 - Randy Shilts, dies, author, AIDS activist .
• 1995 - Colin Ferguson is convicted of six counts of murder for the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings and later receives a 200+ year sentence.
• 1995 - The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ended on a cease-fire brokered by the UN.
• 1995 - Se firma en Brasilia la "Declaración de Paz de Itamaraty", compromiso de paz entre Perú y Ecuador.
• 1996- In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.
• 1997 - Darcy Ribeiro, morte de; antropólogo, político e escritor brasileiro (n. 1922).
• 1998 - Ernst Jünger, dies, militaristic German author (b. 1895) .
• 2004 - José López Portillo, dies, former president of Mexico (b. 1920) .
• 2004 - Parlamento holandês aprova expulsão de 26 mil imigrantes.