* 4 solar and 3 lunar eclipses: 1917, 1973, 2094.

* The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began on 1917 BC August and ended on 384 BC February.

In 1917, the astronomer Harlow Shapley was able to estimate the Sun's distance from the galactic centre based on the distribution of globular clusters ; previously the Sun's location within the Milky Way was by no means well established.

* November 16 – Stephane Javelle, French astronomer ( d. 1917 )

* April 13 – Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, British astronomer ( d. 1917 )

In the 1890s, Irish astronomer George Johnstone Stoney ( 1826 – 1911 ) and British astronomer Arthur Matthew Weld Downing ( 1850 – 1917 ), were the first to attempt to calculate the position of the dust at Earth's orbit.

The proper motion of Wolf 359 was first measured in 1917 by German astronomer Max Wolf, with the aid of astrophotography.

* William Scott ( astronomer and clergyman ) ( 1825 – 1917 ), Church of England clergyman ; colonial astronomer for New South Wales

Arthur Matthew Weld Downing ( 13 April 1850 – 8 December 1917 ) was a British astronomer.

While searching for a companion to the large proper motion star Lalande 1299, in 1917 Dutch – American astronomer Adriaan van Maanen discovered a star with an even larger proper motion located a few arcminutes to the northeast.

* Walter H. Haas, ( born 1917 ), American amateur astronomer, founder of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers ( ALPO )

E. B. Tylor ( 2 October 1832 – 2 January 1917 ) and James George Frazer ( 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941 ) are generally considered the antecedents to modern social anthropology in Britain.

This was followed by a second series, Blackadder II ( 1986 ) set during the reign of Elizabeth I, a third series Blackadder the Third ( 1987 ) set during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the reign of George III, and finally Blackadder Goes Forth ( 1989 ) in 1917, set in the trenches of the Great War.

* 1837 – George Dewey, U. S. admiral ( d. 1917 )

Beatty's other brothers were Charles Harold Longfield ( 1870 – 1917 ) who served with distinction in the South Africa wars before dying from complications after losing an arm in Flanders, Richard George ( 1882 – 1915 ) who died on active service in India, William Vandeleur Schruder ( 1873 – 1935 ) who became an army Major and Newmarket horse trainer, and one sister Kathleen Roma ( 1875 –).

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, Prince Louis of Battenberg and their four children Princess Alice of Battenberg, Louise, George and Louis. Lord Mountbatten was born as His Serene Highness Prince Louis of Battenberg, although his German styles and titles were dropped in 1917.

* 1917 – George Dewey, American admiral ( b. 1837 )

He obtained a law degree from George Washington University Law School in 1916, and an LL. M., a Master of Laws degree, in 1917 from the same university.

* 1917 – King George V issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor.

* 1917 – George Osmond, American patriach of The Osmonds ( d. 2007 )

* 1833 – George Huntington Hartford, American businessman ( d. 1917 )

In 1917, Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden suggested that the Turks and Caicos join Canada, but this suggestion was rejected by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George.

* December 26 – George Dewey, U. S. naval officer ( d. 1917 )

In January 1917 the Prime Minister David Lloyd George replaced the chairman Lord Curzon with Lord Cowdray.

Members of the Royal Family belong to, either by birth or marriage, the House of Windsor, since 1917, when George V changed the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

On 30 November 1917, King George V issued Letters Patent defining who are members of the Royal Family ; the text of the notice from the London Gazette is as follows:

Use of the style His Royal Highness or Her Royal Highness ( HRH ) and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess are governed by letters patent issued by George V on 30 November 1917 and published in the London Gazette on 11 December 1917.

His mother Elizabeth George ( 1828 – 96 ) sold the farm and moved with her children to her native Llanystumdwy, Caernarfonshire, where she lived in Tŷ Newydd with her brother Richard Lloyd ( 1834 – 1917 ), a shoemaker, Baptist minister and strong Liberal.

The War Policy Committee, which included Lloyd George, Milner, Curzon, Jan Smuts, Law, and the government's chief military adviser General Robertson, was also formed and first met on 11 June 1917.

At the final meeting of this committee on 11 October 1917, Lloyd George authorized the Passchendaele Offensive of autumn 1917 to continue by warning of failure in three weeks ' time.

In December 1917, Lloyd George remarked to C. P.

In the winter of 1917 / 18 Lloyd George secured the resignations of both the service chiefs, Admiral Jellicoe and General Robertson.

* May — August 1917 – In temporary absence of Arthur Henderson, George Barnes, Minister of Pensions acts as a member of the War Cabinet.

* August 1917 – George Barnes succeeds Arthur Henderson ( resigned ) as Minister without Portfolio and Labour Party member of the War Cabinet.

In 1917 Hale hired architect Bertram Goodhue to produce a master plan for the campus.

The observatory contains two historically important telescopes: the Hale telescope built in 1908, and the Hooker telescope, which was the largest telescope in the world from its completion in 1917 until 1948.

The Hale 100-inch mirror for Mount Wilson Observatory on its way up the Mount Wilson Toll Road on a Mack Truck in 1917.

The era of the large glass-mirror reflector had begun, with telescopes such as Andrew Ainslie Common's 1879 36 inch ( 91 cm ) and 1887 60 inch ( 152 cm ) reflectors built at Ealing, and the first of the " modern " large glass mirror research reflectors, 60 inch ( 150 cm ) Mount Wilson Observatory Hale telescope of 1908, and the 100 inch ( 2. 5 m ) Mount Wilson Hooker telescope in 1917.

Saint-Gobain cast the glass blanks of some of the largest optical reflecting telescopes of the early 20th century, including the ground-breaking Hale telescope ( online in 1908 ) and 100 inch ( 2. 5 m ) Hooker telescope ( online 1917 ) at Mount Wilson Observatory ( USA ), and the Plaskett telescope ( online in 1918 ) at Dominion Astrophysical Observatory ( Canada ).

Gen. Wilber E. Wilder ( 25 August 1917 ), Maj. Gen. Harry C. Hale ( 6 October 1917 ), Brig.

Gen. Wilber E. Wilder ( 15 December 1917 ), Maj. Gen. Harry C. Hale ( 1 March 1918 ), Maj. Gen. Harry C. Hale ( 5 June 1918 ), Maj. Gen. Harry C. Hale ( 21 July 1918 ), Brig.

In 1917 the 100 " Hooker Telescope became operational and would be the world's largest telescope until the opening of the 200 " Palomar Hale Telescope in 1948.