Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 July 15

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From today's featured article

The Portland Vase

Nigel Williams (15 July 1944 – 21 April 1992) was a British conservator. From 1961 until his death he worked at the British Museum, where he became the Chief Conservator of Ceramics and Glass in 1983. He was one of the first people to study conservation, before it was recognised as a profession. In the 1960s he assisted with the re-excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, and in his twenties he conserved many of the objects found therein, including a shield, drinking horns, and maplewood bottles. Restoration of the Sutton Hoo helmet alone occupied a year of his time. After nearly 31,000 fragments of shattered Greek vases were found in 1974 amidst the wreck of HMS Colossus, Williams set to work piecing them together, and the process was televised for a BBC programme. His crowning achievement, the reassembly of the Portland Vase (pictured) in 1988 and 1989, took nearly a year to complete, and was also televised. The Ceramics & Glass group of the Institute of Conservation awards a biennial prize in his honour. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Javier "Chicharito" Hernández

... that Javier "Chicharito" Hernández (pictured) is the first Mexican footballer to score 50 international goals?
... that footballer Mohamed El-Shenawy declined his man of the match award after Egypt's opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup?
... that a new soccer team in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will schedule its home games around the Albuquerque Isotopes baseball team, with whom it will share a stadium?
... that footballer Adrian Alston performed the Cruyff Turn at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, before Johan Cruyff made the move famous?
... that Rashad Sadygov is the most capped Azerbaijani international footballer of all time?
... that in 2018 Trent Alexander-Arnold became only the fourth teenager to start a match for England at the FIFA World Cup?
... that the footballer Kahraba ("Electricity") was given his nickname due to his pace and energy?
... that the jerseys of American soccer team Las Vegas Lights FC feature a smiley face on the underside for use in goal celebrations?

In the news

Tham Luang Nang Non cave entrance

In Pakistan, at least 136 people are killed and more than 335 others are injured in multiple bombings in Mastung and Bannu.
Scientists announce the discovery of stone tools dating to 2.1 million years ago in Shangchen, China, the oldest evidence of hominins outside Africa.
In Germany, the National Socialist Underground trial ends after more than five years with the sentencing of the main defendant, Beate Zschäpe, to life in prison.
Twelve boys and a man trapped in Thailand's Tham Luang Nang Non cave (entrance pictured) are rescued.

On this day

July 15

Notes by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey

1410 – The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald, the decisive engagement of the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War.
1815 – Aboard HMS Bellerophon, Napoleon surrendered to Royal Navy Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland to finally end the Napoleonic Wars.
1916 – William Boeing incorporated the Pacific Aero Products Co., which was later renamed Boeing.
1983 – Armenian extremist organization ASALA bombed the Turkish Airlines check-in counter at Orly Airport, killing 8 and injuring 55, as part of its campaign for the recognition of and reparations for the Armenian Genocide.
2006 – The online social networking and news service Twitter was launched (early sketch pictured).

Jean-Antoine Houdon (d. 1828) · Betty Wagoner (b. 1930) · Donald Mackay (d. 1977)

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Today's featured picture

A dorsal view of a female Nephila pilipes, a species of golden silk orb-weaver spider found in East and Southeast Asia as well as Australia. Commonly found in primary and secondary forests, as well as gardens, this species spins an asymmetrical golden web that is vertical with a fine irregular mesh, with the hub usually nearer the top. Considerable sexual dimorphism is demonstrated in the size of specimens, with females averaging a body size of 30–50 millimetres (1.2–2.0 in) and males growing to 5–6 millimetres (0.20–0.24 in).

Photograph: Chris Woodrich

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