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As of 06:31, Saturday, August 17, 2024 (UTC), Wikipedia has 6,868,679 articles and 47,824,127 users. (Purge to refresh)

Today's featured article

Pan Am Boeing 707-121, similar to the one destroyed in the accident

On December 8, 1963, Pan Am Flight 214 crashed near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 crew and passengers. Flight 214 had originated at Isla Verde International Airport in San Juan, flying to Friendship Airport near Baltimore, and then took off for Philadelphia. The crash was Pan Am's first fatal accident with the Boeing 707-121, which it had introduced to its fleet five years earlier. An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that the probable cause of the crash was a lightning strike that had ignited fuel vapors in one of the aircraft's fuel tanks, causing an explosion that destroyed the left wing. The exact manner of ignition was never determined, but the investigation increased awareness of how lightning can damage aircraft, leading to new regulations. The crash also led to research into the safety of several types of aviation fuel and into ways of changing the design of aircraft fuel systems to make them safer in the event of lightning strikes. (Full article...)

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In the news

Paetongtarn Shinawatra

Paetongtarn Shinawatra (pictured) becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
The World Health Organization declares the African mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.
Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283 crashes in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, killing all 62 people on board.
Sheikh Hasina resigns as Prime Minister of Bangladesh following anti-government protests, and Muhammad Yunus is appointed leader of an interim government.

On This Day

August 17

Richard Wagner

1668 – An earthquake struck the North Anatolia region, killing over 8,000 people.
1876 – Götterdämmerung premiered, the last opera in the Ring cycle by Richard Wagner (pictured).
1914 – World War I: Ignoring orders to retreat, Hermann von François led a successful counterattack defending East Prussia at the Battle of Stallupönen and scored the first German victory in the Eastern Front.
1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force began a strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany's V-weapon programme by attacking the Peenemünde Army Research Center.

Matthew Boulton (d. 1809)
Gene Stratton-Porter (b. 1863)
Margaret Hamilton (b. 1936)
Gerri Major (d. 1984)

More anniversaries:

Did you know...

Hayari Miyake

... that Japanese surgeon Hayari Miyake (pictured) cured Albert Einstein of a tropical fever?
... that after 1943, the Symphony for Strings by Georgy Sviridov was not played again until 2000?
... that non-white Samoan people were permitted to join the local branch of the Nazi Party in the 1930s?
... that a Philadelphia TV station shut down because of a family feud?
... that Ecco2K created a fashion brand when he was 16 years old by talking online to Chinese factory managers who did not know his age?
... that an 1814 British raid on a fort in Virginia was guided by an escaped slave of the American garrison commander?
... that the Mercer Art Gallery rediscovered little-known artist Eva Leigh and exhibited her work?
... that classical composer Carl Ludvig Lithander also worked as a teacher at a military academy?
... that South Korea has a day to celebrate North Koreans?

Featured Pictures

Commons picture of the day

Margaret Hamilton shown in 1969 standing beside listings of the software developed by her and her team for the Apollo program's Lunar Module and Command Module. Today is her birthday.

Picture of the day

NGC 3324 is an open cluster in the southern constellation Carina, located northwest of the Carina Nebula at a distance of 9,100 ly (2,800 pc) from Earth. The two are often confused as a single object, and together have been nicknamed the "Gabriela Mistral Nebula" due to its resemblance to the Chilean poet. NGC 3324 was first catalogued by James Dunlop in 1826. This infrared photograph by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows a young, star-forming region in the western section of NGC 3324 known as the "Cosmic Cliffs".Photograph credit: NASA

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Todays featured list

Today's featured list is: August 17.

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