Today in History in 1888 Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie); in 1907 Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service; and in 1919 RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America.

The On This Day In History archives at “Simple English Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia” contains over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

October 17 is the 290th day of the year (291st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 75 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

1091 – London tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London.

1346 – The English capture King David II of Scotland at Neville's Cross and imprison him for eleven years.

1448 – An Ottoman army defeats a Hungarian army at the Second Battle of Kosovo.

1456 – The University of Greifswald is established as the second oldest university in northern Europe.

1534 – Anti-Catholic posters appear in Paris and other cities supporting Huldrych Zwingli's position on the Mass.

1558 – Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, is founded.

1604 – Kepler's Supernova is observed in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

1610 – French king Louis XIII is crowned in Reims Cathedral.

1660 – The Nine regicides who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England are hanged, drawn and quartered.

1662 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for 40,000 pounds.

1771 – Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Mozart at age 15.

1777 – American Revolutionary War: British General John Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga, New York.

1781 – American Revolutionary War: British General Charles, Earl Cornwallis surrenders at the Siege of Yorktown.

1800 – War of the Second Coalition: Britain takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao.

1806 – Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I, is assassinated after an oppressive rule.

1814 – Eight people die in the London Beer Flood.

1817 – The tomb of Pharaoh Seti I is discovered.

1827 – Bellini's third opera, Il pirata, is premiered at Milan.

1860 – First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).

1861 – Aborigines kill Nineteen Europeans in the Cullin-la-ringo massacre.

1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).

1907 – Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service.

1912 – Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.

1919 – RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America.

1931 – Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.

1933 – Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.

1940 – The body of Communist propagandist Willi Münzenberg found in South France, starting a never-resolved mystery.

1941 – World War II: The USS Kearny becomes the first US Navy vessel to be torpedoed by a U-boat.

1943 – The Burma Railway (Burma–Thailand Railway) is completed.

1943 – Holocaust in Poland: Sobibór extermination camp is closed.

1945 – A massive demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, demands Juan Perón's release.

1956 – The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield, England.

1956 – Bobby Fischer defeats Donald Byrne in the chess Game of the Century.

1961 – Directed by their chief Maurice Papon, Paris police massacre scores of Algerian protesters.

1965 – The 1964–65 New York World's Fair closes after two years and more than 51 million attendees.

1966 – The 23rd Street Fire in New York City kills 12 firefighters.

1970 – FLQ terrorists murder Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte.

1973 – OPEC imposes an oil embargo against countries they deem to have helped Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

1977 – The hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu. The remaining hostages are later rescued.

1979 – Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1979 – The Department of Education Organization Act creates the US Department of Education.

1980 – As part of the Holy See–United Kingdom relations a British monarch makes the first state visit to the Vatican

1989 – The 6.9 Mw Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast, killing Sixty-three.

1989 – The East German Politburo votes to remove Erich Honecker from his role as General Secretary.

1992 – Having gone to the wrong house, Japanese student Yoshihiro Hattori is killed by the homeowner in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1994 – Russian journalist Dmitry Kholodov is assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces.

2000 – The Hatfield rail crash leads to the collapse of Railtrack.

2001 – Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi becomes the first Israeli minister to be assassinated in a terrorist attack.

2003 – Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, becomes the world's tallest highrise.

2006 – The population of the United States officially reaches 300 million.

2018 – The recreational use of cannabis is legalized in Canada.

2018 – Kerch Polytechnic College attack in Crimea.