January 18 » An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.
March 1 » Henri Becquerel discovers radioactive decay.
March 2 » The Battle of Adwa: The Italian Army defeated by the Ethiopian Army in Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia.
August 27 » Anglo-Zanzibar War: The shortest war in world history (09:02 to 09:40), between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
September 22 » Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.
December 17 » Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, is destroyed in a fire.
Day of death February 17, 1953
The temperature on February 17, 1953 was between -2.8 °C and 5.1 °C and averaged 1.9 °C. There was 1.3 mm of rain during 6.4 hours. The almost completely overcast was. The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the southwest. Source: KNMI
January 19 » Almost 72 percent of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
February 11 » The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.
July 17 » The largest number of United States midshipman casualties in a single event results from an aircraft crash in Florida, killing 44.
August 17 » Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous takes place, in Southern California.
September 21 » Lieutenant No Kum-sok, a North Korean pilot, defects to South Korea with his jet fighter.
November 21 » The Natural History Museum, London announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull, initially believed to be one of the most important fossilized hominid skulls ever found, is a hoax.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I5947.php : accessed January 21, 2026), "Andries Rufus Dreyer (1896-1953)".
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