Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 July 17

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From today's featured article

Ajay Devgn

The Legend of Bhagat Singh is an Indian historical biographical film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and released in 2002. Singh, who witnessed the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as a child, was a socialist revolutionary of the Hindustan Republic Association who fought for Indian independence. The film features Ajay Devgn (pictured) as Singh, Sushant Singh, D. Santosh and Akhilendra Mishra. The story and dialogue were written by Santoshi and Piyush Mishra, respectively. The film was released to generally positive reviews, with the direction, story, screenplay, technical aspects and performances of Devgn and Sushant receiving the most attention. Produced on a budget of ₹200–250 million (about US$4.15–5.18 million in 2002), the film earned only ₹129.35 million at the box office. It went on to win two National Film Awards – Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Actor for Devgn – and three Filmfare Awards from eight nominations. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Roger B. Chaffee

... that when Roger B. Chaffee (pictured) was selected for Apollo 1, he was the youngest American astronaut to earn a NASA mission assignment?
... that as the film negatives used for the first Indian feature film were of limited spectral sensitivity, the colour red was avoided in sets, costumes, and make-up?
... that Eleanor C. Pressly helped develop and launch a series of Aerobee rockets during the 1957–1958 International Geophysical Year?
... that in South Africa, the mosquito Anopheles funestus used to breed in fast-moving streams but now prefers swamps?
... that HMS Lavinia was saved from being broken up, only to be sunk in a collision with another ship?
... that Isabel Martin was one of the Australian Devils who won silver at the 2019 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Suphan Buri, Thailand?
... that it took Scarecrow Press 25 years to complete its series of historical dictionaries of African countries?
... that the idea for the song "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" came to Jeannie Seely at the age of 23, and she was still earning royalties for it at age 78?

In the news

Ursula von der Leyen

The European Parliament elects Ursula von der Leyen (pictured) as president of the European Commission.
The Cricket World Cup concludes with England defeating New Zealand in the final.
Spektr-RG, a Russian-German high-energy space telescope, is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
A skull found in Apidima Cave, Greece, in 1978, is dated to 215,000 years ago, making it possibly the earliest Homo sapiens known to have lived outside of Africa.

On this day

July 17: World Emoji Day (International)

Etching depicting Lafayette ordering his troops to fire

1791 – French Revolution: Members of the National Guard fired into a large crowd (pictured) that was gathered at the Champ de Mars, Paris, to sign a petition demanding the removal of Louis XVI.
1936 – Nationalist rebels attempted a coup d'état against the Second Spanish Republic, sparking the Spanish Civil War.
1981 – A structural failure caused a walkway at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., to collapse, killing 114 people and injuring 216 others.
1992 – Elizabeth II officially opened the Manchester Metrolink, the first modern street-running light rail system in the United Kingdom.
2007 – TAM Airlines Flight 3054 crash-landed at the Congonhas Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, killing 199 people, the highest death toll of any aviation accident in Brazil and the highest death toll of any accident involving an Airbus A320 airliner.

Empress Dowager Du (d. 961) · Eunice Newton Foote (b. 1819) · Florence Fuller (d. 1946)

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Today's featured picture

Katherine Johnson (born 1918) is an African-American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 35-year career at NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped the space agency pioneer the use of computers to perform tasks. She worked on the calculation of trajectories, launch windows and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those of Alan Shepard and John Glenn, respectively the first Americans in space and in orbit.

Johnson later worked with the Apollo program, calculating rendezvous paths for the lunar lander and command module on its flights to the Moon. Her calculations were essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program and she also worked on plans for a mission to Mars. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as a pioneering example of African-American women in STEM. She was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson as a lead character in the 2016 film Hidden Figures. This picture, taken in 1966, shows Johnson at her desk at Langley Research Center.

Photograph credit: NASA; restored by Adam Cuerden

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