Wikipedia:Main Page history/2022 January 29

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From today's featured article

Christopher Bollen

A Beautiful Crime is a 2020 crime fiction novel by the American writer and editor Christopher Bollen (pictured). It was first published in the United States by Harper on January 28, 2020. The story, which is set in Venice, centers on boyfriends Nick and Clay, who sell an inherited collection of forged silver antiques to a wealthy acquaintance from Clay's past. Their deception quickly leads to more serious crimes, as Clay attempts to sell an expensive property that he does not fully own and Nick murders a silver appraiser who threatened to expose their sale of forgeries. The novel explores the overtourism and depopulation of Venice, and the intersection of greed, moral ambiguity, and social inequality. Critics praised Bollen's depictions of Venice and the relationships between the characters but disagreed on the effectiveness of the narrative's pace. A Beautiful Crime has drawn comparisons to novels by Patricia Highsmith, particularly The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955). (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Woman presumed to be Louisa Bernie Gallaher

... that Smithsonian archivists are rediscovering the works of photography pioneer Louisa Bernie Gallaher (pictured) after they were misattributed to her boss?
... that the Doctor Who serial The Chase was to feature the Beatles dressed as old men, performing as part of a fictional 50th-anniversary concert, but the idea was rejected by their manager?
... that Garry Kasparov thought that a move by chess computer Deep Blue demonstrated its "superior intelligence", but the move was in fact caused by a software bug?
... that Albert Freedman was the first person indicted in the 1950s quiz show scandals?
... that Dan Lanning, who coached his final game at Georgia in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship, will face Georgia in his first game as the new head coach at Oregon?
... that Paul Gutama Soegijo travelled from Germany to Indonesia to study the gamelan instruments of Java for eight years?
... that the Amazon Venture oil spill, in which about 500,000 US gallons (1,900,000 litres) of oil spilled into the Savannah River, was caused by three valves that simultaneously malfunctioned?
... that Peruvian Viagra grows on the roots of plants?

In the news

Roch Marc Christian Kaboré

In Burkina Faso, a coup d'état led by military officer Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba deposes President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (pictured).
Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh dies at the age of 95.
Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford becomes the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.
Microsoft announces its forthcoming acquisition, pending regulatory approvals, of video game company Activision Blizzard.

On this day

January 29

Pope Sergius III

904 – Sergius III (pictured), whose pontificate was marked by feudal violence and disorder in central Italy, came out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
1863 – American Indian Wars: The U.S. Army led by Patrick Edward Connor massacred Chief Bear Hunter and Shoshone forces at the Bear River Massacre in present-day Franklin County, Idaho.
1911 – Mexican Revolution: The Magonista rebellion began when Mexican Liberal Party troops captured the town of Mexicali.
1959 – The first Melodifestivalen, an annual Swedish music competition that determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, was held in Stockholm.
2017 – A lone gunman carried out a mass shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada, killing six people and injuring nineteen others.

Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé (d. 1871)
Alice Catherine Evans (b. 1881)
Aminah Cendrakasih (b. 1938)

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Today's featured picture

Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Genevan-American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. He is known for being the founder of New York University and for serving in the Democratic-Republican Party at various federal elective and appointed positions across four decades. He represented Pennsylvania in the Senate and the House of Representatives before becoming the longest-tenured United States secretary of the treasury (1801–1814) and serving as a high-ranking diplomat. This line engraving of Gallatin was produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 42 secretaries of the treasury.

Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva

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