Today in History: China Tests Its First Hydrogen Bomb

June 17 is the 168th day of the year (169th in leap years) according to the Gregorian calendar. There are 197 days remaining until the end of the year.

Railways

• 17 June 1873 Istanbul-Edirne-Sarımbey line was opened with a big ceremony.
• 17 June 1892 Mudanya-Bursa Line was opened.1 June was purchased by the state at 1931.
• 17 June 1942 The new Meriç Bridge opened to traffic.
• 17 June 2017 Akçaray tram services started in Kocaeli.

Events 

• 334 - Emperor Constantine enacts a law of protection for widows and orphans.
• 1462 – Prince of Wallachia III, also known as Count Dracula or Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad Ţepeş. Vlad fled after making an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Mehmed II the Conqueror, taking advantage of the darkness of the night.
• 1631 - Mumtaz Mahal dies giving birth. His wife, the Indo-Turkish-Mongolian Mughal Emperor Shah-i Cihan, completed the mausoleum Taj Mahal, which he started the following year, within 20 years.
• 1641 – Emirgüneoğlu Yusuf Pasha was executed by order of Sultan İbrahim for alleged separatist and destructive propaganda in favor of Iran.
• 1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
• 1921 – Koçgiri Rebellion, which lasted 3,5 months in Sivas, Erzincan and Tunceli regions, was suppressed by the Turkish Army.
• 1924 – Finland-Turkey national football match played in Helsinki ended with Turkey's 4-2 victory.
• 1926 - Kadıköy The Water Company was nationalized.
• 1932 – With the Turkish Turing and Automobile Association Milliyet The automobile race, organized for the first time by the newspaper, was held between İstinye-Zincirlikuyu.
• 1939 – The last "public" execution by the guillotine in France was carried out outside the Prison Saint-Pierre (now the Palace of Justice) in the city of Versailles. The last execution by guillotine was on September 10, 1977.
• 1944 – Iceland seceded from Denmark and declared a republic.
• 1946 – The Workers and Farmers Party of Turkey was founded in Istanbul. Etem Ruhi Balkan, Selahattin Yorulmazoğlu, Mehmet Şükrü Sekban, Necmeddin Deliorman, İrfan Recep Nayal, Ali Esenkova and İbrahim Tokay were among the founders.
• 1951 – Turkey national football team beat West Germany 2-1 at Berlin Olympic Stadium. Goalkeeper Turgay Şeren, who made successful saves, began to be called the “Berlin panther”.
• 1967 - China tests its first hydrogen bomb.
• 1972 – Watergate scandal: 5 thieves affiliated with the Republican Party, the party of US President Richard Nixon, were caught by the Police while installing a hidden microphone in an office in the Watergate Business Center. It turned out that this office was the headquarters of the Democratic Party, the main opposition party of the USA at the time.
• 1980 – Nevşehir Provincial Chairman of the Republican People's Party and former Deputy Mehmet Zeki Tekiner was killed. At the funeral, the members of the Republican People's Party, including Bülent Ecevit, were attacked with stones and sticks by Ülkü Ocaklılar.
• 1987 – A species of sparrow called the Brown Coast Ginger (“Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens”) became extinct.
• 1991 – ANAP Chairman Mesut Yılmaz was commissioned by President Turgut Özal to form the new government.
• 1992 – New Galata Bridge was put into service with a ceremony.
• 2010 – Version 3.0 of the open source content management system Wordpress, which is often used to create blog pages, is released.
• 2016 – Turkish Maarif Foundation was established.

Births 

• 1239 – Edward I, King of England (d. 1307)
• 1810 – Ferdinand Freiligrath, German translator and poet (d. 1876)
• 1832 – William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (d. 1919)
• 1882 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (d. 1971)
• 1898 – Latife Hanım, (Uşaklıgil), Atatürk's wife (d. 1975)
• 1898 – Maurits Cornelis Escher, Dutch painter and graphic artist (d. 1972)
• 1900 – Martin Bormann, German politician, Nazi Party sözcüand Hitler's private secretary (d. 1945)
• 1920 – François Jacob, French biologist (d. 2013)
• 1921 – Aydın Boysan, Turkish architect and journalist (d. 2018)
• 1921 – İlhan Koman, Turkish sculptor (d. 1986)
• 1927 – Martin Böttcher, German film score composer, arranger, lyricist, and conductor (d. 2019)
• 1929 – Tigran Petrosian, Soviet Armenian chess player and World chess champion (d. 1984)
• 1930 – Adile Naşit, Turkish actress (d. 1987)
• 1936 – Ken Loach, English director (Country and Freedom known for his movie)
• 1938 – Grethe Ingmann, Danish singer (d. 1990)
• 1939 – Krzysztof Zanussi, a Polish screenwriter and filmmaker
• 1940 – George Akerlof, American economist
• 1940 – Özdemir Erdoğan, Turkish musician, songwriter and composer
• 1942 – Doğu Perinçek, Turkish politician
• 1942 – Mohammed al-Baradei, Egyptian jurist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• 1943 - Newt Gingrich is an American politician.
• 1943 – Barry Manilow, American songwriter, musician, arranger, and singer
• 1945 – Bülent Kayabaş, Turkish theater and film actor (d. 2017)
• 1945 – Ken Livingstone, British left-wing politician who served as London's first mayor from 2000 to 2008
• 1945 – Eddy Merckx, Belgian former professional road cyclist
• 1946 – Eduardo Camaño, Argentine politician
• 1948 – Joaquín Almunia, Spanish socialist politician
• 1952 – Sergio Marchionne, Italian-Canadian businessman (d. 2018)
• 1955 – Cem Hakko, Turkish fashion designer and businessman
• 1957 – Joachim Król is a German actor.
• 1958 – Abdullah Oğuz, Turkish director, producer and screenwriter
• 1959 – Baltazar, Brazilian football player
• 1960 – Thomas Haden Church, American actor
• 1962 – Bap Kennedy, Northern Irish musician (d. 2016)
• 1964 – Gürsel Tekin, Turkish politician
• 1966 – Jason Patric is an American actor.
• 1968 – Derya Arbaş, Turkish actress (d. 2003)
• 1971 – José Emilio Amavisca, Spanish national football player
• 1972 – Kıraç, Turkish composer and musician
• 1976 – Bülent Bölükbaşı, Turkish football player
• 1976 - Peter Svidler, Russian chess master
• 1977 – Ahmed Azimov, Coordinator of the Expert Committee of the Council of Muftis of Russia
• 1980 – Sıla Gençoğlu, Turkish pop singer and songwriter
• 1980 – Venus Williams, American tennis player
• 1983 – Lee Ryan, English singer
• 1985 – Özge Gürler, Turkish sprinter
• 1985 – Markos Pagdatis is a Greek Cypriot tennis player.
• 1987 – Kendrick Lamar, American hip hop artist
• 1988 – Stephanie Rice, Australian swimmer
• 1990 – Alan Dzagoyev, Russian national football player of Ossetian origin.
• 1991 - Grégoire Defrel, French football player
• 1992 – Maxime Lestienne, Belgian football player
• 1995 – Clément Lenglet is a French football player.
• 1997 – KJ Apa, a New Zealand actor and singer

Deaths 

• 656 – Osman bin Affan, III. Caliph (b. 576?)
• 1025 – Bolesław I Chrobry, duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first duke of Poland in 1025 (b. 967)
• 1501 – John Albert I, king of Poland (b. 1459)
• 1565 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese Ruler (b. 1536)
• 1631 – Mumtaz Mahal, favorite wife of Shah Jahan, 5th Ruler of the Mughal Empire (b. 1593)
• 1696 – III. Jan Sobieski, King of Poland (Poland) (b. 1629)
• 1719 – Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, and politician (b. 1672)
• 1734 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French soldier (last general under Louis XIV and one of the 6 field marshals of France) (b. 1653)
• 1797 – Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, Shah of Iran and founder of the Qajar Dynasty (b. 1742)
• 1898 – Edward Burne-Jones, English artist and designer (b. 1833)
• 1901 – Dilpesend Ladies and Gentlemen, II. Abdulhamid's fifth wife (b. 1861)
• 1922 – Otto Lehmann, German physicist (b. 1855)
• 1936 – Henry B. Walthall, American artist and film actor (b. 1878)
• 1940 – Arthur Harden, English chemist (b. 1865)
• 1944 - Dénes Berinkey, Hungarian politician, lawyer. (b. 1871)
• 1961 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1973 – Theodor Krancke, Admiral of the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany (b. 1893)
• 1974 – Ferdi Štatzer, Austrian-born Turkish pianist and academic (b. 1906)
• 1974 – Refik Koraltan, Turkish politician and Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (b. 1889)
• 1982 – Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (b. 1920)
• 1982 – Ülkü Arman, Turkish journalist
• 1991 – Mehmet Aziz, Turkish Cypriot physician and academic (b. 1893)
• 1996 – Thomas Kuhn, American philosopher and historian of science (b. 1922)
• 2000 – Ekrem Alican, Turkish financial and politician (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Fritz Walter, German football player (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Recep Bilginer, Turkish journalist and writer (b. 1922)
• 2008 – Cyd Charisse, American dancer and actress (b. 1922)
• 2009 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist, and liberal politician (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Rodney King was beaten and lynched by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) cops (b. 1965)
• 2012 – Susan Tyrrell, American actress, painter, and author (b. 1945)
• 2015 – Süleyman Demirel, Turkish politician and 9th President of the Republic of Turkey (b. 1924)
• 2015 – Roberto Marcelo Levingston, a soldier who served as Argentina minister of state during the Coup (b. 1920)
• 2015 – Başar Sabuncu, Turkish actor, screenwriter and director (b. 1943)
• 2016 – Rubén Aguirre, Mexican actor (b. 1934)
• 2016 – Ron Lester, American actor (b. 1970)
• 2017 – Iván Fandiño, Spanish matador (b. 1980)
• 2017 – Józef Grudzień, Polish boxer (b. 1939)
• 2017 – Venus Ramey, American beauty queen, former model and activist (b. 1924)
• 2019 – Knut Andersen, Norwegian film director and actor (b. 1931)
• 2019 – Mohammed Morsi, ex-president of Egypt (b. 1951)
• 2019 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American artist, businesswoman, actress, fashion designer, author, and socioelite (b. 1924)
• 2020 – Marlene Ahrens, Chilean former female athlete (b. 1933)
• 2020 – Dan Foster (DJ), Nigerian-based American DJ and radio producer (b. 1958)
• 2020 – Tran Ngoc Chu, Vietnamese soldier (lieutenant colonel), civil administrator (city mayor, provincial head), politician (b. 1924)