From today's featured article
Dorothy Olsen (1916–2019) was an American aircraft pilot and member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II. She developed an interest in aviation at a young age and earned her private pilot's license in 1939, when it was unusual for women to be pilots. In 1943, Olsen joined the newly formed WASPs as a civil service employee. After training in Texas, she was assigned to the Sixth Ferrying Group in Long Beach, California, where she worked ferrying new aircraft from the factories where they were built to U.S. airbases. She flew more than 20 types of military airplanes, including high-performance fighters – such as the P-51 and the twin-engine P-38 – which she favored over larger aircraft such as bombers. After the war, Olsen retired from flying and moved to the state of Washington, where she married, raised a family, and lived for the rest of her life. In 2009, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal honoring her service during the war. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that the magazine Al-Asma'i (pictured), one of the first publications to emerge in Ottoman Palestine in 1908, was opposed to Zionism and frequently criticized Jewish immigration?
- ... that One Chun, a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand restaurant, has black-and-white televisions, transistor radios, and aged clocks on a wall?
- ... that Heike Heubach became the first deaf member of the German Bundestag?
- ... that larvae of the species Carabus japonicus prey on earthworms up to 400 times larger than themselves?
- ... that John Quincy Adams described Jonathan Elliot, his former printer, as "penurious and venal"?
- ... that an Irish comedy group wrote the film Apocalypse Clown?
- ... that scholars debate whether Anactoria, mentioned in Sappho's poems, was a real person, a pseudonym, or an invention of Sappho?
- ... that American Colossus, a history book that describes how a banker bailed out the U.S. government in 1895, was published around a time when the U.S. government bailed out banks?
- ... that football player Joe Gray was nicknamed the "Gray Ghost" because when running "it was like he wasn't there anymore"?
In the news
- Following the Solomon Islands general election, Jeremiah Manele (pictured) becomes the prime minister.
- Acting prime minister of Haiti Ariel Henry resigns, and the Transitional Presidential Council is sworn in.
- NASA announces that the Voyager 1 space probe is sending readable data for the first time in five months.
- The HDZ-led coalition wins the most seats in the Croatian parliamentary election but falls short of a majority.
- Ichthyotitan, the largest known marine reptile, is formally described.
On this day
May 4: Youth Day in China; Literary Day in Taiwan; Star Wars Day
- 1493 – Pope Alexander VI (pictured) issued the papal bull Inter caetera, establishing a line of demarcation dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal.
- 1776 – American Revolution: The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations became the first of the Thirteen Colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown.
- 1942 – World War II: Aircraft from Imperial Japanese Navy vessels attacked Allied naval forces, beginning the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval action in which the participating ships never sighted or fired directly at each other.
- 1974 – An all-female Japanese team reached the summit of Manaslu in the Himalayas, becoming the first women to climb a peak higher than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) above sea level.
- 1979 – Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom.
- John Nevison (d. 1684)
- Nettie Stevens (d. 1912)
- Audrey Hepburn (b. 1929)
Today's featured picture
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
Free media repository
Wiki software development
Wikimedia project coordination
Free textbooks and manuals
Free knowledge base
Free-content news
Collection of quotations
Free-content library
Directory of species
Free learning tools
Free travel guide
Dictionary and thesaurus
Wikipedia languages
This Wikipedia is written in English. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.
- 1,000,000+ articles
- 250,000+ articles
- 50,000+ articles