Template:Selected anniversaries/February 17
882: Physician, astronomer, mathematician, and crime-fighter Thābit ibn Qurra publishes new theory of Gnomon algorithm functions with applications in detecting and preventing crimes against mathematical constants.
1600: Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, poet, and cosmological theorist Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake.
1863: Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley engages and sinks the Union warship USS Housatonic. This is the first known instance of a submarine engaging and sinking a warship.
1864: Mathematician and crime-fighter Marius Sophus Lie publishes new theory of continuous symmetry with applications in the detection and prevention of crimes against mathematical constants.
1891: Mathematician Abraham Fraenkel born. He will contribute to axiomatic set theory, and publish a biography of George Cantor.
2003: George Plimpton publishes first in prize-winning series of articles on high-energy literature.
2012: Mathematician and theorist Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn dies. He made contributions in the fields of analysis, number theory, combinatorics, and logic.