What are the important events that happened on May 17? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

May 17: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 17 is the 137^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 228 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 4, 2025 – a Saturday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,747,440,000 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 ‘hectatriacontaheptagon’ day.

Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 276 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 4,530 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 17 Historical Events

• 1536 –
  George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason.
• 1642 –
  Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve (1612–1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montréal.
• 1775 –
  American Revolutionary War: the Continental Congress bans trade with Quebec.
• 1792 –
  The New York Stock Exchange is formed.
• 1863 –
  Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language.
• 1865 –
  The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris.
• 1902 –
  Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer.
• 1940 –
  World War II: the old city centre of the Dutch town of Middelburg is bombed by the German Luftwaffe, to force the surrender of the Dutch armies in Zeeland.
• 1943 –
  The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
• 1992 –
  Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, many disappearances, hundreds of injuries, and over 3,500 arrests.

Who were born on May 17?

• 1743 –
  Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (d. 1784)
• 1768 –
  Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English general (d. 1854)
• 1873 –
  Henri Barbusse, French novelist and journalist (d. 1935)
• 1926 –
  Franz Sondheimer, German-born British chemist (d. 1981)
• 1956 –
  Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer
• 1957 –
  Pascual Pérez, Dominican baseball player
• 1965 –
  Trent Reznor, American musician (Nine Inch Nails)
• 1970 –
  Angelica Agurbash, Belarusian singer, actress and model
• 1975 –
  Alex Wright, German professional wrestler
• 1989 –
  Kris Bernal, Filipina actress

Who died on May 17?

• 1510 –
  Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (b. 1445)
• 1643 –
  Giovanni Picchi, Italian composer
• 1839 –
  Archibald Alison, Scottish author (b. 1757)
• 1868 –
  Isami Kondo, Japanese Shinsengumi Commander (b. 1834)
• 1875 –
  John C. Breckinridge, 14th Vice President of the United States (b. 1821)
• 1964 –
  Nandor Fodor, Hungarian-born psychologist and parapsychologist (b. 1895)
• 1996 –
  Scott Brayton, American race car driver (b. 1959)
• 2002 –
  Ladislao Kubala, Hungarian-Spanish footballer (b. 1927)
• 2006 –
  Eric Forth, British Member of Parliament (b. 1944)
• 2009 –
  Jung Seung-hye, South Korean film producer (b. 1965)