Like today, October 17, 2021

1091: A T8 / F4 power siphon hits central London.

1448: The Ottoman Army, led by Sultan Murad II, defeats the mainly Hungarian Army of Ioannis Uniadis, in the second battle of Kosovo.

1456: The University of Greifswald, the second oldest in northern Europe, is founded.

1604: The Star of Kepler (or Supernova of 1604) makes its appearance in the constellation of Ophiuchus. This is the last super nova observed in our galaxy.

1777: The revolutionary forces under General Horatio Gates defeat the British colonial troops at the Battle of Saratoga. With a great strategic maneuver to end the war, the British invade from Canada. They are isolated and trapped without reserves and forced to surrender. The victory of the Americans will judge the outcome of the revolution of the 13 North American colonies.

1797: The Treaty of Campos-Formio is signed, by which the Ionian Islands are annexed to France.

1806: The authoritarian emperor of Haiti, James I, is assassinated.

1814: Nine people die in beer flooding in central London. It was caused when a large tank of beer was breached at the “Maiox” brewery and its contents were spilled on the street.

1854: British and French troops begin a siege on the port of Sevastopol, the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

1864: The new Constitution of Greece is adopted, which establishes the regime of the Reigning Republic.

1868: The Luxembourg Constitution enters into force.

1888: The optical phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison (the first film).

1897: The Society of Greek Playwrights is founded.

1906: The German mathematician Arthur Korn takes the first telephoto. It conveys the image of Germany’s successor at a distance of 1,800 km from Munich to Berlin.

1907: William Marconi’s company launches the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Cliffden, Ireland.

1909: A movement of junior officers of the Greek Navy is suppressed, resulting in deaths and injuries on both sides.

1912: The Greek Army liberates Naoussa, where in the meantime, the inhabitants have overthrown the Turkish authorities. The city, after heavy and deep slavery, uprisings, participation in revolutions and many massacres, is in the “arms” of Greece.

1913: The British ship “Volturno” catches fire while sailing from Rotterdam to New York. 521 passengers are saved, while 100 are considered dead. The same day, the Zeppelin L II exploded over Berlin, killing 28 people.

1915: Great Britain offers Cyprus to Greece to motivate it to go to the First World War. Citing Greek neutrality, the government of Alexandros Zaimis will reject the offer three days later.

1933: Albert Einstein and his wife arrive in the United States as political refugees from Nazi Germany.

1937: Donald Duck’s twin nephews – Hugh, Lewis, Dewey – appear for the first time in a newspaper comic in the USA.

1941: The German occupiers execute 250 inhabitants of Ano and Kato Kerdylia, Serres, in retaliation for the murder of a German soldier.

[1945: In Argentina, Juan Perρόνn returns to power, just eight days after being ousted by the military. Crowds flock to Plaza de Mayo to demand his release. This date is considered to be the birth of peronism.

1956: Britain is opening the world’s largest nuclear plant at Calder Hall.

1957: French author Albert Camus (“The Stranger”) wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1961: 200 Algerian protesters are massacred by French police.

1973: OPEC imposes embargo on US and Western countries, which provided military assistance to Israel during the Yom Kippur War.

1977: After five days of agony, in Somalia, Mogadishu, West German commandos raid a hijacked Lufthansa plane, releasing all 86 hostages. The operation killed three of the four Palestinian hijackers who had killed the pilot the day before.

1979: The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Mother Teresa. He traveled all over the world to help the poor and the sick. For example, he helped the hungry in Ethiopia, the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion and the victims of an earthquake in Armenia.

1988: 31 people die in Uganda jet crash in Rome

1989: A strong earthquake of 7.1 Richter hit San Francisco, USA with 67 dead, 2,500 injured and huge damage. It is the strongest earthquake to hit California since 1906.

1993: The state of emergency imposed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow is coming to an end. The arrests, during these days, exceed 90,000.

1994: Angola and UNITA guerrillas reach a 20-year peace deal to end the civil war.

1997: Che Guevara’s bones were transported to Cuba and buried in the Santa Clara Mausoleum, 30 years after his execution in Bolivia.

1998: More than 800 people have been killed in the Nigerian city of Warri when they ignited an oil spill they were trying to collect on a pipeline.

2006: American and Russian physicists announce that they have produced the heaviest known element, the ununctio, with atomic number 118.

Births

1697 – Canaletto (pronounced Giovanni Antonio Canal), Italian artist

1760 – Henri de Saint-Simone, French economist and philosopher

1813 – Georg Bichner, German playwright

1835 – Paul Henlein, German engineer

1844 – Gustave-Leon Schliberge, French historian

1860 – Dionysios Lavragas, Greek composer

1912 – Pope John Paul I

1915 – Arthur Miller, American playwright

1918 – Rita Hayworth, American actress and dancer

1920 – Montgomery Clift, American actor

1933 – William Anders, American astronaut

1949 – Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados

1955 – George Alogoskoufis, Greek economist and politician

1957 – Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Greek singer

1972 – Eminem (known as Marshall Mathers), American rapper, producer and actor

1972 – Tarkan Tevetoglou, Turkish singer

1975 – Despina Olimpiou, Cypriot singer

1976 – George Afroudakis, Greek water polo player

1977 – Andre Villas-Boas, Portuguese football coach

1979 – Alexandros Nikolaidis, Greek taekwondo athlete

1979 – Kimi Raikkonen, Finnish racing driver

1979 – Costas Tsartsaris, Greek basketball player

1983 – Felicity Jones, English actress

1984 – Chris Lowell, American actor

Deaths

532 – Pope Boniface II

1428 – Andrei Rublyov, Russian painter

1552 – Andreas Osiandros, German theologian

1553 – George III of Anhalt-Dessau, German prince

1707 – Gabriel III, Patriarch of Constantinople

1757 – René Antoine Ferso de Reomir, French scientist

1849 – Frederic Chopin, Polish pianist and composer

1850 – Login Heyden, Russian Admiral

1872 – Solomon Andrews, American inventor

1887 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist

1920 – John Reed, American journalist

1934 – Santiago Ramνn i Cahl, Spanish blogger and neuroscientist

1938 – Karl Kautsky, German politician

1952 – Filippos Kourantis, Greek football player

1953 – Nikolaos Kampanis, Greek politician

1960 – Andreas Birakis, Greek politician

1973 – Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian author

1981 – Lina Tsaldari, Greek politician

1983 – Raymond Aaron, French philosopher

1989 – Dionysios Carrer, Greek politician

1992 – Orestis Laskos, Greek director and screenwriter

1993 – Chris Oliva, American guitarist

1994 – Kakia Mendri, Greek singer

1999 – Mema Stathopoulou, Greek actress

2001 – Araken Demelo, Brazilian soccer player

2015 – Howard Kendall, English footballer