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George Griffith (1857–1906) was a British writer. He was active mainly in the science fiction genre, writing many future-war stories and helping to shape that emerging subgenre. He was briefly the leading science fiction author in Britain, making his breakthrough with his debut novel The Angel of the Revolution (1893), which was first serialized in Pearson's Weekly. He followed it up with the likewise successful sequel Olga Romanoff (1894). Griffith was highly active as a writer throughout the 1890s, penning many short works for C. Arthur Pearson, and went on travel assignments. These included an 1896 trip to Southern Africa that resulted in Griffith writing the novel Briton or Boer? (1897), anticipating the Boer War (1899–1902). Griffith's career declined in the late 1890s, and he was surpassed by H. G. Wells in the eyes of Pearson and the reading public. His last outright success was A Honeymoon in Space (1901). He continued to write prolifically up until his death at the age of 48. (Full article...)

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Sheet-music cover for The Red Moon

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On this day

March 19: Saint Joseph's Day (Western Christianity); Nowruz (2024)

Zhao Bing, Emperor of Song

1279 – Mongol conquest of Song China: Zhao Bing (pictured), the last emperor of the Song dynasty, drowned at the end of the Battle of Yamen, bringing the dynasty to an end after three centuries.
1824 – American explorer Benjamin Morrell departed Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud.
1944 – The secular oratorio A Child of Our Time by Michael Tippett premiered at the Adelphi Theatre in London.
1998 – An unscheduled Ariana Afghan Airlines flight crashed into a mountain on approach into Kabul, killing all 45 people aboard.
2011 – First Libyan Civil War: The French Air Force launched Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.

Lord Edmund Howard (d. 1539)
Greville Wynne (b. 1919)
Joe Gaetjens (b. 1924)
Lise Østergaard (d. 1996)

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The Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe is a science museum in Valencia, Spain. It is part of the City of Arts and Sciences architectural complex. The building is over 40,000 square metres (430,000 sq ft), has a height of 55 metres (180 ft), and was designed to resemble the skeleton of a whale, with a facade designed by Santiago Calatrava. Construction started around 1994, and the building was inaugurated in 2000, following an investment of 26 billion pesetas. This photograph shows the exterior of the museum, as seen from the southeast.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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