Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

112,025 active editors
7,009,587 articles in English

From today's featured article

Emmy Noether (1882–1935) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to abstract algebra. Described by Einstein as the most important woman in the history of mathematics, she proved Noether's first and second theorems, fundamental in mathematical physics. Noether's first theorem explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws. She also developed theories of rings, fields, and algebras. Born to a Jewish family in Erlangen; her work in Germany, principally at Göttingen University, came at a time when women were largely excluded from academia there. In 1933, Germany's Nazi government dismissed Jews from university positions, and Noether moved to the U.S., teaching at Bryn Mawr College and at the Institute for Advanced Study. Noether was generous with her ideas and is credited with several lines of research published by others, even in fields far removed from her main work, such as algebraic topology. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Park No. 474 in Chicago

... that the Illinois Institute of Technology created Chicago's smallest park by deeding a 54-square-foot (5 m²) granite slab (pictured) to the city?
... that footballer Franco Mastantuono played youth tennis on a national-level?
... that Franklin Sonn was the first black South African ambassador to the United States?
... that the deportation of Soviet Germans was one of the largest ethnic-cleansing operations of the 20th century?
... that John Linton Chapman, despite his artistic talent, sold potboilers and his relatives' valuable paintings to make a living?
... that Marva Nabili, a member of the Iranian New Wave, made a "haunting" film about the struggles of a family in Manhattan's Chinatown?
... that Rued Langgaard said that his Symphony No. 6 depicts the struggle between Jesus and "spiritual wickedness in high places"?

In the news

Melissa Hortman

In the US state of Minnesota, state representative Melissa Hortman (pictured) is assassinated and state senator John Hoffman is injured.
Israel launches multiple airstrikes across cities in Iran, killing various nuclear scientists and military officials, including IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami.
Air India Flight 171 crashes in Ahmedabad, India, killing 279 people.
The Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson dies at the age of 82.

On this day

June 16: Foundation Day of the Akal Takht (Sikhism)

James Joyce

632 – The final king of the Sasanian Empire of Iran, Yazdegerd III, ascended the throne at the age of eight.
1819 – A strong earthquake in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India, caused a local zone of uplift that dammed the Nara River, which was later named the Allah Bund ('Dam of God').
1904 – Irish author James Joyce (pictured) began a relationship with Nora Barnacle, and subsequently used the date to set the actions for his 1922 novel Ulysses, commemorated as Bloomsday.
1936 – A Junkers Ju 52 aircraft of Norwegian Air Lines crashed into a mountainside near Hyllestad, Norway, killing all seven people on board.
1997 – The English rock band Radiohead released their landmark third album OK Computer in the United Kingdom.

John Cheke (b. 1514)
Tomás Yepes (d. 1674)
Helen Traubel (b. 1899)
Tony Gwynn (d. 2014)

More anniversaries:

From today's featured list

Gen Hoshino

Songs written by Gen Hoshino, a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, and actor, include the majority of songs on his discography, which consists of six studio albums, two extended plays (EPs), and twenty-three singles. Outside of his solo work, he has received non-artist writing credits and guest-performed on singles, cover albums, a remix, and other works. Hoshino began his musical career as the guitarist and marimba player of Sakerock (2000–2015), an instrumental band that he formed with high-school classmates, and released his debut studio album, Baka no Uta, in 2010. His discography also includes soundtrack appearances, annual birthday songs for the comedian Yūki Himura, radio jingles and unreleased tracks, and he has also written songs for other artists. (Full list...)

Recently featured:

Today's featured picture

Sabella pavonina, commonly known as the peacock worm, is a species of marine polychaete worm in the family Sabellidae. It can be found along the coasts of western Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, in shallow, tidal waters with a bed of mud, sand or gravel. The worm is 10 to 25 centimetres (4 to 10 inches) in length, with its body divided into 100 to 600 small segments. The head has two fans of 8 to 45 feathery radioles arising from fleshy, semi-circular lobes. The body is mostly grey-green while the radioles are brown, red or purple with darker bands. This group of S. pavonina worms was photographed with a short-snouted seahorse in a protected marine natural area near Porto Cesareo, Italy.

Photograph credit: Romano Gianluca

Recently featured:

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

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: