October 17

1887: German physicist Gustav Kirchhoff, who formulated Kirchhoff's Laws of current and voltage in closed circuits, died. 1919: The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was created. 1933: Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. 1956: Britain's first nuclear power station opened in Calder Hall. 1956: American Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space, was born. 1961: Police killed 210 Algerians in France during the "Battle of Paris." 1963: French mathematician Jacques-Salomon Hadamard, who proved the prime number theorem, died. 1973: 5-month oil embargo by Arab states against U.S. and Netherlands began. 1989: A powerful earthquake hit San Francisco, damaging the Bay Bridge.1915: Nicholas Constantine Metropolis, designer of the MANIAC computer used to develop the atom bomb, died. 2006: The Census Clock at the Department of Commerce turned over 300,000,000.