History for February 17

History for February 17 - On-This-Day.com:
Thomas Malthus 1766, Rene Laennec 1781, Montgomery Ward 1843


Gene Pitney 1941, Larry the Cable Guy 1963 - Actor, comedian ("Blue Collar TV"), Michael Jordan 1963 - Basketball player


1801 - The U.S. House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Jefferson was elected president and Burr became vice president.


1876 - Julius Wolff was credited with being the first to can sardines.


1924 - Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in the 100-yard freestyle. He did it with a time of 57-2/5 seconds in Miami, FL.


1933 - "Newsweek" was first published.


1944 - During World War II, the Battle of Eniwetok Atoll began. U.S. forces won the battle on February 22, 1944.


1947 - The Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.


1992 - In Milwaukee, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison. In November of 1994, he was beaten to death in prison.


1995 - Colin Ferguson was convicted of six counts of murder in the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings. He was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in prison.