Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 September 12

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Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. She first appeared in the Old Kingdom as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her slain husband, the divine king Osiris, and produces his heir, Horus. She was believed to help the souls of the dead enter the afterlife, and her maternal aid was invoked in healing spells. In the Hellenistic period, her worship spread into the wider Greek world, and she took on traits of Greek deities, as the inventor of marriage and the protector of ships at sea. As Hellenistic culture was absorbed by Rome, the cult of Isis became a part of Roman religion, with distinctive festivals and initiation ceremonies. Her cult may have influenced aspects of Christianity, such as the veneration of Mary, but the evidence for this influence is ambiguous. Isis continues to appear in Western culture, particularly in esotericism and modern paganism, often as a personification of nature or the feminine aspect of divinity. (Full article...)

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Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Jocelyn Bell Burnell (pictured), who co-discovered pulsars but was omitted from the related Nobel Prize, receives the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
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Metrolink train wreck

379 – Yax Nuun Ahiin I took the throne as ajaw of the Mayan city of Tikal.
1848 – Switzerland became a federal state with the adoption of a new constitution.
1928 – The Okeechobee hurricane first struck the island of Guadeloupe; eventually it reached the United States and caused over 4,000 deaths overall.
1977 – South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died after being beaten in police custody in Port Elizabeth.
2008 – A Metrolink train collided head-on with a freight train (damage pictured) in Los Angeles, California, resulting in 25 deaths and 135 injuries; the Metrolink driver had passed through a red signal, having likely been distracted by text messaging.

Grace Macurdy (b. 1866) · George Reid (d. 1918) · Raymond Burr (d. 1993)

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The Obama family was the First Family of the United States during the presidency of Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2017. Michelle Obama, Barack's wife, was raised on the South Side of Chicago, graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and met her husband while they worked at the law firm Sidley Austin. She campaigned actively during his two presidential campaigns, and as First Lady sought to become a role model for women and advocate for poverty awareness. The couple's children are Malia (born 1998), and Sasha (born 2001).

Photograph: Pete Souza

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