August 2nd, 1717

Born on August 2nd, 1717

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 112,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 159 days, exactly on December 20th, 2026, people who were born on August 2nd, 1717 will be 113,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on August 2nd?

August 2nd, 1971

The English rock band the Who released Who's Next, their only album to top the UK charts.

August 2nd, 1973

A flash fire killed 50 people at a leisure centre in Douglas, Isle of Man.

August 2nd, 1947

Star Dust, a British South American Airways airliner, crashed into Mount Tupungato in the Argentine Andes; its wreckage was not found until 1998.

August 2nd, 1939

Leo Szilard (pictured) penned a letter, signed by Albert Einstein and addressed to U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning that Germany may develop atomic bombs, leading to the establishment of the Manhattan Project.

August 2nd, 1932

At the California Institute of Technology, American physicist Carl David Anderson proved the existence of antimatter with the discovery of the positron, for which he would receive the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics.

August 2nd, 1923

Calvin Coolidge became the 30th president of the United States after Warren G. Harding suffered a fatal heart attack.

August 2nd, 1920

Nepalese author Krishna Lal Adhikari (pictured) was sentenced to nine years in prison for publishing a book about the cultivation of corn alleged to contain attacks on the ruling dynasty.

August 2nd, 1916

An explosion, blamed on Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, sank the Italian dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci.

August 2nd, 1870

One of the world's earliest underground tube railways opened in the Tower Subway (interior depicted), a tunnel beneath the River Thames in London.

August 2nd, 1790

The first United States census was officially completed, with the nation's residential population enumerated to be 3,929,214.

August 2nd, 1100

While on a hunting trip in the New Forest, King William II of England was killed by an arrow through the lung loosed by one of his own men.

August 2nd, 0461

Unpopular among the Senate aristocracy for his reforming efforts, Roman emperor Majorian was deposed by Ricimer and executed five days later.

January 1st, 1970

An allied army led by Philip II of Macedon overcame the forces of city-states led by Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony over the majority of ancient Greece.

August 2nd, 1914

The French army's general headquarters was activated in anticipation of war with Germany.

August 2nd, 1945

World War II: The Potsdam Conference ends.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on August 2nd

Same year
Born in 1717

61

David Garrick

British actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer (1717–1779)

*February 19th, 1717, Hereford †January 20th, 1779, London

63

Maria Theresa of Austria

Ruler of the Habsburg Dominions (1717-1780)

*May 13th, 1717, Vienna †November 29th, 1780, Vienna

65

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher and music theorist (1717-1783)

*November 16th, 1717, Paris †October 29th, 1783, Paris

62

Ferdinand Stosch

German theologian (1717–1780)

*December 30th, 1717, Liebenberg †June 3rd, 1780, Detmold

68

Pedro III of Portugal

King of Portugal

*July 5th, 1717, Lisbon †May 25th, 1786, Sintra

79

Horace Walpole

English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician (1717-1797)

*September 24th, 1717, London †March 2nd, 1797, London

50

Johann Joachim Winckelmann

German art historian and archaeologist, and conservator of the Vatican Library

*December 9th, 1717, Stendal †June 8th, 1768, Trieste

77

George (Konissky)

Orthodox archbishop, preacher, philosopher and theologian

*November 20th, 1717, Nizhyn †February 13th, 1795, Mogilev

74

Johann David Michaelis

German academic (1717-1791)

*February 27th, 1717, Halle (Saale) †August 22nd, 1791, Göttingen

89

Heinrich Wilhelm von Huth

German soldier and officer (1717-1806)

*January 1st, 1717, Elstertrebnitz †January 1st, 1806, Copenhagen

84

Fedele Tirrito

Italian painter (1717-1801)

*January 18th, 1717, San Biagio Platani †August 9th, 1801, Palermo

92

John Metcalf

English civil engineer and road builder

*August 15th, 1717, Knaresborough †April 26th, 1810, Spofforth

82

Adam Friedrich Oeser

German etcher and painter (1717-1799)

*February 17th, 1717, Bratislava †March 18th, 1799, Leipzig

68

Matthew Stewart

Scottish mathematician (1717-1785)

*January 15th, 1717, Scotland †January 23rd, 1785, Scotland

77

John Armstrong

American civil engineer and soldier

*October 13th, 1717, County Fermanagh †March 9th, 1795, Carlisle

78

Catharina Helena Dörrien

German botanist, botanical artist, author, translator, editor and governess (1717–1795)

*March 1st, 1717, Hildesheim †June 8th, 1795, Dillenburg

27

Marie Anne de Mailly

18th-century French noblewoman

*October 5th, 1717, Paris †December 8th, 1744, Paris

76

Luis de Unzaga

Spanish colonial governor and administrator (1717-1793)

*April 6th, 1717, Málaga †June 21st, 1793, Málaga

85

Richard Owen Cambridge

British poet

*February 14th, 1717, London †September 17th, 1802, Richmond

80

Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst

British Army officer (1717-1797)

*January 29th, 1717, Riverhead †August 3rd, 1797, Montreal Park

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on August 2nd

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day, Romani genocide-related observances, including) which are celebrated on August 2nd.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Leap year

No: With 365 days 1717 is a normal year and no leap year.

Calendar
August 1717