Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 January 26

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From today's featured article

Walter Krueger (26 January 1881 – 20 August 1967) was an American soldier who commanded the Sixth United States Army in the South West Pacific Area during World War II, rising from private to general in his army career. A child immigrant born in Flatow, West Prussia, he served in the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1901. When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, he was assigned to the 84th Infantry Division as assistant chief of staff, later as chief of staff. In October 1918, he commanded the Tank Corps. Between the wars, he served in various roles, and in 1941 he assumed command of the Third Army. In 1943 he was sent to the South West Pacific Area as commander of the Sixth Army, which he led in a series of victorious campaigns against the Japanese. In the Battle of Luzon in 1945 he was finally able to maneuver his army as he had in 1941 against a Japanese army under Tomoyuki Yamashita. (This article is part of a featured topic: Command in the South West Pacific Area.)

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Did you know ...

Statue of Robert Burns
in Milwaukee

... that U.S. general Arthur MacArthur gave an address at the unveiling of a monument (pictured) to Scottish poet Robert Burns in Milwaukee?
... that Israeli wildlife photographer Roie Galitz won first place at the Siena International Photo Awards in the "Fragile Ice" category for his picture of a sleeping polar bear?
... that the 1989 film Begotten was made to resemble what the director called "a time that predates spoken language"?
... that audio engineer Bill Hare has been called "the Dr. Dre of a cappella recording"?
... that the Marine Cemetery, made from plastic bottles collected from an Indian beach, is dedicated to nine endangered aquatic species?
... that BECAUSE is the longest-running and largest conference for the bisexual community in the United States?
... that Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele, the current first lady of El Salvador, is the first person in the country to hold a doctorate in prenatal psychology?
... that within six hours of Alabama radio station WFPA being served an eviction notice, the tower had been dismantled?

In the news

Coronaviruses viewed under an electron microscope

An earthquake in Elazığ, Turkey, kills at least twenty-nine people and injures more than a thousand others.
In China, a new strain of coronavirus (examples pictured) infects more than two thousand people, killing more than fifty.
Mikhail Mishustin is appointed Prime Minister of Russia following the resignation of Dmitry Medvedev and his cabinet.

On this day

January 26: Australia Day (1788); Republic Day in India (1950)

Audie Murphy

1564 – Livonian War: A Lithuanian surprise attack resulted in a decisive defeat of numerically superior Russian forces.
1841 – Commodore Gordon Bremer took formal possession of Hong Kong Island for the United Kingdom at Possession Point.
1945 – Audie Murphy (pictured) engaged in action at the Colmar Pocket that won him a Medal of Honor and made him one of the most famous and decorated U.S. soldiers of World War II.
1972 – JAT Flight 367 exploded in mid-air over Czechoslovakia; the only survivor of the 28 on board, flight attendant Vesna Vulović, fell 10,160 m (33,330 ft), setting the record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute.
2001 – An earthquake in the Indian state of Gujarat killed at least 13,000 people, injured another 167,000 and destroyed nearly 400,000 homes.

Georg Mohr (d. 1697) · Giuseppe Genco Russo (b. 1893) · Angela Davis (b. 1944)

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Today's featured picture

Guillaume Budé (26 January 1467 – 23 August 1540) was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding of Collegium Trilingue, which later became the Collège de France. Budé was also the first keeper of the royal library at the Palace of Fontainebleau, which was later moved to Paris, where it became the Bibliothèque nationale de France. He was an ambassador to Rome and held several important judicial and civil administrative posts.

This picture is an oil-on-panel portrait of Budé, produced around 1536 by Jean Clouet, a painter at the court of King Francis I of France. He was a very skilful painter and many fine portraits are attributed to him, but his picture of Budé is his only documented work, being mentioned in Budé's handwritten notes. The painting is now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Painting credit: Jean Clouet

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