Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 June 21

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From today's featured article

Operation Hurricane

High Explosive Research was the independent British project to develop atomic bombs after the Second World War. The decision to undertake it was made in 1947 and publicly announced in 1948. The project was a civil, not a military, one. Production facilities were constructed under the direction of Christopher Hinton, including a uranium metal plant at Springfields, nuclear reactors and a plutonium processing plant at Windscale, and a gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment facility at Capenhurst, near Chester. The first nuclear reactor in the UK went critical at Harwell on 15 August 1947. William Penney directed bomb design from Fort Halstead, and later Aldermaston in Berkshire. The first British atomic bomb was successfully tested in Operation Hurricane (pictured) off the Monte Bello Islands in Australia on 3 October 1952. Britain thereby became the third country to test nuclear weapons. The project concluded with the delivery of the first Blue Danube atomic bombs to Bomber Command in 1953. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Deep-sea Antipathes dendrochristos

... that when boiled in milk, black coral (example pictured) emits a faint scent of myrrh?
... that St Mary's Church, Rolleston on Dove, is unusual in having the public entrance on its north side, the southern entrance being reserved for the Mosley family?
... that professional Super Smash Bros. player Samsora performed a runway walk while cosplaying as the character he competes with, Princess Peach, at a tournament in 2019?
... that an eruption in the Hakkōda Mountains could create volcanic mudflows that might inundate large sections of the Japanese cities of Aomori and Towada?
... that after Joanna Jordan left her job at the Late Show with David Letterman to start a talent agency, the show became her first client?
... that in A World Without Jews, Alon Confino argues that "the messianic struggle to create a Nazi civilization depended on the extermination of the Jews"?
... that Northern Irish goalkeeper Alan Mannus refused to face the flag of the Republic of Ireland at the 2019 FAI Cup Final because he is not Irish?
... that during a 1977 blackout, crews filming Superman: The Movie at the Daily News Building lent their Klieg lights to Daily News editors so that the next day's issue could be published?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic

Maria Ressa

Kenya, India, Mexico, Ireland, and Norway are elected to the United Nations Security Council as non-permanent members from 2021.
In the Philippines, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa (pictured) is convicted of cyberlibel.
At least twenty soldiers are killed during skirmishes along the Line of Actual Control between China and India.

On this day

June 21: Fête de la Musique; International Day of Yoga; National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada

Newsreel footage of the Winnipeg general strike

1734 – Marie-Joseph Angélique, a black slave, was tortured and hanged after having been convicted of starting a fire that burned much of Old Montreal.
1864 – New Zealand Wars: A British victory against the Māori King Movement brought the Tauranga campaign to an end.
1919 – During a general strike (newsreel featured) in Winnipeg, Canada, members of the Royal North-West Mounted Police attacked a crowd of strikers, armed with clubs and revolvers.
1940 – World War II: The main offensive of the unsuccessful Italian invasion of France began.
2000 – President Bill Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to 22 Asian Americans, mostly from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, for actions during World War II.

Charles Edward Horn (b. 1786)
Clara Immerwahr (b. 1870)
Soad Hosny (d. 2001)

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Today's featured picture

The large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) is a species of damselflies belonging to the family Coenagrionidae. Although called large, it is only 35 mm (1.4 in) long and 15 percent larger than the small red damselfly. This specimen, a mature male photographed at Dry Sandford in Oxfordshire, England, is a mature male; immature individuals of both sexes have yellow shoulder stripes rather than red ones. Mature females come in three different colour forms, but all have yellow bands round their abdominal segments. This species occurs mainly in Europe and is on the wing from April or May onwards. The larvae are found in ponds, lakes and ditches, and take two years to develop before they emerge as adults.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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