Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 February 15

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From today's featured article

Roger B. Chaffee (February 15, 1935 – January 27, 1967) was an American naval aviator, aeronautical engineer, and astronaut in the Apollo program. He died in a fire along with Gus Grissom and Ed White during a pre-launch test for Apollo 1. Before joining NASA, Chaffee obtained his private pilot's license and graduated from Purdue University in 1957. Joining the U.S. Navy as an ensign, he trained to fly the T-34, T-28, and A3D. Serving as quality and safety control officer for Heavy Photographic Squadron 62, he took crucial photos of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, earning him the Air Medal. He joined NASA's Astronaut Group 3 in 1963 and served as capsule communicator at Mission Control Center in Houston for the Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 missions. He was given his first spaceflight assignment in 1966 as the third-ranking pilot on Apollo 1 and was promoted soon after to lieutenant commander in the Navy. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and a second Air Medal. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

William S. Hillyer

... that William S. Hillyer (pictured) transcribed and delivered Union Army general Ulysses S. Grant's famous words, "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted"?
... that two cinemas, a bank, and a pub are now used as places of worship in Portsmouth, England?
... that Swedish actor Christopher Wollter started his career as a teenage reporter for the SVT children's television show Barnjournalen?
... that the book Yoga Body asserts that yoga as exercise is a radical break from the spiritual hatha yoga tradition?
... that several mechanics of the TurboGrafx-16 game Soldier Blade were mistakenly changed due to miscommunication between the designer and staff?
... that the young, attractive, and date-able portrayal of Colonel Sanders in a parody dating sim is part of an effort by KFC to make the Colonel a "part of pop culture"?
... that Carlos Vives once invited Paraguayan violinist Ana Lucrecia Taglioretti to play with him on stage after she tried to sneak into his concert without a ticket?
... that viewers complained when the first episode of Living on the Veg, a vegan cookery programme, was broadcast with a sponsor's advertisements showing animal products?

In the news

Bong Joon-ho

The Irish general election concludes with no party holding a majority of seats in Dáil Éireann.
South Korean film Parasite wins four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Bong Joon-ho (pictured).
A mass shooting in Korat, Thailand, leaves 30 people dead and more than 50 others injured.
Two avalanches near the Turkish town of Bahçesaray kill at least 41 people.

On this day

February 15: National Flag of Canada Day (1965); Statehood Day in Serbia (1804)

Kevin Mitnick

1493 – Christopher Columbus wrote a letter, which was widely distributed upon his return to Portugal, announcing the results of his first voyage to the Americas.
1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Johan van Angelbeek, the Batavian governor of Ceylon, surrendered Colombo to British forces, ending the Invasion of Ceylon.
1907 – Japan and the United States signed a gentleman's agreement whereby the former would not permit further emigration to the U.S., while the latter would not limit Japanese immigration.
1995 – Kevin Mitnick (pictured), the most wanted computer hacker at the time in the U.S., was arrested and charged with computer fraud and wire fraud.
2010 – Two passenger trains collided in Halle, Belgium, when one driver failed to stop at a red signal, resulting in 19 deaths and 171 injuries.

Gisela of Swabia (d. 1043) · Charles-André van Loo (b. 1705) · Esther Takei Nishio (b. 1925)

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Today's featured picture

Giovanna d'Arco is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, loosely based on the story of Joan of Arc as depicted in the play The Maid of Orleans by Friedrich Schiller, and set to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. Verdi wrote the music during the autumn and winter of 1844–45; the opera premiered at La Scala in Milan on 15 February 1845. While contemporary critics were rather dismissive, it was "ecstatically received" by audiences, and given a respectable run of seventeen performances.

This picture is the title page from a variant of the first-edition vocal score of Giovanna d'Arco, published around 1846. Soprano Erminia Frezzolini sang the title role at the first performance, opposite her husband, tenor Antonio Poggi, who played the role of Charles VII of France. The "GM" scrawled at the lower left of the illustration may be the initials of the set designer, Girolamo Magnani, while "Barinetti" at the lower right refers to Luigi Barinetti, the illustrator.

Illustration credit: Luigi Barinetti; restored by Adam Cuerden

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