February 17
1600 - Italian philosopher, alchemist and Copernican theory advocate, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy by the Spanish Inquisition.
1801 - The Electoral College tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was broken by the House of Representatives, who selected Jefferson to be president; Burr became vice president.
1815 - The United States and Britain exchanged the instruments of ratification for the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.
1817 - Baltimore became the first U.S. city to be lit by gas.
1863 - The International Red Cross was founded in Geneva.
1864 - The Confederate submarine Hunley, equipped with an explosive at the end of a protruding spar, rammed and sank the Union ship Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.
1865 - Columbia, South Carolina, burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in.
1933 - Newsweek magazine was first published.
1947 - The Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.
1959 - The United States launched Vanguard 2, a satellite that carried meteorological equipment.
1964 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Wesberry v. Sanders that congressional districts within each state had to be roughly equal in population.
1972 - President Richard Nixon departed on his historic trip to China.
1988 - Lt. Col. William Higgins, a Marine Corps officer serving with a United Nations truce monitoring group, was kidnapped in southern Lebanon by Iranian-backed terrorists (he was later slain by his captors).
1992 - Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison.
1995 - Colin Ferguson was convicted of six counts of murder in the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings that also wounded 19 people.
1996 - World chess champion Garry Kasparov beat IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in a six-game match.
2002 - The new Transportation Security Administration took over supervision of aviation security from the airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration.
2005 - President George W. Bush named John Negroponte to be the first national intelligence director.
2008 - Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.
2009 - President Barack Obama signed a $757 billion economic stimulus package into law.
2012 - Congress voted to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and to renew unemployment benefits for millions more.
2014 - Jimmy Fallon made his debut as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show.”
2015 - Vice President Joe Biden opened a White House summit on countering extremism and radicalization, saying the United States needed to ensure that immigrants were fully included in the fabric of American society to prevent violent ideologies from taking root at home.
2017 - Making his debut on the world stage, Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Germany, looking to reassure skeptical allies in Europe about U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump, who had made his “America First” mantra a centerpiece of his new administration.
2021 - Nearly 1.9 million utility customers in Texas still had no power after historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge in demand for electricity to heat homes, buckling the state’s power grid and causing widespread blackouts; a large swath of Texas was under yet another winter storm warning.
2021 - Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh died at age 70, nearly a year after publicly announcing he had stage four lung cancer.
Birthdays
26 - Sasha Pieterse (actress)
30 - Meaghan Martin (actress)
31 - Ed Sheeran (singer)
31 - Bonnie Wright (actress)
33 - Chord Overstreet (actor)
36 - Daphne Oz (TV host)
40 - Becky Nicholson (reality star)
41 - Joseph Gordon-Levitt (actor)
41 - Paris Hilton (reality star)
42 - Jason Ritter (actor)
43 - Conrad Ricamora (actor)
44 - Ashton Holmes (actor)
46 - Kelly Carlson (actress)
48 - Bryan White (singer)
48 - Jerry O'Connell (actor)
51 - Denise Richards (actress)
52 - Dominic Purcell (actor)
58 - Michael Bay (director)
59 - Larry The Cable Guy (actor/comedian)
59 - Michael Jordan (basketball player)
60 - Lou Diamond Phillips (actor)
66 - Richard Karn (actor)
68 - Rene Russo (actress)
69 - Becky Ann Baker (actress)
77 - Brenda Fricker (actress)
86 - Jim Brown (football player)
87 - Christina Pickles (actress)
88 - Barry "Dame Edna" Humphries (actor/comedian)
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Today in Sports History - February 17
1943 - Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees) joined the U.S. Army as a voluntary inductee.
1962 - Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 67 points in a game against the St. Louis Hawks.
1968 - The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame opened in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1974 - Richard Petty wins his fifth Daytona 500 and becomes the first driver to win the event in back-to-back years.
1979 - The Chicago Bulls retired Jerry Sloan's #4.
1998 - The United States defeats Canada to win the first Olympic gold medal ever contested for women's ice hockey.
2003 - Emmitt Smith (Dallas Cowboys) and owner Jerry Jones agreed that releasing Smith from the team was a "win-win situation." The formal announcement was made on February 27.
2020 - Denny Hamlin defeats Ryan Blaney to win the Daytona 500 by 0.014 seconds.
1600 - Italian philosopher, alchemist and Copernican theory advocate, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy by the Spanish Inquisition.
1801 - The Electoral College tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was broken by the House of Representatives, who selected Jefferson to be president; Burr became vice president.
1815 - The United States and Britain exchanged the instruments of ratification for the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.
1817 - Baltimore became the first U.S. city to be lit by gas.
1863 - The International Red Cross was founded in Geneva.
1864 - The Confederate submarine Hunley, equipped with an explosive at the end of a protruding spar, rammed and sank the Union ship Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.
1865 - Columbia, South Carolina, burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in.
1933 - Newsweek magazine was first published.
1947 - The Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.
1959 - The United States launched Vanguard 2, a satellite that carried meteorological equipment.
1964 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Wesberry v. Sanders that congressional districts within each state had to be roughly equal in population.
1972 - President Richard Nixon departed on his historic trip to China.
1988 - Lt. Col. William Higgins, a Marine Corps officer serving with a United Nations truce monitoring group, was kidnapped in southern Lebanon by Iranian-backed terrorists (he was later slain by his captors).
1992 - Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison.
1995 - Colin Ferguson was convicted of six counts of murder in the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings that also wounded 19 people.
1996 - World chess champion Garry Kasparov beat IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in a six-game match.
2002 - The new Transportation Security Administration took over supervision of aviation security from the airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration.
2005 - President George W. Bush named John Negroponte to be the first national intelligence director.
2008 - Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.
2009 - President Barack Obama signed a $757 billion economic stimulus package into law.
2012 - Congress voted to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and to renew unemployment benefits for millions more.
2014 - Jimmy Fallon made his debut as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show.”
2015 - Vice President Joe Biden opened a White House summit on countering extremism and radicalization, saying the United States needed to ensure that immigrants were fully included in the fabric of American society to prevent violent ideologies from taking root at home.
2017 - Making his debut on the world stage, Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Germany, looking to reassure skeptical allies in Europe about U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump, who had made his “America First” mantra a centerpiece of his new administration.
2021 - Nearly 1.9 million utility customers in Texas still had no power after historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge in demand for electricity to heat homes, buckling the state’s power grid and causing widespread blackouts; a large swath of Texas was under yet another winter storm warning.
2021 - Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh died at age 70, nearly a year after publicly announcing he had stage four lung cancer.
Birthdays
26 - Sasha Pieterse (actress)
30 - Meaghan Martin (actress)
31 - Ed Sheeran (singer)
31 - Bonnie Wright (actress)
33 - Chord Overstreet (actor)
36 - Daphne Oz (TV host)
40 - Becky Nicholson (reality star)
41 - Joseph Gordon-Levitt (actor)
41 - Paris Hilton (reality star)
42 - Jason Ritter (actor)
43 - Conrad Ricamora (actor)
44 - Ashton Holmes (actor)
46 - Kelly Carlson (actress)
48 - Bryan White (singer)
48 - Jerry O'Connell (actor)
51 - Denise Richards (actress)
52 - Dominic Purcell (actor)
58 - Michael Bay (director)
59 - Larry The Cable Guy (actor/comedian)
59 - Michael Jordan (basketball player)
60 - Lou Diamond Phillips (actor)
66 - Richard Karn (actor)
68 - Rene Russo (actress)
69 - Becky Ann Baker (actress)
77 - Brenda Fricker (actress)
86 - Jim Brown (football player)
87 - Christina Pickles (actress)
88 - Barry "Dame Edna" Humphries (actor/comedian)
======================================
Today in Sports History - February 17
1943 - Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees) joined the U.S. Army as a voluntary inductee.
1962 - Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 67 points in a game against the St. Louis Hawks.
1968 - The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame opened in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1974 - Richard Petty wins his fifth Daytona 500 and becomes the first driver to win the event in back-to-back years.
1979 - The Chicago Bulls retired Jerry Sloan's #4.
1998 - The United States defeats Canada to win the first Olympic gold medal ever contested for women's ice hockey.
2003 - Emmitt Smith (Dallas Cowboys) and owner Jerry Jones agreed that releasing Smith from the team was a "win-win situation." The formal announcement was made on February 27.
2020 - Denny Hamlin defeats Ryan Blaney to win the Daytona 500 by 0.014 seconds.
