AUGUST 17 IN HISTORY
1872 - Birth of Traian Vuia, engineer and inventor, Romanian aviation pioneer and first Romanian to take flight, honorary member of the Romanian Academy (d. September 3, 1950)
1889 - Birth of veterinarian physician Nicolae Teodoreanu, corresponding member of the Romanian Academy (d. 19 March 1977)
1894 - Birth of chemist Radu Cernatescu, member of the Romanian Academy (d. January 17, 1958)
1899 - Birth of poet, writer and translator Leon Negruzzi (d. October 6, 1987, in Paris)
1916 - World War I: Turkey declares war on Romania
1916 - World War I: Romanian troops in Transylvania free the city of Brasov
1925 - Death of writer Ioan Slavici (b. January 18, 1848)
1930 - Birth of visual artist Marcel Chirnoaga (d. April 23, 2008)
1940 - Birth of physicist Cornel Hategan, member of the Romanian Academy
1953 - Birth of Romanian language writer Herta Muller, in Nitchidorf commune of Timis County, settled in Germany, a Nobel Prize for Literature awardee, in 2009
1954 - Death of medical doctor Nicolae Ionescu-Sisesti, corresponding member of the Romanian Academy (b. February 11, 1888)
1964 - Death of Mihai Ralea, sociologist, anthropologist, aesthetician, literary critic, memoirist and philosopher, member of the Romanian Academy (b. May 1, 1896)
1968 - Death of Romanian-born French actor Jean Yonnel (b. July 21, 1891)
1977 - Birth of international footballer Daniel Pancu
1982 - Birth of actress Mirela Zeta
1989 - The third Bucharest underground 11.5 km long segment on Dristor-Eroilor direction is put into operation
2006 - Inauguration of Palace of Justice, after a series of restoration works
2014 - Death of literary and art critic Dan Haulica, corresponding member of the Romanian Academy (b. February 7, 1932).
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