| 93181 | August 17 | Event | 1953 – Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California. |
| 93182 | August 17 | Event | 1958 – Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country. |
| 93183 | August 17 | Event | 1959 – Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana. |
| 93184 | August 17 | Event | 1959 – Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released. |
| 93185 | August 17 | Event | 1960 – Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France. |
| 93186 | August 17 | Event | 1962 – East German border guards kill Peter Fechter, 18, as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall. |
| 93187 | August 17 | Event | 1969 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage. |
| 93188 | August 17 | Event | 1970 – Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus). |
| 93189 | August 17 | Event | 1977 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole. |
| 93190 | August 17 | Event | 1978 – Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine. |
| 93191 | August 17 | Event | 1980 – Azaria Chamberlain disappears, at Ayers Rock, Northern Territory, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicized trial in Australian history. |
| 93192 | August 17 | Event | 1982 – The first Compact Discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany. |
| 93193 | August 17 | Event | 1988 – President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash. |
| 93194 | August 17 | Event | 1991 – Strathfield massacre: In Sydney, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots seven people and injures six others before turning the gun on himself. |
| 93195 | August 17 | Event | 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationshi |
| 93196 | August 17 | Event | 1999 – A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000. |
| 93197 | August 17 | Event | 2002 – The Act of Entrusting the World to the Divine Mercy and consecration of the sanctuary in Kraków-Łagiewniki by John Paul II. |
| 93198 | August 17 | Event | 2004 – The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Bože pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country. |
| 93199 | August 17 | Event | 2005 – The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, starts. |
| 93200 | August 17 | Event | 2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh |
| 93201 | August 17 | Event | 2008 – American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games. |
| 93202 | August 17 | Event | 2009 – An accident at the Sayano–Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area. |
| 93203 | August 17 | Event | 2015 – A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others. |
| 93204 | August 17 | Birth | 1473 – Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York (d. 1483) |
| 93205 | August 17 | Birth | 1556 – Alexander Briant, English martyr and saint (d. 1581) |
| 93206 | August 17 | Birth | 1601 – Pierre de Fermat, French lawyer and mathematician (d. 1665) |
| 93207 | August 17 | Birth | 1629 – John III Sobieski, Polish–Lithuanian king (d. 1696) |
| 93208 | August 17 | Birth | 1686 – Nicola Porpora, Italian composer and educator (d. 1768) |
| 93209 | August 17 | Birth | 1753 – Josef Dobrovský, Bohemian philologist and historian (d. 1828) |
| 93210 | August 17 | Birth | 1768 – Louis Desaix, French general (d. 1800) |