Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 February 9

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Cragside is a Victorian country house near Rothbury in Northumberland, England. It was the home of William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, founder of the Armstrong Whitworth armaments firm and inventor of the hydraulic crane and the Armstrong gun. Cragside was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power. The entire estate, designed by Richard Norman Shaw, was technologically advanced, with a hydraulic lift, a hydroelectric rotisserie, and early versions of a dishwasher and dumb waiter. Armstrong was raised to the peerage in 1887, taking the title Baron Armstrong of Cragside. He was the first engineer ever to join the House of Lords. He filled Cragside with a significant art collection, and it became an integral part of his commercial operations, entertaining guests including the Shah of Persia and the King of Siam. Following Armstrong's death in 1900, his heirs struggled to maintain the house and estate. The National Trust acquired the estate in 1977 and opened it to the public in 1979. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Slices of New York-style pizza

... that New York-style pizza (pictured) is most commonly ordered by the slice in New York City?
... that at age 12, Edin Šehić became the youngest footballer to sign a scholarship contract with NK Zagreb?
... that the Evangelical Heritage Version of the Bible was translated by a group of Lutheran volunteers?
... that in 1953, the council architect's department of the London County Council employed more than 1,500 people?
... that the North American fungus Boletus aurantiosplendens has been found in only seven distinct locations?
... that Aileen Hernandez was once told that she would have to hire a "black" taxi if she was going to travel to the traditionally African-American Howard University?
... that the Mediterranean Sea may have been filled by a giant flood with a discharge rate about 1,000 times larger than that of the Amazon River?
... that in Nazi Germany, Karl Maria Zwißler conducted major works by composer Igor Stravinsky regarded as degenerate music, including the ballet The Firebird and the German premiere of Dumbarton Oaks?

In the news

Hualien earthquake damage

An earthquake strikes Hualien, Taiwan, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 260 others (President Tsai Ing-wen surveying damage pictured).
The SpaceX launch vehicle Falcon Heavy makes its maiden flight, carrying Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload.
In American football, the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
Archaeologists announce the discovery using LiDAR of approximately 60,000 Mayan structures in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala.
A total lunar eclipse occurs, close to perigee and also the second full moon in a month, a coincidence of events not seen for 35 years.

On this day...

February 9: Rio Carnival begins in Brazil (2018)

Jefferson Davis

1799 – Quasi-War: The USS Constellation captured the French L'Insurgente in a single-ship action in the Caribbean Sea.
1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis (pictured) was named as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
1943 – World War II: Allied forces declared Guadalcanal secure, ending the Guadalcanal Campaign as a significant strategic victory for Allied forces fighting Japan in the Pacific War.
1976 – The Australian Defence Force was formed by the unification of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force.
2016 – Two Meridian commuter trains were involved in a head-on collision at Bad Aibling in southeastern Germany that left 12 dead and 85 others injured.

Judith Quiney (d. 1662) · Alberto Vargas (b. 1896) · Gerhard Richter (b. 1932)

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Publicity poster for the event

The 1924 Winter Olympics medal table was topped by Norway, which won seventeen medals in total, including four gold, three of which were won by Thorleif Haug in the nordic combined and cross-country skiing events. Finland placed second on the table, collecting four gold medals among a total of eleven. The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games, and known at the time as Semaine Internationale des Sports d'Hiver ("International Winter Sports Week"), was a winter multi-sport event held in Chamonix, France, from 25 January to 5 February 1924. When it was held, the games were not formally recognised as being the Olympics, but it was acknowledged that they were held under the "high patronage of the International Olympic Committee". Eight of the competing nations achieved at least one gold medal, with only Belgium and the hosts, France, medalling without winning a gold medal. (Full list...)

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La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile, some 150 kilometres (93 mi) northeast of La Serena. On this site, at the outskirts of the Atacama Desert, are three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) as well as several other telescopes partly maintained by ESO. The observatory is one of the largest in the southern hemisphere and the first in Chile to be used by ESO.

Photograph: ESO/F. Kamphues

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