October 17: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

The Russian Soyuz MS-18 spaceflight landed in the Kazakh Steppe, Kazakhstan.

The mission, flown by the Y. A. Gagarin spacecraft, was the 146th crewed Soyuz spacecraft flight. On its return from the International Space Station, it carried Russian film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild. They had spent twelve days aboard the station filming for the movie Vyzov (The Challenge).

Lana Del Rey’s song “Video Games” was named song of the decade at the Q Awards in London.

Upon accepting the award, she said: "I'm so honored. This is unreal."

Iran attempted to create the world’s largest sandwich at 1,500 meters long but failed due to a crowd eating it before it was measured.

Over 1,000 people gathered to put the sandwich together in Tehran in hopes of making it into the Guinness Book of World Records. However, the sandwich was just too delicious to wait!

The US population reached 300 million people.

When the US reached 200 million in 1967, some officials believed that 300 million people in the US would threaten the quality of life in America.

IMDB (Internet Movie Database) was founded. It was incorporated as a website in January 1996.

It started as USENET software written by Col Needham in Bristol, England.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to humanitarian Mother Teresa.

The adventure comedy movie “Around the World in 80 Days” premiered in New York, US.

The movie cost $6 million to create and brought in $42 million at the box office. The film also won five academy awards.

Albert Einstein safely arrived in the US after fleeing Nazi Germany.

Infamous gangster, Al Capone, was convicted of income tax evasion.

He subsequently served time at Alcatraz prison.

Thomas Edison filed his patent for the Optical Phonograph.

The London Beer Flood, an industrial accident that created a “beer tsunami,” resulted in the death of nine people.

The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed between France and Austria.

It ended the War of the First Coalition and left Great Britain fighting alone against revolutionary France.

Nine regicides of King Charles I were sentenced to death.

Fifty-nine judges signed the death warrant for King Charles I following his trial in 1649, and nine of those were sentenced to death when Charles I returned to England to claim back the throne.

The University of Greifswald was founded in Germany. It was the second university in continental Northern Europe.