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 230^th 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, 28,730,880 minutes 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.

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.
• 1807 –
  Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
• 1914 –
  World War I: Battle of Stalluponen – The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.
• 1915 –
  Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia, United States.
• 1918 –
  Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
• 1943 –
  World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
• 1947 –
  The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
• 1979 –
  Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156.
• 1980 –
  Azaria Chamberlain disappears, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.
• 1999 –
  A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.

Who were born on August 17?

• 1601 –
  Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)
• 1888 –
  Monty Woolley, American actor (d. 1963)
• 1904 –
  Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)
• 1939 –
  Luther Allison, American musician (d. 1997)
• 1946 –
  Patrick Manning, 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago
• 1947 –
  Sylvia Nasar, German-born American economist and author
• 1953 –
  Kevin Rowland, English musician (Dexys Midnight Runners)
• 1953 –
  Michael Malthouse, Premiership winning Australian football coach
• 1966 –
  Maysa Leak, American jazz singer
• 1990 –
  Rachel Hurd-Wood, British actress

Who died on August 17?

• 1785 –
  Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut (b. 1710)
• 1786 –
  King Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1712)
• 1838 –
  Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian librettist (b. 1749)
• 1903 –
  Hans Gude, Norwegian landscape painter (b. 1825)
• 1964 –
  Happy Felsch, American baseball player best known for his involvement in the Black Sox Scandal
• 1973 –
  Paul Williams, American singer (The Temptations) (b. 1939)
• 1983 –
  Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (b. 1896)
• 1990 –
  Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)
• 2004 –
  Thea Astley, Australian writer (b. 1925)
• 2010 –
  Francesco Cossiga, Italian politician and eighth President of the Italian Republic (b. 1928)