February 17 in History

Historical Events on February 17

1801 An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr, Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.

1864 American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.

1944 World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok begins: The battle ends in an American victory on February 22.

1968 In Springfield, Massachusetts, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.

1978 The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30 others, all Protestants.

1980 First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.

1996 In Philadelphia, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.

2008 Kosovo declares independence as the Republic of Kosovo.

2011 Libyan protests begin. In Bahrain, security forces launched a deadly pre-dawn raid on protesters in Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the day is locally known as Bloody Thursday.

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Famous Birthdays on February 17

624 Wu Zetian

1963 Michael Jordan

1981 Paris Hilton

1991 Ed Sheeran

All Births

Famous Deaths on February 17

1600 Giordano Bruno

1856 Heinrich Heine

1909 Geronimo

1919 Wilfrid Laurier

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