On this day: 17 February

Selected events and births on 17 February, from Wikipedia’s “On this day”.

Events

• 1894 – Rudolf Diesel's first working diesel engine ran for one minute. Read more: Rudolf Diesel Diesel engine
• 1904 – Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly premiered at La Scala in Milan to poor reviews, forcing him to revise the opera. Read more: Giacomo Puccini Madama Butterfly La Scala
• 1913 – The Armory Show (commemorative button pictured), the first large modern-art exhibition in the United States, opened at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City. Read more: Armory Show Modern art 69th Regiment Armory
• 1959 – Vanguard 2 (model pictured), the first weather satellite, was launched to measure cloud cover distribution. Read more: Vanguard 2 Weather satellite Cloud cover

Born on this day

• 1955 – Mo Yan, Chinese author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Read more: Mo Yan Nobel Prize in Literature
• 1959 – Aryeh Deri, Moroccan-Israeli rabbi and politician, Israeli Minister of Internal Affairs Read more: Aryeh Deri Ministry of Interior (Israel)
• 1961 – Angela Eagle, English politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Read more: Angela Eagle Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
• 1961 – Maria Eagle, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence Read more: Maria Eagle Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
• 1963 – Jen-Hsun Huang, Taiwanese-American businessman, co-founded Nvidia Read more: Jensen Huang Nvidia
• 1984 – Katie Hill, Australian 3.0 point wheelchair basketball player Read more: Katie Hill (basketball) 3 point player Wheelchair basketball
• 1996 – Sebastian Aho, Swedish ice hockey player Read more: Sebastian Aho (ice hockey, born 1996)
• 1996 – Sasha Pieterse, South African-American actress and singer-songwriter Read more: Sasha Pieterse
• 1997 – Gaetano Castrovilli, Italian footballer Read more: Gaetano Castrovilli
• 1998 – Harry Grant, Australian rugby league player Read more: Harry Grant (rugby league)
• 1998 – Devin White, American football player Read more: Devin White
• 1999 – Alex de Minaur, Australian tennis player Read more: Alex de Minaur

Text from Wikipedia: Selected anniversaries / February 17 and the linked articles, via the Wikimedia “On this day” feed, under CC BY-SA 4.0. We leave out entries about wars, violence and disasters to keep this page family-friendly.