On this day in history

May 17

29 births · 10 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

270

Seven Years' War

270 years ago

Born this day

1900

Ruhollah Khomeini

Would be 126

Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

Oldest record

387th

Treaty of Zuhab

event anniversary

Famous births29

1749 · 277 yrs

Edward Jenner

Edward Jenner (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was an English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 73

View profile Photo (modified): James Northcote · Public domain

1866 · 160 yrs

Erik Satie

Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (17 May 1866 – 1 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire but was undistinguished and did not obtain a diploma.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 59

View profile Photo (modified): Sonia y natalia · CC BY-SA 3.0

1873 · 153 yrs

Henri Barbusse

Henri Barbusse (French:; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist, short story writer, journalist, poet and political activist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1886 · 140 yrs

Alfonso XIII

Alfonso XIII (Spanish: Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena; French: Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon; 17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African for his Africanist views, was King of Spain from his…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 140

View profile Photo (modified): Kaulak · Public domain

1897 · 129 yrs

Odd Hassel

Odd Hassel (17 May 1897 – 11 May 1981) was a Norwegian physical chemist and Nobel Laureate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 129

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · CC BY 3.0

1900 · 126 yrs

Ruhollah Khomeini

Ruhollah Mostafavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 126

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1904 · 122 yrs

Jean Gabin

Jean Gabin Alexis Moncorgé (born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé), known as Jean Gabin (French:; 17 May 1904 – 15 November 1976), was a French actor and singer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 122

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown (Mondadori Publishers), published in Grazia magazine · Public domain

1918 · 108 yrs

Birgit Nilsson

Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide repertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 108

View profile Photo (modified): Bernard Gotfryd · Public domain

1936 · 90 yrs

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He is considered one of the key figures of the New Hollywood era.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 90

View profile Photo (modified): Georges Biard · CC BY-SA 3.0

1940 · 86 yrs

Alan Kay

Alan Curtis Kay (born May 17, 1940) is an American computer scientist who pioneered work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface (GUI) design. At Xerox PARC he led the design and development of the first modern windowed computer desktop interface.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceAge 86

View profile Photo (modified): Marcin Wichary from San Francisco, U.S.A. · CC BY 2.0

1947 · 79 yrs

Hawa Abdi

Hawa Abdi Dhiblawe (Somali: Xaawo Cabdi, Arabic: حواء عبدي, 17 May 1947 – 5 August 2020) was a Somali human rights activist and physician. She was the founder and chairperson of the Dr.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 79

View profile Photo (modified): Eunice Lau · CC BY 3.0

1950 · 76 yrs

Janez Drnovšek

Janez Drnovšek (Slovene pronunciation:; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (2002–2007).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 76

View profile Photo (modified): World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland · CC BY-SA 2.0

Showing 12 of 29

Famous deaths10

1765 · 261 yrs

Alexis Clairaut

Alexis Claude Clairaut (French:; 13 May 1713 – 17 May 1765) was a French mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He was a prominent Newtonian whose work helped to establish the validity of the principles and results that Sir Isaac Newton had outlined in the Principia of 1687.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 52

View profile Photo (modified): Louis-Jacques Cathelin / After Charles-Nicolas Cochin · Public domain

1829 · 197 yrs

John Jay

John Jay (December 23, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United States and from 1795 to 1801 as the second governor of New York.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 83

View profile Photo (modified): Gilbert Stuart · Public domain

1839 · 187 yrs

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (French:; 2 February 1754 – 17 May 1838), 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French secularized clergyman, statesman, and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he became Agent-General of the Clergy in 1780.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 85

View profile Photo (modified): François Gérard · Public domain

1840 · 186 yrs

Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (Italian:; 27 October 1782 – 27 May 1840) was an Italian violinist, guitarist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 57

View profile Photo (modified): Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres · Public domain

1875 · 151 yrs

John C. Breckinridge

John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American politician who served as the 14th vice president of the United States, with President James Buchanan, from 1857 to 1861, and as a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 54

View profile Photo (modified): Mathew Benjamin Brady / Levin Corbin Handy · Public domain

1935 · 91 yrs

Paul Dukas

Paul Abraham Dukas (French: 1 October 1865 – 17 May 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical and abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 69

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1987 · 39 yrs

Gunnar Myrdal

Karl Gunnar Myrdal ( MUR-dahl, MEER-; Swedish:; 6 December 1898 – 17 May 1987) was a Swedish economist and sociologist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 127

View profile Photo (modified): Uppsala-Bild / Upplandsmuseet · Public domain

2012 · 14 yrs

Donna Summer

Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global following.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 77

View profile Photo (modified): Harry Langdon. · Public domain

2013 · 13 yrs

Jorge Rafael Videla

General Jorge Rafael Videla ( vid-EL-ə; Spanish:; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine general, politician and dictator who served as the president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981 during the National Reorganization Process. He came to power in a March 1976 coup d'état that deposed Isabel Perón.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 101

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

2022 · 4 yrs

Vangelis

Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (Greek: Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου, pronounced; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), mainly known professionally as Vangelis ( vang-GHEL-iss; Greek: Βαγγέλης, pronounced; also credited as Vangelis Papathanassiou), was a Greek composer, arranger, performer and record producer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 83

View profile Photo (modified): Ian Patterson · CC BY 2.0

Events5

1639 · 387 yrs

Treaty of Zuhab

The Treaty of Zuhab (Persian: عهدنامه زهاب, romanized: Ahadnāmeh-ye Zuhab), also called Treaty of Qasr-e Shirin (Turkish: Kasr-ı Şirin Antlaşması), signed on 17 May 1639 at Qasr-e Shirin in western Iran, ended the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1623–1639.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1756 · 270 yrs

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a global war fought by numerous great powers, primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and the Indian subcontinent.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1954 · 72 yrs

Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, even if the segregated facilities are equal in quality.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1981 · 45 yrs

1981 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1981 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 17 May 1981. It was the fifth race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

2006 · 20 yrs

2006 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2006 UEFA Champions League final was an association football match between Barcelona of Spain and Arsenal of England at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, France, on Wednesday, 17 May 2006. It was the final match of the 2005–06 season of Europe's primary cup competition, the UEFA Champions League.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

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