Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 September 19

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From today's featured article

Alfred Worden (1932–2020) was an American test pilot and astronaut who in 1971 was the command module pilot of the Apollo 15 lunar mission. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1955, and was commissioned in the Air Force. He proved adept at flying fighter planes, becoming a test pilot prior to his selection as an astronaut in 1966. Worden served on the support and backup crews for Apollo 9 and 12 before selection for Apollo 15. He spent three days alone in lunar orbit, becoming the person who was the furthest from any other human being, a record he still holds, and also performed the first deep-space extravehicular activity, or spacewalk. His astronaut career was effectively ended by a scandal over carrying postal covers to the Moon, and he retired from NASA in 1975. The author of three books, he subsequently entered the private sector, unsuccessfully ran for Congress, undertook charitable works and promoted a renewed space program. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Etching by Henry Farrer, c. 1875

... that the etching revival that began in the 1850s (work pictured) ended when prices collapsed after the 1929 Wall Street crash?
... that it was once illegal for civilians to pass U.S. military vehicles on Japan National Route 58?
... that the game developer Toys for Bob created Star Control after its founders Fred Ford and Paul Reiche met at Starflight creator Greg Johnson's house for a game night?
... that Alasdair Geddes worked on the WHO's smallpox-eradication programme in Bangladesh five years before diagnosing the world's last fatal case of smallpox in Birmingham, England?
... that in the 1789 Virginia's 5th congressional district election, two future U.S. presidents opposed each other?
... that the Arsenal footballer Matt Smith won an FA Cup winners medal without having made his debut for Arsenal?
... that U.S. senator Strom Thurmond's aides set up a bucket for him to relieve himself during his 24-hour filibuster?
... that "phantom borders" left behind by the partitions of Poland by imperial powers have an impact on which political parties Polish citizens vote for?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Portal

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (pictured), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and advocate for women's rights, dies at the age of 87.
Yoshihide Suga becomes Prime Minister of Japan, replacing Shinzo Abe.
Astronomers report the detection of phosphine, a possible signature of organic life, in the atmosphere of Venus.
In tennis, Naomi Osaka wins the Women's Singles and Dominic Thiem wins the Men's Singles at the US Open.

On this day

September 19: First day of Rosh Hashanah (Judaism, 2020, AM 5781); International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Witold Pilecki

634 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Rashidun Arabs under Khalid ibn al-Walid captured Damascus from the Byzantine Empire.
1846 – French shepherd children Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud reported a Marian apparition, now known as Our Lady of La Salette, near La Salette-Fallavaux.
1940 – World War II: Polish resistance leader Witold Pilecki (pictured) allowed himself to be captured by German forces and sent to Auschwitz to gather intelligence.
1970 – Greek student Kostas Georgakis set himself on fire in Genoa, Italy, as a protest against the military junta of Georgios Papadopoulos.
1995 – The manifesto of Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, was published in The Washington Post almost three months after it was submitted.

Alfonso Litta (b. 1608)
Guy Gibson (d. 1944)
Kate Adie (b. 1945)

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Today's featured picture

James A. Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his death by assassination six and a half months later. He had been shot at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., on July 2 that year by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker. According to some historians, Garfield might have survived his wounds had the doctors attending him had at their disposal today's medical research and techniques. Instead, they probed the wound with unsterilized fingers and equipment, trying to locate the bullet, and the resulting infection was a significant factor in his death.

This picture is a line engraving of Garfield, produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 26 presidents, which was reportedly given to Treasury Secretary Lyman J. Gage.

Credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva

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