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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October 15
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Wheat Fields is a series of dozens of paintings by the Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh, borne out of his religious studies and sermons, connection to nature, appreciation of manual laborers and desire to provide a means of offering comfort to others. The series includes this 1890 oil-on-canvas landscape, painted at Auvers-sur-Oise and titled Wheatfield with Cornflowers, now in the collection of the Beyeler Foundation in Riehen, Switzerland. Painting credit: Vincent van Gogh
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October 14
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The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average 100 to 115 centimetres (39 to 45 inches) from the beak tip to the end of the tail, with a wingspan of 155 to 215 centimetres (61 to 85 inches). It is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Africa from tropical sub-Saharan Africa to as far south as South Africa, or on the Indian subcontinent. A carnivore, it eats a wide range of animal prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, and small birds. This white stork in flight was photographed in Andalusia, Spain, carrying a piece of plastic. It is fitted with a wildlife transmitter on its back. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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October 13
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Art Tatum (October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American pianist, widely regarded as one of the greatest jazz performers in history. Born in Toledo, Ohio, he began playing the piano professionally and hosting a nationwide radio program while in his teens. He left Toledo in 1932 and had residencies as a solo pianist at clubs in major urban centers including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In that decade, he settled into a pattern he followed for most of his career – paid performances followed by long after-hours playing, all accompanied by prodigious consumption of alcohol. In the 1940s, Tatum led a commercially successful trio for a short time and began playing in more formal jazz concert settings, including at Norman Granz-produced Jazz at the Philharmonic events. His popularity diminished towards the end of the decade, as he continued to play in his own style, ignoring the rise of bebop. Granz recorded Tatum extensively in solo and small group formats in the mid-1950s, with the last session only two months before Tatum's death from uremia at the age of 47. This photograph by William P. Gottlieb shows Tatum playing the piano in the Vogue Room in New York City sometime in the late 1940s. Photograph credit: William P. Gottlieb
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October 12
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Europa Clipper is a space probe developed by NASA and scheduled for launch in October 2024. The largest spacecraft NASA has built for a planetary mission, Europa Clipper is designed to study Jupiter's moon Europa through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter, with the goals of exploring Europa, investigating its habitability, and aiding in the selection of a landing site for the future Europa Lander. It is expected to reach its destination in 2030. This photograph shows a commemorative plate, 7 by 11 inches (18 by 28 centimeters) in size and made of tantalum, that is attached to the outside of the space probe to seal an entrance to a vault designed to protect the electronics from Jupiter's radiation. The outer face of the plate, pictured here, is etched with waveforms of audio recordings of the word water translated into 103 languages, radiating outwards from a representation of the American Sign Language sign for the same word. The inner face of the plate features a work by the American poet Ada Limón. Photograph credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech; photographed by Ryan Lannom
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October 11
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Goniobranchus kuniei is a mollusc species in the family Chromodorididae, often classified as a sea slug. It is found in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean including Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and the French territory of New Caledonia. It has a body length of up to 40 mm and features a pattern of blue spots with pale blue haloes on a creamy mantle. The mantle has a double border of purple and blue. This G. kuniei individual was photographed in Wakatobi National Park, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photograph credit: q phia; retouched by Christian Ferrer
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October 10
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Silver certificates are a type of representative money issued between 1878 and 1964 in the United States as part of its circulation of paper currency. They were produced in response to silver agitation by citizens who were angered by the Coinage Act of 1873, which had effectively placed the United States on a gold standard. Since 1968 they have been redeemable only in Federal Reserve Notes and are thus obsolete, but they remain legal tender at their face value and hence are still an accepted form of currency. These are three banknotes from the 1934 series of silver certificates, designed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and comprising the denominations $1, $5 and $10. Each banknote bears a portrait of a different individual, identified above. Banknote design credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
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October 9
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Li Fu Lee (1904–1985) was a Chinese engineer and teacher who in 1925 became the first Chinese woman to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She majored in electrical engineering, a course which some undergraduates at the time described as the most difficult major. She was one of the 25 women who graduated from MIT in 1929 and one of the first women to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering at MIT. After graduating, Lee returned to China, where she became an engineer and taught at university. She fled with her family to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War and later returned to the United States, residing in Chicago. This 1925 photograph shows Lee at MIT's radio experiment station. Photograph credit: Underwood & Underwood; restored by Adam Cuerden
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October 8
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The common blackbird (Turdus merula) is a species of true thrush. It breeds in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, the Falkland Islands, Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It has several subspecies across its large range; a few of the Asian subspecies are sometimes considered to be full species. Depending on latitude, the common blackbird may be resident, partially migratory, or fully migratory. The male of the nominate subspecies, which is found throughout most of Europe, is all black except for a yellow eye-ring and bill and has a rich, melodious song; the adult female and juvenile have mainly dark brown plumage. The species breeds in woods and gardens, building a neat, mud-lined, cup-shaped nest. It is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms, berries, and fruits. This common and conspicuous bird has given rise to many literary and cultural references, frequently related to its song. This female common blackbird, of the subspecies T. m. mauritanicus, was photographed in the Souss-Massa National Park, Morocco. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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October 7
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Iolanthe is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. First performed in 1882 as the seventh Gilbert and Sullivan operatic collaboration, it tells the story of Iolanthe, a fairy banished from fairyland because she married a mortal. Her son Strephon, half a fairy, loves Phyllis, whom all the members of the House of Peers wish to marry. Phyllis sees Strephon embracing Iolanthe (as fairies never age, she appears to be seventeen) and assumes that he is unfaithful, not realizing that Iolanthe is his mother, setting off a climactic confrontation between the peers and the fairies. The opera satirises many aspects of British government, law and society. Iolanthe was the first new theatre production in the world to be illuminated entirely by electric lights. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre and ran there for 398 performances, with a simultaneous production in New York. It is still played throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. This poster by H. M. Brock was produced for an early-20th-century tour production of Iolanthe by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Poster credit: H. M. Brock; restored by Adam Cuerden
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October 6
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A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by various species of junipers. It is used as a flavoring agent in northern European and Scandinavian cuisine for meat dishes. Juniper is used to flavor gin, a liquor developed in the 17th century in the Netherlands. Juniper berries are among the only spices derived from conifers, along with spruce buds. This photograph shows foliage and cones of Juniperus communis, the common juniper, in Keila, Estonia. This picture was focus-stacked from 55 separate images. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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October 5
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Pristimantis elegans is a species of frog in the family Strabomantidae. It is endemic to the Colombian Andes, in the Cordillera Oriental, residing in páramos and cloud forests at elevations of 2,600–3,650 m (8,530–11,980 ft) above sea level. It is typically found in herbaceous vegetation and very small bushes. Pristimantis elegans is a stout-bodied frog, with males typically measuring 37–40 mm (1.5–1.6 in). Development is direct, without a free-living tadpole stage. Males of the species have a pulsed advertisement call, which is usually carried out at night, in vegetation. This Pristimantis elegans individual was photographed in Chingaza National Natural Park, Colombia. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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October 4
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Hübnerite is a mineral consisting of manganese tungsten oxide, with a chemical formula MnWO4. It typically occurs in association with high-temperature hydrothermal vein deposits and altered granites and in alluvial deposits. Hübnerite is the manganese endmember of the wolframite solid solution series, with ferberite (FeWO4) the opposite iron endmember. Color differences between members of the wolframite family are clear and marked, with the color of hübnerite varying from yellowish brown to reddish brown. It was first described in 1865 for an occurrence in the US state of Nevada and was named after the German mining engineer and metallurgist Adolf Hübner. This stacked image, composed of 38 individual photographs, shows red hübnerite crystals with quartz extracted from the Pasto Bueno mine in Pallasca Province, Peru. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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October 3
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Leonhard Euler (1707–1783) was a Swiss mathematician and physicist. He developed important concepts and proved mathematical theorems in fields as diverse as calculus, number theory and topology. Euler introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion of a mathematical function. He is also renowned for his work in mechanics, optics and astronomy. Euler is considered to be the preeminent mathematician of the 18th century and one of the greatest of all time. According to Guinness World Records, he is also the most prolific; his collected works fill 60 to 80 quarto volumes. Euler was featured on the sixth series of the Swiss ten-franc banknote and on numerous Swiss, German and Russian stamps. The asteroid 2002 Euler was named in his honor. This portrait of Euler was created by the Swiss painter Jakob Emanuel Handmann in 1753 and is now in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel. Painting credit: Jakob Emanuel Handmann; restored by Bammesk
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October 2
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The Australasian shoveler (Spatula rhynchotis) is a species of dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. It is native to southwestern and southeastern Australia, including Tasmania, and New Zealand. It ranges in length from 46 to 53 centimetres (18 to 21 inches) and lives in heavily vegetated swamps. This male Australasian shoveler was photographed in the Goulds Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary in Granton, Tasmania. Photograph credit: John Harrison
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October 1
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The passion fruit is the fruit of a number of plants in the genus Passiflora. They are round or oval, and range from a width of 1.5 to 3 inches (3.8 to 7.6 centimetres). The fruits have a juicy edible center composed of a large number of seeds. This photograph shows two passion fruits of the species Passiflora ligularis (also known as the sweet granadilla), one whole and one halved. This picture was focus-stacked from 14 separate images. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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September 30
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The Dewey Arch was a triumphal arch in Madison Square, New York City. It was erected for a parade on September 30, 1899, in honor of Admiral George Dewey, to celebrate his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines the previous year. Constructed around two months before the parade, the arch was made of the plaster-based material staff, typically used in temporary buildings. After the parade, the arch began to deteriorate and it was demolished in 1900 after an attempt to raise money to rebuild it in stone was unsuccessful. The arch's larger sculptures were sent to Charleston, South Carolina, for an exhibit, after which they were either destroyed or lost. Photograph credit: Detroit Publishing Company
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September 29
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Wilson Square is an urban square and roundabout, located in the Żoliborz area of Warsaw, Poland. Constructed around 1923, close to Sokolnicki Fort, part of the Warsaw Citadel, the square was designed by Józef Jankowski, Antoni Jawornicki, and Tadeusz Tołwiński. Initially named after Polish novelist Stefan Żeromski, the square was renamed in 1926 in honour of the recently-deceased US president Woodrow Wilson. The buildings around the square were partially destroyed in 1944, during World War II, and it was remodelled in 1955. The modern square features a lawn and greenery with a road running through it, as well as tram tracks and the Plac Wilsona metro station. This photograph shows an aerial view of Wilson Square from the south-east. Photograph credit: Emptywords
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September 28
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Olivia de Havilland (1916–2020) was a British, American and French actress. A member of the de Havilland family, her younger sister was the Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine, with whom she had a noted rivalry well documented by the media. During her career, de Havilland appeared in 49 feature films. She first came to prominence with Errol Flynn as a screen couple in adventure films such as Captain Blood (1935). Departing from ingénue roles in the 1940s, she went on to win two Academy Awards for Best Actress, for her roles in To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949). She received honours in the United States, the United Kingdom and France, including appointments to the Légion d'honneur and the Order of the British Empire. At the time of her death, she was widely considered the last surviving major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood. This 1985 photograph of de Havilland was taken by the Polish-born American photographer Bernard Gotfryd. Photograph credit: Bernard Gotfryd
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September 27
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The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. It is the sole living representative of the family Ornithorhynchidae and, together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotreme – mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Like other monotremes, the platypus senses prey in cloudy water through electrolocation. The male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers an extremely painful venom, making it one of the few species of venomous mammals. This platypus was photographed swimming in a creek near Scottsdale in Tasmania. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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September 26
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The Philae temple complex is an island-based temple complex in the reservoir of the Aswan Low Dam, downstream of the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser in Egypt. Until the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the temple complex was located on Philae Island, near the expansive First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt. These rapids and the surrounding area have been variously flooded since the initial construction of the Aswan Low Dam in 1902. The temple complex was dismantled and moved to nearby Agilkia Island as part of the UNESCO Nubia Campaign project, protecting this and other complexes before the 1970 completion of the Aswan High Dam. This 2022 photograph shows the temple of Isis from the Philae temple complex in its present location on Agilkia Island. Photograph credit: Diego Delso
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September 25
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La Promenade is an early Impressionist painting by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, created in 1870. The oil-on-canvas work depicts a young couple on an excursion outside a city, walking on a woodland path. Influenced by the Rococo Revival style during the Second French Empire, the work reflects the older style and themes of eighteenth-century artists like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. It also shows the influence of Claude Monet on Renoir's new approach to painting. La Promenade now hangs in the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California. Painting credit: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
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September 24
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The chestnut-crowned antpitta (Grallaria ruficapilla) is a species of bird in the antpitta family, Grallariidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. It is around 18 to 23 centimetres (7.1 to 9.1 in) long, with a mass of 70 to 98 grams (2.5 to 3.5 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies G. r. ruficapilla have a rufous crown, nape, and face with an olive-colored back, rump, tail, and wings. Its throat, breast, and belly are white with ochraceous edges on some breast feathers, and olivaceous and blackish streaks on their sides and sometimes their breast. This chestnut-crowned antpitta perching on a branch was photographed in the Río Blanco Ecological Reserve in Manizales, Colombia. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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September 23
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Anemone hepatica is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Traditional herbal medicine claimed that it was useful in the treatment of liver disorders, hence its name (from Greek hepatikos, 'of the liver'). This photograph shows the flowers of two A. hepatica varieties, blue (common) and pink (rare), growing in a forest in Keila, Estonia. The picture was focus-stacked from 29 separate images. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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September 22
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Boeing Crew Flight Test was the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner capsule. Launched on 5 June 2024, the mission flew a crew of two NASA astronauts, Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to the International Space Station. The mission was intended to last eight days, ending on 14 June with a landing in the American Southwest. However, the capsule's thrusters malfunctioned as Starliner approached the ISS. After more than two months of investigation, NASA decided it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner. Instead, the Boeing spacecraft returned uncrewed on 7 September 2024, and the astronauts will ride down on the SpaceX Crew-9 spacecraft in February 2025. This photograph shows the Crew Flight Test launch, with capsule Calypso atop an Atlas V rocket. Photograph credit: NASA / Joel Kowsky
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September 21
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The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between 5 and 10 m (16 and 33 ft) tall. The pomegranate was originally found only throughout the Mediterranean region. It was introduced into Spanish America in the late 16th century and into California by Spanish settlers in 1769. This photograph shows a number of sarcotesta seedcoats from a pomegranate. This image is a focus-stacked image consisting of 31 images. Photograph credit Ivar Leidus
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September 20
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Holothuria fuscogilva, also known as the white teatfish, is a species of sea cucumber in the family Holothuriidae. It is found in the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific in shallow waters near islands and around coral reefs. Juveniles live in shallower waters (such as inter-tidal zones) and then migrate to deeper waters as they mature. Adults of this species weigh between 2.4 and 4 kilograms (5.3 and 8.8 pounds) and are elliptical in shape with a firm texture. They feature lateral papillae (teats), which are often buried in the sand. The species is consumed as food and is vulnerable to over-exploitation from commercial fishing. This H. fuscogilva sea cucumber was photographed in Ras Muhammad National Park off the Red Sea coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Photograph credit: Diego Delso
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September 19
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W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) was an English dramatist, librettist and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Arthur Sullivan. The most popular Gilbert and Sullivan collaborations include H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre. These Savoy operas continue to be performed regularly today throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. Gilbert's creative output included more than 75 plays and libretti, numerous stories, poems, lyrics and various other comic and serious pieces. His plays and realistic style of stage direction inspired other dramatists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, and his comic operas inspired the development of American musical theatre, especially influencing Broadway writers. The journalist Frank M. Boyd wrote of Gilbert: "Till one actually came to know the man, one shared the opinion ... that he was a gruff, disagreeable person; but nothing could be less true of the really great humorist. He had ... precious little use for fools ... but he was at heart as kindly and lovable a man as you could wish to meet." This cabinet card of Gilbert was produced by the photographic studio Elliott & Fry around 1882–1883. Photograph credit: Elliott & Fry; restored by Adam Cuerden
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September 18
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The cinnamon quail-thrush (Cinclosoma cinnamomeum) is a species of bird in the family Cinclosomatidae. Endemic to Australia, it is typically found in arid and semi-arid regions of the central part of the continent, spanning southwest Queensland, northwest New South Wales, northeastern South Australia, and the southeast of the Northern Territory. It is most commonly found among dry stony areas, especially around dry creek lines, although it is also sometimes encountered in grass and shrublands. The cinnamon quail-thrush has a body length of 20 centimetres (7.9 in) and a mass of up to 50 grams (1.8 oz) when fully grown. Male birds are characterised by a white eyebrow, black face and a broad white streak down the sides of a black throat. The upperparts of their body are plain cinnamon-rufous with buff-white patches on the upper breast and a broad black band below. The outer tail feathers are black with white tips. The female has similar features but duller with a buff-white throat and eyebrow. This cinnamon quail-thrush was photographed by the Stuart Highway near Hugh, Northern Territory, about 88 kilometres (55 mi) southwest of Alice Springs. Photograph credit: John Harrison
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September 17
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Ganymede is a moon of Jupiter and the largest and most massive satellite in the Solar System. It is the largest Solar System object without a substantial atmosphere and also the only moon in the Solar System with a substantial magnetic field. Like Titan, Saturn's largest moon, it is larger than the planet Mercury but, due to its lower density, has somewhat less surface gravity than Mercury, Io, or the Moon. Ganymede is composed of silicate rock and water in approximately equal proportions. It is a fully differentiated body, with an iron-rich liquid core and an internal ocean. Ganymede orbits Jupiter in roughly seven days and is in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance with Europa and Io. This image, a composite of three photographs taken by the NASA space probe Juno during a flyby in 2021, depicts the northern hemisphere of Ganymede roughly centered around the prime meridian. Photograph credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill
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September 16
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Pomacanthus maculosus, commonly known as the yellowbar angelfish, is a species in the marine angelfish family, Pomacanthidae, found in the western Indian Ocean and, more recently, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It has a deep and compressed body with a small mouth that is equipped with small bristle-like teeth. The background colour of adults is brownish blue with each scale having a blue margin creating the impression that it is predominantly blue. There is an uneven, yellow bar close to the centre of the flanks with dark blue, vertically elongated spots towards the head. The species is occasionally collected for the aquarium trade and has also been recorded on sale as food in fish markets. This P. maculosus fish was photographed in Ras Muhammad National Park in the Red Sea off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Photograph credit: Diego Delso
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