What Happened On December 17 - On This Day

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  • 1398 Tamerlane captures and sacks Delhi, defeating Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud's armies by setting camels loaded with hay alight and driving them toward the Sultan's armored war elephants
  • 1531 Pope Clement VII publishes the papal bull "Cum ad nihil magis", authorizing the Inquisition in Portugal at Evora, Coimbra, and Lisbon; it is rescinded in 1535
  • 1788 Russian army led by Grigory Potemkin assaults and captures the fortress of Ochakov in modern-day Ukraine after a five-month siege during a major campaign of the Russo-Turkish War
  • Seconds into the first ever flight of the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville Wright is flying, Wilbur Wright is running alongside.

    1st Airplane Flight

    1903 At 10:35 am, Orville Wright pilots the first sustained, powered, and controlled flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; the flight lasts 12 seconds and covers 120 feet
  • 1986 Davina Thompson makes medical history by undergoing the first combined heart, lung, and liver transplant at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England
More December 17 Events
  • 1989 "The Simpsons," created by Matt Groening, premieres on Fox TV as a full animated series with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"
  • 1865 Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished Symphony", premieres in Vienna with Johann von Herbeck conducting
  • 1927 Australian cricket prodigy Don Bradman scores 118 in his first class debut for New South Wales against South Australia at Adelaide Oval

Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt vanishes in mysterious circumstances while swimming near Melbourne

December 17, 1967

  • Émile Roux

    1853 - 1933

  • Mackenzie King

    1874 - 1950

  • Willard Libby

    1908 - 1980

  • William Safire

    1929 - 2009

  • Pope Francis

    1936 - 2025

  • Muhammadu Buhari

    1942 - 2025
More Birthdays on December 17

  • Eugene Levy

    79 Years Old

  • Bill Pullman

    72 Years Old

  • Sarah Paulson

    51 Years Old

  • Milla Jovovich

    50 Years Old

  • Gerald Patterson

    1895 - 1967

  • Manny Pacquiao

    47 Years Old

First prize of 100,000 francs is offered for communication with extraterrestrials, with Martians excluded because they are considered too easy

December 17, 1900

  • 1600 Religious wedding of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici at Lyon Cathedral
  • 1915 Journalist Benito Mussolini marries Rachele Guidi in Treviglio Lombardy
  • 1918 Philippine Senator (and later 2nd President) Manuel L. Quezon (40) weds first cousin Aurora Aragon (30) in Hong Kong
  • 2007 Actor Dermot Mulroney (44) divorces actress Catherine Keener (48) due to irreconcilable differences after 17 years of marriage
More December 17 Weddings

  • Simón Bolívar

    1783 - 1830

  • William B. Cushing

    1842 - 1874

  • William Thomson

    1824 - 1907

  • Leopold II of Belgium

    1835 - 1909

  • Kim Jong-il

    1942 - 2011

  • Penny Marshall

    1943 - 2018
More December 17 Deaths
  • William and Harry on parade in their bowlers. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/AP

    Bowled Over by William and Harry

    The royal princes are the latest celebrities to favor headgear that was introduced on this day, the Bowler top hat. December 17, 1849
  • Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Weekly Quiz for December 16 - 22

    What is the world's most performed ballet? Who discovered radium in 1898? Which new currency launched in 1995?
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  • Hitler and his entourage strutting in front of the Eiffel Tower

    The Tower that Twice Defied Hitler

    December 15, 1832
  • A photo of William Terriss at the height of his popularity

    Melodrama at Theatre Leaves Actor Dead

    December 16, 1897
  • Joseph Grimaldi as Clown

    The Face that Launched a Thousand Quips...

    December 18, 1778
  • The damaged painting of the Brontë Sisters (L-R) Anne, Emily, Charlotte, by their brother Branwell, around 1834. See note below*

    Wuthering Heights Author Dies at 30

    December 19, 1848
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