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July 9

The oceanic whitetip shark is a large requiem shark inhabiting tropical and warm temperate seas. It has a stocky body with long, white-tipped, rounded fins. The species is typically solitary but can congregate around food concentrations. It is found worldwide between 45°N and 43°S latitudes in deep, open oceans. Bony fish and cephalopods are the main components of its diet. Females give live birth after a gestation period of nine to twelve months. Though slow-moving, it is opportunistic, aggressive, and reputed to be dangerous to shipwreck survivors. The shark was once extremely common and widely distributed; up to the 16th century, mariners noted that this species was the most common ship-following shark. The species has now been listed as critically endangered, and recent studies show steeply declining populations worldwide as the sharks are harvested for their fins and meat, like many other shark species. (Full article...)

July 9

Wolfgang and Maria Anna Mozart

• 1763 – The Mozart family grand tour began, presenting child prodigies Maria Anna and Wolfgang (both pictured) in Western Europe.
• 1877 – The inaugural Wimbledon Championship, the world's oldest tennis tournament, began in London.
• 1896 – Politician William Jennings Bryan made his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism, considered one of the greatest political speeches in American history.
• 1958 – An earthquake struck Lituya Bay, Alaska; the subsequent megatsunami, the largest in modern times, reached an elevation of 1,720 ft (524 m).
• 1962 – In a seminal moment for pop art, Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition opened at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.

July 9

Dictyophorus spumans, the koppie foam grasshopper, is a species of grasshopper in the family Pyrgomorphidae, indigenous to southern Africa. The name "foam grasshopper" derives from the insect's ability to produce a toxic foam from its thoracic glands, using a combination of hemolymph with air from the grasshopper's spiracles. Adult males are typically 4.5 to 5 centimetres (1.8 to 2.0 inches) long, and females typically 5 to 7 centimetres (2.0 to 2.8 inches), but individual grasshoppers can grow up to a length of 8 centimetres (3.1 inches). This grasshopper of the subspecies D. s. spumans was photographed in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden in Roodepoort, South Africa. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp Recently featured: Celestine Raspberry Grey-crowned babbler Archive More featured pictures

July 10

DeLancey W. Gill (1859–1940) was an American drafter, landscape painter, and photographer. As a teenager, he moved in with an aunt in Washington, D.C., after his mother and stepfather traveled west. He eventually found himself employed as an architectural draftsman for the Treasury. He created sketches and watercolor paintings of the city, with a particular focus on the still-undeveloped rural and poorer areas of the district. While working as an illustrator for the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology in the 1890s, he was appointed as the agency's photographer without prior photographic training. He took portrait photographs that circulated widely of thousands of Native American delegates to Washington, including notable figures such as Chief Joseph and Geronimo. These photographs have come under modern criticism for his frequent use of props and clothing, sometimes outdated or inauthentic, given to the delegates. (Full article...)

July 10: Independence Day in the Bahamas (1973)

Martin Luther King Jr.

• 1645 – English Civil War: The Parliamentarians destroyed the last Royalist field army at the Battle of Langport, ultimately giving Parliament control of the west of England.
• 1942 – An American naval aviator discovered a downed Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero on Akutan Island, Alaska, which was later rebuilt and flown to devise tactics against the aircraft during World War II.
• 1966 – Martin Luther King Jr. (pictured) led a rally in support of the Chicago Freedom Movement, one of the most ambitious civil-rights campaigns in the northern United States.
• 1999 – The United States defeated China in the final match of the third FIFA Women's World Cup, setting records in both attendance and television ratings for women's sports.
• 2006 – Typhoon Ewiniar made landfall in South Korea, causing damages across the country amounting to 2.06 trillion won (US$1.4 billion).

July 10

Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating-current electricity supply system. This photograph, taken in Tesla's laboratory in Colorado Springs in December 1899, supposedly shows him reading in a chair next to his giant "magnifying transmitter" high-voltage generator while the machine produces huge bolts of electricity. The image was created through a double exposure as part of a promotional stunt by the photographer Dickenson V. Alley. The machine's huge sparks were first photographed in the darkened room, then the photographic plate was exposed again with the machine off and Tesla sitting in the chair. Tesla admitted that the photograph was false in his book Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900. Photograph credit: Dickenson V. Alley; restored by User:Bammesk Recently featured: Dictyophorus spumans Celestine Raspberry Archive More featured pictures

July 11

Dave Lombardo, Slayer's drummer

Still Reigning is a live performance DVD by the thrash metal band Slayer, released in 2004 through American Recordings. Filmed at the Augusta Civic Center on July 11, 2004, the performance showcases Reign in Blood (1986), Slayer's third studio album and its first to enter the Billboard 200. The album was played in its entirety with the four original band members on a set resembling their 1986 Reign in Pain Tour. Still Reigning was voted "best live DVD" by the readers of Revolver magazine, and received gold certification in 2005. In the finale, the band is covered in stage blood while performing the song "Raining Blood", leading to a demanding audio mixing process plagued by production and technical difficulties. The DVD's producer Kevin Shirley spent hours replacing cymbal and drum hits one-by-one. Later, Shirley publicly aired his financial disagreements with the band and criticized the quality of the recording. (Full article...)

July 11: Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Genocide in Poland (1943)

Leicester balloon riot, 1864

• 1405 – An expeditionary fleet led by Zheng He set sail for foreign regions of the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, marking the start of Ming China's treasure voyages.
• 1846 – British soldier Frederick John White died after a flogging, leading to a campaign to end the practice in the British Army.
• 1864 – A riot broke out in Leicester, England, at the failed launching of a hot air balloon (pictured).
• 1928 – Ukrainian archaeologist Ivan Borkovský discovered a medieval skeleton at Prague Castle, competing factions claimed the skeleton as Germanic or Slavic in origin.
• 1936 – New York City's Triborough Bridge, the "biggest traffic machine ever built", opened to traffic.

July 11

The Brooklyn Navy Yard is a shipyard and industrial complex in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, United States. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlears Hook in Manhattan. It is bounded by Navy Street to the west, Flushing Avenue to the south, Kent Avenue to the east, and the East River on the north. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This photograph shows Brooklyn Navy Yard seen from the air in 1918. Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden Recently featured: Nikola Tesla Dictyophorus spumans Celestine Archive More featured pictures

July 12

Hypericum sechmenii flowers

Hypericum sechmenii (Seçmen's St John's wort) is a rare species of flowering plant in the St John's wort family that is found in Eskişehir Province in central Turkey. It was first described and assigned to the genus Hypericum in 2009, and was later placed into the section Adenosepalum. H. sechmenii is a perennial herb that grows 3 to 6 centimeters (1 to 2 inches) tall and blooms in June and July. The stems of the plant are smooth and hairless, while the leaves are leathery and lack leafstalks. Its flowers are arranged in corymbs, and each has five bright yellow petals. Similar species are H. huber-morathii, H. minutum, and H. thymopsis. Found among limestone rocks, H. sechmenii has an estimated distribution of less than 10 square kilometers (4 square miles), with fewer than 250 surviving plants. Despite containing druse crystals and toxic chemicals that may deter herbivory, the species is threatened by overgrazing, as well as climate change and habitat loss. (Full article...)

July 12

Yitzhak Rabin in 1948

• 927 – King Æthelstan of England secured the submission of four northern rulers: Constantine II of Scotland, Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred I of Bamburgh, and Owain ap Dyfnwal of Strathclyde.
• 1488 – Choe Bu, an official of the Joseon dynasty, returned to Korea after months of shipwrecked travel in China.
• 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: A squadron of British ships of the line defeated a larger squadron of Spanish and French vessels in the Strait of Gibraltar.
• 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: Israel Defense Forces officer Yitzhak Rabin (pictured) signed an order to expel Palestinians from the towns of Lydda and Ramle.
• 1962 – The English rock band the Rolling Stones played their first concert, at the Marquee Club in London.

July 12

Taylor Twellman is the Revolution's all-time leading scorer with 101 league goals.

The New England Revolution have played 28 domestic league seasons in MLS. The team is one of the original ten MLS clubs that began play in the 1996 MLS season. The Revolution's first trophy win was the 2007 US Open Cup. The next year, the team won the 2008 North American SuperLiga, which was a tournament held between MLS and Liga MX teams. In 2021, the team won the Supporters' Shield for having the best record in the regular season. In that season, the team accrued 73 points, which stands as the best-ever regular season record as of the 2023 season. Although the Revolution have never won the MLS Cup, they have reached the final five times. The club's all-time leading goalscorer is Taylor Twellman, who has 119 goals across all competitions. The Revolution have had two players win the MLS Golden Boot: Twellman in 2002 and 2005, and Pat Noonan in 2004. (Full list...)

July 12

The village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae, found in much of sub-Saharan Africa. It has also been introduced to some islands in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean. Village weavers forage and roost in large groups, often with other weaver species. In some areas, they move periodically along fixed routes. The birds look for food on the ground, but also look up to search vegetation and trees. Village weavers nest in colonies and are very active during the breeding season. Birds fly in and leave again constantly, making significant noise. Colonies can contain as many as 150 nests, but eight to a hundred nests in a single tree are usual. This male village weaver was photographed in Kakum National Park, Ghana. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp Recently featured: Brooklyn Navy Yard Nikola Tesla Dictyophorus spumans Archive More featured pictures

July 13

Alan Wace (13 July 1879 – 9 November 1957) was an English archaeologist who served as director of the British School at Athens between 1914 and 1923. He excavated widely in Thessaly, Laconia and Egypt, and at the Bronze Age site of Mycenae in Greece. Along with Carl Blegen, Wace argued against the established scholarly view that Minoan Crete had dominated mainland Greek culture during the Bronze Age. His excavations at Mycenae in the early 1920s established a chronology for the site's domed tombs that largely proved his theory correct. Wace served as the Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Cambridge between 1934 and 1944, and ended his career at Alexandria's Farouk I University. During both world wars, he worked for the British intelligence services, including as a section head for MI6 during the Second World War. His daughter, Lisa French, also became an archaeologist and excavated at Mycenae. (Full article...)

July 13: Kashmir Martyrs' Day in Pakistan

Harold Macmillan

• 1586 – Anglo–Spanish War: A convoy of English ships from the Levant Company repelled a fleet of Spanish and Maltese galleys at the Battle of Pantelleria.
• 1831 – Wallachian officials adopted the Regulamentul Organic, which engendered a period of reforms that provided for the westernization of the local society.
• 1943 – World War II: Operation Fustian, an Allied operation to capture the Primosole Bridge in Sicily, was launched.
• 1962 – In an unprecedented reshuffle, British prime minister Harold Macmillan (pictured) dismissed seven members of his Cabinet.
• 1992 – The Croatian Army concluded Operation Tiger, advancing 17 kilometres (11 miles) into the Dubrovnik hinterland.

July 13

The Death of Marat is a 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting the artist's friend and murdered French revolutionary leader, Jean-Paul Marat. It was painted when David was the leading French Neoclassical painter, a Montagnard, and a member of the revolutionary Committee of General Security. Created in the months after Marat's death, the painting shows Marat lying dead in his bath after his murder by Charlotte Corday on 13 July 1793. Art historian T. J. Clark called David's painting the first modernist work for "the way it took the stuff of politics as its material, and did not transmute it". Painting credit: Jacques-Louis David Recently featured: Village weaver Brooklyn Navy Yard Nikola Tesla Archive More featured pictures

July 14

Greece celebrating their Euro 2004 win

The UEFA Euro 2004 final was the final match of Euro 2004, the 12th European Championship, organised by UEFA for the senior men's national association football teams of its member associations. The match was played at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal, and contested by Portugal and Greece. The two defences ensured that goal-scoring opportunities were limited, and the score was 0–0 at half-time. Greece scored the only goal of the match after 57 minutes when Angelos Basinas took a corner kick to Angelos Charisteas, who sent a header past goalkeeper Ricardo. Several pundits labelled Greece's tournament win the greatest upset in the history of the European Championship, with their pre-tournament bookmakers' odds at 150–1. Greece subsequently failed to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and did not successfully defend their European Championship in 2008. Portugal eventually won the European Championship in 2016. (Full article...)

July 14: Bastille Day in France (1789); Festino di Santa Rosalia begins in Palermo, Italy

Machu Picchu

• 1791 – The Priestley Riots, targeting religious dissenters such as Joseph Priestley, began in Birmingham, England.
• 1874 – A fire destroyed 812 structures and killed 20 people in Chicago, leading to reforms in the city's fire-prevention and firefighting efforts.
• 1902 – An expedition led by Peruvian explorer and farmer Agustín Lizárraga discovered the Incan city of Machu Picchu (pictured).
• 1950 – Korean War: North Korean troops began attacking the headquarters of the American 24th Infantry Division in present-day Daejeon, South Korea.
• 2003 – Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative was leaked to and published by journalist Robert Novak.

July 14

Happy Chandler (July 14, 1898 – June 15, 1991) was the 44th governor of Kentucky (1935–1939), a member of the U.S. Senate, the commissioner of baseball, and the 49th governor of Kentucky (1955–1959). In his first term as governor, he oversaw the repeal of the sales tax, replacing the lost revenue with new excise taxes and the state's first income tax, and helped improve the state's education and transportation systems. He resigned as governor so his successor could appoint him to the Senate. A fiscal conservative and disciple of Virginia's Harry F. Byrd, Chandler opposed parts of Roosevelt's New Deal and openly disagreed with the president's decision to prioritize European operations in World War II over the Pacific War. In 1945, he resigned his Senate seat to become the commissioner of baseball, succeeding Kenesaw Mountain Landis. He approved Jackie Robinson's contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, initiating the racial integration of Major League Baseball. Photograph credit: Harris & Ewing; restored by Kentuckian Recently featured: The Death of Marat Village weaver Brooklyn Navy Yard Archive More featured pictures

July 15

Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. Beginning as a cellist and conductor, Offenbach first wrote small-scale one-act pieces, limited by theatrical licensing laws. These eased by 1858 when he premiered his first full-length operetta, Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld). La belle Hélène (1864) and other successes followed. The risqué humour (often about sexual intrigue) and gentle satire in these pieces, together with Offenbach's facility for melody, made them internationally known, and he was a powerful influence on later operetta and musical theatre composers. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st century. The Tales of Hoffmann remains part of the standard opera repertory. (Full article...)

July 15: Marine Day in Japan (2024)

Psy

• 1799 – French soldiers at Fort Julien, near the Egyptian port city of Rashid, uncovered the Rosetta Stone, an essential key in the decipherment of ancient Egyptian scripts.
• 1870 – Manitoba was established as a province of Canada following the transfer of Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company.
• 1943 – The all-female Emilia Plater Independent Women's Battalion was formed in the Soviet Union's First Polish Army.
• 2009 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashed in northwestern Iran, killing all 168 people aboard.
• 2012 – South Korean rapper Psy (pictured) released his hit single Gangnam Style.

July 15

Daniel Radcliffe

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, a 2011 fantasy film directed by David Yates from a screenplay by Steve Kloves, won 37 awards from 101 nominations, with particular recognition for its acting (mainly that of Daniel Radcliffe – pictured), musical score, production design, and visual effects. It received three nominations at the 84th Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects. At the 65th British Academy Film Awards, the film was nominated for Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Makeup and Hair, and won Best Special Visual Effects. It received four nominations at the 17th Critics' Choice Awards and won two awards. The National Board of Review selected The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 as one of the top-ten films of 2011. (Full list...)

July 15

The bronze-winged jacana (Metopidius indicus) is a wader in the family Jacanidae. It is found across South and Southeast Asia. Like other jacanas it forages on lilies and other floating aquatic vegetation, using its long feet and legs for balance. The sexes are alike but females are slightly larger and are polyandrous, maintaining a harem of males during the breeding season in the monsoon rains. Males maintain territories, with one male in the harem chosen to incubate the eggs and take care of the young. When threatened, young chicks may be carried to safety by the male under his wings. This bronze-winged jacana was photographed in Vembanad lake, Kerala, India. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp Recently featured: Happy Chandler The Death of Marat Village weaver Archive More featured pictures

July 16

Automatic tube loader of B Reactor at the Hanford Engineer Works

The Hanford Engineer Works (HEW) was a nuclear production complex in Benton County in the US state of Washington, established in early 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II. Plutonium manufactured at the HEW was used in the atomic bomb detonated in the Trinity test on 16 July 1945, and the Fat Man bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. DuPont was the prime contractor for its design, construction and operation. The land acquisition was one of the largest in US history. The construction workforce reached a peak of nearly 45,000 in June 1944. B Reactor, the world's first full-scale plutonium production nuclear reactor, went critical in September 1944, followed by D and F Reactors in December 1944 and February 1945, respectively. The HEW suffered an outage on 10 March 1945 due to a Japanese balloon bomb. The total cost of the HEW up to December 1946 was more than $348 million (equivalent to $4.1 billion in 2023). (Full article...)

July 16

Impact site of Shoemaker-Levy 9's fragment G on Jupiter's cloud-tops

• 1377 – The ten-year-old Richard II was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
• 1782 – Mozart's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail premiered in Vienna, after which Emperor Joseph II anecdotally remarked that it had "too many notes".
• 1950 – Korean War: A Korean People's Army unit massacred 31 prisoners of war of the U.S. Army on a mountain near the village of Tuman.
• 1994 – Fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 began colliding with the planet Jupiter (impact site pictured), with the first impact causing a fireball that reached a peak temperature of 24,000 kelvin.
• 2004 – Millennium Park, a public park in Chicago, Illinois, and the world's largest rooftop garden, opened to the public.

July 16

The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen.

In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines.