Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 December 6b

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From today's featured article

Monier Williams

The 1860 Boden Professor of Sanskrit election at the University of Oxford involved candidates with different approaches to Sanskrit scholarship. One was Monier Williams (pictured), an Oxford-educated Englishman and teacher of Sanskrit to those preparing to work in British India. The other, Max Müller, was a German-born specialist in comparative philology. The election came as Britain debated its role in India following the 1857 rebellion. Williams saw the study of Sanskrit as a tool in the conversion of India to Christianity. Müller saw his work as also valuable for its own sake. Both men battled for the votes of Oxford graduates through manifestos and advertisements, and received newspaper endorsements. Special trains to Oxford were provided on the day of the election, 7 December 1860, for non-residents to cast votes. Williams won by a majority of more than 220 votes. Thereafter, he helped to establish the Indian Institute at Oxford, received a knighthood, and held the chair until his death in 1899. (Full article...)

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Jacquetta Hawkes

... that archaeologist and prehistorian Jacquetta Hawkes (pictured) co-founded the Homosexual Law Reform Society and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament?
... that for more than a decade, WNJC-FM at Northwest Mississippi Junior College was the state's only public radio station?
... that when David Bowie performed "Golden Years" on Soul Train in 1975, he was incoherent and visibly intoxicated?
... that gameplay in the board game Oceans ends once the ocean zones are depopulated of fish?
... that Awet Tesfaiesus was the first black woman ever elected to the Bundestag?
... that Eric Schmidt developed Berknet, an early wide area network system, in 1978 while he was a student at Berkeley University?
... that Zeliha Ağrıs started performing taekwondo at age ten and became a world champion when she was 19?
... that OK Kosher got the OK for .kosher in January 2014?

In the news

Damage from the eruption of Mount Semeru

On the Indonesian island of Java, Mount Semeru erupts (damage pictured), killing 22 people and injuring more than 50 others.
The Indian agriculture acts are repealed after a year of protests by farmers.
Xiomara Castro is elected as the first female President of Honduras.
Magdalena Andersson, who resigned a week earlier after less than one day as prime minister–designate, is re-elected as Prime Minister of Sweden.

On this day

December 6: Saint Nicholas Day (Western Christianity); Independence Day in Finland (1917)

Camp X

963 – Pope Leo VIII began his papacy as antipope of Rome.
1803 – Haitian Revolution: Nearly all the final French ships in Haiti were captured by the Royal Navy when they attempted to evade the Blockade of Saint-Domingue.
1907 – An explosion destroyed a mine in Monongah, West Virginia, killing 362 miners and leading to the establishment of the United States Bureau of Mines.
1941 – The British Secret Intelligence Service established a facility known as "Camp X" (pictured) in Ontario, Canada, to train covert agents in clandestine operations.
2015 – In Venezuela's parliamentary election, the ruling United Socialist Party lost control of the National Assembly for the first time since 1999.

Maria de Dominici (b. 1645)
Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (b. 1721)
Pete Rozelle (d. 1996)

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Cyclone Heta

The 2003–04 South Pacific cyclone season was a below-average season with three tropical cyclones occurring within the South Pacific to the east of 160°E. The 2003–04 season officially ran from November 1, 2003, to April 30, 2004, with the first disturbance of the season forming on December 4 and the last disturbance dissipating on April 23. During the season at least 16 people were killed from tropical disturbances while overall damage was estimated at $218 million (2004 USD; $299 million 2021 USD). The most damaging tropical disturbance was Cyclone Heta (pictured), which caused at least $211 million (2004 USD; $289 million 2021 USD) in damage to six different countries and left three dead. The deadliest tropical disturbance of the season was Tropical Depression 10F, which was responsible for eleven deaths and caused $2.74 million (2004 USD; $3.75 million 2021 USD) in damage. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Quo Vadis is an Italian silent film directed by Enrico Guazzoni for Cines in 1913, based on the 1896 novel of the same name written by Henryk Sienkiewicz. It was one of the first blockbusters in the history of cinema. This poster for Quo Vadis, produced for George Kleine, the U.S. distributor of the film, depicts the Roman emperor Nero playing a lyre while Rome burns in the background, with the caption "Nero sings while Rome burns".

Poster credit: National Printing & Engraving Company; restored by Adam Cuerden

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