Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 February 13

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From today's featured article

Marvel Science Stories was a U.S. pulp magazine with fifteen issues in two separate runs, both edited by Robert O. Erisman and published by Abraham and Martin Goodman. The first issue, dated August 1938, carried stories with more sexual content than was usual for the genre, including several stories by Henry Kuttner. Reader reaction was generally negative; one referred to Kuttner's story "The Time Trap" as "trash". The magazine was cancelled after the April 1941 issue, but when a boom in science fiction magazines began in 1950, the publishers revived it. The first issue of the new series was dated November 1950; a further six issues appeared, with the last dated May 1952. Contributors to the first run included Arthur J. Burks and Jack Williamson; the second run published stories by better-known writers, including Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Jack Vance and L. Sprague de Camp. The second incarnation of the magazine did not succeed in the more competitive market of the 1950s; even the writers who sold to Marvel Tales were publishing their best work elsewhere. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Drawing of a flea by Robert Hooke

... that the flea (pictured) was illustrated by Robert Hooke in 1665 in his pioneering book Micrographia?
... that Qard al-Hasan is considered a "beautiful loan" in Islam, because the borrower is Allah and not the person who receives the loan?
... that John Clive Ward has been called "the father of the British H-bomb"?
... that spoon-leaved ragwort is sometimes eaten by sheep despite being toxic to many grazing mammals?
... that Magong's Mazu Temple claims to be the oldest temple in Taiwan?
... that India annually celebrates Navy Day on 4 December to mark the victory of Operation Trident?
... that playwright and journalist Refik Erduran's fourth marriage, to his third wife's daughter from an earlier marriage, was annulled after six years by court decision for being immoral?

In the news

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (pictured) is elected President of Somalia.
In association football, the Africa Cup of Nations concludes with Cameroon defeating Egypt in the final.
Protests in Romania grow over the Romanian government's proposals to decriminalize certain corruption cases.
In American football, the New England Patriots defeat the Atlanta Falcons to win Super Bowl LI, the first to go into overtime.
The United Nations releases a report stating that the Myanmar Army has committed serious human rights violations against the Rohingya people.

On this day...

February 13

The covering of the Senne

1689 – Glorious Revolution: Mary Stuart and her husband William III of Orange were proclaimed co-rulers of England and Ireland.
1867 – Work began on the covering of the Senne (pictured), burying the polluted main waterway in Brussels to allow urban renewal in the centre of the city.
1913 – Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama, declared the independence of Tibet from Qing China.
1960 – African American college students staged the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee, part of a nonviolent direct action campaign to end racial segregation.
2012 – The first Vega rocket was launched by the European Space Agency.

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From today's featured list

Jeff Beck

The Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for quality instrumental rock performances. The honor was first presented to Paul McCartney and Wings at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards (1980) for the song "Rockestra Theme". The award was discontinued before the 2012 awards due to a major overhaul of Grammy categories by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; instrumental rock performances became eligible for either the newly formed Best Rock Performance or Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance categories. Jeff Beck (pictured) holds the records for the most wins, with six. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Clanculus corallinus is a species of sea snail in the family Trochidae. First described in 1791, this species has a umbilicate shell that is globose-conic in shape. Though often coral-red or brown, it may show considerable variation in color.

Photograph: H. Zell

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