What are the important events that happened on October 17? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
October 17: Facts & Myths About This Day
October 17 is the 291st day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 75 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is October 4, 2024 – a Thursday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 480,312 hours 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 ‘dihectaenneacontahenagon’ day.
Libra is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Opal is the modern birthstone for this month. Jasper is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 104 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 4,318 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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October 17 Historical Events
- 1456 –The University of Greifswald is established, making it the second oldest university in northern Europe (also for a period the oldest in Sweden, and Prussia)
- 1604 –Kepler’s Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes a supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus.
- 1771 –Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15.
- 1888 –Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
- 1933 –Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.
- 1941 –For the first time in World War II, a German submarine attacks an American ship.
- 1941 –German troops execute the male population of the villages Kerdyllia in Serres, Greece.
- 1943 –Burma Railway (Burma-Thailand Railway) is completed.
- 1964 –Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies opens the artificial Lake Burley Griffin in the middle of the capital Canberra.
- 2001 –Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi became the first Israeli minister to be assassinated in a terrorist attack.
Who were born on October 17?
- 1900 –Jean Arthur, American actress (d. 1991)
- 1915 –Arthur Miller, American playwright (d. 2005)
- 1921 –George Mackay Brown, Scottish Poet (d.1996)
- 1948 –Robert Jordan, American novelist (d. 2007)
- 1960 –Guy Henry, English actor
- 1965 –Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1980 –Yekaterina Gamova, Russian volleyball player
- 1985 –Baran Kosari, Iranian actress
- 1987 –Bea Alonzo, Filipina actress
- 1987 –Jarosław Fojut, Polish footballer
Who died on October 17?
- 1586 –Philip Sidney, English courtier, soldier, and writer (killed in battle) (b. 1554)
- 1776 –Pierre François le Courayer, French theologian (b. 1681)
- 1910 –Julia Ward Howe, American composer and abolitionist (b. 1819)
- 1934 –Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish histologist and neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1852)
- 1970 –Vola Vale, American actress (b. 1897)
- 1972 –Billy Williams, American singer (b. 1910)
- 1972 –Turk Broda, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
- 1999 –Nicholas Metropolis, Greek-American mathematician, physicist and computer scientist (b. 1915)
- 2000 –Leo Nomellini, football player and wrestler (b. 1924)
- 2007 –Joey Bishop, American entertainer, member of the Rat Pack (b. 1918)
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