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, 473,736 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 ‘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
- 1377 –Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
- 1595 –Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
- 1912 –Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
- 1917 –The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
- 1929 –Inayatullah Khan, king of the Emirate of Afghanistan abdicates the throne after only three days into his reign.
- 1946 –The UN Security Council holds its first session.
- 1950 –The Great Brinks Robbery – 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company’s offices in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1981 –President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
- 1991 –Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
- 1996 –The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
Who were born on January 17?
- 1504 –Pope Saint Pius V (d. 1572)
- 1600 –Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright (d. 1681)
- 1686 –Archibald Bower, Scottish historian (d. 1766)
- 1850 –Aleksandr Taneyev, Russian composer (d. 1918)
- 1905 –Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1957 –Keith Chegwin, English television presenter
- 1959 –Susanna Hoffs, American musician
- 1970 –Cássio Alves de Barros, Brazilian footballer
- 1970 –James Wattana, Thai snooker player
- 1982 –Hwanhee, South Korean singer and actor
Who died on January 17?
- 1705 –John Ray, English naturalist (b. 1627)
- 1751 –Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (b. 1671)
- 1834 –Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist (b. 1762)
- 1884 –Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist (b. 1804)
- 1932 –Albert Jacka, VC, Australian soldier (b. 1893)
- 1961 –Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
- 2002 –Queenie Leonard, American actress (b. 1905)
- 2004 –Czesław Niemen, Polish musician (b. 1939)
- 2006 –Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)
- 2006 –Pierre Grondin, French Canadian cardiac surgeon (b. 1925)
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