Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 August 15

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From today's featured article

Jennifer Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress. After starring in the television series The Bill Engvall Show (2007–2009) and making her film debut in Garden Party (2008), she had her breakthrough with Winter's Bone in 2010. She took over the role of Mystique in the X-Men film series in 2011, and starred as Katniss Everdeen in the top-grossing Hunger Games films (2012–2015). She became the second-youngest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing a depressed widow in Silver Linings Playbook (2012). She won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for playing a troubled wife in American Hustle (2013), and received Golden Globe Awards for both of these films and for playing an inventor in the biopic Joy (2015). Lawrence's films have grossed in excess of $5.5 billion globally, and she has been the world's highest-paid actress since 2015. Her many awards and honors include appearances in Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2013 and the Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2014 and 2016. She is a vocal advocate of feminism and gender equality. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Clint Dempsey

... that Clint Dempsey (pictured) has 57 international goals, ranking third among active male footballers behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi?
... that a swamp in the watershed of Red Brook is home to part of the largest population of yellow-bellied flycatchers in Pennsylvania?
... that in 1977, symphony conductor Helen Quach was one of two women who led major orchestras anywhere in the world?
... that the "Whacky Tobaccy" music video from the Toby Keith album The Bus Songs contains a cameo appearance by Willie Nelson?
... that the single species of the ant Aneuretellus is named from the Latin for "deformed"?
... that Handel composed the Foundling Hospital Anthem in 1749 for a benefit concert for abandoned children in London?
... that William A. Starrett, builder of the Empire State Building, sent his steel construction technology to Japan to help design buildings to resist earthquakes?
... that an argument over a horse led to a law banning all black settlers from Oregon in 1844?

In the news

Car driven into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia

In golf, Justin Thomas wins the PGA Championship.
In the United States, a car (pictured) is driven into a crowd of counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one and injuring nineteen others.
More than seventy children die at a hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply to the wards.
The Obelisk Gate wins the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Uhuru Kenyatta is re-elected President of Kenya.

On this day...

August 15: Independence Day in India (1947); Victory over Japan Day in the United Kingdom

The Wow! signal

1038 – Upon the death of his uncle Stephen I, Peter became the second King of Hungary.
1812 – War of 1812: Potawatomi warriors destroyed the United States Army's Fort Dearborn in what is now Chicago, Illinois, and captured the survivors.
1942 – World War II: The tanker SS Ohio reached Malta, as part of an operation to deliver much-needed supplies during the Siege of Malta.
1963 – President Fulbert Youlou was overthrown in the Republic of Congo, after a three-day uprising in the capital.
1977 – The Big Ear radio telescope in Ohio received a strong, apparently extraterrestrial radio signal, which became known as the "Wow! signal" (printout pictured).

Richard de Vere (b. 1385) · Johan Gadolin (d. 1852) · Gerty Cori (b. 1896)

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Today's featured picture

A work of embroidery from the Caucasus region, dating back to the 18th century. Embroidery refers to the handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn, and sometimes other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. Here, the embroidery consists of a series of designs formed within and around nested polygons, depicting a stylized assortment of plants and animals.

Textile: Unknown

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