Wikipedia:Main Page/Yesterday
From yesterday's featured article
Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) was an English fossil collector and palaeontologist. She made discoveries of Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Channel at Lyme Regis, which changed the scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth. Her discoveries included the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton, the first two nearly complete plesiosaur skeletons, and the first pterosaur skeleton outside Germany. Her observations helped prove that coprolites were fossilised faeces and that belemnite fossils contained ink sacs. As a woman, Anning could not join the Geological Society of London and struggled to receive credit for her contributions. Henry De la Beche painted Duria Antiquior based on fossils Anning had found and sold its prints for her benefit. After her death, an article about her life was published in Charles Dickens's literary magazine All the Year Round. A statue of Anning was erected in 2022, and she has been depicted in film and in manga. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that gymnast Samir Aït Saïd (pictured) performed a backflip as the French team walked in during the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony?
- ... that the New York City government sought to demolish a wall around the Isaac L. Rice Mansion for five years?
- ... that Mayling Oey-Gardiner went from being a University of Indonesia clerk to a full professor?
- ... that according to Brandy Hellville, executives at Brandy Melville have bought the clothes off of employees' backs?
- ... that a California TV station wondered whether it had the "World's Longest Pregnancy"?
- ... that it will soon be illegal for government employees to gamble in the country of Georgia?
- ... that Czech industrialist Jan Felkl founded a company in 1854 that would produce globes in 17 languages?
- ... that the Russian and Belarusian military exercise Zapad 2013 was officially described as counterterrorist, but international observers concluded that it was a preparation for a conventional war?
- ... that after criticizing the political patronage system, John Silva Meehan was hired as Librarian of Congress through "purely an act of political patronage"?
In the news (For today)
- A helicopter crash near Varzaqan, Iran, kills eight people, including President Ebrahim Raisi (pictured) and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
- In boxing, Oleksandr Usyk defeats Tyson Fury to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in twenty-four years.
- Protests over voting rights changes break out in the French territory of New Caledonia.
- Lee Hsien Loong steps down after nearly twenty years as Prime Minister of Singapore, and is succeeded by Lawrence Wong.
On the previous day
May 21: World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
- 1138 – The Crusades: The siege of Shaizar ended, and the Emir of Shaizar became a vassal of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The inconclusive Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia ended with combined Union and Confederate casualties totaling around 31,000.
- 1894 – The Manchester Ship Canal, linking Manchester in North West England to the Irish Sea, officially opened, becoming the world's largest navigation canal at the time.
- 1924 – University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb (both pictured) murdered a 14-year-old boy in a thrill killing out of a desire to commit a "perfect crime".
- 2014 – A Taiwanese man carried out a stabbing spree on a Taipei Metro train, killing four people and injuring 24 others.
- Feng Dao (d. 954)
- Tommaso Campanella (d. 1639)
- Armand Hammer (b. 1898)
- Linda Laubenstein (b. 1947)
Yesterday's featured picture
Viviparus georgianus, commonly known as the banded mystery snail, is a species of large freshwater snail in the family Viviparidae, the river snails. It is native to North America, generally found from the northeastern United States to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, and thrives in eutrophic lentic environments such as lakes, ponds and some low-flow streams. The snail has two distinct sexes and reproduces more than once in a lifetime, with females laying eggs singly in albumen-filled capsules. It feeds on diatom clusters found on silt and mud substrates, but it may also require the ingestion of some grit to be able to break down algae. This image shows five views of a 2.1 cm high (0.83 in) V. georgianus shell, originally collected in the U.S. state of Georgia and now in the collection of the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe in Germany. Photograph credit: H. Zell
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