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Historical events & facts — January 17
What happened on January 17?
On January 17, 1706, Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston — one of the founding fathers of the United States, inventor of the lightning rod and bifocals, and pioneer in the study of electricity. Franklin was also a diplomat, publisher, writer and philosopher. His famous kite experiment during a thunderstorm demonstrated the electrical nature of lightning.
On January 17, 1995, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastated the Japanese city of Kobe, killing more than 6,400 people and destroying 100,000 buildings. The disaster, which caused losses of $100 billion, highlighted the seismic vulnerability of Japanese cities and transformed earthquake-resistant building codes worldwide.
On January 17, 1961, the Prime Minister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, was assassinated with the complicity of the CIA and Belgian intelligence services, just weeks after being deposed in a coup. Lumumba, the country's first democratically elected leader, had become a symbol of Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism across the continent.
Notable birthdays — January 17
Famous people born on January 17
Antoine Duprat
Antoine Duprat was a French Cardinal and politician, who was chancellor of France.
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, albanologist, poet and playwright. Co-founder of the Democratic Nationalist Party (PND), he served as a member of Parliament, President of the Deputies' Assembly and Senate, cabinet minister and briefly (1931–32) as Prime Minister.
Jan Zahradníček
Jan Zahradníček was a Moravian (Czech) poet, journalist and translator.
George M. Leader
George Michael Leader was an American politician. He served as the 36th governor of Pennsylvania from January 18, 1955, until January 20, 1959. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and a native of York County, Pennsylvania. He was the only person from that county ever to be elected governor of the state until the election of Tom Wolf in 2014.
Moira Shearer
Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy was a Scottish ballet dancer and actress. She was famous for her performances in Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes (1948) and The Tales of Hoffman (1951), and Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960).
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