April 17, 1996: Sharjah Science Museum opens

Sharjah Science Museum opens

1996 - His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, opened the Sharjah Science Museum and Learning Centre, hoping it will encourage youths to pursue a career in science and technology. “We hope this museum will turn out to be an important learning centre, which spreads awareness, especially among children and youth. The museum will provide numerous interesting and educational games for students to learn from and enjoy. Those talented and creative students who grow truly interested can go on to join the Learning Centre attached to the museum,” Dr. Shaikh Sultan said following the inauguration ceremony. The Ruler said only the first phase of the project has been implemented.

April 17

1888 - The English Football League is founded at the Royal Hotel, Manchester.

1895 - China opens seven new ports and cedes Formosa (Taiwan), Port Arthur and the Liao Tung Peninsula to Japan.

1941 - Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany during the Second World War.

1946 - Last French troops leave Syria, which becomes independent.

1961 - Cuba is invaded at the Bay of Pigs by a US-supported invasion force.

1969 - Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek is deposed.

1971 - Egypt, Syria and Libya sign agreement to form federation.

1975 - Phnom Penh falls to communist insurgents, ending Cambodia’s five-year war.

1983 - India enters space age by launching SLV-3 rocket.

1989 - A Warsaw court lifts a seven-year ban on Solidarity.

1992 - Russian lawmakers refuse to approve arms control pact, setting up another confrontation with President Boris Yeltsin.

1993 - President Turgut Ozal of Turkey dies of heart problems.

1994 - Serb tanks enter Gorazde, Bosnia, after UN officials announce an agreement to end the siege of the Muslim enclave.

1999 - Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigns after a vote of no confidence in parliament.

2004 - Abdul Aziz Rantisi, Palestinian political leader, co-founder of Hamas, is assassinated by Israel military.

2009 - The International Cricket Council announces that Pakistan is stripped of its hosting rights because of the “uncertainty surrounding Pakistan”.

2012 - Space shuttle Discovery makes final flight to Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Virginia.