Wikipedia:Main Page history/2023 October 15
From today's featured article
Kyriakos Pittakis (1798–1863) was a Greek archaeologist. The first Greek to serve as the head of the country's archaeological service, he carried out the conservation and restoration of monuments on the Acropolis of Athens. Largely self-taught as an archaeologist, he was one of the few native Greeks active in the field during the late Ottoman period and the early years of the Kingdom of Greece, playing an influential role in the early years of the archaeological service. A founding member of the Archaeological Society of Athens, he was prolific both as an excavator and as a writer, publishing by his own estimation more than 4,000 inscriptions. He has been praised for his extensive efforts to uncover and protect Greece's classical heritage, particularly in Athens and the adjacent islands, but criticised for his unsystematic and incautious approach. His reconstructions of ancient monuments often prioritised aesthetics over fidelity to the original, and were largely reverted after his death. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that the wings of Lycorma meliae (example pictured) undergo multiple color changes throughout their lives?
- ... that despite having no professional training or experience, DeLancey W. Gill was appointed to take thousands of photographs for the Smithsonian Institution?
- ... that John Wooden's UCLA Bruins won the NCAA Division I basketball championship in his last game as head coach?
- ... that Sarah Cox brought the first breach of promise suit in Australia, during which she was represented by her future husband William Wentworth?
- ... that players of Monster Hunter Now have just 75 seconds to defeat large monsters?
- ... that a sinkhole opened up in Massachusetts in September 2023, damaging cars?
- ... that "The Potato King of Colorado" survived a shipwreck, mined for gold in Australia, and helped establish an alcohol-free Methodist colony?
- ... that a Brontosaurus stamp led to the United States Postal Service being accused of "fostering scientific illiteracy"?
In the news
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- The National Party, led by Christopher Luxon (pictured), wins the most seats in the New Zealand general election.
- Australian voters reject altering the Constitution to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
- The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to Claudia Goldin "for having advanced our understanding of women's labour market outcomes".
- Three earthquakes leave at least 1,000 people dead in Herat, Afghanistan.
On this day
- 1529 – Ottoman–Habsburg wars: The siege of Vienna ended with Austrian forces repelling the invading Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of conquest in Europe by the Ottoman Empire.
- 1888 – George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee in London, received the "From Hell" letter, allegedly from Jack the Ripper.
- 1965 – Vietnam War protests: At an anti-war rally in New York City, David J. Miller burned his draft card (example pictured), the first such act to result in arrest under a new amendment to the Selective Service Act.
- 1979 – President Carlos Humberto Romero of El Salvador was overthrown and exiled in a military coup d'état.
- Razia Sultana (d. 1240)
- Marie-Marguerite d'Youville (b. 1701)
- Franklin Peale (b. 1795)
- Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (d. 1988)
Today's featured picture
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Ignace-Gaston Pardies (1636–1673) was a French Catholic priest and scientist. His celestial atlas, entitled Globi coelestis in tabulas planas redacti descriptio, comprised six charts of the night sky and was first published in 1674. The atlas uses a gnomonic projection so that the plates make up a cube of the celestial sphere. The constellation figures are drawn from Uranometria, but were carefully reworked and adapted to a broader view of the sky. This is the second plate from a 1693 edition of Pardies's atlas, featuring constellations including Pegasus and Andromeda, visible in the northern sky. Map credit: Ignace-Gaston Pardies
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