Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 September 28

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From today's featured article

Halo: Reach is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie, published by Microsoft Game Studios, and released on September 14, 2010, for the Xbox 360 video game console. Players control Noble Six, a member of an elite supersoldier squad, when the human world known as Reach is attacked in the year 2552 by the alien Covenant. Developed after the 2007 release of Halo 3, the game is a prequel to the original Halo game trilogy. Reach‍ 's music was composed by longtime Halo composers Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, who aimed for a more somber sound to match the story. Reach was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 in Los Angeles. It grossed $200 million on its launch day, setting a new record for the franchise. The game sold well in most territories, moving more than three million units its first month in North America. Critical reception was positive, and generally praised the game's graphics and sound, but the plot and characters were less positively received. (Full article...)

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P. eocenica fossil

... that the original paratype of the extinct ant Pachycondyla eocenica (pictured) preserved only the head?
... that forward air control operations established by Charles Larimore Jones dropped over two million tons of bombs on the Kingdom of Laos?
... that the comedy The Late Bloomer was inspired by Ken Baker, who went through puberty at the age of 27?
... that Canadian tech entrepreneur Suhayya Abu-Hakima, who has founded two startups and holds 30 international patents, received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012?
... that the department of Tarn-et-Garonne was created by Napoleon in 1808?
... that Roland Paoletti has been called "the Medici of London Transport" for his work on the Jubilee Line Extension?
... that Taco Bell founder Glen Bell ran taco stands prior to establishing the restaurant chain?
... that the Great Lakes merchant Rasmus Rasmussen got socked for naming his schooner after a postmaster's wife?

In the news

Martin Winterkorn

A stampede during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, kills more than 700 people and injures at least 800 others.
Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn (pictured) resigns after company officials admit widespread rigging of diesel emissions test results.
A U.S. federal judge rules that the copyright to "Happy Birthday to You", claimed by Warner/Chappell Music, is invalid.
More than 100 people are killed in a series of bombings across Borno State, Nigeria.
Syriza wins a plurality in the Greek legislative election.

Ongoing events:
- Southeast Asian haze
- European migrant crisis
Recent deaths:
- Yogi Berra

On this day...

September 28: Statehood Day in the Czech Republic

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo

1066 – William the Conqueror and his fleet of around 600 ships landed at Pevensey, Sussex, beginning the Norman conquest of England.
1542 – Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (pictured), the first European to travel along the coast of California, landed at what is now the city of San Diego.
1891 – Railway workers in Montevideo founded the Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club, which later changed its name to Peñarol, now Uruguay's most successful football club.
1963 – Whaam!, now considered one of Roy Lichtenstein's most important works, debuted at an exhibition held at the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York City.
1996 – Former President of Afghanistan Mohammad Najibullah was tortured and murdered by the Taliban.

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From today's featured list

Topographic map of Bulgaria

Bulgaria is inhabited by 20 amphibian species, which makes the amphibians the least diverse class of vertebrates in the country. They include seven species of newts and salamanders from a single family, Salamandridae, as well as 13 frog and toad species from five families—Bombinatoridae, Bufonidae, Hylidae, Pelobatidae and Ranidae. The most recently classified species are the northern crested newt, identified in 2005, and the Macedonian crested newt, identified in 2007. Bulgaria provides various habitats for amphibians. The country falls within six terrestrial ecoregions of the Palearctic realm. Bulgaria has varied topography. From north to south the main geomorphological regions are the Danubian Plain, the Balkan Mountains, the Sub-Balkan valleys, the Rila–Rhodope massif to the south-west, the Upper Thracian Plain and the Strandzha mountains to the south-east. The country has a dense river network but with the notable exception of the river Danube, they are mostly short and with low water flow. (Full list...)

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Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. His medical discoveries provided direct support for the germ theory of disease and its application in clinical medicine. Together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch, he is regarded as one of the three main founders of bacteriology.

Photograph: Nadar; restoration: Chris Woodrich

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