On this day in History - Apr. 17

• 0069 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor.
• 0326 - Alexander dies. Patriarch of Alexandria.
• 0485 - Proclus dies (b. 0412). Greek philosopher.
• 0593 - Emperor Jomei was born. Emperor of Japan.
• 0617 - Donnán of Eigg dies. Celtic Christian martyr, patron saint of Eigg.
• 1080 - King Harald III of Denmark dies (b. 1041).
• 1278 - Michael IX Palaeologus was born (d. 1320). Co-ruling Eastern Roman Emperor.
• 1397 - Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as when the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury starts.
• 1427 - John IV, Duke of Brabant dies (b. 1403).
• 1492 - Spain and Christopher Columbus sign a contract for him to sail to Asia to get spices. / O navegador Cristóvão Colombo obteve financiamento do Rei Fernando de Espanha para a sua célebre viagem.
• 1498 - Vasco da Gama avista Calicute e com isso descobre o caminho marítimo para a Índia.
• 1521 - Martin Luther speaks to the assembly at the Diet of Worms, refusing to recant his teachings.
• 1524 - Giovanni da Verrazano reaches New York harbor.
• 1539 - George, Duke of Saxony dies (b. 1471).
• 1555 - After 18 months of siege, Siena surrenders to the Florentine-Imperial army. The Republic of Siena is incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
• 1573 - Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria was born (d. 1651).
• 1574 - Joachim Camerarius dies (b. 1500). German classical scholar.
• 1586 - John Ford was born. English dramatist.
• 1598 - Giovanni Riccioli was born (d. 1671). Italian astronomer.
• 1620 - Marguerite Bourgeoys was born (d. 1700). Founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame.
• 1622 - Henry Vaughan was born (d. 1695). Welsh poet.
• 1680 - Kateri Tekakwitha dies (b. 1656). First American Indian to receive beatification.
• 1683 - Johann David Heinichen was born. German composer.
• 1695 - Sor Juana dies (b. 1651). Mexican writer.
• 1696 - Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné dies (b. 1626). French writer.
• 1710 - Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan was born (d. 1767). British Freemason.
• 1711 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor dies (b. 1678).
• 1713 - David Hollatz dies (b. 1648). Pomeranian dogmatician.
• 1734 - Taksin was born (d. 1782). King of Thailand.
• 1741 - Samuel Chase was born (d. 1811). Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
• 1742 - Arvid Horn dies (b. 1664). Swedish statesman.
• 1750 - François de Neufchâteau was born (d. 1828). French statesman and intellectual figure.
• 1761 - Thomas Bayes dies in Tinbridge Wells, Kent, England (b. 1702). English mathematician.
• 1764 - Johann Mattheson dies (b. 1681). German composer.
• 1790 - Benjamin Franklin dies (b. 1706). American politician, inventor, diplomat, and printer.
• 1794 - Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius was born (d. 1868). German botanist.
• 1797 - Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would be one of the largest invasions to Spanish territories in America.
• 1798 - Étienne Bobillier was born (d. 1840). French mathematician.
• 1799 - Richard Jupp dies (b. 1728). English architect.
• 1816 - Thomas Hazlehurst was born (d. 1876). English Methodist chapel builder.
• 1820 – Alexander Joy Cartwright was born (d. 1892). Inventor of the Modern Game of Baseball.
• 1825 - A França reconhece a independência do Haiti.
• 1833 - Jean-Baptiste Accolay was born (d. 1900). Belgian composer.
• 1837 - J.P. Morgan was born (d. 1913). American financier, art collector and philanthropist.
• 1842 - Maurice Rouvier was born (d. 1911). French statesman.
• 1843 - Samuel Morey dies (b. 1762). American inventor.
• 1849 - William R. Day was born (d. 1923). American diplomat and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Virginia secedes from the Union.
• 1863 - Augustus Edward Hough Love was born (d. 5 Jun 1940). English geophysicist and mathematician who discovered a major type of earthquake wave that was subsequently named for him.
• 1863 - Constantine P. Cavafy was born (d. 1933). Greek poet.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Plymouth begins – Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
• 1865 - Bernardo de Sá Nogueira de Figueiredo assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro de Portugal.
• 1865 - Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
• 1865 - Ursula Julia Ledochowska was born (d. 1939). Polish-Austrian Catholic saint.
• 1866 - Ernest Starling was born (d. 1927). British physiologist.
• 1873 - Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy dies (b. 1783). Russian painter.
• 1877 - Matsudaira Tsuneo was born (d. 1949). Japanese diplomat.
• 1878 – Emil Fuchs was born (d. 1961). German-born American attorney and baseball owner.
  
• 1882 - Artur Schnabel was born (d. 1951). Polish pianist.
• 1882 - George Jennings dies (b. 1810). Sanitary engineer.
• 1884 - Leo Frank was born (d. 1915). American convict.
• 1885 -Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) was born (d. 1962). Danish author.
• 1890 - Art Acord was born (d. 1931). American actor and rodeo rider.
• 1892 - Alexander Mackenzie dies (b. 1822). 2nd Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1893 - Lucy Larcom dies (b. 5 March 1824). American poet.
• 1895 - The Treaty of Maguan (also as Treaty of Shimonoseki) between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the first Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.
• 1896 - Señor Wences was born (d. 1999). Spanish ventriloquist and comedian.
• 1897 - Thornton Wilder was born (d. 1975). American dramatist.
• 1899 - Sir Vincent (Brian) Wigglesworth was born (d.11 Feb 1994). English entomologist who pioneered in the study of insect physiology; he was particularly respected for his research into the role of hormones in insect growth, metamorphosis, and reproduction and for his insights into simple mechanisms, such as how insects walk upside down.
• 1902 - Jaime Torres Bodet was born (d. 1974). Mexican writer, politician, and diplomat.
• 1902 - Francis of Assisi of Bourbon dies (b. 1822). King Consort of Spain.
• 1903 - Gregor Piatigorsky was born (d. 1976). Russian cellist.
• 1903 - Morgan Taylor was born (d. 1975). American athlete.
• 1903 - Nicolas Nabokov was born. American composer.
• 1904 - Brazil: Bangu Atlético Clube (RJ) is founded.
• 1905 - The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York which held that the "right to free contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
• 1905 - Arthur Lake was born (d. 1987). American actor.
• 1906 - Sidney R. Garfield was born (d. 1984). American physician.
• 1907 - The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than any other day.
• 1909 - Alain Poher was born (d. 1996). French politician.
• 1910 - Ivan Goff was born (d. 1999). Australian screenwriter.
• 1911 - Laci Osório was born in Alegrete, Rio Grande do Sul (d. 31 Jul 1999). Brazilian poet and writer.
• 1911 – Lester Rodney was born (d. 2009). American journalist.
  
• 1914 - George Davis was born (d. 1998). American art director.
• 1915 - Joe Foss was born (d. 2003). American soldier and politician.
• 1915 – Martin Clemens was born (d. 2009). Scottish guerilla fighter.
• 1916 - Helenio Herrera was born (d. 1997). French footballer player and manager.
• 1916 - Sirimavo Bandaranaike was born (d. 2000). She was prime minister of Sri Lanka three times and was the world's first female prime minister.
• 1917 - Bill Clements was born. American politician, Governor of Texas.
• 1917 - Roberto Campos was born (d. 2001). Brazilian economist, diplomata and professor.
• 1918 - William Holden was born (d. 1981). American actor.
• 1919 - Chavela Vargas was born. Costa Rican-Mexican singer.
• 1919 - Gilles Lamontagne was born. French Canadian politician.
• 1923 - Harry Reasoner was born (d. 1991). American journalist.
• 1923 - Lindsay Anderson was born (d. 1994). English film director.
• 1923 - Solly Hemus was born. American baseball player.
• 1924 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios is formed from a merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and the Louis B. Mayer Company.
• 1925 - Charles Yanofsky was born. American geneticist who demonstrated the colinearity of gene and protein structures.
• 1926 - Gerry McNeil was born (d. 2004). Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1928 - Cynthia Ozick was born. American writer.
• 1929 - James Last was born. German band leader.
• 1929 - Odete Lara was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1929 - Peggy McKercher was born. 11th Chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan.
• 1930 - Chris Barber was born. British jazz band leader.
• 1930 - Alexander Golovin dies (b. 1863). Russian painter.
• 1934 - Don Kirshner was born. American television producer and composer.
• 1935 - Sun Myung Moon has a vision of Jesus Christ who tells him to complete his mission from almost 2000 years ago.
• 1935 - Theo Angelopoulos was born. Greek film director.
• 1936 - Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck dies (b. 1873). Dutch prime minister.
• 1937 - Daffy Duck debuts in Warner Bros' short Porky's Duck Hunt.
• 1937 - Ferdinand Piëch was born. Austrian-German automotive engineer and executive.
• 1937 - Yi Sang dies (b. 1910). Korean poet.
• 1938 - Ben Barnes was born. American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Texas.
• 1938 – Kerry Wendell Thornley was born. Co-founder of Discordianism.
• 1940 - Anja Silja was born. German soprano.
• 1940 - Billy Fury was born (d. 1983). British singer.
• 1940 - John McCririck was born. English television horse racing pundit.
• 1941 - World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
• 1941 - Al Bowlly dies (b. 1899). British dance band vocalist.
• 1942 - POW French General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein.
• 1942 - David Bradley was born. British actor.
• 1942 – Kenas Aroi was born. Nauruan politician.
• 1942 - Luís Noronha Costa was born. Portuguese painter.
• 1942 - Jean Perrin dies (b. 1870). French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1943 - Na cidade do México, Jacques Monard é sentenciado a 20 anos de prisão pelo assassinato de Trotsky, um dos líderes da Revolução Russa de 1917 que se exilou no México.
• 1944 - L. Scott Caldwell was born in Chicago, Illinois. American actress.
• 1944 - J.T. Hearne dies (b. 1867). English cricketer.
• 1945 – Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy, from German Nazi forces.
• 1945 - In Stassfurt, Germany, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Boris T. Pash seizes half a ton of uranium, in an attempt to foil Soviet Union plans to build an atomic bomb.
• 1945 - Tropas russas iniciam o ataque em grande escala contra Berlim (II Guerra Mundial).
• 1946 – Syria obtains its Independence from the French occupation.
• 1946 - Georges J.F. Kohler was born (d. 1 Mar 1995). German immunologist who in 1984, with César Milstein and Niels K. Jerne, received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work in developing the technique for producing monoclonal antibodies.
• 1946 - Juan Bautista Sacasa dies. President of Nicarágua (1932-1936).
• 1947 - Linda Martin was born. Irish singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner.
• 1947 - Tsutomu Wakamatsu was born. Japanese baseball player.
• 1948 - Jan Hammer was born. Czech composer.
• 1949 - At midnight 26 counties officially leave the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the Republic of Ireland.
  
• 1950 - Bruce McNall was born. American former NHL team owner.
• 1950 - L. Scott Caldwell was born. American actress.
• 1951 - Börje Salming was born. Swedish ice hockey player.
• 1951 - Olivia Hussey was born. Argentine-born actress.
• 1952 - David Heavenor was born. Scottish singer songwriter.
• 1952 - Zeljko Raznatovic was born. Serbian Warlord.
• 1954 – Lester Square was born. Canadian musician.
• 1954 - Louise Cardoso was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1954 - Michael Sembello was born. American musician.
• 1954 - Riccardo Patrese was born. Italian race car driver.
• 1954 - Rowdy Roddy Piper was born. Canadian professional wrestler.
• 1954 - Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu dies (b. 1900). Romanian communist activist.
• 1955 - Pete Shelley was born. British musician.
• 1957 - Nick Hornby was born. English author.
• 1957 – Susan Roman was born. Canadian voice actress.
• 1959 - Sean Bean was born in Sheffiels, Yorkshire. English actor.
• 1960 - Eddie Cochran dies (b. 1938). American musician.
• 1961 - Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of CIA-financed and -trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro / Ocorreu o fracasso americano da Baía dos Porcos.
• 1961 - Manos Hadjidakis receives an Academy Award in the best music category, for his Song Never on Sunday from the film of the same name.
• 1961 - Boomer Esiason was born. American football player.
• 1961 – Frank J. Christensen was born. American labor leader.
• 1962 - Henrique Pires was born. Brazilian actor and producer.
• 1963 - Joel Murray was born. American actor.
• 1964 - The Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Mustang at the New York World's Fair.
• 1964 - Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
• 1964 – Shea Stadium opens in New York.
• 1964 - Ken Daneyko was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1964 - Lela Rochon was born. American actress.
• 1964 - Maynard James Keenan was born. American singer (Tool and A Perfect Circle).
• 1965 - Yoshiki Kuroda was born. Japanese urban planner.
• 1965 - William Mapother was born. American actor.
• 1966 - Vikram was born. Indian actor.
• 1967 - Henry Ian Cusick was born. Peruvian-born Scottish actor.
• 1967 - Kimberly Elise was born. American actress.
• 1967 – Leslie Bega was born. American actress.
• 1967 - Liz Phair was born. American musician and songwriter.
• 1967 - Marquis Grissom was born. American baseball player.
• 1967 – Timothy Gibbs was born. American actor.
• 1967 - Red Allen dies (b. 1908). American jazz trumpeter.
• 1968 - Prince Maurits of the Netherlands was born.
• 1969 - Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
• 1969 - Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
• 1969 - Devlin is youngest-ever woman MPA 21-year-old woman, Bernadette Devlin, is voted in as Britain's youngest ever female MP and the country's third youngest ever.
• 1969 - Portugal: Começo da Crise Académica de 1969, com greve às aulas e boicote aos exames de Junho, provocada pela prisão pela PIDE de Alberto Martins, presidente da Direcção-Geral da Associação Académica de Coimbra, por pretender usar a palavra na cerimónia de inauguração do novo Edifício das Matemáticas da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Coimbra, presidida pelo Presidente da República, Américo Tomaz. O ministro da Educação Nacional, José Hermano Saraiva, encerrará temporariamente a Universidade.
• 1970 - Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
• 1970 - Márcio Garcia was born. Brazilian actor and TV presenter.
• 1970 - Redman was born. American rapper.
• 1971 – The People's Republic of Bangladesh forms, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Mujibnagor.
• 1971 – Sierra Leone becomes a republic.
• 1972 - Claire Sweeney was born. English actress.
• 1972 - Gary Bennett was born. American baseball player.
• 1972 - Jarkko Wiss was born. Finnish footballer.
• 1972 - Jennifer Garner was born. American actress.
• 1972 - Muttiah Muralitharan was born. Sri Lankan cricketer.
• 1972 - Terran Sandwith was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1972 - Tony Boselli was born. American football player.
• 1973 - Federal Express delivers its first package.
• 1973 - German counter-terrorist unit GSG 9 founded.
• 1973 - Brett Maher was born. Australian basketballer.
• 1973 - Kaihō Ryōji was born. Japanese sumo wrestler.
• 1973 – Theo Ratliff was born. American basketball player.
• 1974 - Mikael Åkerfeldt was born. Swedish singer and guitarist (Opeth).
• 1974 - Victoria Beckham was born. English singer.
• 1975 - The Cambodian Civil War ends: The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
• 1975 - Gabriel Soto was born. Mexican actor.
• 1975 - Travis Roy was born. American hockey player.
• 1975 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan dies (b. 1888). Indian philosopher.
• 1976 - During his unsuccessful re-election bid, U.S. President Gerald Ford appears as himself on Saturday Night Live.
• 1976 - Alex Nesic was born. American actor.
• 1976 – Aňa Geislerová was born. Czech actress.
• 1976 - Monet Mazur was born. American actress and musician.
• 1976 - Henrik Dam dies (b. 1895). Danish biochemist, Nobel laureate.
• 1977 - Chad Hedrick was born. American speed skater.
• 1977 - Phil Jamieson was born. Australian singer (Grinspoon).
• 1977 - Sizzla was born. Jamaican dancehall artist.
• 1977 - William Cardinal Conway dies (b. 1913). Northern Irish clergyman.
• 1978 - Jason White was born. Scottish rugby player.
• 1978 - Jordan Hill was born. American singer.
• 1978 - Lindsay Hartley was born. American soap opera actress.
• 1979 - Eric Brewer was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1979 - Siddharth Narayan was born. Indian actor.
• 1980 - Curtis Woodhouse was born. English footballer.
• 1980 – Lee Hyun-il was born. South Korean badminton player.
• 1981 - Hanna Pakarinen was born. Finnish singer.
• 1981 - Ryan Raburn was born. American baseball player.
• 1981 - Susie Amy was born in London. English actress.
• 1981 – Wayne Lydon was born. American baseball player.
• 1982 - Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
• 1982 - Brad Boyes was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1982 - Lee Jun Ki was born. South Korean actor and model.
• 1983 - Incidente diplomático retém por 50 dias no Brasil 4 aviões líbios com armas para a Nicarágua.
• 1983 - Roberto Jimenez was born. Peruvian football player.
• 1983 - Stanislav Chistov was born. Russian hockey player.
• 1983 - Felix Pappalardi dies (b. 1939). American musician and recording producer (Mountain).
• 1984 - Svenn Thorkild Stray assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro da Noruega.
• 1984 - Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher is killed by automatic gunfire coming from the Libyan People's Bureau in central London. She had been policing a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten other people are wounded. The events lead to an 11-day siege of the building.
• 1984 - Jed Lowrie was born. American baseball player.
• 1984 - Claude Provost dies (b. 1933). French Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1985 - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was born. French tennis player.
• 1986 - Treaty signed, ending Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.
• 1986 - British journalist McCarthy kidnapped John McCarthy is abducted on his way to the airport - three bodies, believed to be of British hostages, are also found.
• 1986 - Nasce Luis Filipe dos Santos Semana, natural de Gondomar. "Profissional" de jogos de computador.
• 1987 - Cecil Harmsworth King dies (b. 1901). Owner of Mirror Group Newspapers.
• 1988 - Louise Nevelson dies (b. 1900). American sculptor.
• 1988 - Ankit Modh dies (b. 1900). American Super Hero.
• 1989 - Adolfo Simões Müller dies (b. 1909). Portuguese writer.
• 1990 - Jonathan Brown was born. Welsh footballer.
• 1990 - Reverend Ralph Abernathy dies (b. 1936). American civil rights activist.
• 1991 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3,000 for the first time ever gaining 17.58 to 3,004.46.
• 1993 - Turgut Ozal dies (b. 1927). 8th president of Turkey.
• 1994 - Roger Wolcott Sperry dies (b. 1913). American neurobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1995 – Paulie Litt was born. American actor.
• 1995 - Frank E. Resnik dies (b. 1928). American business executive.
• 1996 - Brazil: Eldorado dos Marajás massacre: 19 without land people are killed by police action, in Pará, Brazil
  
• 1996 - Dee Dee Davis was born. American actress.
• 1997 - Piet Hein dies (b. 1905). Danish scientist and poet.
• 1998 - STS-90 is lanched. The shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on time today at 1:19 p.m. Central time initiating a 16-day mission to study the human nervous system.
• 1998 - Linda McCartney dies (b. 1941). American photographer, activist, and musician.
• 1999 - Dozens hurt in London bomb blast - An explosion in south London has injured at least 45 people.
• 2001 - Barry Bonds becomes the 17th member of the 500 home run club at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco, California.
• 2002 - Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two U.S. Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War.
• 2002 - Portugal e Brasil empatam (1 x 1) em jogo amigável de futebol.
• 2003 - Terramoto de 6,6 graus na escala Richter em Qinghai - China.
• 2003 - Earl King dies (b. 1934). American R&B musician and songwriter .
• 2003 - Paul Getty dies (b. 1932). American-born philanthropist.
• 2003 - Robert Atkins dies (b. 1930). American dietician.
• 2003 - Yiannis Latsis dies (b. 1910). Greek shipping tycoon.
• 2004 - Míssil disparado de helicóptero israelita mata o líder do Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.
• 2004 - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero é empossado Primeiro Ministro da Espanha pelo rei Juan Carlos
• 2004 - Edmond Pidoux dies (b. 1908). Swiss writer.
• 2004 - Soundarya dies (b. 1971). Indian actress.
• 2006 – Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonates an explosive device in Tel Aviv, near the old Central bus station, killing eleven people and injuring 70.
• 2007 – Gil Dobrică dies (b. 1946). Romanian singer.
• 2007 - Kitty Carlisle dies (b. 1910). American actress and television personality.
• 2007 - Nair Bello dies (b. 1931). Brazilian actress.
• 2008 - Aimé Césaire dies (b. 1913). French Martinican poet and politician.
• 2008 – Danny Federici dies (b. 1950). Organ player for E-Street Band.
• World Hemophilia Day.
• Independence Day of Syria.
• Women's Day in Gabon.
• Flag Day in American Samoa.
• Evacuation Day, celebrate the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946.
• Feast day of Saint Anicetus (d. 0166).