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February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 317 days remaining (318 in leap years).

Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances

Events

• 1621 - Miles Standish is appointed as first commander of Plymouth colony[?]
• 1753 - February 17 is followed by March 1 as Sweden moves to the Gregorian from the Julian Calendar
• 1772 - First partition of Poland, by Russia and Prussia, later including Austria
• 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.
• 1819 - The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise
• 1854 - The British recognize the independence of the Orange Free State
• 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
• 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
• 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.
• 1933 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.
• 1933 - The Blaine Act[?] ends Prohibition in the United States
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll[?] begins. The battle ended in an American victory on February 22.
• 1947 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
• 1964 - In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
• 1968 - In Springfield, Massachusetts the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.
• 1972 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T –(15 million)
• 1979 - China invades Vietnam
• 1992 - A court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sentences Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to life in prison.
• 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.
• 1996 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the "Deep Blue" supercomputer in a chess match.

Births

• 1653 - Arcangelo Corelli, composer (+ 1713)
• 1699 - Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff[?], master builder (+ 1753)
• 1774 - Raphael Peale[?], painter
• 1821 - Lola Montez, dancer, actress, friend of monarchs (+ 1861)
• 1844 - Montgomery Ward[?], department store founder
• 1854 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp[?], industrialist (+ 1902)
• 1874 - Thomas Watson[?], computer pioneer, first president of IBM
• 1877 - Andre Maginot[?], politician, Maginot Line (+ 1932)
• 1888 - Otto Stern[?], physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1943 (+ 1969)
• 1908 - Red Barber[?], baseball announcer, sports journalist (+ 1992)
• 1924 - Margaret Truman[?], novelist, daughter of President Harry S Truman
• 1925 - Hal Holbrook[?], actor
• 1929 - Chaim Potok, author (+ 2002)
• 1929 - Patricia Routledge, actress
• 1930 - Ruth Barbara Rendell[?], writer
• 1934 - Alan Bates, actor
• 1934 - Barry Humphries[?] (aka "Dame Edna Everage"), actor, comedian
• 1936 - Jim Brown[?], American football star
• 1937 - Rita Süssmuth[?], politician
• 1941 - Julia McKenzie[?], actress
• 1941 - Gene Pitney, singer
• 1945 - Brenda Fricker[?], actress
• 1953 - Norman Pace[?], actor, comic
• 1962 - Lou Diamond Phillips[?], actor
• 1963 - Michael Jordan, basketball
• 1972 - Denise Richards, actress
• 1972 - Philippe Candeloro[?], figure skater
• 1972 - Billie Joe Armstrong, musician ("Green Day")

Deaths

• 197 - Clodius Albinus, aspirant to Emperor of Rome (killed in battle)
• 1600 - Giordano Bruno, religious reformer
• 1673 - Molière, writer
• 1856 - Heinrich Heine, writer
• 1919 - Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada
• 1934 - King Albert I of Belgium
• 1962 - Bruno Walter, conductor
• 1982 - Thelonious Monk, jazz pianist
• 1982 - Lee Strasberg[?], acting teacher, actor
• 1994 - Randy Shilts[?], author, AIDS activist
• 1998 - Ernst Jünger, militaristic German author, dies at 102

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire - Quirinalia[?] in honor of Quirinus
• Ancient Latvia - Tanis Diena observed