Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 May 13

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From today's featured article

Manuel Marques de Sousa, Count of Porto Alegre (1804–1875) was an army officer, politician, abolitionist and monarchist of the Empire of Brazil. For most of the 1820s, he joined the struggle for Brazilian independence and then fought in the Cisplatine War. From 1835 to 1845, his native province of Rio Grande do Sul was engulfed in a secessionist rebellion, the Ragamuffin War, which he helped to suppress. In 1852, he led an army division during the Platine War, invading the Argentine Confederation and overthrowing its dictator. Porto Alegre was elected to the legislature of Rio Grande do Sul, and founded the provincial Progressive-Liberal Party—a coalition of Liberals like himself and some members of the Conservative Party. He later entered the lower house of the Brazilian parliament and was briefly Minister of War. After returning to the military as one of the chief Brazilian commanders during the Paraguayan War (1864), he became an active advocate for the abolition of slavery and a patron in the fields of literature and science. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Bust of Philip II of Macedon

... that after conquering and uniting most of ancient Greece, Philip II of Macedon (bust pictured) was assassinated while in Aegae for his daughter’s wedding and was succeeded by his son Alexander the Great?
... that in his song cycles, Graham Waterhouse has used a cello, a string quartet, or a Pierrot ensemble to complement the singer?
... that the Train Track Park, containing 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) of walking and biking trails, was built over the century-old route of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway?
... that Krityunjai Prasad Sinha secured a second doctorate from the University of Bristol based on his post-doctoral work at Maurice Pryce's laboratory?
... that occupational exposure banding can quickly and accurately assign chemicals into specific hazard categories when quantitative exposure limits are not available?
... that the name of Japanese electronic rock band The Sixth Lie is a reference to a quotation from Claude Debussy?
... that the pendulum car was an experimental forerunner of the tilting train, but was not widely adopted on American railroads?
... that Lukas Lundin had a US$100 million eco-friendly super-yacht built in 2015?

In the news

Moon Jae-in

A large-scale cyber attack involving ransomware causes severe disruptions around the world.
Moon Jae-in (pictured) is elected President of South Korea.
In the French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron defeats Marine Le Pen to become the next President of France.
In horse racing, Always Dreaming, ridden by jockey John Velazquez, wins the Kentucky Derby.
A border clash between Afghanistan and Pakistan results in military and civilian deaths on both sides.
The maiden flight of the Chinese Comac C919 airliner takes place.

On this day...

May 13

Lúcia Santos (middle) with Francisco and Jacinta Marto

1638 – Construction began in Delhi on the Red Fort, the residence of the Mughal emperors, now an iconic symbol of India.
1779 – Russian and French mediators negotiated the Treaty of Teschen to end the War of the Bavarian Succession.
1917 – Ten-year-old Lúcia Santos (pictured middle) and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto reportedly began experiencing a Marian apparition near Fátima, Portugal, now known as Our Lady of Fátima.
1981 – Pope John Paul II was shot and critically wounded in St Peter's Square, Vatican City.
1992 – Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong in a public lecture in Changchun, Jilin province, China.

John Nash (d. 1835) · Arthur Sullivan (b. 1842) · Lorna Hodgkinson (b. 1887)

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Skull of a male North Sulawesi babirusa, a species from the pig family endemic to Indonesia. Babirusas are notable for the long upper canines in the males that emerge vertically from the alveolar process, penetrating though the skin and curving backward over the front of the face and towards the forehead.

Photograph: Didier Descouens

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