May 17

1792: The New York Stock Exchange was founded at 70 Wall Street by 24 brokers. 1836: Sir Joseph Lockyer, who co-discovered the element helium in the sun's spectrum, was born. 1865: The first International Telegraph Convention was signed in Paris by the 20 founding member, giving birth to the International Telegraph Union (ITU). 1868: Automobile maker Horace Dodge was born. 1886: American agriculturist and engineer John Deere died. 1890: Comic Cuts, the first British weekly comic paper, was published. 1943: The famous Dambusters raid on key German dams occurred. 1955: The highly classified patent for the first atomic pile was issued 11 years after application. 1978: Philips announced the coming of the compact disc (CD). 1997: The first flight of the NASA/Boeing X-36 tailless fighter occurred.