Wikipedia news from March 14th, 2015

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§From today's featured article


Portrait of a Young Girl, c. 1465–70. 29 cm x 22.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Portrait of a Young Girl is a small oil-on-oak panel painting in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, by the Early Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus. It was completed between 1465 and 1470, towards the end of the artist's life, and marks a significant advance in the oeuvres of both Christus and contemporary portraiture. The girl is set in an airy, three-dimensional, realistic setting, confronting the viewer with an expression that is reserved, but alert and intelligent. She reflects the Gothic ideal of elongated facial features, narrow shoulders, tightly pinned hair and an almost unnaturally long forehead. The painting is widely regarded as one of the most exquisite Northern Renaissance portraits. Art historian Joel Upton describes the sitter as resembling "a polished pearl, almost opalescent, lying on a cushion of black velvet." The panel builds on the work of the first generation Northern Renaissance painters Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, and was highly influential in the decades after its completion. Its appeal lies in part in the intriguing stare, accentuated by the slight misalignment of her eyes and asymmetry of her eyebrows. (Full article...)
Recently featured: Hugh Walpole – Tylopilus felleus – Vannevar Bush
Archive – By email – More featured articles...

§Did you know...


From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

Cordyceps fungus
... that the Cordyceps fungus (pictured), featured in the BBC documentary Planet Earth, inspired the look of the Infected during the development of The Last of Us?
... that Ilia Koshevoy won the 2013 Gran Premio della Liberazione by just one second?
... that the novel The Peppered Moth is a fictional biography of Margaret Drabble's mother, which Drabble's sister A.S. Byatt did not like?
... that cardiologist and Gambian native Hannah Valantine is the Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity at the United States National Institutes of Health?
... that the Off the Air special "Dan Deacon: U.S.A." features videos from artists worldwide, despite its national focus?
... that Dagmar Hülsenberg, with a doctorate in both cost accounting and materials science, was the youngest professor in the German Democratic Republic?
... that Falls Run is one of eleven officially named streams in the watershed of Nescopeck Creek that has not been assessed by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission?
... that the fashion designer Zoran declared a woman's only jewelry should be her children or husband?
Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

 
§In the news


Camille Muffat
German architect Frei Otto wins the Pritzker Prize shortly before his death.
Ten people, including French athletes Camille Muffat (pictured), Alexis Vastine and Florence Arthaud, are killed in a mid-air collision between two helicopters in Argentina.
The Iraqi government reports that the pre-Islamic cities of Hatra and Nimrud have been destroyed by ISIL, who claimed they were blasphemous.
A series of suicide bombings in Maiduguri, Nigeria, kills 58 people and wounds more than 140 others.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres.
The oldest fossil belonging to the genus Homo, dating to the late Pliocene Age around 2.8 million years ago, is discovered in Afar, Ethiopia.
Ongoing: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Terry Pratchett – Sam Simon

§On this day...


March 14: New Year's Day (Sikhs); White Day in East Asia; Pi Day

Eli Whitney
1757 – British Royal Navy Admiral John Byng was court-martialled and executed by firing squad when he failed to "do his utmost" during the Battle of Minorca at the start of the Seven Years' War.
1794 – American inventor Eli Whitney (pictured) patented the cotton gin, the first ever machine that quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from their seedpods.
1915 – First World War: British forces cornered and sank the SMS Dresden, the last remnant of the German East Asia Squadron, near the Chilean island of Más a Tierra.
1945 – The British Royal Air Force first used the Grand Slam, a 22,000 lb (9.98 t) earthquake bomb, on a strategic railroad viaduct in Bielefeld, Germany.
1972 – Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, known for his decision to translate and publish Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago after it had been smuggled out of the Soviet Union, was killed in an explosion.
More anniversaries: March 13 – March 14 – March 15
Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries
It is now March 14, 2015 (UTC) – Reload this page




§Today's featured picture


The Mikado
Cover of the c. 1895 edition of the vocal score to The Mikado. First performed in London in 1885, The Mikado is the ninth of fourteen comic opera collaborations between the composer Arthur Sullivan and the dramatist W. S. Gilbert. Gilbert was able to satirise British politics and institutions freely by setting the opera in a fictionalised Japan. The story: After a cheap tailor is appointed Lord High Executioner of Titipu, he tries to save the town by pretending to execute the disguised son of the Mikado (the Emperor of Japan) for the capital offence of flirting; this scheme backfires. The Mikado '​s original run at the Savoy Theatre was 672 performances, nearly a record at the time. It remains one of the most frequently performed musical theatre pieces in history, with regular professional and amateur revivals.
Illustration: Unknown; restoration: Adam Cuerden
Recently featured: Swallow-tailed gull – Jaimie Alexander – Littrow projection

Archive – More featured pictures...




§Other areas of Wikipedia
Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.

§Wikipedia's sister projects
Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects:
Commons Commons
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Wikiversity Wikiversity
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§Wikipedia languages

This Wikipedia is written in English. Started in 2001, it currently contains 4,741,955 articles. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.
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Jump to: navigation, search



Welcome to Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
4,741,955 articles in English

 Arts
Biography
Geography
 History
Mathematics
Science
 Society
Technology
All portals



§From today's featured article


Portrait of a Young Girl, c. 1465–70. 29 cm x 22.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Portrait of a Young Girl is a small oil-on-oak panel painting in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, by the Early Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus. It was completed between 1465 and 1470, towards the end of the artist's life, and marks a significant advance in the oeuvres of both Christus and contemporary portraiture. The girl is set in an airy, three-dimensional, realistic setting, confronting the viewer with an expression that is reserved, but alert and intelligent. She reflects the Gothic ideal of elongated facial features, narrow shoulders, tightly pinned hair and an almost unnaturally long forehead. The painting is widely regarded as one of the most exquisite Northern Renaissance portraits. Art historian Joel Upton describes the sitter as resembling "a polished pearl, almost opalescent, lying on a cushion of black velvet." The panel builds on the work of the first generation Northern Renaissance painters Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, and was highly influential in the decades after its completion. Its appeal lies in part in the intriguing stare, accentuated by the slight misalignment of her eyes and asymmetry of her eyebrows. (Full article...)
Recently featured: Hugh Walpole – Tylopilus felleus – Vannevar Bush
Archive – By email – More featured articles...

§Did you know...


From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

Cordyceps fungus
... that the Cordyceps fungus (pictured), featured in the BBC documentary Planet Earth, inspired the look of the Infected during the development of The Last of Us?
... that Ilia Koshevoy won the 2013 Gran Premio della Liberazione by just one second?
... that the novel The Peppered Moth is a fictional biography of Margaret Drabble's mother, which Drabble's sister A.S. Byatt did not like?
... that cardiologist and Gambian native Hannah Valantine is the Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity at the United States National Institutes of Health?
... that the Off the Air special "Dan Deacon: U.S.A." features videos from artists worldwide, despite its national focus?
... that Dagmar Hülsenberg, with a doctorate in both cost accounting and materials science, was the youngest professor in the German Democratic Republic?
... that Falls Run is one of eleven officially named streams in the watershed of Nescopeck Creek that has not been assessed by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission?
... that the fashion designer Zoran declared a woman's only jewelry should be her children or husband?
Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

 
§In the news


Camille Muffat
German architect Frei Otto wins the Pritzker Prize shortly before his death.
Ten people, including French athletes Camille Muffat (pictured), Alexis Vastine and Florence Arthaud, are killed in a mid-air collision between two helicopters in Argentina.
The Iraqi government reports that the pre-Islamic cities of Hatra and Nimrud have been destroyed by ISIL, who claimed they were blasphemous.
A series of suicide bombings in Maiduguri, Nigeria, kills 58 people and wounds more than 140 others.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres.
The oldest fossil belonging to the genus Homo, dating to the late Pliocene Age around 2.8 million years ago, is discovered in Afar, Ethiopia.
Ongoing: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Terry Pratchett – Sam Simon

§On this day...


March 14: New Year's Day (Sikhs); White Day in East Asia; Pi Day

Eli Whitney
1757 – British Royal Navy Admiral John Byng was court-martialled and executed by firing squad when he failed to "do his utmost" during the Battle of Minorca at the start of the Seven Years' War.
1794 – American inventor Eli Whitney (pictured) patented the cotton gin, the first ever machine that quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from their seedpods.
1915 – First World War: British forces cornered and sank the SMS Dresden, the last remnant of the German East Asia Squadron, near the Chilean island of Más a Tierra.
1945 – The British Royal Air Force first used the Grand Slam, a 22,000 lb (9.98 t) earthquake bomb, on a strategic railroad viaduct in Bielefeld, Germany.
1972 – Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, known for his decision to translate and publish Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago after it had been smuggled out of the Soviet Union, was killed in an explosion.
More anniversaries: March 13 – March 14 – March 15
Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries
It is now March 14, 2015 (UTC) – Reload this page




§Today's featured picture


The Mikado
Cover of the c. 1895 edition of the vocal score to The Mikado. First performed in London in 1885, The Mikado is the ninth of fourteen comic opera collaborations between the composer Arthur Sullivan and the dramatist W. S. Gilbert. Gilbert was able to satirise British politics and institutions freely by setting the opera in a fictionalised Japan. The story: After a cheap tailor is appointed Lord High Executioner of Titipu, he tries to save the town by pretending to execute the disguised son of the Mikado (the Emperor of Japan) for the capital offence of flirting; this scheme backfires. The Mikado '​s original run at the Savoy Theatre was 672 performances, nearly a record at the time. It remains one of the most frequently performed musical theatre pieces in history, with regular professional and amateur revivals.
Illustration: Unknown; restoration: Adam Cuerden
Recently featured: Swallow-tailed gull – Jaimie Alexander – Littrow projection

Archive – More featured pictures...




§Other areas of Wikipedia
Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.

§Wikipedia's sister projects
Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects:
Commons Commons
 Free media repository MediaWiki MediaWiki
 Wiki software development Meta-Wiki Meta-Wiki
 Wikimedia project coordination
Wikibooks Wikibooks
 Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Wikidata
 Free knowledge base Wikinews Wikinews
 Free-content news
Wikiquote Wikiquote
 Collection of quotations Wikisource Wikisource
 Free-content library Wikispecies Wikispecies
 Directory of species
Wikiversity Wikiversity
 Free learning materials and activities Wikivoyage Wikivoyage
 Free travel guide Wiktionary Wiktionary
 Dictionary and thesaurus

§Wikipedia languages

This Wikipedia is written in English. Started in 2001, it currently contains 4,741,955 articles. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.
More than 1,000,000 articles: Deutsch ·
 español ·
 français ·
 italiano ·
 Nederlands ·
 polski ·
 русский ·
 svenska
  
More than 400,000 articles: català ·
 فارسی ·
 日本語 ·
 norsk bokmål ·
 português ·
 Tiếng Việt ·
 українська ·
 中文
  
More than 200,000 articles: العربية ·
 Bahasa Indonesia ·
 Bahasa Melayu ·
 čeština ·
 Esperanto ·
 euskara ·
 한국어 ·
 magyar ·
 română ·
 slovenčina ·
 српски / srpski ·
 srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски ·
 suomi ·
 Türkçe
  
More than 50,000 articles: bosanski ·
 български ·
 dansk ·
 eesti ·
 Ελληνικά ·
 English (simple) ·
 galego ·
 עברית ·
 hrvatski ·
 latviešu ·
 lietuvių ·
 norsk nynorsk ·
 slovenščina ·
 ไทย
  
Complete list of Wikipedias
  




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Complete list

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page