Template:Selected anniversaries/June 17
1714: Astronomer and cartographer César-François Cassini de Thury born. In 1744, he will begin the construction of a great topographical map of France, one of the landmarks in the history of cartography. Completed by his son Jean-Dominique, Cassini IV and published by the Académie des Sciences from 1744 to 1793, its 180 plates will be known as the Cassini map.
1832: Chemist and physicist William Crookes born. Crookes will be a pioneer of vacuum tube technology, developing the partially evacuated Crookes tube circa 1869-1875.
1925: Pharmacologist and chemist Alexander Shulgin born. He will discover, synthesize, and personally bioassay over 230 psychoactive compounds for their psychedelic and entactogenic potential.
1932: Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
1939: Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla uses ultra-low-frequency electrical current to detect and prevent crimes against mathematical constants. His work will later be useful in detecting and removing the Watergate scandal virus.
1972: Watergate scandal (nonfiction): Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.