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J. Havens Richards (November 8, 1851 – June 9, 1923) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit. Born to a prominent Ohio family, he was secretly baptized as an infant by his father, an Episcopal priest who converted to Catholicism. Richards studied at Boston College and Woodstock College. In 1888, he became the president of Georgetown University. For the next decade, he instituted reforms that helped transform the school into a modern, comprehensive university. He enlarged the graduate programs, medical school, and law school, established the university hospital, improved the astronomical observatory, and oversaw the completion of Healy Hall and construction of Dahlgren Chapel. Richards also managed tensions with the newly founded Catholic University of America, located in the same city, and fought anti-Catholicism in the Ivy League, particularly at Harvard Law School. In his later years, he held senior positions at Jesuit institutions throughout the northeastern United States. (Full article...)

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In the news

Francesco Bagnaia

In motorcycle racing, Francesco Bagnaia (pictured) wins the MotoGP World Championship.
Precision Air Flight 494 crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, killing 19 of the 43 people onboard.
In baseball, the Houston Astros defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
The Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces sign a peace treaty, agreeing to end the Tigray War.
In the Israeli legislative election, the national camp, led by the Likud party and Benjamin Netanyahu, wins a majority of seats.

On this day

November 8: Guru Nanak Gurpurab (Sikhism, 2022)

Shunzhi Emperor

960 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Having been the target of many raids by the Emirate of Aleppo, Byzantine forces led by Leo Phokas the Younger ambushed the Hamdanids and annihilated their army.
1291 – A law was passed that confined most of Venice's glassmaking industry to nearby Murano.
1644 – The Shunzhi Emperor (portrait shown), the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, was enthroned in Beijing after the collapse of the Ming dynasty as the first Qing emperor to rule over China.
1965 – Vietnam War: In the Battle of Gang Toi, one of the earliest battles between the two sides, Viet Cong forces repelled an Australian attack.

Lettice Knollys (b. 1543)
Thomas Bewick (d. 1828)
Johannes Latuharhary (d. 1959)

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Today's featured picture

The Isaiah Scroll, designated 1QIsa^a and also known as the Great Isaiah Scroll, is one of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls that were discovered by Bedouin shepherds in 1946 from the Qumran Caves in the Judaean Desert, near the Dead Sea. The scroll is written in Hebrew and contains the entire Book of Isaiah from beginning to end, apart from a few small damaged portions. It is the oldest complete copy of the Book of Isaiah, being approximately one thousand years older than the oldest Hebrew manuscripts known before the scrolls' discovery. 1QIsa^a is the only scroll from the Qumran Caves to be preserved almost in its entirety.

Photograph credit: Google Art Project and the Israel Museum

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