From today's featured article
The Morris Park Aerodrome was a short-lived airfield in what is now the Morris Park section of the Bronx, New York City. In operation from 1908 to 1909, it was the first flying field in the nation, occupying the grounds of the defunct Morris Park Racecourse. The Aeronautical Society of New York leased the land in 1908, using it for building and testing aircraft, and for putting on public exhibitions including major events in November 1908 and June 1909. The first event, captured in an oil painting by Rudolph Dirks titled The Fledglings, included several glider flights by sixteen-year-old Laurence Lesh (pictured), culminating in a crash in which he was severely injured. The second event had flights by Glenn Curtiss in Golden Flyer , his motorized biplane, including the first demonstration of a stable flight around a closed course using ailerons for lateral control. When the aerodrome closed for residential development, the Society moved its operations to Roosevelt Field on Long Island. ( Full article... )
Did you know ...
- ... that a Tony Award–winning set by Tom Scutt (pictured) has the audience entering through a side entrance to make a "descent into the cabaret"?
- ... that the Wyoming Supreme Court censured a judge for announcing that she would not marry same-sex couples?
- ... that the image of Christ on gold coins was a pretext for war ?
- ... that Syed Abid Husain 's play The Veil of Ignorance explores social discourse on access to modern education by Indian women?
- ... that Mary Lattimore recorded her third album in a barn?
- ... that Lore podcaster Aaron Mahnke thought to make the show after his history and folklore PDFs made for fans of his thriller novels became too large to maintain?
- ... that during the Ming dynasty, prospective government officials needed to write an eight-legged essay about the Four Books in Confucianism for their examinations?
- ... that the first studios of a New York state TV station had floors that were so uneven that a camera could wobble as it moved?
- ... that the 1990s Wired style guide defines WTFIGO and userid, but not WTF or username?
In the news
- Two earthquakes strike Venezuela, leaving more than 1,430 people dead and tens of thousands of others missing.
- Former chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan (pictured) dies at the age of 100.
- Keir Starmer announces his intention to resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
On this day
- 1841 – Giselle (title role pictured), a ballet by the French composer Adolphe Adam, was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris.
- 1904 – In the worst maritime disaster involving a Danish merchant ship, SS Norge ran aground on Hasselwood Rock and sank in the North Atlantic, resulting in more than 635 deaths.
- 1956 – Polish workers demanding better working conditions began massive protests in Poznań, but were later violently repressed by the Polish People's Army and the Internal Security Corps.
- 1963 – Profumo affair: During the trial of Stephen Ward, Mandy Rice-Davies uttered the phrase " Well he would, wouldn't he? "
- 2016 – Gunmen attacked Istanbul's Atatürk Airport, killing 45 people and injuring more than 230 others.
- James Madison (d. 1836)
- Charles Cruft (b. 1852)
- Muhammad Yunus (b. 1940)
- Karina Gould (b. 1987)
Today's featured picture
 | Genevieve Clark Thomson (1894–1981) was an American suffragist, journalist and political candidate. The daughter of Champ Clark, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, she was educated in Washington, DC, and worked as a reporter from 1913. In 1915 she married publisher James M. Thomson, whom she had met while campaigning for her father's presidential nomination. A supporter of temperance and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Thomson was active in the women's suffrage movement. In 1924 she ran unsuccessfully for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district seat in Congress, losing to J. Zach Spearing. This photograph shows Thomson using a candlestick telephone in around 1910–1915. Photograph credit: unknown photographer for Bain News Service; restored by Adam Cuerden Recently featured: |