Today’s Ephemeris: What Happened on February 17th | Made …

In ephemeris of February 17 These events that happened a day like today in Argentina and around the world stand out:

● 1600. Astronomer, philosopher and theologian Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake by the Inquisition. He was 52 when he was executed in Piazza Campo dei Fiori, Rome. He outraged the clergy for adhering to the Copernican model, in which the Earth is not the center of the Universe and revolves around the Sun. He argued that there should be more inhabited worlds and questioned the Holy Trinity to come up with a pantheistic model. Accused of being a sorcerer, of questioning the Catholic faith, the virginity of Mary and of maintaining the existence of other worlds, he refused to renounce his ideas and was excommunicated before being burned at the stake. At the end of four centuries, the students of the University of Rome placed a plaque at the place of their execution: “Their students to the Master”.

● 1673. Molière died in Paris at the age of 51. He was born in 1573 under the name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. One of the greatest authors of the French language, at his pen are stage classics such as The misanthrope, Truffle, The miser, The bourgeois gentleman, Host, Scarpin’s Entanglements Yes The imaginary patient.

● 1904. Premiere of Madame Butterfly at La Scala in Milan. Giacomo Puccini arrives at the largest temple of Italian opera after the successful premieres of Bohemian in Turin (1896) and Tosca in Rome (1900). The demanding Milanese public does not like opera in Japan. It is not for less, in a work which presents many innovations, like an extensive second act without the presence of the tenor and some dissonances. The mockery and the boos force Puccini to revise the piece which, despite this premiere, remains one of the peaks in opera history.

● 1963. Michael Jordan was born in New York. For many, the greatest basketball player of all time. University champion with North Carolina, before turning pro with the Chicago Bulls. In the NBA, he was a three-time champion in 1991, 1992 and 1993. He retired to play baseball. Between the two, his father was killed. He returned to the Bulls for another championship three times in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Then he made a stint in Washington. In addition, he was Olympic champion in 1984, then with the Dream Team in 1992. He starred in the film Space jam and he returned to the limelight last year with the documentary The last dance.

● 1999. Tania dies at the age of 90. Born Ana Luciano Divis in Toledo, Spain, she arrived in Argentina in 1924, as part of a variety company. He met Enrique Santos Discépolo, with whom he began a relationship that lasted until his death in 1951. He briefly ventured into the cinema and opened a tango bowling alley called Cambalache, where he made presentations. Living memory of the Discepolo, she was declared Illustrious Citizen of the City of Buenos Aires and decorated by King Juan Carlos of Spain.

● 2005. Enrique Omar Sívori dies at the age of 69. He made his River debut in 1954 and shone as one of the Dirty faces of the selection that won the 1957 South American title in Lima That year he went to Juventus, where he shone until 1965. Then he played for Napoli until 1969. He played for Italy at the 1962 World Cup in Chile. After his retirement he managed several teams, including the national team in the World Cup qualifiers in Germany 74.

● 2007. Maurice Papon, symbol of Nazi collaborationism in France, dies at the age of 96. He was a public servant under the Vichy regime and helped to expel Jews. He was recycled as an official of Charles De Gaulle and acted in repression in Algeria. As chief of police, he led the brutal repression of October 17, 1961 in Paris against the Algerians, which is said to have left up to 3,000 dead. Elected MP, he was Budget Minister at the end of the 1970s. In 1981, his Nazi past was revealed. It was not until 1998 that he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. For health reasons, he was released in 2002.

● 2008. The independence of Kosovo. The province of Serbia, which in 1999 was the source of the crisis for which NATO troops intervened, unilaterally announces its independence. Serbia rejects the declaration, as do Russia, Spain and much of Latin America, including Argentina. The United States and part of the European Union recognize the new state. The International Court of Justice ruled in 2010 that Kosovo’s independence was not in violation of international law. To date, 105 UN member countries have recognized their independence.