Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 April 3

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From today's featured article

Banksia sphaerocarpa, the fox banksia, is a shrub (occasionally a tree) in the family Proteaceae. Generally 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) high, this banksia has narrow green leaves and, from January to July, brownish, orange or yellow round flower spikes. The species is widely distributed across the southwest of Western Australia, growing exclusively in sandy soils. A dominant plant in scrubland or low woodland, it is pollinated by, and is a food source for, birds, mammals, and insects. First described in 1810 by botanist Robert Brown, the species has a complicated taxonomic history, and several taxa once classified as part of a broadly defined B. sphaerocarpa have since been named as species in their own right. Most authorities recognise five varieties; the largest, B. sphaerocarpa var. dolichostyla (ironcap banksia), is sometimes given species rank as B. dolichostyla. According to the Wildlife Conservation Act of Western Australia, B. sphaerocarpa is not threatened. None of the varieties is commonly seen in cultivation. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Archduke Charles, by Georg Decker

... that Franz Joseph I of Austria gave a portrait (pictured) by Georg Decker to his ten-year-old son?
... that the first issue of the comic book Sideways featured a vertical gatefold cover?
... that in 1938, Emanuel Moravec called for Czechoslovakia to declare war against Germany?
... that even a "benign" blood clot in a superficial vein can lead to serious complications?
... that Jordan Poole made a game-winning buzzer beater three point shot in the 2018 NCAA Basketball Tournament that was nearly identical to his 2017 Dick's National High School Championship game shot?
... that in 1969, the Military Engineering Experimental Establishment became the first British research establishment to be granted freedom of a borough?
... that Tooth and Tail's art style was described as a modernized version of 1990s pixel art?
... that the Hellenized Syrian satirist Lucian wrote the novel A True Story, sometimes regarded as the first work of science fiction, in the second century AD?

In the news

Model of Tiangong-1

China's first space station, Tiangong-1 (model pictured), re-enters the atmosphere and crashes into the South Pacific Ocean.
Clashes along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip leave 17 Palestinian protesters dead and over 1,400 others injured.
Cricket Australia bans Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft from international and Australian domestic cricket for nine to twelve months over a ball-tampering scandal.
A fire at a police station in Valencia, Venezuela, kills at least 68 people.

On this day...

April 3

Penny of Edward the Confessor

1043 – Edward the Confessor (pictured on coin) was crowned King of England, the last king of the House of Wessex.
1559 – Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain signed a treaty to end the Italian War of 1551–1559.
1922 – Joseph Stalin became the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1948 – An uprising began on Jeju Island, eventually leading to the deaths of between 14,000 and 30,000 individuals due to fighting between its various factions, and the violent suppression of the rebellion by the South Korean army.
2008 – Texas law enforcement authorities raided the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' YFZ Ranch, eventually removing 533 women and children from the premises.

Ernst Chladni (d. 1827) · Thomas C. Kinkaid (b. 1888) · Pál Teleki (d. 1941)

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Today's featured picture

Portrait of Henriette Mayer van den Bergh, an oil painting on canvas completed by the Belgian painter Jozef Van Lerius (1823–1876) in 1857. Van Lerius, a student of Gustaf Wappers, was a teacher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp from age 31. He was known primarily for his mythological and biblical scenes, as well as his portraits and genre pictures.

Painting: Jozef Van Lerius

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