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Frederick Copleston

Frederick Charles Copleston (10 April 1907 – 3 February 1994) was an English Jesuit priest, philosopher, and historian of philosophy, best known for his influential multi-volume A History of Philosophy (1946–75).

Copleston achieved a degree of popularity in the media for debating the existence of God with Bertrand Russell in a celebrated 1948 BBC broadcast; the following year he debated logical positivism and the meaningfulness of religious language with his friend the analytic philosopher A. J. Ayer.

Origins
Frederick Charles Copleston was born on 10 April 1907 at Claremont in the parish of Trull, near Taunton in Somerset, England, the eldest son of Frederick Selwyn Copleston (1850–1935), a judge of the High Court in Rangoon, Burma, by his second wife, Norah Margaret Little. He was a member of the family of Copleston, lords of the manor of Copleston in Devon until 1659, one of the most ancient in that county according to a traditional rhyme related by John Prince (d.1723): "Crocker, Cruwys, and Coplestone,

When the Conqueror came were at home"

Biography
He was raised an Anglican—his uncle, Reginald Stephen Copleston, was an Anglican bishop of Calcutta; another uncle, Ernest Copleston, was the Anglican Bishop of Colombo. Copleston was educated at Marlborough College from 1920 to 1925. At the age of eighteen, he converted to the Roman Catholic faith, which caused a great deal of stress in his family. Copleston explained his recognition of the objective authority in the Catholic Church:"'It seemed to me that if Christ was truly the Son of God and if he founded a Church to teach all nations in His name, it must be a Church teaching with authority, as her Master did. Obviously one might deny that Christ was the Son of God, and one might reject the claim that he founded a Church. But if these two claims were accepted, it seemed to me that in spite of all its faults the Roman Catholic Church was the only one which could reasonably be thought to have developed out of what Christ established.'"His father, though opposed to his son's becoming a Catholic, helped him complete his education at St John's College, Oxford, where he studied from 1925 to 1929. He graduated from Oxford University in 1929 having managed a third in classical moderations and a good second at Greats. After Oxford, Copleston entered St. Mary's College, Oscott as a seminarian for the diocese of Clifton, but realized the life was not for him.

In 1930, he entered instead the Jesuits. After completing the two-year Jesuit novitiate in Roehampton, he followed the traditional course of studies for the priesthood at the Jesuit house of studies in Heythrop, Oxfordshire and in 1937 he was ordained a Jesuit priest there. In 1938 he travelled to Germany to complete his training, returning to Britain just before the outbreak of war in 1939. Copleston was originally destined to study for his doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, but the war now made that impossible. Instead, he accepted a posting that saw him return to Heythrop in Oxfordshire to teach the history of philosophy to the few Jesuits remaining there.

From this time onwards, Copleston began writing his influential multi-volume A History of Philosophy (1946–75), a textbook that presents clear accounts of ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy. Still highly respected, Copleston's history has been described as "a monumental achievement" that "stays true to the authors it discusses, being very much a work in exposition".

Copleston achieved a degree of popularity in the media for debating the existence of God with Bertrand Russell in a celebrated 1948 BBC broadcast. (See Copleston–Russell debate). The following year he debated logical positivism and the meaningfulness of religious language with his friend the analytic philosopher A. J. Ayer.

Throughout the rest of his academic career, Copleston accepted a number of prestigious titles, including Visiting Professor at Rome's Gregorian University, where he spent six months each year lecturing from 1952 to 1968. In 1970 the Jesuit Heythrop house of studies was relocated to London, where as Heythrop College it became a constituent part of the federal University of London. Copleston became the new college's respected Principal and gave undergraduate courses. His uncontestable mastery of his material immediately won the confidence and respect of the students, who were drawn from among younger Jesuits and junior religious from male and female religious orders, and some lay men and women. Moreover, his affable manner, dry humour and unfailing courtesy made him popular. In that same year 1970, he was made Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), and in 1972 he was given a personal professorship by the University of London. In 1975, he was made an Honorary Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford.

After officially retiring in 1974, he continued to lecture. From 1974 to 1982, Copleston was Visiting Professor at the University of Santa Clara, California, and from 1979 to 1981, he delivered the Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, which were published as Religion and the One. These lectures attempted to "express themes perennial in his thinking and more personal than in his history". Toward the end of his life, Copleston received honorary doctorates from a number of institutions, including Santa Clara University, California, Uppsala University, and the University of St Andrews.

Copleston was offered memberships in the Royal Institute of Philosophy and in the Aristotelian Society. In 1993 he was made CBE. Father Frederick Copleston died on 3 February 1994 at St Thomas' Hospital in London, at the age of 86.

Legacy
In addition to his influential multi-volume History of Philosophy (1946–75), one of Copleston's most significant contributions to modern philosophy was his work on the theories of Saint Thomas Aquinas. He attempted to clarify Aquinas's Five Ways (in the Summa Theologica) by making a distinction between in fieri causes and in esse causes. By doing so, Copleston makes clear that Aquinas wanted to put forth the concept of an omnipresent God rather than a being that could have disappeared after setting the chain of cause and effect into motion.

Works

 * A History of Philosophy (1946–1975)

Other select works

 * Friedrich Nietzsche: Philosopher of Culture (1942), expanded edition; (1975)
 * Arthur Schopenhauer: Philosopher of Pessimism (1946)
 * Medieval Philosophy (1952), revised edition: A History of Medieval Philosophy (1972)
 * Aquinas (1955), reprinted from 1976 as Thomas Aquinas,
 * "Logical Positivism - A Debate" (with A. J. Ayer) in: Edwards, Paul, Pap, Arthur (eds.), A Modern Introduction to Philosophy (1957)
 * Contemporary Philosophy: Studies of Logical Positivism and Existentialism (1956), republished with a new first chapter in 1972
 * Religion and Philosophy (1974)
 * Philosophers and Philosophies (1976)
 * On the History of Philosophy and Other Essays (1979)
 * Philosophies and Culture (1980)
 * Religion and the One: Philosophies East and West (1982)
 * Philosophy in Russia: From Herzen to Lenin and Berdyaev (1986)
 * Russian Religious Philosophy (1988)
 * Memoirs of a Philosopher (1993)

Related works

Hughes, Gerard J. (1987) The Philosophical assessment of theology: essays in honour of Frederick C. Copleston

title: Frederick Copleston


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Finance

Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. As a subject of study, it is related to but distinct from economics, which is the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Based on the scope of financial activities in financial systems, the discipline can be divided into personal, corporate, and public finance.

In these financial systems, assets are bought, sold, or traded as financial instruments, such as currencies, loans, bonds, shares, stocks, options, futures, etc. Assets can also be banked, invested, and insured to maximize value and minimize loss. In practice, risks are always present in any financial action and entities.

Due to its wide scope, a broad range of subfields exists within finance. Asset-, money-, risk- and investment management aim to maximize value and minimize volatility. Financial analysis assesses the viability, stability, and profitability of an action or entity. Some fields are multidisciplinary, such as mathematical finance, financial law, financial economics, financial engineering and financial technology. These fields are the foundation of business and accounting. In some cases, theories in finance can be tested using the scientific method, covered by experimental finance.

The early history of finance parallels the early history of money, which is prehistoric. Ancient and medieval civilizations incorporated basic functions of finance, such as banking, trading and accounting, into their economies. In the late 19th century, the global financial system was formed.

In the middle of the 20th century, finance emerged as a distinct academic discipline, separate from economics. The earliest doctoral programs in finance were established in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, finance is also widely studied through career-focused undergraduate and master's level programs.

The financial system

As outlined, the financial system consists of the flows of capital that take place between individuals and households (personal finance), governments (public finance), and businesses (corporate finance). "Finance" thus studies the process of channeling money from savers and investors to entities that need it. Savers and investors have money available which could earn interest or dividends if put to productive use. Individuals, companies and governments must obtain money from some external source, such as loans or credit, when they lack sufficient funds to run their operations.

In general, an entity whose income exceeds its expenditure can lend or invest the excess, intending to earn a fair return. Correspondingly, an entity where income is less than expenditure can raise capital usually in one of two ways: (i) by borrowing in the form of a loan (private individuals), or by selling government or corporate bonds; (ii) by a corporation selling equity, also called stock or shares (which may take various forms: preferred stock or common stock). The owners of both bonds and stock may be institutional investors—financial institutions such as investment banks and pension funds—or private individuals, called private investors or retail investors. (See Financial market participants.)

The lending is often indirect, through a financial intermediary such as a bank, or via the purchase of notes or bonds (corporate bonds, government bonds, or mutual bonds) in the bond market. The lender receives interest, the borrower pays a higher interest than the lender receives, and the financial intermediary earns the difference for arranging the loan. A bank aggregates the activities of many borrowers and lenders. A bank accepts deposits from lenders, on which it pays interest. The bank then lends these deposits to borrowers. Banks allow borrowers and lenders, of different sizes, to coordinate their activity.

Investing typically entails the purchase of stock, either individual securities or via a mutual fund, for example. Stocks are usually sold by corporations to investors so as to raise required capital in the form of "equity financing", as distinct from the debt financing described above. The financial intermediaries here are the investment banks. The investment banks find the initial investors and facilitate the listing of the securities, typically shares and bonds. Additionally, they facilitate the securities exchanges, which allow their trade thereafter, as well as the various service providers which manage the performance or risk of these investments. These latter include mutual funds, pension funds, wealth managers, and stock brokers, typically servicing retail investors (private individuals).

Inter-institutional trade and investment, and fund-management at this scale, is referred to as "wholesale finance". Institutions here extend the products offered, with related trading, to include bespoke options, swaps, and structured products, as well as specialized financing; this "financial engineering" is inherently mathematical, and these institutions are then the major employers of "quants" (see below). In these institutions, risk management, regulatory capital, and compliance play major roles.

Areas of finance
As outlined, finance comprises, broadly, the three areas of personal finance, corporate finance, and public finance. These, in turn, overlap and employ various activities and sub-disciplines—chiefly investments, risk management, and quantitative finance.

Personal finance

Personal finance refers to the practice of budgeting to ensure enough funds on available to meet basic needs, while ensuring there is only a reasonable level of risk to lose said capital. Personal finance may involve paying for education, financing durable goods such as real estate and cars, buying insurance, investing, and saving for retirement. Personal finance may also involve paying for a loan or other debt obligations. The main areas of personal finance are considered to be income, spending, saving, investing, and protection. The following steps, as outlined by the Financial Planning Standards Board, suggest that an individual will understand a potentially secure personal finance plan after:
 * Purchasing insurance to ensure protection against unforeseen personal events;
 * Understanding the effects of tax policies, subsidies, or penalties on the management of personal finances;
 * Understanding the effects of credit on individual financial standing;
 * Developing a savings plan or financing for large purchases (auto, education, home);
 * Planning a secure financial future in an environment of economic instability;
 * Pursuing a checking or a savings account;
 * Preparing for retirement or other long term expenses.

Corporate finance
Corporate finance deals with the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, the sources of funding and the capital structure of corporations, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. While corporate finance is in principle different from managerial finance, which studies the financial management of all firms rather than corporations alone, the concepts are applicable to the financial problems of all firms, and this area is then often referred to as "business finance".

Typically, "corporate finance" relates to the long term objective of maximizing the value of the entity's assets, its stock, and its return to shareholders, while also balancing risk and profitability. This entails three primary areas: The latter creates the link with investment banking and securities trading, as above, in that the capital raised will generically comprise debt, i.e. corporate bonds, and equity, often listed shares. Re risk management within corporates, see below.
 * 1) Capital budgeting: selecting which projects to invest in—here, accurately determining value is crucial, as judgements about asset values can be "make or break".
 * 2) Dividend policy: the use of "excess" funds—these are to be reinvested in the business or returned to shareholders.
 * 3) Capital structure: deciding on the mix of funding to be used—here attempting to find the optimal capital mix re debt-commitments vs cost of capital.

Financial managers—i.e. as distinct from corporate financiers—focus more on the short term elements of profitability, cash flow, and "working capital management" (inventory, credit and debtors), ensuring that the firm can safely and profitably carry out its financial and operational objectives; i.e. that it: (1) can service both maturing short-term debt repayments, and scheduled long-term debt payments, and (2) has sufficient cash flow for ongoing and upcoming operational expenses. (See Financial management and Financial planning and analysis.)

Public finance

Public finance describes finance as related to sovereign states, sub-national entities, and related public entities or agencies. It generally encompasses a long-term strategic perspective regarding investment decisions that affect public entities. These long-term strategic periods typically encompass five or more years. Public finance is primarily concerned with:
 * Identification of required expenditures of a public sector entity;
 * Source(s) of that entity's revenue;
 * The budgeting process;
 * Sovereign debt issuance, or municipal bonds for public works projects.

Central banks, such as the Federal Reserve System banks in the United States and the Bank of England in the United Kingdom, are strong players in public finance. They act as lenders of last resort as well as strong influences on monetary and credit conditions in the economy.

Development finance, which is related, concerns investment in economic development projects provided by a (quasi) governmental institution on a non-commercial basis; these projects would otherwise not be able to get financing. A public–private partnership is primarily used for infrastructure projects: a private sector corporate provides the financing up-front, and then draws profits from taxpayers or users.

Investment management

Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities—typically shares and bonds, but also other assets, such as real estate, commodities and alternative investments—in order to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors.

As above, investors may be institutions, such as insurance companies, pension funds, corporations, charities, educational establishments, or private investors, either directly via investment contracts or, more commonly, via collective investment schemes like mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or REITs.

At the heart of investment management is asset allocation—diversifying the exposure among these asset classes, and among individual securities within each asset class—as appropriate to the client's investment policy, in turn, a function of risk profile, investment goals, and investment horizon (see Investor profile). Here:
 * Portfolio optimization is the process of selecting the best portfolio given the client's objectives and constraints.
 * Fundamental analysis is the approach typically applied in valuing and evaluating the individual securities.
 * Technical analysis is about forecasting future asset prices with past data.

Overlaid is the portfolio manager's investment style—broadly, active vs passive, value vs growth, and small cap vs. large cap—and investment strategy.

In a well-diversified portfolio, achieved investment performance will, in general, largely be a function of the asset mix selected, while the individual securities are less impactful. The specific approach or philosophy will also be significant, depending on the extent to which it is complementary with the market cycle. Risk management here is discussed immediately below.

A quantitative fund is managed using computer-based mathematical techniques (increasingly, machine learning) instead of human judgment. The actual trading is typically automated via sophisticated algorithms.

Risk management

Risk management, in general, is the study of how to control risks and balance the possibility of gains; it is the process of measuring risk and then developing and implementing strategies to manage that risk. Financial risk management is the practice of protecting corporate value against financial risks, often by "hedging" exposure to these using financial instruments. The focus is particularly on credit and market risk, and in banks, through regulatory capital, includes operational risk. Financial risk management is related to corporate finance in two ways. Firstly, firm exposure to market risk is a direct result of previous capital investments and funding decisions; while credit risk arises from the business's credit policy and is often addressed through credit insurance and provisioning. Secondly, both disciplines share the goal of enhancing or at least preserving, the firm's economic value, and in this context overlaps also enterprise risk management, typically the domain of strategic management. Here, businesses devote much time and effort to forecasting, analytics and performance monitoring. (See ALM and treasury management.)
 * Credit risk is the risk of default on a debt that may arise from a borrower failing to make required payments;
 * Market risk relates to losses arising from movements in market variables such as prices and exchange rates;
 * Operational risk relates to failures in internal processes, people, and systems, or to external events.

For banks and other wholesale institutions, risk management focuses on managing, and as necessary hedging, the various positions held by the institution—both trading positions and long term exposures—and on calculating and monitoring the resultant economic capital, and regulatory capital under Basel III. The calculations here are mathematically sophisticated, and within the domain of quantitative finance as below. Credit risk is inherent in the business of banking, but additionally, these institutions are exposed to counterparty credit risk. Banks typically employ Middle office "Risk Groups", whereas front office risk teams provide risk "services" (or "solutions") to customers.

Additional to diversification, the fundamental feature of risk mitigation here, investment managers will apply various hedging techniques as appropriate, these may relate to the portfolio as a whole or to individual stocks. Bond portfolios are often (instead) managed via cash flow matching or immunization, while for derivative portfolios and positions, traders use "the Greeks" to measure and then offset sensitivities. In parallel, managers — active and passive — will monitor tracking error, thereby minimizing and preempting any underperformance vs their "benchmark".

Quantitative finance

Quantitative finance—also referred to as "mathematical finance"—includes those finance activities where a sophisticated mathematical model is required, and thus overlaps several of the above.

As a specialized practice area, quantitative finance comprises primarily three sub-disciplines; the underlying theory and techniques are discussed in the next section:
 * 1) Quantitative finance is often synonymous with financial engineering. This area generally underpins a bank's customer-driven derivatives business—delivering bespoke OTC-contracts and "exotics", and designing the various structured products and solutions mentioned—and encompasses modeling and programming in support of the initial trade, and its subsequent hedging and management.
 * 2) Quantitative finance also significantly overlaps financial risk management in banking, as mentioned, both as regards this hedging, and as regards economic capital as well as compliance with regulations and the Basel capital / liquidity requirements.
 * 3) "Quants" are also responsible for building and deploying the investment strategies at the quantitative funds mentioned; they are also involved in quantitative investing more generally, in areas such as trading strategy formulation, and in automated trading, high-frequency trading, algorithmic trading, and program trading.

Financial theory
Financial theory is studied and developed within the disciplines of management, (financial) economics, accountancy and applied mathematics. Abstractly, finance is concerned with the investment and deployment of assets and liabilities over "space and time"; i.e., it is about performing valuation and asset allocation today, based on the risk and uncertainty of future outcomes while appropriately incorporating the time value of money. Determining the present value of these future values, "discounting", must be at the risk-appropriate discount rate, in turn, a major focus of finance-theory.

As financial theory has roots in many disciplines, including mathematics, statistics, economics, physics, and psychology, it can be considered a mix of an art and science, and there are ongoing related efforts to organize a list of unsolved problems in finance.

Managerial finance

Managerial finance is the branch of finance that deals with the financial aspects of the management of a company, and the financial dimension of managerial decision-making more broadly. It provides the theoretical underpin for the practice described above, concerning itself with the managerial application of the various finance techniques. Academics working in this area are typically based in business school finance departments, in accounting, or in management science.

The tools addressed and developed relate in the main to managerial accounting and corporate finance: the former allow management to better understand, and hence act on, financial information relating to profitability and performance; the latter, as above, are about optimizing the overall financial structure, including its impact on working capital. Key aspects of managerial finance thus include: The discussion, however, extends to business strategy more broadly, emphasizing alignment with the company's overall strategic objectives; and similarly incorporates the managerial perspectives of planning, directing, and controlling.
 * 1) Financial planning and forecasting
 * 2) Capital budgeting
 * 3) Capital structure
 * 4) Working capital management
 * 5) Risk management
 * 6) Financial analysis and reporting.

Financial economics

Financial economics is the branch of economics that studies the interrelation of financial variables, such as prices, interest rates and shares, as opposed to real economic variables, i.e. goods and services. It thus centers on pricing, decision making, and risk management in the financial markets, and produces many of the commonly employed financial models. (Financial econometrics is the branch of financial economics that uses econometric techniques to parameterize the relationships suggested.)

The discipline has two main areas of focus: asset pricing and corporate finance; the first being the perspective of providers of capital, i.e. investors, and the second of users of capital; respectively:
 * Asset pricing theory develops the models used in determining the risk-appropriate discount rate, and in pricing derivatives; and includes the portfolio- and investment theory applied in asset management. The analysis essentially explores how rational investors would apply risk and return to the problem of investment under uncertainty, producing the key "Fundamental theorem of asset pricing". Here, the twin assumptions of rationality and market efficiency lead to modern portfolio theory (the CAPM), and to the Black–Scholes theory for option valuation. At more advanced levels—and often in response to financial crises—the study then extends these "neoclassical" models to incorporate phenomena where their assumptions do not hold, or to more general settings.
 * Much of corporate finance theory, by contrast, considers investment under "certainty" (Fisher separation theorem, "theory of investment value", and Modigliani–Miller theorem). Here, theory and methods are developed for the decisioning about funding, dividends, and capital structure discussed above. A recent development is to incorporate uncertainty and contingency—and thus various elements of asset pricing—into these decisions, employing for example real options analysis.

Financial mathematics

Financial mathematics is the field of applied mathematics concerned with financial markets; Louis Bachelier's doctoral thesis, defended in 1900, is considered to be the first scholarly work in this area. The field is largely focused on the modeling of derivatives—with much emphasis on interest rate- and credit risk modeling—while other important areas include insurance mathematics and quantitative portfolio management. Relatedly, the techniques developed are applied to pricing and hedging a wide range of asset-backed, government, and corporate-securities.

As above, in terms of practice, the field is referred to as quantitative finance and / or mathematical finance, and comprises primarily the three areas discussed. The main mathematical tools and techniques are, correspondingly:
 * for derivatives, Itô's stochastic calculus, simulation, and partial differential equations; see aside boxed discussion re the prototypical Black-Scholes and the various numeric techniques now applied
 * for risk management, value at risk, stress testing and "sensitivities" analysis (applying the "greeks"); the underlying mathematics comprises mixture models, PCA, volatility clustering and copulas.
 * in both of these areas, and particularly for portfolio problems, quants employ sophisticated optimization techniques

Mathematically, these separate into two analytic branches: derivatives pricing uses risk-neutral probability (or arbitrage-pricing probability), denoted by "Q"; while risk and portfolio management generally use physical (or actual or actuarial) probability, denoted by "P". These are interrelated through the above "Fundamental theorem of asset pricing".

The subject has a close relationship with financial economics, which, as outlined, is concerned with much of the underlying theory that is involved in financial mathematics: generally, financial mathematics will derive and extend the mathematical models suggested. Computational finance is the branch of (applied) computer science that deals with problems of practical interest in finance, and especially emphasizes the numerical methods applied here.

Experimental finance
Experimental finance aims to establish different market settings and environments to experimentally observe and provide a lens through which science can analyze agents' behavior and the resulting characteristics of trading flows, information diffusion, and aggregation, price setting mechanisms, and returns processes. Researchers in experimental finance can study to what extent existing financial economics theory makes valid predictions and therefore prove them, as well as attempt to discover new principles on which such theory can be extended and be applied to future financial decisions. Research may proceed by conducting trading simulations or by establishing and studying the behavior of people in artificial, competitive, market-like settings.

Behavioral finance
Behavioral finance studies how the psychology of investors or managers affects financial decisions and markets and is relevant when making a decision that can impact either negatively or positively on one of their areas. With more in-depth research into behavioral finance, it is possible to bridge what actually happens in financial markets with analysis based on financial theory. Behavioral finance has grown over the last few decades to become an integral aspect of finance.

Behavioral finance includes such topics as:
 * 1) Empirical studies that demonstrate significant deviations from classical theories;
 * 2) Models of how psychology affects and impacts trading and prices;
 * 3) Forecasting based on these methods;
 * 4) Studies of experimental asset markets and the use of models to forecast experiments.

A strand of behavioral finance has been dubbed quantitative behavioral finance, which uses mathematical and statistical methodology to understand behavioral biases in conjunction with valuation.

Quantum finance
Quantum finance is an interdisciplinary research field, applying theories and methods developed by quantum physicists and economists in order to solve problems in finance. It is a branch of econophysics. Finance theory is heavily based on financial instrument pricing such as stock option pricing. Many of the problems facing the finance community have no known analytical solution. As a result, numerical methods and computer simulations for solving these problems have proliferated. This research area is known as computational finance. Many computational finance problems have a high degree of computational complexity and are slow to converge to a solution on classical computers. In particular, when it comes to option pricing, there is additional complexity resulting from the need to respond to quickly changing markets. For example, in order to take advantage of inaccurately priced stock options, the computation must complete before the next change in the almost continuously changing stock market. As a result, the finance community is always looking for ways to overcome the resulting performance issues that arise when pricing options. This has led to research that applies alternative computing techniques to finance. Most commonly used quantum financial models are quantum continuous model, quantum binomial model, multi-step quantum binomial model etc.

History of finance
The origin of finance can be traced to the beginning of state formation and trade during the Bronze Age. The earliest historical evidence of finance is dated to around 3000 BCE. Banking originated in West Asia, where temples and palaces were used as safe places for the storage of valuables. Initially, the only valuable that could be deposited was grain, but cattle and precious materials were eventually included. During the same period, the Sumerian city of Uruk in Mesopotamia supported trade by lending as well as the use of interest. In Sumerian, "interest" was mas, which translates to "calf". In Greece and Egypt, the words used for interest, tokos and ms respectively, meant "to give birth". In these cultures, interest indicated a valuable increase, and seemed to consider it from the lender's point of view. The Code of Hammurabi (1792–1750 BCE) included laws governing banking operations. The Babylonians were accustomed to charging interest at the rate of 20 percent per year. By 1200 BCE, cowrie shells were used as a form of money in China.

The use of coins as a means of representing money began in the years between 700 and 500 BCE. Herodotus mentions the use of crude coins in Lydia around 687 BCE and, by 640 BCE, the Lydians had started to use coin money more widely and opened permanent retail shops. Shortly after, cities in Classical Greece, such as Aegina, Athens, and Corinth, started minting their own coins between 595 and 570 BCE. During the Roman Republic, interest was outlawed by the Lex Genucia reforms in 342 BCE, though the provision went largely unenforced. Under Julius Caesar, a ceiling on interest rates of 12% was set, and much later under Justinian it was lowered even further to between 4% and 8%.

The first exchange happened in Belgium in 1531. Since then, popular exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange (founded in 1773) and the New York Stock Exchange (founded in 1793) were created.

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title: Finance


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February 17

Pre-1600

 * 1370 – Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.
 * 1411 – Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of Bayezid I, becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire with the support of Mircea I of Wallachia.
 * 1500 – Duke Friedrich and Duke Johann attempt to subdue the peasantry of Dithmarschen, Denmark, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt.
 * 1600 – On his way to be burned at the stake for heresy, at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, the philosopher Giordano Bruno has a wooden vise put on his tongue to prevent him continuing to speak.

1601–1900

 * 1616 – Nurhaci proclaims himself Khan of the Later Jin, precursor to the Qing Dynasty.
 * 1621 – Myles Standish is appointed as first military commander of the English Plymouth Colony in North America.
 * 1674 – An earthquake strikes the Indonesian island of Ambon. It triggers a 100 m megatsunami which drowns over 2,300 people.
 * 1676 – Sixteen men of Pascual de Iriate's expedition are lost at Evangelistas Islets at the western end of the Strait of Magellan.
 * 1739 – The Battle of Vasai commences as the Marathas move to invade Portuguese-occupied territory.
 * 1753 – In Sweden February 17 is followed by March 1 as the country moves from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
 * 1801 – United States presidential election: A tie in the Electoral College between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.
 * 1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: The Battle of Mormant.
 * 1819 – The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise for the first time.
 * 1838 – Weenen massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus.
 * 1854 – The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.
 * 1859 – Cochinchina Campaign: The French Navy captures the Citadel of Saigon, a fortress manned by 1,000 Nguyễn dynasty soldiers, en route to conquering Saigon and other regions of southern Viet Nam.
 * 1863 – A group of citizens of Geneva found an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross.
 * 1864 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic (1861).
 * 1865 – American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.

1901–present

 * 1905 – Russian Revolution of 1905: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia is assassinated in the Moscow Kremlin by Socialist Revolutionary Ivan Kalyayev.
 * 1913 – The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.
 * 1919 – The Ukrainian People's Republic asks the Entente and the United States for help fighting the Bolsheviks.
 * 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok begins. The battle ends in an American victory on February 22.
 * 1944  – World War II: Operation Hailstone begins: U.S. naval air, surface, and submarine attack against Truk Lagoon, Japan's main base in the central Pacific, in support of the Eniwetok invasion.
 * 1948 – The Alwaziri coup briefly ousts the ruling Hamidaddin dynasty of Yemen; Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din is killed.
 * 1949 – Chaim Weizmann begins his term as the first President of Israel.
 * 1959 – Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2: The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
 * 1959  – A Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount crashes near Gatwick Airport, killing 14; Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes survives the crash.
 * 1964 – In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
 * 1964  – Gabonese president Léon M'ba is toppled by a coup and his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place.
 * 1965 – Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the crewed Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the "Sea of Tranquility" would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
 * 1969 – American aquanaut Berry L. Cannon dies of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair a leak in the SEALAB III underwater habitat. The SEALAB project was subsequently abandoned.
 * 1970 – Jeffrey R. MacDonald, United States Army captain, is charged with murder of his pregnant wife and two daughters.
 * 1972 – Cumulative sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model T.
 * 1974 – Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a stolen helicopter.
 * 1978 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30 others, all Protestants.
 * 1979 – The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
 * 1980 – First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.
 * 1991 – Ryan International Airlines Flight 590 crashes during takeoff from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, killing both pilots, the aircraft's only occupants.
 * 1992 – First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian troops massacre more than 20 Azerbaijani civilians during the Capture of Garadaghly.
 * 1995 – The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a ceasefire brokered by the UN.
 * 1996 – In Philadelphia, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.
 * 1996  – NASA's Discovery Program begins as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lifts off on the first mission ever to orbit and land on an asteroid, 433 Eros.
 * 1996  – The 8.2  Biak earthquake shakes the Papua province of eastern Indonesia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A large tsunami followed, leaving one-hundred sixty-six people dead or missing and 423 injured.
 * 2006 – A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.
 * 2008 – Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.
 * 2011 – Arab Spring: Libyan protests against Muammar Gaddafi's regime begin.
 * 2011  – Arab Spring: In Bahrain, security forces launch a deadly pre-dawn raid on protesters in Pearl Roundabout in Manama; the day is locally known as Bloody Thursday.
 * 2015 – Eighteen people are killed and 78 injured in a stampede at a Mardi Gras parade in Haiti.
 * 2016 – Military vehicles explode outside a Turkish Armed Forces barracks in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 29 people and injuring 61 others.

Pre-1600

 * 624 – Wu Zetian, Chinese empress consort (d. 705)
 * 1028 – Al-Juwayni, Persian scholar and imam (d. 1085)
 * 1490 – Charles III, duke of Bourbon (d. 1527)
 * 1519 – Francis, French Grand Chamberlain (d. 1563)
 * 1524 – Charles de Lorraine, French cardinal (d. 1574)

1601–1900

 * 1646 – Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (d. 1714)
 * 1653 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1713)
 * 1723 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer and academic (d. 1762)
 * 1740 – Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, Swiss physicist and meteorologist (d. 1799)
 * 1752 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German author and playwright (d. 1831)
 * 1754 – Nicolas Baudin, French cartographer and explorer (d. 1803)
 * 1758 – John Pinkerton, Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist and historian (d. 1826)
 * 1762 – John Cooke, English captain (d. 1805)
 * 1781 – René Laennec, French physician, invented the stethoscope (d. 1826)
 * 1796 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician and botanist (d. 1866)
 * 1799 – Carl Julian (von) Graba, German lawyer and ornithologist who visited and studied the Faroe Islands (d. 1874)
 * 1817 – Édouard Thilges, Luxembourgian jurist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1904)
 * 1820 – Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian violinist and composer (d. 1881)
 * 1821 – Lola Montez, Irish-American actress and dancer (d. 1861)
 * 1832 – Richard Henry Park, American sculptor (d. 1902)
 * 1836 – Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1870)
 * 1843 – Aaron Montgomery Ward, American businessman, founded Montgomery Ward (d. 1913)
 * 1848 – Louisa Lawson, Australian poet and publisher (d. 1920)
 * 1849 – Joseph Favre, Swiss chef (d. 1903)
 * 1854 – Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German businessman (d. 1902)
 * 1861 – Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, duchess of Albany (d. 1922)
 * 1862 – Mori Ōgai, Japanese general, author, and poet (d. 1922)
 * 1864 – Jozef Murgaš, Slovak priest, botanist, and painter (d. 1929)
 * 1864  – Banjo Paterson, Australian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1941)
 * 1874 – Thomas J. Watson, American businessman (d. 1956)
 * 1877 – Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and author (d. 1904)
 * 1877  – André Maginot, French sergeant and politician (d. 1932)
 * 1879 – Dorothy Canfield Fisher, American educational reformer, social activist and author (d. 1958)
 * 1881 – Mary Carson Breckinridge, American nurse midwife, founded Frontier Nursing Service (d. 1965)
 * 1887 – Joseph Bech, Luxembourgian lawyer and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1975)
 * 1887  – Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer and critic (d. 1947)
 * 1888 – Ronald Knox, English Catholic priest (d. 1957)
 * 1888  – Otto Stern, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
 * 1890 – Ronald Fisher, English-Australian statistician, biologist, and geneticist (d. 1962)
 * 1891 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician and academic (d. 1965)
 * 1893 – Wally Pipp, American baseball player and journalist (d. 1965)
 * 1899 – Jibanananda Das, Bangladeshi-Indian poet and author (d. 1954)
 * 1900 – Ruth Clifford, American actress (d. 1998)

1901–present

 * 1903 – Sadegh Hedayat, Iranian-French author and translator (d. 1951)
 * 1904 – Hans Morgenthau, German-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1980)
 * 1905 – Rózsa Péter, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1977)
 * 1906 – Mary Brian, American actress (d. 2002)
 * 1908 – Bo Yibo, Chinese general and politician, Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (d. 2007)
 * 1910 – Marc Lawrence, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
 * 1911 – Oskar Seidlin, German-American author, poet, and scholar (d. 1984)
 * 1912 – Andre Norton, American author (d. 2005)
 * 1914 – Arthur Kennedy, American actor (d. 1990)
 * 1916 – Alexander Obolensky, Russian rugby player and pilot (d. 1940)
 * 1916  – Don Tallon, Australian cricketer (d. 1984)
 * 1916  – Raf Vallone, Italian footballer and actor (d. 2002)
 * 1918 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (d. 1999)
 * 1918  – Jacqueline Ferrand, French mathematician (d. 2014)
 * 1919 – J. M. S. Careless, Canadian historian and academic (d. 2009)
 * 1919  – Kathleen Freeman, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
 * 1919  – Joe Hunt, American tennis player (d. 1945)
 * 1920 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian director and screenwriter (d. 2001)
 * 1920  – Annie Glenn, American disability and communication disorder advocate (d. 2020)
 * 1920  – Curt Swan, American illustrator (d. 1996)
 * 1921 – Duane Gish, American biochemist and academic (d. 2013)
 * 1922 – Tommy Edwards, American R&B singer-songwriter (d. 1969)
 * 1923 – Buddy DeFranco, American clarinet player and bandleader (d. 2014)
 * 1924 – Margaret Truman, American singer and author (d. 2008)
 * 1925 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (d. 2003)
 * 1925  – Hal Holbrook, American actor and director (d. 2021)
 * 1928 – Marta Romero, Puerto Rican actress and singer (d. 2013)
 * 1928  – Michiaki Takahashi, Japanese virologist (d. 2013)
 * 1929 – Alejandro Jodorowsky, Chilean-French director and screenwriter
 * 1929  – Chaim Potok, American rabbi and author (d. 2002)
 * 1929  – Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, English lieutenant and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (d. 1993)
 * 1929  – Patricia Routledge, English actress and singer
 * 1930 – Roger Craig, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2023)
 * 1930  – Benjamin Fain, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (d. 2013)
 * 1930  – Ruth Rendell, English author (d. 2015)
 * 1931 – Jiřina Jirásková, Czech actress and singer (d. 2013)
 * 1931  – Buddy Ryan, American football coach (d. 2016)
 * 1933 – Craig L. Thomas, American captain and politician (d. 2007)
 * 1934 – Alan Bates, English actor (d. 2003)
 * 1934  – Barry Humphries, Australian comedian, actor, and author (d. 2023)
 * 1935 – Christina Pickles, English-American actress
 * 1936 – Jim Brown, American football player and actor (d. 2023)
 * 1937 – Mary Ann Mobley, American model and actress, Miss America 1959 (d. 2014)
 * 1940 – Vicente Fernández, Mexican singer-songwriter, actor, and producer (d. 2021)
 * 1940  – Gene Pitney, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
 * 1941 – Julia McKenzie, English actress, singer, and director
 * 1942 – Huey P. Newton, American activist, co-founded the Black Panther Party (d. 1989)
 * 1944 – Karl Jenkins, Welsh saxophonist, keyboard player, and composer
 * 1945 – Zina Bethune, American actress, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2012)
 * 1945  – Brenda Fricker, Irish actress
 * 1946 – Shahrnush Parsipur, Iranian-American author and academic
 * 1948 – José José, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2019)
 * 1949 – Fred Frith, English guitarist and songwriter
 * 1949  – Dennis Green, American football player and coach (d. 2016)
 * 1951 – Rashid Minhas, Pakistani soldier and pilot (d. 1971)
 * 1952 – Karin Büttner-Janz, German gymnast and physician
 * 1952  – Vladimír Padrůněk, Czech musician (d. 1991)
 * 1953 – Becky Ann Baker, American actress
 * 1954 – Lou Ann Barton, American singer-songwriter
 * 1954  – Miki Berkovich, Israeli basketball player
 * 1954  – Rene Russo, American actress
 * 1955 – Mo Yan, Chinese author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1956 – Richard Karn, American actor and game show host
 * 1957 – Loreena McKennitt, Canadian singer-songwriter, accordion player, and pianist
 * 1959 – Aryeh Deri, Moroccan-Israeli rabbi and politician, Israeli Minister of Internal Affairs
 * 1959  – Rowdy Gaines, American swimmer and sportscaster
 * 1960 – Lindy Ruff, Canadian hockey player and coach
 * 1961 – Angela Eagle, English politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
 * 1961  – Maria Eagle, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
 * 1961  – Andrey Korotayev, Russian anthropologist, historian, and sociologist
 * 1962 – Lou Diamond Phillips, American actor and director
 * 1963 – Larry the Cable Guy, American comedian and voice actor
 * 1963  – Alison Hargreaves, English mountaineer (d. 1995)
 * 1963  – Jen-Hsun Huang, Taiwanese-American businessman, co-founded Nvidia
 * 1963  – Michael Jordan, American basketball player, executive, and businessman
 * 1964 – Sherry Hawco, Canadian gymnast (d. 1991)
 * 1965 – Michael Bay, American director and producer
 * 1966 – Luc Robitaille, Canadian ice hockey player, manager, and actor
 * 1968 – Giuseppe Signori, Italian footballer
 * 1968  – Wu'erkaixi, Chinese journalist and activist
 * 1969 – David Douillet, French martial artist and politician
 * 1969  – Vasily Kudinov, Russian handball player (d. 2017)
 * 1970 – Dominic Purcell, English-Australian actor and producer
 * 1971 – Denise Richards, American model and actress
 * 1972 – Billie Joe Armstrong, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and producer
 * 1972  – Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater
 * 1972  – Taylor Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2022)
 * 1972  – Valeria Mazza, Argentine model and businesswoman
 * 1973 – Drew Barry, American basketball player
 * 1973  – Goran Bunjevčević, Serbian footballer (d. 2018)
 * 1973  – Raphaël Ibañez, French rugby player
 * 1974 – Kaoru, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer
 * 1974  – Jerry O'Connell, American actor, director, and producer
 * 1975 – Kaspars Astašenko, Latvian ice hockey player (d. 2012)
 * 1975  – Václav Prospal, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1976 – Kelly Carlson, American actress and model
 * 1978 – Rory Kinnear, English actor and playwright
 * 1979 – Conrad Ricamora, American actor
 * 1979  – Josh Willingham, American baseball player
 * 1980 – Al Harrington, American basketball player
 * 1980  – Jason Ritter, American actor
 * 1980  – Klemi Saban, Israeli footballer
 * 1981 – Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor, director, and producer
 * 1981  – Paris Hilton, American model, media personality, actress, singer, DJ, author and businesswoman
 * 1981  – Pontus Segerström, Swedish footballer (d. 2014)
 * 1982 – Adriano, Brazilian footballer
 * 1982  – Brian Bruney, American baseball player
 * 1984 – AB de Villiers, South African cricketer
 * 1984  – Marcin Gortat, Polish basketball player
 * 1984  – Katie Hill, Australian 3.0 point wheelchair basketball player
 * 1985 – Anders Jacobsen, Norwegian ski jumper
 * 1986 – Brett Kern, American football player
 * 1987 – Ísis Valverde, Brazilian actress
 * 1988 – Michael Frolík, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1988  – Case Keenum, American football player
 * 1988  – Vasyl Lomachenko, Ukrainian boxer
 * 1989 – Rebecca Adlington, English swimmer
 * 1989  – Chord Overstreet, American actor and singer
 * 1990 – Marianne St-Gelais, Canadian speed skater
 * 1990  – Edin Višća, Bosnian footballer
 * 1991 – Phil Pressey, American basketball player and coach
 * 1991  – Ed Sheeran, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1991  – Jeremy Allen White, American actor
 * 1991  – Bonnie Wright, English actress, filmmaker, and activist
 * 1992 – Meaghan Martin, American actress and singer
 * 1993 – Marc Márquez, Spanish motorcycle racer
 * 1995 – Madison Keys, American tennis player
 * 1996 – Sebastian Aho, Swedish ice hockey player
 * 1996  – Sasha Pieterse, South African-American actress and singer-songwriter
 * 1998 – Devin White, American football player

Pre-1600

 * 364 – Jovian, Roman emperor (b. 331)
 * 440 – Mesrop Mashtots, Armenian monk, linguist, and theologian (b. 360)
 * 923 – Al-Tabari, Persian scholar (b. 839)
 * 1178 – Evermode of Ratzeburg, bishop of Ratzeburg
 * 1220 – Theobald I, Duke of Lorraine
 * 1339 – Otto, Duke of Austria (b. 1301)
 * 1371 – Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria
 * 1500 – Adolph, Count of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst, German noble (b. before 1463)
 * 1600 – Giordano Bruno, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (b. 1548)

1601–1900

 * 1609 – Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1549)
 * 1624 – Juan de Mariana, Spanish priest and historian (b. 1536)
 * 1659 – Abel Servien, French politician, French Minister of Finance (b. 1593)
 * 1673 – Molière, French actor and playwright (b. 1622)
 * 1680 – Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, English politician (b. 1599)
 * 1680  – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist, zoologist, and entomologist (b. 1637)
 * 1715 – Antoine Galland, French orientalist and archaeologist (b. 1646)
 * 1732 – Louis Marchand, French organist and composer (b. 1669)
 * 1768 – Arthur Onslow, English lawyer and politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1691)
 * 1841 – Ferdinando Carulli, Italian guitarist and composer (b. 1770)
 * 1849 – María de las Mercedes Barbudo, Puerto Rican political activist, the first woman Independentista in the island (b. 1773)
 * 1854 – John Martin, English painter, engraver, and illustrator (b. 1789)
 * 1856 – Heinrich Heine, German journalist and poet (b. 1797)
 * 1874 – Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian astronomer, mathematician, and sociologist (b. 1796)
 * 1890 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American publisher and politician (b. 1819)

1901–present

 * 1905 – Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, fifth son and seventh child of Tsar Alexander II (b. 1857)
 * 1905  – William Bickerton, English-American religious leader, leader in the Latter Day Saint movement (b. 1815)
 * 1909 – Geronimo, American tribal leader (b. 1829)
 * 1912 – Edgar Evans, Welsh sailor and explorer (b. 1876)
 * 1919 – Wilfrid Laurier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841)
 * 1924 – Oskar Merikanto, Finnish composer (b. 1868)
 * 1934 – Albert I of Belgium (b. 1875)
 * 1934  – Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player and theoretician (b. 1862)
 * 1939 – Willy Hess, German violinist and educator (b. 1859)
 * 1946 – Dorothy Gibson, American actress and singer (b. 1889)
 * 1948 – Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, Imam of Yemen (b. 1904)
 * 1961 – Lütfi Kırdar, Turkish physician and politician, Turkish Minister of Health (b. 1887)
 * 1961  – Nita Naldi, American actress (b. 1894)
 * 1962 – Joseph Kearns, American actor (b. 1907)
 * 1962  – Bruno Walter, German-American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1876)
 * 1966 – Hans Hofmann, German-American painter (b. 1880)
 * 1969 – Berry L. Cannon, American aquanaut (b. 1935)
 * 1970 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Ukrainian-Israeli novelist, short story writer, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
 * 1970  – Alfred Newman, American composer and conductor (b. 1900)
 * 1972 – Friday Hassler, American race car driver (b. 1935)
 * 1977 – Janani Luwum, Ugandan archbishop and saint (b. 1922)
 * 1979 – William Gargan, American actor (b. 1905)
 * 1982 – Nestor Chylak, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1922)
 * 1982  – Thelonious Monk, American pianist and composer (b. 1917)
 * 1982  – Lee Strasberg, American actor and director (b. 1901)
 * 1986 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian-American philosopher and author (b. 1895)
 * 1988 – John M. Allegro, English archaeologist and scholar (b. 1923)
 * 1988  – Karpoori Thakur, Indian educator and politician, 11th Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1924)
 * 1989 – Lefty Gomez, American baseball player (b. 1908)
 * 1990 – Jean-Marc Boivin, French mountaineer, skier, and pilot (b. 1951)
 * 1994 – Randy Shilts, American journalist and author (b. 1951)
 * 1998 – Ernst Jünger, German soldier, philosopher, and author (b. 1895)
 * 2003 – Steve Bechler, American baseball player (b. 1979)
 * 2004 – José López Portillo, Mexican lawyer and politician, 51st President of Mexico (b. 1920)
 * 2005 – Dan O'Herlihy, Irish-American actor (b. 1919)
 * 2005  – Omar Sívori, Argentinian footballer and manager (b. 1935)
 * 2006 – Ray Barretto, American drummer (b. 1929)
 * 2006  – Bill Cowsill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1948)
 * 2009 – Conchita Cintrón, Chilean bullfighter and journalist (b. 1922)
 * 2010 – Kathryn Grayson, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
 * 2012 – Robert Carr, English engineer and politician, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1916)
 * 2012  – Michael Davis, American singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1943)
 * 2012  – Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn, Dutch mathematician and theorist (b. 1918)
 * 2012  – Ulric Neisser, German-American psychologist and academic (b. 1928)
 * 2013 – Richard Briers, English actor (b. 1934)
 * 2013  – Shmulik Kraus, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1935)
 * 2013  – Sophie Kurys, American baseball player (b. 1925)
 * 2013  – Mindy McCready, American singer-songwriter (b. 1975)
 * 2014 – Bob Casale, American guitarist, keyboard player, and producer (b. 1952)
 * 2014  – Peter Florin, German politician and diplomat, President of the United Nations General Assembly (b. 1921)
 * 2014  – Wayne Smith, Jamaican singer (b. 1965)
 * 2015 – John Barrow, American-Canadian football player and manager (b. 1935)
 * 2015  – Cathy Ubels-Veen, Dutch politician (b. 1928)
 * 2015  – Liu Yudi, Chinese general and pilot (b. 1923)
 * 2016 – Andy Ganteaume, Trinidadian cricketer (b. 1921)
 * 2016  – Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Egyptian journalist (b. 1923)
 * 2016  – Claude Jeancolas, French historian, author, and journalist (b. 1949)
 * 2016  – Tony Phillips, American baseball player (b. 1959)
 * 2016  – Andrzej Żuławski, Polish film director (b. 1940)
 * 2017 – Robert H. Michel, American politician (b. 1923)
 * 2017  – Michael Novak, American Roman Catholic theologian (b. 1933)
 * 2021 – Rush Limbaugh, American talk show host and author (b. 1951)
 * 2021  – Seif Sharif Hamad, Tanzanian politician (b. 1943)
 * 2024  – Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1941)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Seven Founders of the Servite Order
 * Alexis Falconieri
 * Constabilis
 * Donatus, Romulus, Secundian, and Companions
 * Fintan of Clonenagh
 * Janani Luwum (Anglican Communion)
 * Lommán of Trim
 * February 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Independence Day, celebrates the independence declaration of Kosovo in 2008, still partially recognized.
 * Revolution Day (Libya)

title: February 17


text:
The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix

The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix (Flåklypa Grand Prix) is a 1975 Norwegian stop-motion-animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino. It is based on characters from a series of books by Norwegian cartoonist and author Kjell Aukrust.

It is the most widely seen Norwegian film of all time, having sold some 5.5 million tickets since its release to a population which currently numbers just over 5 million. The film sold 28 million movie tickets in the former Soviet Union.

Plot
In the village of Flåklypa, (En. Pinchcliffe), the inventor Reodor Felgen (En. Theodore Rimspoke) lives with his animal friends Ludvig (En. Lambert) (a nervous, pessimistic and melancholic hedgehog) and Solan Gundersen (En. Sonny Duckworth) (a cheerful and optimistic magpie). Reodor works as a bicycle repairman, though he spends most of his time inventing weird Rube Goldberg-like contraptions. One day, the trio discovers that one of Reodor's former assistants, Rudolf Blodstrupmoen (En. Rudolph Gore-Slimey), has stolen his design for a race car engine and has become a world champion Formula One driver. Solan secures funding from Arab oil sheik Ben Redic Fy Fazan (En. Abdul Ben Bonanza), who happens to be vacationing in Flåklypa, and to enter the race, the trio builds a gigantic racing car: Il Tempo Gigante—a fabulous construction with two extremely big engines (weighing 2.8 tonnes alone and making the seismometer in Bergen show 7.8 Richter when started the first time), a body made out of copper, a spinning radar (that turns out to be useful when Blodstrupmoen starts engaging in smoke warfare during the race), super-retometric distributor, and its own blood bank. Reodor ends up winning despite Blodstrupmoen's attempts at sabotage.

History
In 1970, Ivo Caprino and his small team of collaborators started work on a 25-minute-long TV special, which would eventually become The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix. The TV special was a collection of sketches based on Aukrust's books, with no real storyline. After 1.5 years of work, it was decided that it didn't really work as a whole, so production on the TV special was stopped (with the exception of some very short clips, no material from it has ever been seen by the public). About one year after the rejection, Ivo Caprino's son, Remo Caprino, got the idea to make the sketches into a full-length film. Kjell Aukrust, Ivo Caprino, Kjell Syversen, and Remo Caprino began at that point to write the script for what would later become The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix.

The film is heavily inspired by the birthplace of Kjell Aukrust's father, Lom. The Flåklypa-mountain is a stylized version of a real mountain, where the valley underneath it is named Flåklypa. It is also widely believed that the characters are caricatures of real persons.

The film was made in 3.5 years by a team of approximately five people. Caprino directed and animated. Bjarne Sandemose (Caprino's principal collaborator throughout his career) built most of the props, sets, and cars and was in charge of the technical aspects of making the film. Ingeborg Riiser designed the puppets and Gerd Alfsen made the costumes and props. Charley Patey was the cameraman.

When it came out in 1975, The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix was an enormous success in Norway, selling 1 million tickets in its first year of release. It remains the biggest box office hit of all time in Norway (Caprino Studios claim it has sold 5.5 million tickets to date) and was also released in many other countries. The film held the record for the highest grossing stop motion animated film until it was surpassed in 1993 by The Nightmare Before Christmas. The film was shown in cinemas every day of the week for 28 years, from 1975 until 2003—mainly in Norway, Moscow and Tokyo. A real Il tempo gigante car was used to promote the film, e.g. driving around the Hockenheimring between races. The car originally had a 250 hp Cadillac engine but when Niki Lauda saw it he provided them with a 7.6 L, 550 hp, big-block Chevrolet. The car also has an auxiliary jet-engine, but due to EU restrictions the vehicle is barely permitted to be used at all save for exclusive TV cameos.

The UK release featured the voice of well-known Formula One commentator Murray Walker. There is also a US dubbed version.

The film was first released on DVD in 2001. In 2005, a digitally restored 30th-anniversary DVD was released which featured soundtracks and subtitles in five languages including English.

The film aired every Christmas Eve in Norway for several years, until a change of channel from NRK to TV 2 changed the airing date to 23 or 25 December. In 2009 it showed on the 25th.

It was released on 8 May 1980 in Australian theaters by Filmways Australia and released in US and Canada in 1981.

Subsequent films based on Aukrust's Flåklypa universe

 * Gurin with the Foxtail (1998)
 * Solan og Ludvig - Jul i Flåklypa (2013)
 * Solan og Ludvig: Herfra til Flåklypa (2015)
 * Månelyst i Flåklypa (2018)

Other works inspired
In 2000, a computer game based on the film was released. The game was created by Tyr Neilsen who was Creative Director and in charge of production at Ingames Interactive until a debilitating accident ended his video game career. The project was taken over and completed by Caprino's son Remo, while his grandson Mario was lead programmer. The lead designer was Joe Dever. The game was ported to Nintendo DS in 2010 and sold over 380,000 copies in Norway.

The film inspired a young Christian von Koenigsegg to create the Koenigsegg CC, the first of the Koenigsegg line of supercars.

Norwegian hip-hop duo Multicyde based their 1999 single "Not for the Dough" on a sample from the film's soundtrack and featured excerpts from the film in the song's music video.

title: The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix