Day in History Archive August 17

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Note: These historical tidbits have been collected from various sources, mostly on the Internet. As detailed in this article, there is a lot of wrong information that is repeated hundreds of times because most websites do not validate with authoritative sources. On RF Cafe, events with hyperlinks have been verified. All will eventually be either verified or removed.
Please submit significant historical events and dates for inclusion in these lists. I will be glad to include your name and birthday. Please do not submit your death date ;-)
 
 

August 17

Cat Nights begin today. 1807: Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont made its first trip up NY's Hudson River. 1859: The first U.S. air mail delivery was made in a balloon from Lafayette, IN. 1891: The automobile electric self-starter was patented. 1893: Walter Noddack, discoverer of the element rhenium (Re, 75), was born. 1960: Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy trial opened in Moscow. 1969: Hurricane Camille slammed into the Gulf Coast at Biloxi, MS. 1978: The first trans-Atlantic balloon flight was completed, from Maine to France. 1982: The CD-ROM made its debut from Philips, featuring the group ABBA. 1998: Bill Clinton admitted to Lewinsky affair after a previous public denial. 2000: Robert Gilruth, developer of the Bell X-1 supersonic airplane, died.