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Today's featured article Illustration of two of the robbers emptying safes on the train The Great Gold Robbery took place on the night of 15 May 1855, when a shipment of gold to Paris was stolen from the guard's van of the rail service between London and Folkestone. There were four robbers: two employees of the rail company, a former employee and Edward Agar, a career criminal. They took wax impressions of the keys to the train safes and made copies. One of them ensured he was on guard duty when a shipment was taking place, and Agar hid in the guard's van. They emptied the safes of 224 pounds (102 kg) of gold, valued at £12,000 (approximately equivalent to £1,193,000 in 2021); the theft was only discovered in Paris. When Agar was arrested for another crime, his former girlfriend, in need of funds, revealed the details of the theft. Agar admitted his guilt and testified as a witness. The other three were arrested, tried and found guilty of the theft. In 1978 a highly fictionalised version of events was turned into a film, The First Great Train Robbery, featuring Sean Connery. (Full article...) Recently featured: James G. Blaine SS Kroonland Edward VII  Today's featured media 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 Recently featured: Lucia Chamberlain – Acorn – Sea urchin Archive – More featured media...  Did you know 2nd-century BC fortified gate at Horvat 'Eqed ... that excavations at Horvat 'Eqed (pictured) uncovered coinage and hiding complexes dating from the Bar Kokhba revolt, as well as arrowheads, armor scales, slingshots, and ballistae? ... that Spider began making alternative music because she felt that not enough Black women were doing so? ... that the trowel and gavel used at the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Southern Railway Building were previously used by George Washington for the U.S. Capitol? ... that Gherardo Gambelli, the incoming archbishop of Florence, served as a prison chaplain in Chad for over a decade? ... that the Centurion C-RAM can fire 4500 rounds per minute? ... that Indonesian politician Rahmad Mas'ud received his master's degree simultaneously with four of his siblings? ... that all Atlantic hurricane activity in 1993 ceased two full months before the season officially ended? ... that Chuck Eisenmann went from professionally pitching in baseball to owning and training the dogs that starred on the Canadian television series The Littlest Hobo? ... that Richard Garwin proposed using a bed of nails to protect the Minuteman missile silos from attack?

In the news Ebrahim Raisi 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. Ongoing: Israel–Hamas war timeline Russian invasion of Ukraine timeline War in Sudan timeline Recent deaths: John Koerner Pat Buckley Katherine Porter Dabney Coleman Darren Dutchyshen Diane Deans  This day in history May 21: World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development Richard Loeb (left) and Nathan Leopold (right) 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) More anniversaries: May 20 May 21 May 22

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