WEDNESDAY, Sept. 17, 2025
1683-Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is the first to report the existence of bacteria
1787-U.S. Constitution is signed by delegates at the Philadelphia Convention
1862-Battle of Antietam [Battle of Sharpsburg]: Bloodiest day in the American Civil War with 22,000 dead, wounded, or missing in the first major battle on Union soil
1916-World War I flying ace, the Red Baron of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France
1940-Adolf Hitler indefinitely postpones Operation Sealion, the planned German invasion of Great Britain
1978-Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Camp David Accords, frameworks for peace in the Middle East and between Egypt and Israel
1980-South Korea opposition leader Kim Dae-jung sentenced to death on false charges of sedition and conspiracy (sentence later commuted)
1985-Soyuz T-14 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station
1988-24th Olympic games open at Seoul, Korea