What are the important events that happened on January 17? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
January 17: Facts & Myths About This Day
January 17 is the 17th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 349 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is January 4, 2024 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,705,449,600 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘heptadecagon’ day.
Capricorn is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Garnet is the modern birthstone for this month. Emerald is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 24 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,044 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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January 17 Historical Events
- 395 –Emperor Theodosius I dies at Milan, the Roman Empire is re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire is centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum under Honorius, his brother, at the age of 10.
- 1377 –Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
- 1608 –Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 men.
- 1811 –Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionists.
- 1852 –The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.
- 1912 –Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
- 1945 –The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
- 1945 –World War II: Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.
- 1969 –Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
- 2007 –The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing.
Who were born on January 17?
- 1761 –James Hall, Scottish geologist (d. 1832)
- 1820 –Anne Brontë, British author (d. 1849)
- 1875 –Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan dramatist (d. 1910)
- 1937 –Alain Badiou, French philosopher
- 1940 –Tabaré Vázquez, President of Uruguay
- 1945 –Javed Akhtar, Indian lyricist, poet and scriptwriter
- 1949 –Andy Kaufman, American comedian (d. 1984)
- 1967 –Richard Hawley, English singer, guitarist, and songwriter (Pulp, The Longpigs)
- 1974 –Derrick Mason, American football player
- 1986 –Hale Appleman, American actor
Who died on January 17?
- 1598 –Feodor I of Russia (b. 1557)
- 1826 –Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (b. 1806)
- 1942 –Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
- 1951 –Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Assamese poet, playwright, film maker (b. 1903)
- 1987 –Hugo Fregonese, Argentine film director (b. 1908)
- 2002 –Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 2003 –Balint Vazsonyi, Hungarian pianist (b. 1936)
- 2004 –Czesław Niemen, Polish musician (b. 1939)
- 2008 –Bobby Fischer, American chess grandmaster and author (b. 1943)
- 2010 –Daisuke Gouri, Japanese seiyu (b. 1952)
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