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Today's featured article The birth control movement in the United States was a social reform campaign from 1914 to the 1940s that increased the availability of contraception through education and legalization. The movement was started by Emma Goldman, Mary Dennett, and Margaret Sanger, who were concerned about the hardships that childbirth and self-induced abortions brought to low-income women. In 1916, Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the US, but it was immediately shut down by police. A major turning point for the movement came during World War I, when many US servicemen were diagnosed with venereal diseases, leading to an anti-venereal disease campaign that treated contraception as a matter of public health. Sanger successfully opened a second birth control clinic in 1923. Legal victories in the 1930s continued to weaken anti-contraception laws and in 1937 the American Medical Association adopted contraception as a core component of medical school curriculums. In 1942, the Planned Parenthood organization was formed, creating a nationwide network of birth control clinics. (more...) Recently featured: Gorgosaurus – Baker Street and Waterloo Railway – 1910 London to Manchester air race Did you know... From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Baldwin–Wallace College's school Conservatory of Music (pictured) celebrates its 80th year as the oldest collegiate Bach Festival and the second oldest Bach festival in the United States? ... that Budai, The Laughing Buddha is often confused with Gautama Buddha? ... that naval officer Samuel Warren served in European waters in the American War of Independence, the West Indies in the French Revolutionary Wars, and the East Indies in the Napoleonic Wars? ... that the tadpoles of the frog Indirana semipalmata are the first ever known to hatch, feed, and metamorphose on tree barks? ... that AYUSH Sevaks are volunteers of AYUSH-ISHA Organic Health Systems, who dispense herbal medicines in Kolli Hills? ... that Roger Peckinpaugh set a World Series record for errors?

In the news An American soldier's shooting spree kills 16 Afghan civilians. Direction – Social Democracy, led by Robert Fico (pictured), wins a majority in the Slovak parliamentary election. The Egyptian Football Association cancels the remainder of the 2011–12 Egyptian Premier League season as a result of the Port Said Stadium disaster. The United Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Dean Barrow, wins a majority in the Belizean general election. Businessman Allen Stanford is convicted of running a US$7 billion Ponzi scheme. Avalanches in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province kill at least 50 people. On this day... March 12: Commonwealth Day in the Commonwealth of Nations (2012); Arbor Day in China and Taiwan 1870 – The Bulgarian Exarchate, the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the other Orthodox churches in the 1950s, was established by the firman of Sultan Abdülâziz of the Ottoman Empire. 1881 – Andrew Watson made his debut with the Scotland national football team and became the world's first black international football player. 1912 – Juliette Gordon Low (pictured) founded a youth organization for girls that grew into the Girl Scouts of the USA. 1934 – Supported by the Estonian Army, Konstantin Päts staged a coup d'état, beginning the Era of Silence. 1952 – British diplomat Hastings Ismay was appointed as the first Secretary General of NATO. More anniversaries: March 11 – March 12 – March 13 It is now March 12, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured list Hundreds of scientific books and articles were published by Albert Einstein throughout his career as a theoretical physicist. Best known for his theories of special relativity and general relativity, Einstein also made important contributions to statistical mechanics, especially his treatment of Brownian motion. Other high profile works included his resolution of the paradox of specific heats, and his connection of fluctuations and dissipation. Despite his reservations about its interpretation, Einstein also made seminal contributions to quantum mechanics and, indirectly, quantum field theory, primarily through his theoretical studies of the photon. In addition to the work he did by himself, he also collaborated with other scientists on additional projects, such as the Bose–Einstein statistics and the Einstein refrigerator. (more...)

Today's featured picture Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor is represented in this anonymous portrait as a young archduke. He left his native Spain in his early twenties to start his life as future King of the Romans and successor to his grandfather, Maximilian I. His older brother Charles eventually succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor, but Ferdinand inherited the Empire after Charles's death. Philip, Charles's son, eventually became King Philip II of Spain. Ferdinand ruled between 1558 and 1564, a span of nearly six years. Painting by an anonymous Spanish artist Recently featured: Mycena inclinata mushrooms – Peacock butterfly – Ferry Collaroy

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