Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 September 5

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

An Alpha calutron tank removed from the magnet for recovery of uranium-235

A calutron (pictured) is a device that separates isotopes of a chemical element by ionizing, accelerating and deflecting them using electric and magnetic fields. A type of sector mass spectrometer, it was developed by Ernest O. Lawrence at the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II, based on his earlier invention, the cyclotron. Calutrons were used to separate the isotopes of uranium on an industrial scale at the Y-12 plant at the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The enriched uranium produced was used in the Little Boy atomic bomb employed in the bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Electromagnetic uranium enrichment was abandoned in the early post-war period in favor of the more complicated, but more efficient, gaseous diffusion method, but calutrons remained in use to produce isotopically enriched samples of naturally occurring elements for military, scientific and medical purposes. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know...

Rufous-tailed antwren

... that the stipple-throated, the ornate, and the rufous-tailed antwren (pictured) are all of the genus Epinecrophylla and specialise in extracting insect prey from dead leaves?
... that Iranian filmmaker Morteza Avini, who was killed by a landmine in 1993, was named "the master of martyred literati" by the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei?
... that through its Forum Arts Program, East Texas State College students had the opportunity to see Lyndon B. Johnson, Alex Haley, the Ballet Folklórico de México, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band?
... that Ángel García Yáñez is the first deputy candidate from Mexico's New Alliance Party to win his district?
... that selected "imaginators"—characters created through the video game Skylanders: Imaginators—will be printed by 3D printers and turned into real-life toys?
... that as governor of Ōita Prefecture, Morihiko Hiramatsu initiated the One Village One Product movement?
... that when "Straf mich nicht in deinem Zorn", a hymn by Johann Georg Albinus paraphrasing Psalm 6, was first printed, it appeared with a dance tune?
... that the Shit Museum is billed as the world's first museum dedicated to that subject?

In the news

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa (pictured) is officially declared a saint by Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church.
Islam Karimov, the President of Uzbekistan since 1991, dies in office at the age of 78.
An explosion during preparations for a static fire test results in the loss of the communications satellite Amos-6 and its launch vehicle, Falcon 9 Full Thrust.
At least five people are killed in Libreville, Gabon, during protests following the re-election of President Ali Bongo Ondimba.
Fossils from the Isua Greenstone Belt, Greenland, are found to be the world's oldest, having formed about 3.7 billion years ago.

On this day...

September 5: Ganesh Chaturthi begins (Hinduism, 2016); Labour Day in Canada and Labor Day in the United States (2016)

Interior of the Gotthard Road Tunnel

1697 – War of the Grand Alliance: A French warship captured York Factory, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company in present-day Manitoba, Canada.
1793 – French Revolution: The National Convention began the Reign of Terror, a ten-month period of systematic repression and mass executions by guillotine of perceived enemies within the country.
1905 – Under the mediation of US President Theodore Roosevelt, the Russo-Japanese War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US.
1945 – Cold War: Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko defected to Canada with over 100 documents on Soviet espionage activities and sleeper agents.
1980 – The St. Gotthard Tunnel (interior pictured), at the time the world's longest highway tunnel at 16.4 km (10.2 mi), opened in Switzerland stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.

More anniversaries:

From today's featured list

Characters in Millennium, a crime-thriller television series which was broadcast from 1996 to 1999, include Frank Black, an offender profiler for the Millennium Group (a private investigative organisation). Black, played by Lance Henriksen, retires from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to move his wife Catherine (Megan Gallagher) and daughter Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) to Seattle, where he begins consulting on criminal cases for the group. After the group's attempt to cause an apocalyptic viral outbreak kills his wife, Black returns to the FBI to work with new partner Emma Hollis (Scott) to discredit the group. Black was one of the first elements conceived for the series, the remainder of which were fleshed out by screenwriter Chris Carter around his character. Black has been described by a producer as Millennium's constant, as the series' tone and direction changed around him with each successive season. Except for Frank Black, the series' characters have been criticized as one-dimensional, "generic" and little more than "symbol[s]". (Full list...)

Recently featured:

Today's featured picture

Flowering Plum Tree (after Hiroshige), a copy of the ukiyo-e woodblock print Plum Park in Kameido by the Japanese artist Hiroshige. Completed in 1887, this painting is one of several Japanese-influenced works created by van Gogh after the opening up of Japan. In his copy, van Gogh ignored the shading present in the trunk and background of Hiroshige's image, which there implied age, and instead used colours with more "passion" and "youthfulness".

See Hiroshige's original version

Painting: Vincent van Gogh, after Hiroshige

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.