What are the important events that happened on August 17? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
August 17: Facts & Myths About This Day
August 17 is the 230th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 136 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is August 4, 2024 – a Saturday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 478,848 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 ‘dihectatriacontagon’ day.
Leo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 165 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 4,257 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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August 17 Historical Events
- 986 –A Byzantine army is destroyed in the pass of Trajan’s Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron. The Byzantine emperor Basil II narrowly escaped.
- 1863 –American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
- 1864 –American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville – Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
- 1908 –Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, is shown in Paris.
- 1915 –A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 mph.
- 1945 –Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
- 1969 –Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.
- 1970 –Venera Program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
- 1988 –Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
- 1999 –A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
Who were born on August 17?
- 1887 –Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
- 1926 –George Melly, British singer (d. 2007)
- 1926 –Valerie Eliot, surviving widow and second wife of the Nobel prize-winning poet, T. S. Eliot.
- 1943 –Dave “Snaker” Ray, American musician (d. 2002)
- 1963 –Jon Gruden, American football coach
- 1964 –Maria McKee, American singer
- 1969 –Christian Laettner, American basketball player
- 1982 –Cheerleader Melissa, American professional wrestler
- 1982 –Phil Jagielka, English footballer
- 1984 –Garrett Wolfe, American football player
Who died on August 17?
- 1153 –Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England (b. 1130)
- 1720 –Anne Lefèvre, French scholar (b. 1654)
- 1880 –Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (b. 1810)
- 1925 –Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (b. 1848)
- 1987 –Gary Chester, Italian studio drummer (b. 1924)
- 1988 –Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani politician, Former Martial Law Administrator and President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
- 1993 –Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician (b. 1920)
- 1998 –Raquel Rastenni, Danish singer (b. 1915)
- 2005 –John Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934)
- 2007 –Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
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