Did you know this happened today in history? #2 May 17th

1540 Afghan chief Sher Khan defeats Mongul Emperor Humayun at Kanauj.
1630 Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi sees the belts on Jupiter's surface.
1681 Louis XIV sends an expedition to aid James II in Ireland. As a result, England declares war on France.
1756 Britain declares war on France.
1792 Merchants form the New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street.
1814 Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden. Norway's constitution, which provided a limited monarchy, was signed.
1863 Union General Ulysses Grant continues his push towards Vicksburg at the Battle of the Big Black River Bridge.
1875 The first Kentucky Derby is run in Louisville.
1877 The first telephone switchboard burglar alarm was installed by Edwin T. Holmes.
1881 Frederick Douglass is appointed recorder of deeds for Washington, D.C.
1926 The U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires was damaged by bombs that were believed set by sympathizers of Sacco and Vanzetti.
1932 The U.S. Congress changed the name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico."
1939 The first fashion to be shown on television was broadcast in New York from the Ritz-Carleton Hotel.
1940 Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium and begins the invasion of France.
1946 U.S. President Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.
1948 The Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel.
1954 The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules for school integration in Brown v. Board of Education.
1956 The first synthetic mica (synthamica) was offered for sale in Caldwell Township, NJ.
1972 Germany ratifies the Treaty of Warsaw
1973 The Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings.
1987 Eric ‘Sleepy’ Floyd of the Golden State Warriors set a playoff record for points in a single quarter with 29.
1987 In the Persian Gulf the American guided missile frigate USS Stark is struck by 2 Exocet missiles fired by an Iraqi aircraft; only one detonates, but 37 sailors are killed and 21 are wounded. Whether the launch was deliberate or a mistake is still debated.
1990 The WHO deletes homosexuality from its list of mental diseases
1996 U.S. President Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. Megan's Law was named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was raped and killed in 1994.
1997 Rebel leader Kabila declared himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.
1998 New York Yankees pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league baseball history to throw a perfect game.
1999 Ehud Barak becomes Prime Minister of Israel
2001 The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp based on Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts" comic strip.
2004 Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage
2006 The U.S. aircraft carrier Oriskany was sunk about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach. It was the first vessel sunk under a Navy program to dispose of old warships by turning them into diving attractions. It was the largest man-made reef at the time of the sinking.
2007 Trains crossed the border dividing North and South Korea for the first time since 1953.