On this day in History - Feb. 17

• 0197 - Battle of Lugdunum, Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats his rival Clodius Albinus, securing full control over the Roman Empire.
• 0197 - Clodius Albinus dies killed in battle. Would-be Roman emperor.
• 0364 - Jovian dies. Roman Emperor
• 1339 - Duke Otto of Austria dies (b. 1301).
• 1370 - At the Battle at Rudau, Germany beat Lithuania.
• 1490 - Charles III, Duke of Bourbon was born (d. 1527). Constable of France.
• 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt.
• 1519 - Francis, Duke of Guise was born (d. 1563). French soldier and politician.
• 1524 - Charles of Guise was born (d. 1574). French cardinal.
• 1581 - Fausto Poli was born (d. 1653). Italian Catholic priest.
• 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.
• 1646 - Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert was born (d. 1714). French economist.
• 1653 - Arcangelo Corelli was born (d. 1713). Italian composer.
• 1673 - Molière dies (b. 1622). French writer.
• 1680 - Jan Swammerdam dies (b. 1637). Dutch scientist.
• 1699 - Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff was born (d. 1753). Master builder.
• 1718 - Matthew Tilghman was born (d. 1790). American Continental Congressman.
• 1723 - Tobias Mayer was (d. 1762). German astronomer.
• 1752 - Friedrich Maximilian Klinger was born (d. 1831). German writer.
• 1753 - February 17 is followed by March 1 as Sweden moves to the Gregorian from the Julian calendar.
• 1754 - Nicolas Baudin was born (d. 1803). French explorer.
• 1772 - Rússia e Prússia assinam convénio secreto para repartir a Polónia.
• 1774 - Raphael Peale was born (d. 1825). American painter.
• 1781 - René Laënnec was born (d. 1826). French physician.
• 1792 - Karl Ernst von Baer was born (d. 1876). German biologist.
• 1796 - Philipp Franz von Siebold was born (d. 1866). German physician.
• 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 .
• 1817 - King William III of the Netherlands was born (d. 1890)
• 1819 - The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise.
• 1820 - Henri Vieuxtemps was born (d. 1881). Belgian composer.
• 1821 - Lola Montez was born (d. 1861). Mexican dancer, actress and friend of monarchs
• 1827 - Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, muere, pedagogo reformador suizo.
• 1831 - Se aprueba en Bruselas la primera Constitución de Bélgica como país independiente.
• 1836 - Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer was born (d. 22 Dec 1870). Spanish poet.
• 1844 - Aaron Montgomery Ward was born (d. 1913). American department store founder.
• 1848 - Louisa Lawson was born (d. 1920). Australian feminist, suffragist, writer.
• 1854 - The British recognize the independence of the Orange Free State.
• 1854 - John Martin dies. English painter.
• 1854 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp was born (d. 1902). German industrialist.
• 1856 - Heinrich Heine dies (b. 1797). German writer.
• 1863 - David Lloyd George was born (d. 1945). Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1864 - Banjo Paterson was born (d. 1941). Australian poet.
• 1864 - The CSS H. L. Hunley is the first submarine to engage and sink a warship.
• 1864 - Banjo Paterson was born (d. 1941). Australian poet.
• 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 - William Cadbury was born. English chocolate manufacturer (Cadbury).
• 1869 - Gago Coutinho was born in Lisbon. Portuguese aviator pioneer.
• 1874 - Thomas J. Watson was born (d. 1956). American computer pioneer, first president of IBM .
• 1875 - Fagundes Varela dies in Niterói (b. 17 Aug 1841). Brazilian poet
• 1877 - André Maginot was born (d. 1932). French politician.
• 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 (b. 1806). French guitarist and composer.
• 1887 - Leevi Madetoja was born (d. 1947). Finnish composer.
• 1888 - Otto Stern was born (d. 1969). German 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.
• 1904 - “Madama Butterfly,” of Giacomo Puccini is presented by the first time at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy.
• 1908 - Red Barber was born (d. 1992). American baseball announcer, sports journalist
• 1909 - Geronimo dies (b. 1829). Apache leader.
• 1910 - Marc Lawrence was born. American actor.
• 1912 - Andre Norton was born. American author.
• 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.
• 1914 - Arthur Kennedy was born (d. 1990). American actor.
• 1915 - Francisco Giner de los Ríos dies. Spanish pedagogue and writer.
• 1919 - Kathleen Freeman was born (d. 2001). American actress.
• 1919 - Wilfrid Laurier dies (b. 1841). Seventh Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1920 - Ivo Caprino was born. Norwegian animated film director.
• 1922 - Marshall Teague was born (d. 1959). American race car driver.
• 1924 - Margaret Truman was born. American 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. American actor .
• 1925 - Ron Goodwin was born (d. 2003). English composer and conductor.
• 1929 - Chaim Potok was born (d. 2002). American author.
• 1929 - Patricia Routledge was born. English actress .
• 1930 - Ruth Rendell was born. English writer.
• 1932 - Buck Trent was born. American banjo player .
• 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 (d. 2003). English actor.
• 1934 - Barry Humphries was born (aka "Dame Edna Everage"). Australian actor, comedian.
• 1934 - King Albert I of Belgium dies (b. 1875) .
• 1935 - Portugal: Marechal Carmona is reelected President of Republic.
• 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 in Wuppertal. German politician .
• 1937 - Muere el barón francés Pierre de Cobertin, promotor de los Juegos Olímpicos de la era moderna.
• 1939 - Mary Ann Mobley was born. American actress and beauty queen.
• 1940 - Christina Pickles was born. English actress.
• 1941 - Julia McKenzie was born. English actress .
• 1941 - Gene Pitney was born. American singer .
• 1941 - Fernando Gabeira was born. Brazilian writer, journalist and politician.
• 1942 - Huey P. Newton was born (d. 1989). American founder of the Black Panther Party .
• 1943 - Armand J. Piron dies (b. 1888). American jazz violinist and composer.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ended in an American victory on February 22.
• 1944 - Karl Jenkins was born. Welsh composer.
• 1945 - Zina Bethune was born. American actress.
• 1945 - Brenda Fricker was born. Irish actress.
• 1947 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
• 1948 - Henrique Finochietto dies in Buenos Aires. Argentine cirurgeon
• 1949 - Fred Frith was born. British musician
• 1953 - Norman Pace was born. British actor and comic .
• 1953 - Janice Dickinson was born. American model .
• 1953 - Peninha [Aroldo Alves Sobrinho] was born. Brazilian singer and composer.
• 1954 - Rene Russo was born in Burbank, California. American actress (Ransom; Lethal Weapon 3 , Letal Weapon 4, The Thomas Crown Affair, etc) .
• 1955 - Christian Pineau becomes Prime Minister of France .
• 1956 - Richard Karn was born. American actor.
• 1957 - Loreena McKennitt was born. Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter.
• 1957 - A fire at an elderly home in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people.
• 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 - A storm kills more than 300 people in Hamburg, West Germany.
• 1962 - Lou Diamond Phillips was born. American actor .
• 1962 - Bruno Walter dies (b. 1867). German conductor.
• 1962 - Alison Hargreaves was born (d. 1995). British mountaineer.
• 1963 - Larry the Cable Guy was born. American actor and comedian
• 1963 - Michael Jordan was born. American 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.
• 1966 - Luc Robitaille was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1967 - Chanté Moore was born. American singer
• 1967 - Ciro Alegría dies. Peruvian writer.
• 1968 - In Springfield, Massachusetts the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.
• 1969 - Russia and Peru signed their first trade accord.
• 1969 - Tuesday Knight was born. American actress.
• 1970 - Dominic Purcell was born. English-born, Australian actor
• 1970 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon dies (b. 1888). Israeli writer, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1970 - Alfred Newman dies (b. 1901). American film composer.
• 1971 - Martyn Bennett was born (d. 2005). Canadian musician and composer.
• 1971 - Carlos Alberto Gamarra was born. Paraguayan soccer player.
• 1972 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T (15 million).
• 1972 - Billie Joe Armstrong was born. American singer and musician (Green Day)
• 1972 - Philippe Candeloro was born. French figure skater .
• 1972 - Denise Richards was born in Downers Grove, Illinois. American actress .
• 1972 - O Parlamento britânico vota pela união à Comunidade Européia.
• 1973 - Pixinguinha [Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho] dies (b. 23 Apr 1898]. Brazilian musician and composer, one of the most genious of his time.
• 1973 - Amy Van Dyken was born. American swimmer.
• 1974 - Jerry O'Connell was born. American actor.
• 1974 - Bryan White was born. American singer
• 1974 - Robert Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House with a stolen helicopter.
• 1975 - Wish Bone was born. American rapper.
• 1975 - Vaclav Prospal was born. Czech hockey player.
• 1977 - Janani Luwum dies shot (b. 1922). Ugandan Archbishop.
• 1978 - Jacob Wetterling was born, kidnapping victim (missing since 1989) .
• 1979 - The Sino-Vietnamese War began.
• 1981 - Paris Hilton was born. American actress and heiress to the Hilton Hotel chain .
• 1982 - Thelonious Monk dies (b. 1917). American jazz pianist.
• 1982 - Lee Strasberg dies (b. 1901). Austrian-born acting teacher and actor.
• 1982 - Adriano Leite Ribeiro (The Emperor) was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian soccer player (Internazionale)
• 1984 - O grupo musical Culture Club, com a música “Karma Chameleon”, recebe disco de ouro pela venda de 500,000 cópias do single.
• 1985 - Morre José Mestre Baptista, cavaleiro tauromáquico português.
• 1987 - Setenta pessoas morrem e 300 ficam feridas após o choque entre trens urbanos em São Paulo.
• 1991 - Bonnie Wright was born. British actress.
• 1991 - A. Mascarenhas Monteiro is the first elected president of Cape Vert with 72% votes, beating the former President Aristides Pereita.
• 1992 - A court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sentences serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to life in prison.
• 1994 - Randy Shilts dies (b. 1951). American 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 dies (b. 1922). Brazilian antropologist, politician and writer.
• 1998 - Ernst Jünger dies (b. 1895). Militaristic German author.
• 2003 - Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect John Bechler died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one day after collapsing during a spring-training workout; doctors later linked the 23-year-old’s sudden death to the dietary supplement ephedra.
• 2004 - As expected, the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company unanimously rejects a hostile buyout offer by Comcast, saying the cable television giant's $66 billion bid is too low, but does not rule out accepting a higher bid in the future.
• 2004 - José López Portillo dies (b. 1920). President of Mexico .
• 2004 - Parlamento holandês aprova expulsão de 26 mil imigrantes.
• 2005 - Dan O'Herlihy dies (b. 1919). Irish actor.
• 2005 - Omar Sivori dies (b. 1935). Argentine football player.