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From today's featured article

Lead is a chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. A heavy metal with a density exceeding that of most common materials, it is malleable and has a low melting point for a metal. Chemically, it is a relatively unreactive post-transition metal. Lead was known to prehistoric people. A principal ore of lead, galena, often bears silver; interest in silver sparked lead extraction and use in ancient Rome. Lead production declined after the fall of Rome and did not reach comparable levels until the Industrial Revolution. Nowadays, global production of lead is about ten million tonnes annually. Its high density, low melting point, high malleability, relative inertness to oxidation, relative abundance, and low cost have resulted in its extensive use in construction, plumbing, batteries, bullets and shot, weights, solders, pewters, fusible alloys, and radiation shielding. In the late 19th century, lead was recognized as highly toxic, and since then it has been phased out for many uses. A neurotoxin that accumulates in soft tissues and bones, it can damage the nervous system and cause brain and blood disorders. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

• Operation Bernhard
• The Fade Out
• Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.

Did you know...

St Peter's Church, Henfield, West Sussex

• ... that when St Peter's Church (pictured) in Henfield needed a bell in the 17th century, the churchwarden stole one from St Leonard's Church in Aldrington?
• ... that suspected anarchist Lazarus Averbuch was shot and killed in the home of Chicago's Chief of Police?
• ... that the History of Medicine Society, founded by Sir William Osler in 1912, is one of the oldest in the world?
• ... that juvenile angular brittle stars can re-enter a plankton phase, allowing them to relocate to a more suitable location?
• ... that Mervyn Brogan was the first Australian Chief of the General Staff to have a university degree?
• ... that the Stadttheater Minden, a municipal theatre without an ensemble, received international attention for its Wagner opera project?
• ... that Howard B. Meek was the founder and dean of the first college to train professional hotel managers?
• ... that the prize in a tournament of Urban Jungle, a driving game developed and set in Croatia, was free real-world driving lessons?

In the news

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

• At least 36 people are killed in riots in Northern India after guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (pictured) is convicted of rape.
• The Supreme Court of India rules that the practice of instant divorce is unconstitutional.
• A total solar eclipse crosses the contiguous United States for the first time since 1918.
• In women's golf, the United States win the Solheim Cup.
• At least 23 people are killed and 156 others are injured in a train accident in Khatauli, India.
• A knife attack in Turku, Finland, kills 2 people and injures 8 others.

Other recent events...

Recent deaths:

• Izak Parviz Nazarian
• James Joseph Dresnok
• Thomas Meehan
• Jerry Lewis

On this day...

August 27

Battle of Grand Port

• 1810 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeated (pictured) the Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de la Passe.
• 1893 – The Sea Islands hurricane made landfall near Savannah, Georgia, U.S., causing at least 1,000 deaths.
• 1927 – Five Canadian women filed a petition to ask the Supreme Court of Canada, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons," to which the court eventually replied that it does not.
• 1942 – Nazi troops and the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police began systematically executing more than 14,000 people, mostly Jews, in and around Sarny in occupied Poland.
• 2013 – Religious violence between Hindus and Muslims erupted in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India, leaving 62 people dead.

Tomás Luis de Victoria (d. 1611) · Man Ray (b. 1890) · Brian Epstein (d. 1967)

More anniversaries:

• August 26
• August 27
• August 28

Today's featured picture

Gordon Tobing (1925–1993) was an Indonesian singer of folk songs, particularly those in the Batak language. Born to a Batak family in Medan, North Sumatra, Tobing moved to Jakarta in 1950 and began working in the entertainment industry. While with Radio Republik Indonesia, he participated in an Indonesian cultural mission to the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students. Over the remainder of his life Tobing was included in numerous similar missions, ultimately travelling to five continents and performing for President Suharto of Indonesia, Crown Prince Akihito of Japan, and other world leaders.

Photograph: Tati Studios, Jakarta; restoration: Chris Woodrich

Recently featured:

• Liberation of Paris
• Chain gang
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