Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Archive
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These featured pictures, as scheduled below, appeared as the picture of the day (POTD) on the English Wikipedia's Main Page in the last 30 days.
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August 11
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The Victorious Youth is a Greek bronze sculpture created between 300 and 100 BCE. It is currently displayed at the Getty Villa, a museum in Pacific Palisades, California. The sculpture was found in the summer of 1964 in the sea off Fano on the Adriatic coast of Italy, snagged in the nets of an Italian fishing trawler. In 1977, the J. Paul Getty Museum purchased the bronze. Bernard Ashmole, an archaeologist and art historian, was asked to inspect the sculpture by Munich art dealer Heinz Herzer; Ashmole and other scholars attributed it to Lysippos, a prolific sculptor of Classical Greek art. The research and conservation of the Victorious Youth dates from the 1980s to the 1990s and is based on studies in classical bronzes by ancient Mediterranean specialists in collaboration with the Getty Museum. Scholars have various theories as to the identity of the subject, the least controversial of which is that the figure was an ancient Olympic runner who held a victor's palm branch in his left arm. His right hand reaches to touch the winner's olive wreath on his head. Sculpture credit: attributed to Lysippos; photographed by the J. Paul Getty Museum
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August 10
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The chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti) is a bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae, which is distributed in an area ranging from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka across Southeast Asia to Indonesia. It is 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 in) in overall length and weighs 26–33 g (0.92–1.16 oz), with the sexes being similar in appearance. It is a multi-coloured bird, with parts of the bird such as the forehead and nape being chestnut, and other parts being green, yellow, black and blue. It eats predominantly insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. This chestnut-headed bee-eater was photographed in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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August 9
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John C. Dancy (1857–1920) was an American politician, journalist, and educator. For many years he was the editor of African Methodist Episcopal newspapers Star of Zion and then Zion Quarterly. In 1897 he was appointed collector of customs at Wilmington, North Carolina, but was chased out of town in the Wilmington massacre of 1898, in part for his activity in the National Afro-American Council which he helped found and of which he was an officer. He then moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as recorder of deeds from 1901 to 1910. His political appointments came in part as a result of the influence of his ally, Booker T. Washington. Photograph credit: Turner; restored by Adam Cuerden
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August 8
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Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, swallowtails inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of the genus Ornithoptera. This Zerynthia rumina butterfly, also known as the Spanish festoon, was photographed in Extremadura, Spain. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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August 7
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Takht-i-Bahi are the ruins of a 1st-century CE Buddhist monastery complex located in what was once the ancient Indian region of Gandhara, in the present-day northern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is representative of Buddhist monastic architecture from its era and the ruins were listed as a World Heritage Site in 1980, with UNESCO describing it as having been "exceptionally well-preserved". Pictured here is an aerial view of the complex, showing its various chambers and courtyards. Photograph credit: Muzamil Hussain Toori; retouched by UnpetitproleX
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August 6
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ATLAS is the largest general-purpose particle detector experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland. The experiment is designed to take advantage of the unprecedented energy available at the LHC and observe phenomena that involve highly massive particles which were not observable using earlier lower-energy accelerators. ATLAS was one of the two LHC experiments involved in the discovery of the Higgs boson in July 2012. It was also designed to search for evidence of theories of particle physics beyond the Standard Model. This image shows the eight toroid magnets surrounding the calorimeter in the centre. Photograph credit: Maximilien Brice, CERN
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August 5
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The Malabar pied hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus) is a bird in the hornbill family of tropical near-passerines. It is a common resident breeder in India and Sri Lanka, where its habitat is evergreen and moist deciduous forests, often near human settlements. It is an omnivorous species, consuming fruits, small mammals, birds, small reptiles and insects. It eats by killing its prey and swallowing it whole. Figs are an important food, contributing at least 60% of the bird's diet throughout the year. It breeds in March and April, during which time figs form up to 75% of the fruits delivered at the nest. This Malabar pied hornbill was photographed in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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August 4
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The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a neutrino detector constructed at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. Similar to its predecessor, the Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array, IceCube consists of spherical optical sensors called Digital Optical Modules, each with a photomultiplier tube, located under the Antarctic ice and distributed over a cubic kilometre. The project is a recognized CERN experiment and construction was completed in 2010. This photograph shows the exterior of the IceCube building in 2023. Photograph credit: Christopher Michel
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August 3
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Belva Ann Lockwood (1830–1917) was an American lawyer, politician, educator, and author who was active in the women's rights and women's suffrage movements. She was one of the first women lawyers in the United States, and in 1879 she became the first woman to be admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court. She later ran for president, one of the first women to do so, in the 1884 and 1888 presidential elections, on the ticket of the National Equal Rights Party. This albumen silver print of a photograph of Lockwood was taken around 1880 by Benjamin Joseph Falk. Photograph credit: Benjamin Joseph Falk; restored by Adam Cuerden
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August 2
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Sedum acre, commonly known as the biting stonecrop, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It is native to Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia, and is naturalised in other places such as North America and New Zealand. It is a low-growing plant which is adapted for growth on thin dry soils, being found on terrain including dry grassland, beaches, drystone walls and roadside verges. The plant forms mat-like stands up to 12 centimetres (5 inches) tall. For most of the year the stems are short with dense leaf coverage, but during the flowering season in June and July, the stems lengthen and become erect. This S. acre plant with a length of 3.5 centimetres (1.4 inches) was photographed in Niitvälja, Estonia. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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August 1
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The edible frog or green frog (Pelophylax kl. esculentus) is a common European frog species that occurs naturally from the northern half of France to western Russia and from Estonia and Denmark to Bulgaria and northern Italy, and is also an introduced species in other parts of the continent. It is a fertile hybrid of the pool frog (Pelophylax lessonae) and the marsh frog (P. ridibundus) and reproduces using hybridogenesis, a process in which one parental genome is excluded. The species is used as food – particularly in France, as well as Germany and Italy – as the delicacy frog legs. This edible frog was photographed in the Danube delta east of Tulcea, Romania. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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July 31
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The Gowanus Canal is a 1.8-mile-long (2.9 km) canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, on the westernmost portion of Long Island. It was created in the mid–19th century from local tidal wetlands and freshwater streams, and by the end of that century was very polluted due to heavy industrial use. Most industrial tenants had stopped using the canal by the middle of the 20th century, but it remained one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. Its proximity to Manhattan and upper-class Brooklyn neighborhoods has attracted waterfront redevelopment in recent years, alongside attempts at environmental cleanup. It was designated a Superfund site in 2009. This five-segment panoramic photograph shows the Gowanus Canal as viewed from Union Street Bridge in 2021, looking northeastward towards Downtown Brooklyn. Photograph credit: Tony Jin
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July 30
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The Hass avocado is a variety of avocado with dark green, bumpy skin. It was first grown and sold by the American horticulturist Rudolph Hass, who also gave it his name. The Hass is one of the most commercially popular avocado cultivars and accounts for more than 80 percent of the crop in the United States. This is due to its taste, size, shelf-life, high growing yield and in some areas, year-round harvesting. The fruit has a mass of 200 to 300 grams (8 to 10 ounces) and, when ripe, its skin becomes a dark purplish-black that yields to gentle pressure. The centre part of the inner fruit then becomes white-green. This picture shows a whole and a halved Hass avocado, cultivated in Colombia. The photograph was focus-stacked from 12 separate images. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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July 29
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The northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is a species of mockingbird, in the family Mimidae, commonly found in North America. The species is also found in some parts of the Caribbean, as well as on the Hawaiian Islands. It is typically a permanent resident across much of its range, but northern mockingbirds may move further south during inclement weather or prior to the onset of winter. The northern mockingbird has gray to brown upper feathers and a paler belly. Its tail and wings have white patches which are visible in flight. The species is known for its ability to mimic bird calls and other types of sound, including artificial and electronic noises. This northern mockingbird was photographed in Bay Ridge, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Photograph credit: Rhododendrites
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July 28
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Bultfonteinite is a pink, light-brown or colorless mineral with the chemical formula Ca2SiO2(OH,F)4. It was first discovered in 1903 or 1904 in the Bultfontein mine in Kimberley, South Africa, with other finds in the same country in the following years. It has since been found across the world including in Australia, Botswana, Japan, Russia and the United States. The mineral occurs as radiating prismatic acicular crystals and radial spherules up to 2 centimetres (0.79 inches). This specimen of bultfonteinite, measuring 5.0 cm × 3.0 cm × 3.0 cm (2.0 in × 1.2 in × 1.2 in), was extracted from Shijiangshan Mine near Chifeng in Inner Mongolia, China. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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July 27
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Nathan Francis Mossell (July 27, 1856 – October 27, 1946) was an American physician. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Mossell was the fourth of six children and both his parents were descended from freed slaves. During the American Civil War, the family moved back to the United States, settling in Lockport, New York, where Mossell's father went into business. Mossell earned a degree from Lincoln University, a historically black college in Pennsylvania, followed by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he graduated in 1882. He was active in the NAACP and also helped found the Douglass Hospital in West Philadelphia in 1895, which he led as chief of staff and medical director until he retired in 1933. His wife was the activist and teacher Gertrude Bustill Mossell. This portrait of Mossell was taken around 1882. Photograph credit: H. D. Carns & Co.; restored by Adam Cuerden
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July 26
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Apollo 15 (July 26 – August 7, 1971) was the fourth crewed mission to land on the Moon. It was the first of three J missions, with a longer stay on the Moon, a greater focus on science, and the use of the first Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). David Scott and James Irwin landed near Hadley Rille and spent 18 and a half hours on extravehicular activity (EVA), collecting 170 pounds (77 kg) of surface material. During the return trip, Alfred Worden performed the first spacewalk in deep space. The mission included the collection of the Genesis Rock, thought to be part of the Moon's early crust, and Scott used a hammer and a feather to demonstrate Galileo's theory that, absent air resistance, objects fall at the same rate regardless of mass. The mission was later marred when it was found that the crew had carried unauthorized postal covers to the lunar surface, some of which were sold by a West German stamp dealer. The crew was reprimanded for poor judgment, and none flew in space again. This photograph, taken by Scott during an EVA on August 2, shows Irwin giving a military salute beside the U.S. flag. The Lunar Module Falcon is in the center, with the LRV on the right. Photograph credit: David Scott; restored by Bammesk and Basile Morin |
July 25
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Pisaura mirabilis is a species of arachnid in the family Pisauridae, the nursery web spiders. It has a palearctic distribution, being found all over Europe, and also inhabits the Canary Islands and Madeira, the Asian part of Russia, China and North Africa. It lives in all habitats but prefers wet environments, and inhabits all strata from the ground to the top of trees, at altitudes up to 1,100 metres (3,600 feet), but is not found under rocks or in caves. The spider has relatively long legs, the fourth pair being the longest, and a slender opisthosoma. Males are 10 to 13 millimetres (0.39 to 0.51 in) in length, while females are 12 to 15 millimetres (0.47 to 0.59 in). This photograph shows a female P. mirabilis spider carrying an egg sac, photographed at a lake near Wolvercote in Oxfordshire, England. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp |
July 24
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Justice was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy in the early 1900s. She was the second member of the Liberté class, which included three other vessels and was a derivative of the preceding République class. Justice carried a main battery of four 305 mm (12 in) guns, with ten 194 mm (7.6 in) guns for her secondary armament. On entering service, Justice became the flagship of the 2nd Division of the Mediterranean Squadron, participating in the training routine of squadron and fleet maneuvers and cruises, as well as several naval reviews. During World War I, Justice was used to escort troopship convoys carrying elements of the French Army from North Africa to face the Germans invading northern France and also steamed to contain the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic Sea, taking part in the minor Battle of Antivari. She was sent to the Black Sea after the war to oversee the surrender of German-occupied Russian warships, and then briefly became a training ship, before being decommissioned in the early 1920s. This photograph shows Justice in 1909 near New York City. Photograph credit: Detroit Publishing Company; restored by Adam Cuerden
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July 23
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Censorship under the military dictatorship in Brazil consisted of restrictions on the media, artists, journalists, and others which the government deemed "subversive", "dangerous" or "immoral". The political system of the Brazilian military dictatorship, installed by a 1964 coup d'état and which persisted until 1985, also set out to censor material that went against what it called "morality and good manners". The constitution of 1967 established censorship as an official, centralized activity of the Brazilian federal government. There were several protests against the practice, including the Cultura contra Censura protest in February 1968, depicted in this photograph, which shows the actresses Tônia Carrero, Eva Wilma, Odete Lara, Norma Bengell and Cacilda Becker. Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden
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July 22
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The marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer) is a wading bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae, native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is a large bird, with individuals reaching a height of 152 centimetres (4.99 feet) and a weight of 9 kilograms (20 lb), and has the largest wingspan of any land bird, with an average of 2.6 metres (8.5 ft) and some recorded examples of up to 3.2 metres (10 ft). The marabou stork breeds in Africa south of the Sahara. In East Africa, the birds interact with humans and breed in urban areas. In southern African countries, the birds breed mainly in less populated areas. This marabou stork in flight was photographed in the town of Batu, by Lake Ziway, Ethiopia. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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July 21
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Frances Cleveland (July 21, 1864 – October 29, 1947) was the first lady of the United States from 1886 to 1889 and again from 1893 to 1897, as the wife of President Grover Cleveland. She met him while an infant, as he was a friend, and later the executor, of her father, Oscar Folsom. Grover settled Oscar's debts and provided for Frances. She graduated from Wells College, then married Grover while he was president. When he lost reelection in 1888, they went into private life for four years, returning when he was elected again in 1892. Much of her time during Grover's second term was dedicated to their children. They had five; four survived to adulthood. Frances Cleveland served on the Wells College board, supported women's education, and organized kindergartens. Grover died in 1908, and she married Thomas J. Preston Jr. in 1913. During World War I, she advocated military preparedness. She died in 1947 and was buried alongside Grover Cleveland in Princeton Cemetery. This portrait photograph of Frances Cleveland was taken in 1886. Photograph credit: Charles Milton Bell; restored by Adam Cuerden
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July 20
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Theodore von Kármán (1881–1963) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer and physicist who worked in aeronautics and astronautics. He was responsible for crucial advances in aerodynamics characterizing supersonic airflow. The human-defined threshold of outer space is named the Kármán line in recognition of his work. This 1959 photograph shows von Kármán (left) joined by United States Air Force and NASA officials while inspecting two missile models used in the high-velocity, high-altitude wind tunnels at Arnold Air Force Base. The missiles shown are the AGARD-B and the Atlas Series-B. Photograph credit: United States Air Force; restored by Chris Woodrich
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July 19
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Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the early Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Etruscan king Lars Porsena of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium. By defending the narrow end of the bridge, he and his companions were able to hold off the attacking army long enough to allow other Romans to destroy the bridge behind him, blocking the Etruscans' advance and saving the city. This fanciful engraving of Cocles was produced in 1586 by the German-born Dutch printmaker Hendrick Goltzius. The full-length portrait shows him holding a raised sword in his right hand and a shield in his left. In the lower right of the background, Cocles takes on an army by himself. Engraving credit: Hendrick Goltzius
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July 18
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Salisbury Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. Built in early English Gothic style, it was constructed between 1220 and 1258. This photograph, taken in 2014, shows the interior of the cathedral, looking eastwards towards the high altar through the tall and narrow nave. It has three levels: a tall pointed arcade, an open gallery, and a small clerestory. In the foreground is an unconventional modern baptismal font, installed in September 2008. Designed by the water sculptor William Pye, it is the largest working font in any British cathedral. The font is cruciform in shape, and has a 10-foot-wide (3.0 m) vessel filled to its brim with water, designed so that the water overflows in filaments through each corner into bronze gratings embedded in the cathedral's stone floor. Photograph credit: David Iliff
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July 17
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Bispira volutacornis, sometimes known as the twin fan worm or spiral fan worm, is a type of tube worm found in the shallow sublittoral zone of the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It grows in crevices and in stony areas and prefers areas rich in sediment but with low levels of illumination. It has a parchment-like tube with a mucoid outer layer that is often coated with mud or silt. The tube is usually concealed in a crevice and the worm can retract into the tube when disturbed. It feeds on plankton which it captures with its plumes. It also uses the plumes to gather sediment with which to expand the tube. This B. volutavornis worm was photographed in Arrábida Natural Park, Portugal. Photograph credit: Diego Delso
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July 16
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Snake handling in Christianity is a rite performed in several churches in the United States. Originating in rural Appalachia, the first instance of snake handling was seen about 1910. Pentecostal minister George Went Hensley was prominent in the early development of the rite. Practitioners commonly quote the gospels of Luke and Mark to support the practice. Practitioners are also encouraged to lay hands on the sick, speak in tongues, and occasionally drink poisons. This photograph, taken by the American photographer Russell Lee in 1946, depicts snake handling at the Church of God with Signs Following, a Pentecostal church in Lejunior, Kentucky. Photograph credit: Russell Lee; restored by Adam Cuerden
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July 15
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The bronze-winged jacana (Metopidius indicus) is a wader in the family Jacanidae. It is found across South and Southeast Asia. Like other jacanas, it forages on lilies and other floating aquatic vegetation, using its long feet and legs for balance. The sexes are alike but females are slightly larger and are polyandrous, maintaining a harem of males during the breeding season in the monsoon rains. Males maintain territories, with one male in the harem chosen to incubate the eggs and take care of the young. When threatened, young chicks may be carried to safety by the male under his wings. This bronze-winged jacana was photographed in Kumarakom on the shore of Vembanad, the largest lake in the Indian state of Kerala. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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July 14
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Happy Chandler (July 14, 1898 – June 15, 1991) was an American politician who served as the 44th governor of Kentucky from 1935 to 1939, a member of the U.S. Senate, and again as the 49th governor of Kentucky from 1955 to 1959. In his first term as governor, he oversaw the repeal of the sales tax, replacing the lost revenue with new excise taxes and the state's first income tax, and helped improve the state's education and transportation systems. He resigned as governor so his successor could appoint him to the Senate. A fiscal conservative and disciple of Virginia's Harry F. Byrd, Chandler opposed parts of Roosevelt's New Deal and openly disagreed with the president's decision to prioritize European operations in World War II over the Pacific War. In 1945, he resigned his Senate seat to become the commissioner of baseball, succeeding Kenesaw Mountain Landis. He approved Jackie Robinson's contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, initiating the racial integration of Major League Baseball. Photograph credit: Harris & Ewing; restored by Kentuckian
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July 13
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The Death of Marat is a 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting the artist's friend and murdered French revolutionary leader, Jean-Paul Marat. It was painted when David was the leading French Neoclassical painter, a Montagnard, and a member of the revolutionary Committee of General Security. Created in the months after Marat's death, the painting shows Marat lying dead in his bath after his murder by Charlotte Corday on 13 July 1793. Art historian T. J. Clark called David's painting the first modernist work for "the way it took the stuff of politics as its material, and did not transmute it". Painting credit: Jacques-Louis David
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