Wikipedia:Main Page history/2023 December 17b
From today's featured article
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The Oppenheimer security hearing, conducted by the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1954, explored the background, actions and associations of J. Robert Oppenheimer (pictured). He had headed the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II, playing a key part in the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. Doubts about Oppenheimer's loyalty dated back to the 1930s, when he was associated with Communist Party USA members, including his wife Katherine. He was involved in disputes over the types of nuclear weapons the country required, technical disputes over the feasibility of the hydrogen bomb, and personal conflict with AEC commissioner Lewis Strauss. The panel found that he was loyal and discreet, but did not recommend that he regain his security clearance. This ended his role in government, and he became an academic exile, cut off from his former career and the world he had helped to create. The findings were seen as fair by some and as an expression of McCarthyism by others. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that during World War II, a Polish priest and a German officer could not prevent the massacre of 257 inhabitants of a Polish village (commemoration pictured)?
- ... that despite not owning a road bike the year before, Nickolas Zukowsky placed third in the 2016 Canadian National Junior Road Race Championships?
- ... that rural Afghans keep fresh grapes in mud?
- ... that the New York Post called Paige Lorenze the "female Pete Davidson"?
- ... that Crystal Dynamics was the first developer for the PlayStation outside Japan?
- ... that Walter A. Groves received a job offer from Centre College by telegram around the same time that he was forced to leave his work as a missionary in Iran due to the country being invaded?
- ... that despite being rivals since 1977, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Green Bay Packers have only played each other twice in the playoffs, with each team winning once?
- ... that Jimmy Fallon and Meghan Trainor wrote their song "Wrap Me Up" over FaceTime, during which she described being "so nervous [her] heart was in [her] ass"?
In the news
- Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah becomes Emir of Kuwait after the death of his half-brother, Nawaf.
- The COP28 climate change summit (location pictured) ends with a call to transition away from the use of fossil fuels.
- Donald Tusk becomes Prime Minister of Poland in the aftermath of the October parliamentary election.
- Baldur's Gate 3 wins game of the year at The Game Awards.
- At least 17 people are killed as Cyclone Michaung makes landfall in India.
On this day
December 17: Wright Brothers Day in the United States (1903); International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
- 942 – William Longsword of Normandy was ambushed and assassinated by supporters of Arnulf I, Count of Flanders, while the two were at a peace conference to settle their differences.
- 1948 – The Finnish Security Police was established to remove communist leadership from its predecessor, the State Police.
- 1967 – Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming near Portsea, Victoria; his body was never recovered.
- 1970 – Polish soldiers fired at workers (memorial pictured) emerging from trains in Gdynia, beginning the government's crackdown on mass anti-communist protests across the country.
- 2010 – Arab Spring: Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire in protest against police harassment, triggering the Tunisian Revolution.
- Rumi (d. 1273)
- Émile Roux (b. 1853)
- Willard Libby (b. 1908)
- Alicia Boole Stott (d. 1940)
Today's featured picture
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The Wright Flyer, also known as the Kitty Hawk, made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft – an airplane – on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown by the Wright brothers, it marked the beginning of the pioneer era of aviation. The Wright Flyer is a single-place biplane design with anhedral (drooping) wings, front double elevator and rear double rudder. It used a 12-horsepower (9-kilowatt) gasoline engine powering two pusher propellers. Employing "wing warping", it was relatively unstable and very difficult to fly. The Wright brothers flew it four times in a location south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The airplane flew 852 feet (260 m) on its fourth and final flight, but was damaged on landing, and minutes later was wrecked when powerful gusts blew it over. The aircraft never flew again but was shipped home and subsequently restored by Orville Wright. It was housed in the Science Museum in London from 1928 to 1948, and is now exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. This photograph, taken by John T. Daniels, a local member of the United States Life-Saving Service, shows the Wright Flyer seconds into its first flight in 1903. Photograph credit: John T. Daniels; restored by Lise Broer
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