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 138^th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 228 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 4, 2024 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 28,598,400 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 ‘hectatriacontaoctagon’ 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 257 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 4,165 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 17 Historical Events

• 1869 –
  Imperial Japanese forces defeat the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Battle of Hakodate to end the Boshin War.
• 1900 –
  Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.
• 1914 –
  The Protocol of Corfu is signed recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty.
• 1943 –
  The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
• 1980 –
  General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
• 1980 –
  On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho, starting the Internal conflict in Peru.
• 1987 –
  An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
• 1997 –
  Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• 2006 –
  The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef.
• 2007 –
  Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953.

Who were born on May 17?

• 1845 –
  Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan poet (d. 1902)
• 1937 –
  Hazel R. O'Leary, 7th United States Secretary of Energy
• 1938 –
  Jason Bernard, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1940 –
  Alan Kay, American computer scientist
• 1955 –
  Bill Paxton, American actor and film director
• 1957 –
  Pascual Pérez, Dominican baseball player
• 1959 –
  Marcelo Loffreda, Argentine rugby player and coach
• 1963 –
  Jon Koncak, American basketball player
• 1969 –
  Tabatha Coffey, Australian hairstylist and television personality
• 1970 –
  Hubert Davis, American basketball player

Who died on May 17?

• 1536 –
  William Brereton, English courtier and Groom of the Privy Chamber (executed)
• 1643 –
  Giovanni Picchi, Italian composer
• 1829 –
  John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1745)
• 1838 –
  Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French diplomat (b. 1754)
• 1886 –
  John Deere, American blacksmith and manufacturer (b. 1804)
• 1964 –
  Nandor Fodor, Hungarian-born psychologist and parapsychologist (b. 1895)
• 1987 –
  Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
• 2006 –
  Captain Nichola Goddard, Canadian soldier (b. 1980)
• 2006 –
  Eric Forth, British Member of Parliament (b. 1944)
• 2011 –
  Harmon Killebrew, American baseball player (b. 1936)