Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Louis H. Bean (April 15, 1896 – August 5, 1994) was an American economic and political analyst. Born in Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, Bean migrated to the United States in 1906 with his family. In 1923, he became a member of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working on estimates of farm income and price indices. Bean's charts were used in Congress in discussions about the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill. He was closely associated with Vice President Henry A. Wallace. Bean wrote for The Review of Economics and Statistics. During the late 1930s, Bean developed an interest in political analysis. After his successful near-unique prediction of Harry S. Truman's victory in the 1948 presidential election, Life called him the "Lone Prophet" of Truman's victory. Bean wrote many books, notably Ballot Behavior and How to Predict Elections. He continued making electoral analyses and projections in the 1950s and 1960s, most of which were accurate. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Otto (right) in The Great Gabbo

... that precursors to the killer toy include ventriloquist dummies such as Otto (pictured) in the 1929 film The Great Gabbo?
... that Armenian-Turkish soprano Sibil Pektorosoğlu released her first album after singing in a church choir for almost twenty years?
... that logic translations can be used to analyze whether arguments expressed in ordinary language are correct?
... that Indonesia and Malaysia founded the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries to promote the use of palm oil?
... that Meyers and Elle Leonard donated US$500,000 toward the renovation of the site of their first date?
... that X-radiographs of Jan Lievens's circa 1629–1630 Self-Portrait showed that the artist made "transformative revisions to his appearance" in the portrait?
... that Rachel Belden Brooks was an African-American pioneer who was awarded $1,000 when she sued the estate of her previous enslaver?
... that black lemurs use toxic millipede secretions as insect repellent, and apparently enjoy their narcotic effect?

In the news

Ganymede

The European Space Agency launches the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer to study Ganymede (pictured), Europa and Callisto.
In the Myanmar civil war, the military junta's air force kills at least 130 civilians in Pazigyi.
In golf, Jon Rahm wins the Masters Tournament.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump is arraigned on 34 charges of falsifying business records.
Finland joins NATO as its 31st member.

On this day

April 15: Day of the Sun in North Korea; Jackie Robinson Day in the United States

Notre-Dame de Paris, with its spire and roof aflame

1632 – Thirty Years' War: A Swedish–German army defeated the forces of the Catholic League at the Battle of Rain, mortally wounding their commander Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly.
1923 – Ten Japanese-American children were killed in a racially motivated arson attack on a school in Sacramento, California.
1936 – Two Jews were killed near Tulkarm in Mandatory Palestine, an act widely viewed as the beginning of violence within the Arab revolt.
1989 – The Hillsborough disaster, a human crush that caused 97 deaths in the worst disaster in British sporting history, occurred during an FA Cup match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in Sheffield.
2019 – A fire (pictured) severely damaged Notre-Dame de Paris, destroying the cathedral's timber spire and much of the roof.

Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452)
Claudia Cardinale (b. 1938)
Emma Watson (b. 1990)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Leonhard Euler (15 April 1707 – 18 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer. He founded the studies of graph theory and topology, and made pioneering and influential discoveries in many other branches of mathematics such as analytic number theory, complex analysis and infinitesimal calculus. Euler introduced much of modern mathematical notation and terminology, including the notion of a mathematical function. He is also known for his work in mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, astronomy and music theory. This pastel-on-paper portrait of Euler was painted by the Swiss painter Jakob Emanuel Handmann in 1753, and is now in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel.

Painting credit: Jakob Emanuel Handmann; image retouched by Bammesk

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects: