February 17: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1801 - An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.
2. 1819 - The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise for the first time.
3. 1863 - A group of citizens of Geneva founded an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross.
4. 1871 - The victorious Prussian Army parades through Paris, France after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
5. 1904 - Madama Butterfly receives its première at La Scala in Milan.
6. 1913 - The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.
7. 1959 - Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2 - The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
8. 1965 - Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the manned Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the "Sea of Tranquility" would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11lunar landing.
9. 1996 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.
10. 1996 - NASA's Discovery Program begins as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lifts off on the first mission ever to orbit and land on an asteroid, 433 Eros.
11. Famous Birthdays: Tobias Mayer (German astronomer), Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (Swiss physicist), René Laennec (French physician, invented the stethoscope), Otto Stern (German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate), Mo Yan (Chinese author, Nobel Prize laureate)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: February 16

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: February 18

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.