Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From the day after tomorrow's featured article

John Glenn (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was a United States Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, and politician. Before joining NASA, Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II, the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. In 1957, he made the first supersonic transcontinental flight across the United States. He was one of the Mercury Seven, military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA as the nation's first astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, and the fifth person and third American in space. After retiring from NASA, he served from 1974 to 1999 as a Democratic U.S. senator from Ohio. In 1998, Glenn flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-95, making him the oldest person to enter Earth orbit and the only person to fly in both Project Mercury and the Space Shuttle program. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Red Rock sunflower

... that the newly discovered and critically imperiled Red Rock sunflower (Helianthus devernii) has only been found around two desert springs located in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area?
... that football player Julian Lewis received offers to play college football before he had attended high school?
... that carpenter Cumming Haswell erected a historic villa, later described as "modestly-scaled but ornamental"?
... that Terry Pratchett's earliest Discworld stories were posthumously found and published by two of his fans?
... that the flaming finale of Joan by Alexander McQueen has been read as an image of violence, resilience, transcendence, and resurrection?
... that the 2016 festival South by South Lawn included a panel discussion on climate change led by President Obama?
... that Melani Budianta used street gangs and Moonies in Los Angeles to reflect on the state of democracy in Indonesia?
... that Stardust's only song earned them a $3 million offer from a record label, but they refused?
... that Bill Wurtz once accepted an award with a two-word acceptance speech?

In the news (For today)

Krejčíková (left) and Alcaraz

In association football, UEFA Euro 2024 concludes with Spain defeating England in the final, and the Copa América concludes with Argentina defeating Colombia in the final.
In tennis, Barbora Krejčíková and Carlos Alcaraz (both pictured) win the women's and men's singles, respectively, at the Wimbledon Championships.
Former United States president Donald Trump survives an assassination attempt during a political rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
The New Popular Front wins the most seats in the National Assembly in the French legislative election but does not achieve a majority.

In two days

July 18

Coronation of Pedro II of Brazil

1806 – A gunpowder magazine explosion in Birgu, Malta, killed an estimated 200 people.
1841 – Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil, was crowned (depicted) at the Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.
1949 – Francisco Javier Arana, the chief of the Guatemalan armed forces, was killed in a shootout with supporters of President Juan José Arévalo.
1984 – A gunman massacred 21 people and injured 15 others at a McDonald's restaurant in the San Ysidro section of San Diego, California.
2019 – An arson attack at the studio of Kyoto Animation in Japan led to the deaths of 36 people.

Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn al-Furat (d. 924)
Philip Snowden (b. 1864)
James E. Boyd (b. 1906)
Inge Sørensen (b. 1924)

More anniversaries:

Featured picture (Check back later for the day after tomorrow's.)

Bispira volutacornis, sometimes known as the twin fan worm or spiral fan worm, is a type of tube worm found in the shallow sublittoral zone of the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It grows in crevices and in stony areas and prefers areas rich in sediment but with low levels of illumination. It has a parchment-like tube with a mucoid outer layer that is often coated with mud or silt. The tube is usually concealed in a crevice and the worm can retract into the tube when disturbed. It feeds on plankton which it captures with its plumes. It also uses the plumes to gather sediment with which to expand the tube. This B. volutavornis worm was photographed in Arrábida Natural Park, Portugal.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects: