17 September

456      Remistus, Roman general (magister militum), is besieged with a Gothic force at Ravenna and later executed in the Palace in Classis, outside the city.

879     Charles the Simple (born), French king (died 929)

1550    Pope Paul V (born) (died 1621)

1574    Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (died), Spanish admiral and explorer, founded St. Augustine, Florida (born 1519)

1630   The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.

1677    Stephen Hales (born), English physiologist and chemist, invented Forceps (died 1761)

1683   Antonie van Leeuwenhoek writes a letter to the Royal Society describing “animalcules”: the first known description of protozoa.

1743    Marquis de Condorcet (born), French mathematician and political scientist (died 1794)

1762    Francesco Geminiani (died), Italian violinist and composer (born 1687)

1776    The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.

1778    The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed. It is the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe (the Lenape or Delaware Indians).

1787    The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia.

1814    Francis Scott Key finishes his poem “Defence of Fort McHenry“, later to be the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

1826   Bernhard Riemann (born), German mathematician (died 1866)

1839   Ira Davenport (born), American magician (died 1911)

1849   American abolitionist Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery.

1854    David Dunbar Buick (born), Scottish-American businessman, founded Buick Motor Company (died 1929)

1858   Dred Scott (died), American slave (born 1795)

1859    Frank Dawson Adams (born), Canadian geologist (died 1942)

1859    Joshua A. Norton declares himself “Emperor Norton I” of the United States.

1862   American Civil War: George B. McClellan halts the northward drive of Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army in the single-day Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American military history.

1862   American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war.

1874    Walter Murdoch (born), Australian academic and author (died 1970)

1877    Henry Fox Talbot (died), English photographer, developed the Calotype Process (born 1800)

1899   Charles Alfred Pillsbury (died), American businessman, co-founded the Pillsbury Company (born 1842)

1900   J. Willard Marriott (born), American businessman, founded the Marriott Corporation (died 1985)

1906   Edgar Wayburn (born), American physician and environmentalist (died 2010)

1907    Warren E. Burger (born), American judge, 15th Chief Justice of the United States (died 1995)

1908   John Creasey (born), English author (died 1973)

1908   The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality.

1916    Mary Stewart (born), English-Scottish author (died 2014)

1916    World War I: Manfred von Richthofen (“The Red Baron”), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.

1923    Hank Williams (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Drifting Cowboys) (died 1953)

1926    Bill Black (born), American bass player (The Blue Moon Boys) (died 1965)

1928   Roddy McDowall (born), English-American actor, singer, and producer (died 1998)

1929    Stirling Moss (born), English race car driver

1931    Anne Bancroft (born), American actress and singer (died 2005)

1933    Chuck Grassley (born), American politician

1933    Dorothy Loudon (born), American actress and singer (died 2003)

1935    Ken Kesey (born), American author (died 2001)

1939    Taisto Mäki becomes the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6

1939    World War II: A German U-boat U 29 sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.

1944    Reinhold Messner (born), Italian mountaineer and explorer

1948   John Ritter (born), American actor and producer (died 2003)

1948   Ruth Benedict (died), American anthropologist (born 1887)

1950    Fee Waybill (born), American singer-songwriter and producer (The Tubes)

1953    Rita Rudner (born), American comedian and actress

1957    Malaysia joins the United Nations.

1960   Damon Hill (born), English race car driver

1961    Nives Meroi (born), Italian mountaineer

1961    The world’s first retractable-dome stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1965    Kyle Chandler (born), American actor and producer

1973    Hugo Winterhalter (died), American bandleader and composer (born 1909)

1974    Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea-Bissau join the United Nations.

1975    Jimmie Johnson (born), American race car driver

1976    The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, is unveiled by NASA.

1978    The Camp David Accords are signed by Israel and Egypt.

1980   After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.

1983   Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America.

1984   Richard Basehart (died), American actor and director (born 1914)

1985    Laura Ashley (died), Welsh fashion designer, founded Laura Ashley plc (born 1925)

1987    Harry Locke (died), English actor (born 1913)

1987    Pope John Paul II embraces an AIDS-infected boy while visiting San Francisco.

1991    Estonia, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations.

1991    The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.

1994    Karl Popper (died), Austrian-English philosopher (born 1902)

1994    Vitas Gerulaitis (died), American tennis player (born 1954)

1996    Spiro Agnew (died), American soldier and politician, 39th Vice President of the United States (born 1918)

1997    Red Skelton (died), American actor, singer, producer, and screenwriter (born 1913)

1998   Geoffrey Dutton (died), Australian historian and author (born 1922)

2001   The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression.

2006   Patricia Kennedy Lawford (died), American daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (born 1924)

2011    Occupy Wall Street movement begins in Zuccotti Park, New York City.

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EO Smith

Interests include biological anthropology, evolution, social behavior, and human behavior. Conducted field research in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya and on Angaur, Palau, Micronesia, as well as research with captive nonhuman primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Institute for Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya.
EO Smith
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