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January 17 is Kid Inventors’ Day. It is the joy of kids to invent and Kid Inventors’ Day is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the imagination, ingenuity, and unbound curiosity of young people in all sorts of places, Days Of The Year reports.

In the year 1718, young Ben stood on the edge of the water and wished he could swim faster and stronger, the dream of many young boys. However, Ben was not like other young boys and so he invented the first pair of swim flippers. Young Ben is Benjamin Franklin, who invented swim flippers when he was only 12 years old. Benjamin Franklin is credited with the invention of several other items of great interest, but he started out as a kid inventor and gifted upon the whole scuba and snorkeling community the “swim flipper” which is now commonplace.

Kid Inventors’ Day is celebrated in honor of this noted kid inventor, though Benjamin Franklin is certainly not the only child to invent something of great note.

In 1824, the blind Louis Braille became frustrated with the “night writing” system of letters that was then available for the blind. So, at the age of 15 he took it upon himself to improve the system. His new writing/reading system was named Braille in honor of the young inventor.