Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 July 21

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Today's featured article
Californium is the radioactive metallic chemical element with atomic number 98. It was first produced in 1950 by bombarding curium with alpha particles at the University of California, Berkeley. The element was named for California and the University of California. Two crystalline forms exist for californium under normal pressure, and a third exists at high pressure. Compounds of californium are dominated by a chemical form of the element, designated californium(III), that can participate in three chemical bonds. The most stable of californium's twenty known isotopes is californium-251, which has a half-life of 898 years; this short half-life means the element is not found in the Earth's crust. Californium-252, whose half-life is 2.645 years, is the most common isotope used. Californium can be used to help start up nuclear reactors, and is employed as a source of neutrons when studying materials with neutron diffraction and neutron spectroscopy. It can also be used in nuclear synthesis of higher mass elements; ununoctium was synthesized by bombarding californium-249 atoms with calcium-48 ions. Use of californium must take into account radiological concerns and the element's ability to disrupt the formation of red blood cells by bio-accumulating in skeletal tissue. (more...) Recently featured: Painted turtle – 1949 Ambato earthquake – James Boyd Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the design of Robertsbridge United Reformed Church (pictured) in England has been described as "truly horrible" and "most dissolute"? ... that Vice Admiral Sir John Inglis was the head of British Naval Intelligence and attempted to cover up the "Buster Crabb affair" in 1956? ... that although elk had disappeared from the Table Mountain Wilderness, they were reintroduced in 1979 and are now one of the largest herds in Nevada? ... that Keren Leibovitch, Israeli four-time gold medal winning Paralympic swimmer, is paralyzed from the waist down because of an injury she incurred during her service with the Israeli Defense Forces? ... that the International Broadcasting Bureau Greenville Transmitting Stations located in Greenville, North Carolina, were the most powerful international broadcaster in the world? ... that Louisiana State Representative John E. Guinn, a father of ten children, earns his livelihood as an auctioneer? ... that the Kauai remya is threatened by the banana poka? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Yao Ming Goran Hadžić, the last of 161 people indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, is arrested in Serbia. The United Nations declares a famine in southern Somalia. Chinese basketball player Yao Ming (pictured) retires from the National Basketball Association. Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland wins The Open Championship at Royal St George's Golf Club. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the last in the Harry Potter film series, debuts with a record-breaking opening weekend. The FIFA Women's World Cup concludes with Japan defeating the United States to become the first Asian team to win the tournament. News Int'l phone-hacking scandal – Arab Spring Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
July 21: National Day in Belgium (1831); Centennial of the birth of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan 365 – A large earthquake that struck near Crete and its subsequent tsunami caused widespread destruction throughout the eastern Mediterranean region. 1865 – In one of the few recorded instances of a "quick draw" gun duel in the American Old West, Wild Bill Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt over a poker debt. 1954 – First Indochina War: The Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone was established at the Geneva Conference, partitioning Vietnam along the 17th parallel north into two zones: North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam under Bao Dai. 1969 – During the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (Aldrin pictured) became the first humans to walk on the Moon. 1970 – The Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed after 11 years of construction. More anniversaries: July 20 – July 21 – July 22 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now July 21, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

American author Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) in 1918, dressed in the uniform of an ambulance driver for the International Red Cross during World War I, where he was stationed on the Italian front. On July 8 he was seriously wounded by mortar fire. Despite his wounds, Hemingway carried an Italian soldier to safety, for which he received the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery. He sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs, underwent an operation at a distribution center, spent five days at a field hospital, and was transferred to the Red Cross hospital in Milan for a six-month period of recuperation.

Photo: Ermeni Studios; Restoration: Beao

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