TodayOn this dayDecember 17
On this day
Good news on December 17.
Positive things that happened on December 17, with 3 verified milestones. Each milestone links to the source it was checked against.
Verified milestones
Scientific firsts, civil-rights wins, conservation, medicine, kindness, and other good news. Checked against the linked source.
1903
On December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first sustained flights of a heavier-than-air machine under the pilot's control. Orville's first flight lasted 12 seconds, and Wilbur's longest flight that morning lasted 59 seconds.
For a read-aloud. Two brothers flew the first powered airplane, and the longest flight that morning lasted 59 seconds.
1908
Willard Frank Libby was born on December 17, 1908, on a farm in Grand Valley, Colorado. He later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing radiocarbon dating.
For a read-aloud. Willard Libby was born, and he later won a Nobel Prize for radiocarbon dating.
1979
On December 17, 1979, President Jimmy Carter walked from the White House to Lafayette Square for the first National Menorah lighting, a public celebration of Hanukkah.
For a read-aloud. The first national Hanukkah menorah was lit near the White House.
For the classroom
Two questions a teacher can use as a warm-up. This page is for an adult to read with a class.
- Why might a short first flight still matter years later?
- What is something hard your class could try, even if the first attempt is small?
From the archive
Stories published on December 17 will show up here. The archive is still young.
No archive story for this date yet.
When a story is published on December 17, it will be listed here with the milestones above.