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From today's featured article

James Abram Garfield (1831–1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4 to September 19, 1881. Garfield was born into poverty in a log cabin in Northeast Ohio. He was a Union major general during the American Civil War. Elected to Congress in 1862 to represent Ohio's 19th district, he served nine terms, gaining a reputation as a skilled orator. He also wrote a notable proof of the Pythagorean theorem, published in 1876. Selected as a compromise candidate at the 1880 Republican National Convention, Garfield won the general election. As president he oversaw a resurgence of presidential authority against senatorial courtesy in executive appointments, a purge of corruption in the Post Office, and the appointment of a Supreme Court justice. Garfield advocated an educated electorate and civil rights for African Americans. He was shot on July 2, 1881, and died from infections caused by his doctors. (This article is part of a featured topic: 1880 United States presidential election.)

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Did you know ...

President's House

... that the President's House (pictured) never housed a president?
... that Alexandra Tegleva, a nursemaid to Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, helped uncover a woman who impersonated Anastasia after the royal family were executed?
... that according to Roald Dahl, the measles vaccine is probably far safer than eating chocolate?
... that the Casa Rull in Andorra was said to be occupied by "fat peasants"?
... that in 1850, about a quarter of the post offices of the Swiss Post were located in taverns?
... that zombie pornography emerged in the 1980s during a rise in the Italian sexploitation film industry?
... that Indian Army havildar Naren Chandra Das escorted the 14th Dalai Lama to safety in India after the monk made a 13-day trek across the Himalayas dressed as a soldier to evade Chinese troops?
... that a showing of the 1914 film Lord Chumley on the roof of a New York City theatre was canceled with an on-screen announcement due to its 40-minute runtime?

In the news

Mudslide in Petrópolis, Brazil

At least 171 people are killed due to mudslides and floods (aftermath pictured) in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In American football, the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.
Cyclone Batsirai makes landfall in Madagascar, displacing at least 112,000 people and leaving more than 100 others dead.
In association football, the Africa Cup of Nations concludes with Senegal defeating Egypt in the final.

On this day

February 21: Language Movement Day in Bangladesh (1952); Family Day in Canada (2022); Washington's Birthday / Presidents' Day in the United States (2022)

Lucy Hobbs Taylor

1437 – King James I of Scotland was murdered at Perth in a failed coup by his uncle and former ally Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl.
1866 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor (pictured) became the first woman to receive a doctorate from a dental college.
1929 – In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.
1952 – A number of student protesters demanding the establishment of Bengali as an official language were killed by police in Dhaka, East Pakistan.

Raimondo Montecuccoli (b. 1609)
Goscombe John (b. 1860)
Helen Hooven Santmyer (d. 1986)

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From today's featured list

Jean Sibelius

The seven symphonies of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, written between 1899 and 1924, are the core of his oeuvre and stalwarts of the standard concert repertoire. Many of classical music's conductor–orchestra partnerships have recorded the complete set, colloquially known as the "Sibelius cycle". Although early advocates such as Robert Kajanus, Sir Thomas Beecham, and Serge Koussevitzky had conducted many of Sibelius's symphonies for gramophone in the 1930s and 1940s, none of these Sibelians recorded all seven. The earliest complete traversal dates to 1953, four years before the composer's death on 20 September 1957; it is by Sixten Ehrling and the Stockholm Radio Orchestra, recorded from 1952–1953 for the Swedish label Metronome Records (released by Mercury Records in the United States). Ehrling had outpaced Anthony Collins and the London Symphony Orchestra, whose cycle—recorded from 1952–1955 on Decca Records—was concurrent with Ehrling's but arrived second. Since the pioneering examples of Ehrling and Collins, the Sibelius cycle has been recorded an additional 42 times as of July 2021. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Birth of the Milky Way, also known as The Origin of the Milky Way, is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, produced between 1636 and 1638 and featuring the Greco-Roman myth of the origin of the Milky Way. The painting depicts Hera (Juno), spilling her breast milk, the infant Heracles (Hercules) and Zeus (Jupiter) in the background. Hera/Juno's face is modelled on Rubens's wife, Hélène Fourment. The carriage is pulled by peacocks, a bird which the ancient Greeks and Romans considered sacred to the goddess.

The painting was a part of the commission from Philip IV of Spain to decorate Torre de la Parada. It is now held at the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Painting credit: Peter Paul Rubens

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