Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 January 16

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From today's featured article

The Illinois Centennial half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1918. The obverse side, depicting Abraham Lincoln, was designed by Chief Engraver George T. Morgan; the reverse image, based on the Seal of Illinois, was done by his assistant and successor, John R. Sinnock. Morgan's design is based on a statue by Andrew O'Connor. The State of Illinois asked for a commemorative to mark the centennial of its 1818 statehood. In 1918, after legislation was enacted, the two engravers produced designs, but Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo required changes, not all of which were made. The coins were minted in August 1918, and were sold to the public for one dollar each. Though many were held by a bank until 1933, all were sold, and profits were used to cover the cost of local centennial celebrations or to help those in need because of World War I. Later writers have generally admired the coin, considering it one of the more handsome American commemoratives. It is valued in the hundreds of dollars today, and occasionally trades for more. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Gustave Lambert

... that Gustave Lambert (pictured) was killed in the Siege of Paris before he could set sail for the North Pole?
... that the first successful drone developed in the Netherlands was the Aviolanda AT-21?
... that the Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the best college football player, is named for John Heisman, who was instrumental in legalizing the forward pass?
... that the late-Gothic church St. Moritz in Halle (Saale) became Catholic again in 1970?
... that Li Huang co-founded the Chinese Youth Party, which was modelled after the Young Turks?
... that the red-breasted partridge is found only on Borneo?
... that the Goldberg–Coxeter construction can be used to study fullerene molecules, nanoparticles, and basket weaving?
... that professional diver Albert Powsey was known for diving off Southport Pier with a bicycle?

In the news

Steve Smith

The British construction and services company Carillion goes into compulsory liquidation.
The oil tanker MV Sanchi sinks with the loss of all 32 crew eight days after colliding with another ship.
At least 18 people are killed after mudflows strike the area of Montecito, California, in the area affected by the recent Thomas Fire.
In cricket, the Ashes series concludes with Australia (captain and man of the series Steve Smith pictured) beating England.

On this day...

January 16

Rear entrance to the Führerbunker

1809 – Peninsular War: French forces under Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult attacked the amphibious evacuation of the British under Sir John Moore in Corunna, Galicia, Spain.
1862 – The beam of a pumping engine broke at the Hartley Colliery in Northumberland, England, and fell down the shaft, trapping the men below and resulting in the deaths of 204.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler and his staff moved into the Führerbunker (entrance pictured), where he would eventually commit suicide.
1986 – The Internet Engineering Task Force, a standards organization that develops and promotes Internet Standards, held its first meeting, consisting of twenty-one United States-government-funded researchers.
2016 – After gunmen took hostages the previous night at a restaurant in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, government commandos stormed the premises to bring the situation to an end.

Guru Har Rai (b. 1630) · Miguel Ángel Mancera (b. 1966) · Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri (d. 2003)

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Today's featured picture

Chrysopa is a genus of green lacewings in the neuropteran family Chrysopidae. Members of it and Chrysoperla are common in much of North America, Europe and Asia. They share similar characteristics and some species have been moved from one genus to the other and back again. Their larvae are predatory and feed on aphids; as such, members of Chrysopa have been used in biological pest control.

Photograph: Joaquim Alves Gaspar

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