Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 December 5

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From today's featured article

RSPB Minsmere is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at Minsmere, Suffolk, England, since 1947. The 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) site covers areas of reed bed, lowland heath, acid grassland, wet grassland, woodland and shingle vegetation. It is conserved as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area and Ramsar site. It supports bird species such as the bittern, stone-curlew, marsh harrier, nightjar and nightingale, as well as a wide variety of other animals and plants. The Minsmere marshes were the site of a medieval abbey and a Tudor artillery battery. Reclaimed as farmland in the 19th century, they were re-flooded during World War II to protect against possible invasion. The reserve has a visitor centre and eight bird hides. Potential threats to the site include coastal erosion and flooding or salination as climate change causes rising sea levels. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Nevado Sajama

... that in 2001, a football match took place on the summit of Nevado Sajama (pictured), the highest mountain in Bolivia?
... that this month, the armour and explosives researcher Penelope Endersby became the first female chief executive of the Met Office?
... that South Africa is considering restricting expression when it is directed in a hateful way?
... that Les Joslin wrote a book detailing the history and architecture of 75 United States Forest Service ranger stations in 12 western states?
... that the LeCompte maneuver helps surgeons switch a baby's aorta and pulmonary artery?
... that Armin Frieder, the leading Neolog rabbi in Slovakia, was arrested for his participation in an illegal smuggling ring?
... that the brownfish is harvested commercially over most of its range despite being described by the IUCN as a vulnerable species?
... that Hal Trumble was both an Olympic ice hockey referee and an international baseball umpire?

In the news

Asteroid 101955 Bennu

The sample-return spacecraft OSIRIS-REx arrives at the asteroid 101955 Bennu (pictured).
Former U.S. President George H. W. Bush dies at the age of 94.
Magnus Carlsen defeats Fabiano Caruana to retain the World Chess Championship.
NASA's InSight successfully lands on Mars.
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko declares martial law after Russian forces seize three ships in the disputed Kerch Strait near Crimea.

On this day

December 5: Krampusnacht in Austria

Henry Knox's noble train of artillery

1484 – Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, giving Dominican Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: Continental Army Colonel Henry Knox arrived at Fort Ticonderoga in New York to arrange the transport of 60 tons of artillery (pictured) that would be used to strengthen the Siege of Boston.
1916 – Amid the First World War and following his loss of support in Parliament, British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith resigned.
1958 – Britain's first motorway, the Preston By-pass, opened to the public.
1995 – Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 56 crashed shortly after takeoff from Nakhchivan Airport, killing 52 people on board.

Phillis Wheatley (d. 1784) · Afanasy Fet (b. 1820) · Princess Alice of Battenberg (d. 1969)

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Today's featured picture

Pope Julius II (5 December 1443 – 21 February 1513), born Giuliano della Rovere, was the pope and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 until his death. His papacy was dominated by conflict with the Republic of Venice, which had seized papal territory following the death of Julius's predecessor. This escalated into the War of the League of Cambrai. Julius was also a notable patron of arts and infrastructure. He commissioned the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica and Michelangelo's painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

This oil painting, Portrait of Pope Julius II, was produced in 1511–12 by the Italian painter Raphael. There are several versions, one of which hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, and was believed for many years to be the original. However, research in 1970 indicated that a version owned by the National Gallery in London is likely the original.

Painting: Raphael

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