Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Drawing of a Helgoland-class battleship

SMS Oldenburg was the fourth Helgoland-class battleship of the Imperial German Navy. Built between 1909 and 1912 at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Danzig, Oldenburg was assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for most of her career, including World War I. Oldenburg participated in all of the major fleet operations during the conflict against the British Grand Fleet, including the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916, the largest naval battle of the war. The ship also saw action in the Baltic Sea against the Imperial Russian Navy. After the German collapse in November 1918, most of the High Seas Fleet was interned and then scuttled in Scapa Flow during the peace negotiations. The four Helgoland-class ships remained in Germany but were ceded to the Allied powers as war reparations; Oldenburg was given to Japan, which sold the vessel to a British ship-breaking firm in 1920. She was scrapped in Dordrecht in 1921. (This article is part of a featured topic: Battleships of Germany.)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Dudleya cymosa subsp. pumila

... that the Sonoran blue butterfly uses Dudleya cymosa subsp. pumila (pictured) as a larval foodplant and hummingbirds feed on its nectar?
... that the Twin Parks housing project in New York City, the site of a January 2022 fire that killed seventeen people, won architectural awards after it was constructed in the early 1970s?
... that Australian neurosurgeon Jeffrey Rosenfeld led the team developing a wireless device that promises to give limited vision to the totally blind?
... that the Little Theatre, once deemed a "gem among playhouses", was later planned to be replaced by a driveway for The New York Times?
... that the 1810s reign of Ioan Caragea introduced Wallachia to carom billiards, sugar sculptures, and an eponymous plague?
... that La Poutine Week is the world's largest poutine festival, with 700 restaurants serving 350,000 people?
... that while waiting for an interview, journalist Rod Beaton was involved in a shoving incident with baseball player Barry Bonds?
... that the Godzilla Megamullion is at least ten times larger than all other known megamullions?

In the news

António Costa

The Socialist Party, led by António Costa (pictured), wins a majority of seats in the Portuguese legislative election.
Sergio Mattarella is re-elected as president of Italy.
In Burkina Faso, a coup d'état led by military officer Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba deposes President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.
Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh dies at the age of 95.

On this day

February 1: Feast day of Saint Brigid of Kildare (Western Christianity); the Fajr decade begins in Iran; Black History Month begins in North America

Skyline of Kuala Lumpur

1327 – Fourteen-year-old Edward III was crowned King of England, but with the country ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
1662 – Sino-Dutch conflicts: The Dutch East India Company's rule in Taiwan ended after a siege by the Ming loyalist Koxinga, who established the Kingdom of Tungning on the island.
1942 – Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States federal government, began broadcasting with programs aimed at Axis-controlled areas during World War II.
1972 – Kuala Lumpur (pictured), the capital of Malaysia, became the first settlement in the country to be granted city status since independence.
2012 – Following an Egyptian Premier League match in Port Said, Al Masry fans rioted and violently attacked Al Ahly supporters, resulting in 74 deaths.

Alexios I of Trebizond (d. 1222)
Clara Butt (b. 1872)
Hassan Al-Turabi (b. 1932)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Valerie Thomas (born 1943) is an American scientist and inventor. She invented the illusion transmitter, for which she received a patent in 1980, and was responsible for developing digital image processing systems used in the early years of the Landsat program, a satellite-imagery program run by NASA and the United States Geological Survey. This photograph, taken in 1979, depicts Thomas standing next to a stack of early Landsat computer compatible tapes.

Photograph credit: NASA; restored by Adam Cuerden

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Teahouse – To ask your first basic questions about contributing to Wikipedia.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.

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: