Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 March 2

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From today's featured article

The Indian Head cent is a penny ($0.01) that was produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Mint from 1859 to 1909. It was preceded by the large cent (1793–1857), a copper coin about the size of a half dollar, and the Flying Eagle cent. The large cent was discontinued after a rise in the price of copper in the wake of the California Gold Rush (1848–1855). The 1857 Flying Eagle is identical in diameter to the modern U.S. cent, but thicker, with a composition of 12% nickel and 88% copper. The Indian head cent, designed by James Barton Longacre, the Chief Engraver at the Philadelphia Mint, was initially the same size as the Flying Eagle. Cents were hoarded during the economic chaos of the American Civil War, when nickel was in short supply, and privately issued bronze tokens began to circulate until Congress authorized a thinner cent of bronze alloy. After the war the cent became popular, and even more so with the advent of coin-operated machines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1909, the Indian Head cent was replaced by Victor D. Brenner's Lincoln cent. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Innocent Victims

... that Innocent Victims (pictured) is a memorial sculpture to Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed?
... that on Pulpit Freedom Sunday, conservative pastors give "blatantly political" sermons in defiance of the Johnson Amendment?
... that Huang Xuhua, the "father of China's nuclear submarines", spent two years raising pigs?
... that the Aubervilliers Congress of the French Socialist Party will take place near the Front Populaire Paris Métro station, a symbolic reference to the left-wing Popular Front coalition of 1936?
... that a prow house is named after a ship's prow?
... that last year, there was a simulated nuclear weapons attack against the New York metropolitan area?
... that Sankaralinganar died after fasting for 76 days while demanding that the name of Madras State be changed to Tamil Nadu?
... that Command and Destroy's password save system was kept when it was ported from the Game Boy Advance to the Nintendo DS, to the annoyance of critics at its 2008 release?

In the news

Billy Graham

At least 31 people are killed and about 300 others are injured by an earthquake in Papua New Guinea.
American evangelical preacher Billy Graham (pictured) dies at the age of 99.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri wins five awards, including Best Film, at the British Academy Film Awards.
Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 crashes in the Zagros Mountains, killing all 65 people on board.
South African president Jacob Zuma resigns amid corruption claims, and is succeeded by Cyril Ramaphosa.

On this day...

March 2: The Nineteen Day Fast begins (Bahá'í Faith, 2018); Shushan Purim in Jerusalem and Susa (Judaism, 2018)

Vladimír Remek in 2007

1444 – The League of Lezhë, an alliance of the regional chieftains, was established in Venetian Albania with Skanderbeg as its commander.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia from Georgia and South Carolina attempted to resist the British action to seize and remove supply ships anchored at Savannah, Georgia.
1919 – Communist, revolutionary socialist, and syndicalist delegates met in Moscow to establish the Communist International.
1943 – World War II: Australian and American air forces attacked and destroyed a large convoy of the Japanese Navy in the Bismarck Sea north of Papua New Guinea.
1978 – Aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 28, Czechoslovak military pilot Vladimír Remek (pictured) became the first person from outside the Soviet Union or the United States to go into space.

Charles I, Count of Flanders (d. 1127) · Bedřich Smetana (b. 1824) · Gisela Januszewska (d. 1943)

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From today's featured list

Maryam Mirzakhani

The Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics, is one of twenty-one prizes given out by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). It is presented biennially in recognition of an outstanding contribution to mathematics research by a woman in the previous six years. The award was established in 1990 using a donation from Joan Birman, in memory of her sister, Ruth Lyttle Satter, who worked primarily in biological sciences, and was a proponent for equal opportunities for women in science. First awarded in 1991, the award is intended to "honor [Satter's] commitment to research and to encourage women in science". The winner is selected by the council of the AMS, based on the recommendation of a selection committee. As of 2017, the award has been given 14 times, to 15 different individuals. Dusa McDuff was the first recipient of the award, for her work on symplectic geometry. The 2013 prize winner was Maryam Mirzakhani (pictured), who, in 2014, was the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Mr and Mrs Atherton, a conversation piece completed c. 1743 by the British painter Arthur Devis (1712–1787). A student of the Flemish painter Peter Tillemans, Devis began his career as a landscape artist but had gravitated to portrait painting and established a studio in London by 1737. After a period of some success, he was unable to compete with fellow portraitists such as Joshua Reynolds and Johan Zoffany and focused on restoring paintings.

Painting: Arthur Devis

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