17 October
Notable Births
Matthew Knies
b. 2002
American ice hockey player (born 2002)
Thomas Strudwick
b. 2001
British motorcycle racer
Robert Williams III
b. 1997
American basketball player (born 1997)
Jake DeBrusk
b. 1996
Canadian ice hockey player (born 1996)
Jamal Adams
b. 1995
American football player (born 1995)
Ha-seong Kim
b. 1995
South Korean baseball player (born 1995)
Kenneth Omeruo
b. 1993
Nigerian footballer
Vincent Poirier
b. 1993
French basketball player (born 1993)
Jacob Artist
b. 1992
American actor, singer, and dancer (born 1992)
Sam Concepcion
b. 1992
Filipino actor and singer
Anthony Gill (basketball)
b. 1992
American basketball player (born 1992)
Keerthy Suresh
b. 1992
Indian actress (born 1992)
Brenda Asnicar
b. 1991
Argentine actress (born 1991)
Maica García Godoy
b. 1990
Spanish water polo player (born 1990)
Saki Kumagai
b. 1990
Japanese footballer (born 1990)
Patrick Lambie
b. 1990
South Africa international rugby union player
Débora García
b. 1989
Spanish footballer (born 1989)
Sophie Luck
b. 1989
Australian actress
Charles Oliveira
b. 1989
Brazilian mixed martial artist (born 1989)
David Timor
b. 1989
Spanish footballer
Notable Deaths
Mitzi Gaynor
d. 2024
American actress (1931–2024)
Toshiyuki Nishida
d. 2024
Japanese actor (1947–2024)
Andrew Schally
d. 2024
American endocrinologist (1926–2024)
Elijah Cummings
d. 2019
American politician (1951–2019)
Gord Downie
d. 2017
Canadian musician and writer (1964–2017)
Danièle Delorme
d. 2015
French actress and producer (1926–2015)
Howard Kendall
d. 2015
English footballer and manager
Anne-Marie Lizin
d. 2015
Belgian politician (1949–2015)
Tom Smith (Pennsylvania politician)
d. 2015
American politician and businessman
Masaru Emoto
d. 2014
Japanese pseudoscientist (1943–2014)
Tom Shaw (bishop)
d. 2014
20th and 21st-century American Episcopal bishop
Berndt von Staden
d. 2014
German diplomat
Antonia Brenner
d. 2013
American nun (1926–2013)
Lou Scheimer
d. 2013
American animator and voice actor (1928-2013)
Émile Allais
d. 2012
French alpine skier (1912–2012)
Stanford R. Ovshinsky
d. 2012
American engineer, scientist and inventor
Kōji Wakamatsu
d. 2012
Japanese film director (1936–2012)
Carl Lindner Jr.
d. 2011
American businessman
Vic Mizzy
d. 2009
American composer (1916–2009)
Urmas Ott
d. 2008
Estonian journalist
On This Day in History
All 61 ›
2023
An explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza kills hundreds of Palestinians during the Gaza war.
Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion
2019
Drug dealers in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico force the government to back down on an arrest.
Culiacán
2019
The 17 October Revolution starts in Lebanon.
17 October Revolution
2018
The recreational use of cannabis is legalized in Canada.
Cannabis Act (Canada)
2018
A mass shooting and bombing at Kerch Polytechnic College in Crimea kills 21 people including the attacker and injures 70 others.
Kerch Polytechnic College massacre
2017
Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the last foothold of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Raqqa, marking the end of the Battle of Raqqa.
Syrian civil war
2004
A fire that lasted over 15 hours destroyed almost one third of the East Tower of the Parque Central Urban Complex in Caracas, Venezuela.
Parque Central Complex fire
2001
Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi is assassinated by Hamdi Quran, a member of the PFLP, thus becoming the highest-ranking Israeli to be killed by a Palestinian.
Rehavam Ze'evi
2000
The Hatfield rail crash leads to the collapse of Railtrack.
Hatfield rail crash
1994
Russian journalist Dmitry Kholodov is assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces.
Dmitry Kholodov
1992
Having gone to the wrong house, Japanese student Yoshihiro Hattori is killed by the homeowner in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Killing of Yoshihiro Hattori
1991
Rudrapur bombings by Sikh separatists, who explode two bombs, during a Ramlila Hindu celebration in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, killing 41 people.
1991 Rudrapur bombings
1989
The 6.9 Mw Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast, killing 63.
Seismic magnitude scales
1989
The East German Politburo votes to remove Erich Honecker from his role as General Secretary.
Erich Honecker
1988
Uganda Airlines Flight 775 crashes at Rome–Fiumicino International Airport, in Rome, Italy, killing 33 people.
Uganda Airlines Flight 775
1980
As part of the Holy See–United Kingdom relations a British monarch makes the first state visit to the Vatican.
Holy See–United Kingdom relations
1979
Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mother Teresa
1979
The Department of Education Organization Act creates the U.S. Department of Education.
Department of Education Organization Act
1977
The hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu. The remaining hostages are later rescued.
Lufthansa Flight 181
1973
OPEC imposes an oil embargo against countries they deem to have helped Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
1973 oil crisis