Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 March 5

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From today's featured article

Thorium is a chemical element with symbol Th and atomic number 90. A reactive actinide metal, its chemistry is dominated by the +4 oxidation state; it is silvery and tarnishes black in air, forming the dioxide. It is malleable and moderately hard, with a high melting point. Its most stable isotope, ²³²Th, is weakly radioactive with a half-life of 14.05 billion years, roughly the age of the universe: it decays very slowly to stable lead. Thorium and uranium are the only two significantly radioactive primordial elements. Thorium is chiefly refined from monazite sands as a byproduct of extracting rare earth metals. It was discovered in 1829 by the Norwegian mineralogist Morten Thrane Esmark and identified by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Applications were found for the element in the 19th century, but after its radioactivity was discovered in the early 20th century, its use significantly declined. Thorium has been suggested as a replacement for uranium in nuclear reactors. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Monkey beetle on Romulea monadelpha

... that the flower of Romulea monadelpha is pollinated by a species of monkey beetle (both pictured)?
... that Alysia Rissling was the pilot for the first ever all-woman team in an official four-man bobsleigh race after the event became gender neutral?
... that the Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum was founded in 1979 by Max Pommer and members of the Gewandhausorchester after Bach's model?
... that the British dentist Neil Swallow often made night calls to make feeding plates for babies born with cleft palates?
... that until it closed in 2009, J.E. Rhoads & Sons was the longest continually-operating company in the United States, having been in business for more than three centuries?
... that after failing to get playing time at ABC Futebol Clube, footballer Rodriguinho Marinho considered becoming a futsal player?
... that the 2010 Infrastructure Cost Review led to annual savings of £3 billion in British government expenditure on infrastructure by 2014?
... that the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria's name comes from a sign that one of the co-founders discovered at a liquor shop?

In the news

Aftermath of the Baku clinic fire

At least 25 people die in a fire (aftermath pictured) at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Attacks at multiple locations in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, leave at least 28 people dead and 50 others injured.
At least 31 people are killed and about 300 others are injured by an earthquake in Papua New Guinea.
American evangelical preacher Billy Graham dies at the age of 99.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri wins five awards, including Best Film, at the British Academy Film Awards.

On this day...

March 5: Learn From Lei Feng Day in China

Sinclair ZX81

363 – Roman emperor Julian and his army set out from Antioch to attack the Sassanian Empire.
1824 – The First Anglo-Burmese War, the longest and most expensive war in British Indian history, began.
1943 – The Gloster Meteor, the first operational jet fighter for the Allied Powers, made its maiden flight.
1963 – Country music stars Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed when their Piper PA-24 Comanche crashed shortly after takeoff in Camden, Tennessee, U.S.
1981 – The ZX81 (pictured), a pioneering British home computer, was launched by Sinclair Research and went on to sell over 1.5 million units around the world.

Gerardus Mercator (b. 1512) · Marietta Piccolomini (b. 1834) · Lena Baker (d. 1945)

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From today's featured list

James Cameron

The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 23, 1998, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories honoring films released in 1997. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Billy Crystal hosted for the fifth time, having last emceed the previous year's ceremony. Titanic received a record-tying 14 nominations and also won a record-tying eleven awards including Best Picture and Best Director for James Cameron (pictured). The telecast garnered more than 57 million viewers in the United States, making it the most watched Oscars broadcast in history. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

A ten Canadian dollar note, dated 1935. The first note of the 1935 issue by the Bank of Montreal, it depicts J. Dodds and C.B. Gordon with their signatures. The building on the reverse, then the Toronto branch of the Bank, is now part of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

For more than a century, chartered banks were allowed to issue banknotes for domestic use. After the Bank of Canada was established in 1934, it took over the federal issuance of notes; chartered banks were prohibited from issuing their own currency in 1944.

Banknote: Bank of Montreal (image courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History)

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