July 17

July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 167 days remaining.

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2004 day arrangement
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Table of contents

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances

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, masacre a group of unsuspecting Inuit.
1815 - Napoleonic Wars: In France, Napoleon surrenders at Rochefort 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 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.
1997 - Creatus Day; Kiith-Sa Hunter created by Maverick Hunter
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)
1787 - Friedrich Krupp, industrialist (d. 1826), see Krupp
1899 - James Cagney, actor (d. 1986)
1899 - Erle Stanley Gardner, author (d. 1970)
1912 - Art Linkletter, television host
1917 - Phyllis Diller, comedienne
1917 - Margarete Mitscherlich, physician
1920 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, 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
1949 - Charlie Steiner, sports anchor
1952 - David Hasselhoff, actor, musician
1954 - Joe Straczynski, science fiction author
1956 - Peter D'Adamo, physician, author
1971 - Cory Doctorow, author, activist
1975 - Konnie Huq, television presenter

Deaths

1790 - Adam Smith, Scottish economist
1793 - Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat
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 of Russia
1918 - Tsarina Alexandra of Russia
1918 - Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia
1959 - Billie Holiday, singer
1961 - Ty Cobb, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1886)
1967 - John Coltrane, jazz musician
1975 - Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor
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
2004 - Pat Roach, wrestler and actor

Holidays and observances

Iraq - Ba'ath Revolution Day
Puerto Rico - Luis Muñoz Rivera's Birthday
South Korea - Constitution Day
Various mathematics departments - Yellow Pig's Day

July 16 - July 18 - June 16 - August 18 -- listing of all days