What happened on 17 December?

8 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 2010 Arab Spring Pro-democracy uprisings sweep the Arab world; outcomes vary from democracy to civil war.
2. 1770 Born: Ludwig van Beethoven German composer whose nine symphonies bridge the Classical and Romantic eras.
3. 2010 Arab Spring begins Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire; sparks wave of protests across the Arab world.
4. 1903 Wright Brothers' first powered flight Orville Wright makes a 12-second, 36-metre flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; the first sustained, controlled, powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft.
5. 1938 Hahn and Meitner discover nuclear fission Otto Hahn detects barium after bombarding uranium with neutrons; Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch interpret the result as fission, opening the nuclear age.
6. 2010 Tunisian Revolution The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi sparks a revolution that topples Ben Ali and ignites the Arab Spring.
7. 1830 Death of Bolívar Aged 47, tubercular, stripped of office and en route to exile, the Liberator dies on a borrowed estate near the Caribbean coast — months after his Gran Colombia dissolved and weeks
8. 1538 The Pope excommunicates Henry VIII After the desecration of Becket's shrine at Canterbury, Paul III finally puts into force the excommunication drafted five years earlier, absolving Henry's subjects of loyalty and i