Wikipedia:Today's featured list/June 2020
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June 1
The position of Savilian Professor of Geometry was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy) by Henry Savile (pictured), a mathematician and classical scholar who was Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and Provost of Eton College, reacting to what has been described by one 20th-century mathematician as "the wretched state of mathematical studies in England" at that time. He appointed Henry Briggs as the first professor. There have been 20 professors; Frances Kirwan, the current and first female holder of the chair, was appointed in 2017. The post has been held by a number of distinguished mathematicians. Briggs helped to develop the common logarithm, described as "one of the most useful systems for mathematics". The third professor, John Wallis, introduced the use of ∞ for infinity, and was regarded as "one of the leading mathematicians of his time". (Full list...)
June 5
The highest point of elevation reached in the Tour de France is 2,802 metres (9,193 ft), at the Cime de la Bonette (pictured) in the Alps, a short loop road that forks from the summit of the Col de la Bonette, in the 1962 race. The Tour de France is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, and generally considered to be the most famous bicycle race in the world. Its founder, Henri Desgrange, was passionate about taking the Tour up to the highest reachable points of elevation in the Alps and Pyrenees using the most difficult routes. The highest point of the first Tour de France in 1903 was the summit of the 1,161-metre-high (3,809 ft) Col de la République mountain pass in the Mont Pilat area of the Massif Central highland region. The race first reached high altitude on the ninth edition in 1910, when it passed the 2,115-metre-high (6,939 ft) Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees. (Full list...)
June 8
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American actor Chris Evans's filmography has spanned multiple productions since his first screen performance in 1997. After making his acting debut in an educational film co-produced by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Evans acted in several teen comedies, including Not Another Teen Movie and The Perfect Score. He portrayed the superhero Human Torch in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It would be the first of many roles in films adapted from comic books for Evans; his most prolific role in the genre would be as Steve Rogers (Captain America) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films, where he has made credited appearances and cameos as the character in eleven films and one video game. Though comic book films have formed the bulk of Evans's filmography since the mid-2000s, he has concurrently acted in a range of non-comic book projects, notably Sunshine, Knives Out, and the Broadway revival of Lobby Hero. (Full list...)
June 12
The Mexican state of Chihuahua is divided into 67 municipalities. According to the 2015 Mexican Intercensal Survey, Chihuahua is the 11th most populous state, with 3,556,574 inhabitants, and the largest by land area, spanning 247,798.08 square kilometres (95,675.37 sq mi). Municipalities in Chihuahua are administratively autonomous of the state, according to the 115th article of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico. Every three years, citizens elect a municipal president (Spanish: presidente municipal) by a plurality voting system who heads a concurrently elected municipal council (ayuntamiento) responsible for providing all the public services for their constituents. The largest municipality by population is Ciudad Juárez (pictured), Mexico's fifth largest municipality, with 1,391,180 residents or approximately 39.1 percent of the state population. The smallest municipality by population is Huejotitán, with 952 residents. (Full list...)
June 15
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Santana, an American rock band, has received several awards and nominations throughout its career. Its first nomination for a major award when its fourth album Caravanserai (1972) was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance with Vocal Coloring in 1973. The band was nominated for further Grammys in 1993 and 1996. In 2000, following the success of the previous year's album Supernatural, the band was nominated for nine Grammys and won eight, tying the record held by Michael Jackson for the most awards at a single Grammy ceremony. The album won the awards for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album and the single "Smooth" received two Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Four other songs from the album also won Grammys. In the same year, the band received three awards at the Latin Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year. (Full list...)
June 19
Sixty-three players captained their Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) team in at least one match. In cricket, a captain is a player who leads the team and has additional roles and responsibilities. The CLT20 was an international professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league, which featured the best performing teams from the domestic T20 cricket leagues of major cricketing nations, such as the Indian Premier League and Australia's Big Bash League. MS Dhoni played the highest number of matches as a captain, leading the Chennai Super Kings in 23 matches with a win–loss percentage of 63.04. Among those who captained in more than ten matches, Trinidad and Tobago's Daren Ganga had the best win–loss percentage: 79.16. Only three players each captained two teams in the CLT20: Gautam Gambhir (pictured) led the Delhi Daredevils and the Kolkata Knight Riders, Simon Katich led the New South Wales Blues and the Perth Scorchers, and Jehan Mubarak led the Wayamba Elevens and the Southern Express. (Full list...)
June 22
Seventy-four churches have been preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in the English Midlands, consisting of those in the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, and Gloucestershire. The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The ages of the churches range from St Andrew's Church, Wroxeter (pictured), which contains fabric from the Anglo-Saxon period, to the newest church in the list, St John the Baptist's Church, Avon Dassett, which was built in 1868; the greatest proportion of the churches date from the 12th and 13th centuries. All the churches have been designated by English Heritage as listed buildings, almost all of them at the highest Grades I and II*. Some of the churches stand in the centres of cities or towns, and their functions have been taken over by nearby churches. (Full list...)
June 26
Cast members of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine participated in the show for seven seasons. Siddig El Fadil, later known as Alexander Siddig, was an early front runner for the part of Captain Benjamin Sisko. The producers thought he was too young for the role ultimately given to Avery Brooks (pictured). Instead, Siddig was offered the part of Dr. Julian Amoros, who was subsequently renamed to Julian Bashir. The series was originally intended to have Ro Laren, a character from The Next Generation, as a main character. However, after actress Michelle Forbes declined to sign on for a five- to six-year commitment for the series, the part was re-written to become Major Kira Nerys, with Nana Visitor cast in that role. There were several actors who appeared in Deep Space Nine in roles they had previously played in other Star Trek series. The most prominent of these was Colm Meaney, who played Chief Miles O'Brien. Meaney had first appeared as an unnamed crewman in the pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint", and went on to appear in a total of 52 episodes of The Next Generation. (Full list...)
June 29
French electronic music duo Daft Punk have released four studio albums, two live albums, one compilation album, one soundtrack album, three remix albums, two video albums, twenty-two singles and nineteen music videos. Group members Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo met in 1987 while studying at the Lycée Carnot secondary school. They subsequently recorded several demo tracks together, forming Daft Punk in 1993. After signing to Virgin Records, the duo released their debut studio album Homework in January 1997. The album peaked at number three in France, earning a platinum certification from the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Random Access Memories, Daft Punk's first studio album in eight years, was released in May 2013 and topped several charts worldwide. "Get Lucky", the first single from Random Access Memories, also experienced chart success in several countries. (Full list...)