Wikipedia:Main Page history/2024 April 11b
From today's featured article
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) was an American writer. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels and three short story collections; further works were published after his death. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Vonnegut enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943. Deployed to Europe to fight in World War II, he was captured by the Germans and interned in Dresden, where he survived the Allied bombing of the city in a slaughterhouse. Vonnegut published his first novel, Player Piano, in 1952. Two of his novels, The Sirens of Titan (1959) and Cat's Cradle (1963), were nominated for the Hugo Award. Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), a best-seller that resonated with its readers for its anti-war sentiment amidst the ongoing Vietnam War, thrust Vonnegut into fame as an important contemporary writer and a dark humor commentator on American society. Numerous scholarly works have examined Vonnegut's writing and humor. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that the architect of the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center (pictured) thought of stacked nagaya houses while designing it?
- ... that after going winless in its first season in 2022, Sydney made the finals in the 2023 AFL Women's season and won its first finals match?
- ... that Rasmus Paludan caused a global controversy by burning the Quran?
- ... that more than one million applications for the Canadian Dental Care Plan were approved in its first three months?
- ... that footballer Wyll Stanway was a National Counties cricketer and a football centre-back before becoming a goalkeeper?
- ... that James McChord is considered to be the first president of Centre College despite dying before officially taking up the role?
- ... that "Entre el Mar y una Estrella" by Thalía was crowned the best number-one Latin hit of the year 2000 in a survey conducted by Billboard?
- ... that Geoffrey Cuming edited what has been called a gramophone librarian's "Bible"?
- ... that a 2000 documentary exposed the secret support of female genital mutilation by Norwegian imams?
In the news
- Nobel Prize–winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs (pictured) dies at the age of 94.
- A total solar eclipse appears across parts of North America.
- In NCAA Division I basketball, the South Carolina Gamecocks win the women's championship and the UConn Huskies win the men's championship.
- Mexico breaks diplomatic relations with Ecuador in response to Ecuadorian police forcibly entering the Mexican embassy in Quito.
- A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes near Hualien City, Taiwan.
On this day
- 1689 – William III and Mary II (both pictured) were crowned joint sovereigns of England in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
- 1809 – Napoleonic Wars: A hastily assembled Royal Navy fleet launched an assault against the main strength of the French Atlantic Fleet; an incomplete victory led to political turmoil in Britain.
- 1951 – U.S. president Harry S. Truman relieved General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of his commands for making public statements about the Korean War that contradicted the administration's policies.
- 2001 – In a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, Australia defeated American Samoa 31–0, the largest margin of victory recorded in international football.
- Romanos III Argyros (d. 1034)
- Ewelina Hańska (d. 1882)
- Trevor Linden (b. 1970)
Today's featured picture
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The Maison carrée (French for 'square house') is an ancient Roman temple in Nîmes, southern France. It is a mid-sized Augustan provincial temple of the imperial cult, and one of the best-preserved Roman temples to survive in the territory of the former Roman Empire. Built in the early 1st century AD, it was dedicated or rededicated to Gaius and Lucius Caesar, grandsons and adopted heirs of Augustus, who both died young. The Maison carrée is similar to a Tuscan-style Roman temple as described in the writings of Vitruvius, a contemporary Roman writer on architecture. It has undergone several restorations over the centuries and was inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2023. This photograph of the Maison carrée at evening was taken in 2019. Photograph credit: Krzysztof Golik
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