Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 July 29

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Maurice Wilder-Neligan (1882–1923) was a British-born Australian soldier who commanded the 10th Battalion during the latter stages of World War I. Emigrating to Australia before the war, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He was decorated for bravery and commissioned during the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. He received a severe head wound while leading a successful raid on German trenches near Fleurbaix, France, in early 1916, earning a second decoration for gallantry and the praise of war historians. In July 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and received command of the battalion. He led it during the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge in September and was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in June 1918. He was again decorated for courage for the capture of the commune of Merris on 29 July. After the war, he worked as a district officer in the Territory of New Guinea, where he died at the age of 40, probably of complications from his war wounds. (Full article...)

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In the news

Site of sub-surface lake on Mars

Scientists announce the discovery of a 20-kilometre-wide (12 mi) sub-surface lake of water (location pictured) on Mars.
A heat wave in Japan leaves 80 people dead, with more than 22,000 others requiring hospitalization.
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In the Syrian Civil War, an army offensive captures all opposition-held regions in the south of the country.
A hydroelectric dam under construction in south-eastern Laos collapses, resulting in extensive damage and leaving more than 6,000 people displaced.

On this day

July 29

Augustin Fresnel

1148 – The Siege of Damascus ended in a decisive victory for the Muslims, leading to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel (pictured) submitted his "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light", providing strong support for the wave theory of light.
1914 – The first shots of World War I were fired by the Austro-Hungarian river monitor SMS Bodrog upon Serbian defences near Belgrade.
1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law, establishing a new federal non-military space agency known as NASA.
1981 – An estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million people watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Ivan Aivazovsky (b. 1817) · Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil (b. 1846) · Edward Gierek (d. 2001)

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The South West African mark was a temporary currency issued in South West Africa between 1916 and 1918 as part of the South West Africa campaign. Issued after the conquest of German South West Africa by South Africa, notes were denominated in marks and pfennig, as with the withdrawn German South West African Mark. Many institutions issued banknotes; this two-mark note was issued by the Swakopmund Bookshop. The South-West African mark was replaced in 1918 by the South African pound.

Banknote: Swakopmund Bookshop (courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History)

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