August 17

August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 136 days remaining.

Events

• 1862 - Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in Minnesota.
• 1896 - Gold discovered in Alaska triggers Klondike gold rush.
• 1915 - Jewish American Leo Frank[?] is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1945 - Indonesia proclaims itself independent.
• 1960 - Gabon gains independence from France.
• 1970 - Venera 7 was launched and became the first spacecraft to successfully land on another planet.
• 1978 - Double Eagle II[?] becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.

Births

• 1601 - Pierre de Fermat, mathematician
• 1629 - John III of Poland (+ 1696)
• 1786 - Davy Crockett, frontiersman, soldier (+ 1836)
• 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn[?], Hollywood producer (+ 1974)
• 1887 - Marcus Garvey, American black leader (+ 1940)
• 1887 - Emperor Karl of Austria (+ 1922)
• 1893 - Mae West, actress, playwright (+ 1980)
• 1920 - Maureen O'Hara, actress
• 1929 - Jiang Zemin, President of China
• 1929 - Francis Gary Powers[?], U-2 pilot (+ 1977)
• 1930 - Glenn Corbett[?], actor (+ [1933]])
• 1932 - V. S. Naipaul, writer
• 1943 - Robert De Niro, actor
• 1958 - Belinda Carlisle[?], singer, guitarist
• 1959 - David Koresh[?], cult leader (+ 1993)
• 1960 - Sean Penn, actor, director
• 1969 - Donnie Wahlberg[?], actor, singer
• 1974 - Asad Makarevic[?], software engineer, chef, auto mechanic, epicurean

Deaths

• 1676 - Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen[?], novelist
• 1973 - Jean Barraqué, composer
• 1979 - Vivian Vance[?], actress
• 1983 - Ira Gershwin, lyricist
• 1987 - Rudolf Hess, former member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle
• 1988 - Mohammad Zia ul-Haq[?], president of Pakistan
• 1990 - Pearl Bailey[?], singer

Holidays and observances

• Rastafarianism - celebration of the birth of Marcus Garvey
• Roman Empire - Portunalia[?] in honor of Portunes

August 16 - August 18 - July 17 - September 17 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December sts