December 17 Through History

Explanation: This first powered flight aboard the Wright Flyer took place at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The longest flight of the day lasted 59 seconds and covered 260 metres. This feat marked the beginning of modern aviation.

Explanation: Mohamed Bouazizi was a young street vendor from Sidi Bouzid who set himself on fire to protest against the humiliations he suffered at the hands of the authorities. His act of despair triggered a wave of uprisings across the Arab world, known as the Arab Spring.

Explanation: Rasputin, an influential figure at the court of Tsar Nicholas II, was assassinated at the Yusupov Palace in Saint Petersburg. According to accounts from the time, he supposedly survived poison and bullets before finally being drowned in the Neva. The accuracy of these accounts is now disputed by historians.

Explanation: Nuclear fission, discovered by Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann, is considered the birth of nuclear energy. Physicist Lise Meitner, a collaborator of Hahn, had been forced to flee Nazi Germany a few months earlier but contributed to the theoretical interpretation of this discovery.

Explanation: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, born in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrant parents, was elected pope on March 13, 2013, succeeding Benedict XVI. He is the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first to take the name Francis, in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Explanation: Gran Colombia brought together the present-day territories of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. This state was dissolved in 1831 due to internal tensions and Bolívar's resignation; he died that same year. Bolívar had hoped to unify all of South America.

Explanation: The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening, became the longest-running animated series in American television history. The Simpson family was first introduced as short sketches on The Tracey Ullman Show starting in 1987 before getting its own show.

Explanation: France adopted the Gregorian calendar in December 1582, by decision of Pope Gregory XIII. To make up for the days of lag accumulated with the Julian calendar, several days were removed. Other countries adopted this calendar later: Great Britain and its colonies only did so in 1752.

Explanation: Émilie du Châtelet was one of the great scientific figures of the XVIIIe century. She translated Newton's Principia Mathematica into French, a translation still used today. She was also Voltaire's companion and died in 1749 after giving birth to her 4th child.

Explanation: Leopold II reigned over Belgium from 1865 to 1909 and himself died on a 17 December, 44 years after his accession. He is best known, and infamous, for his brutal colonial regime in the Congo, a territory he personally owned under the name of the Congo Free State, where millions of people perished.