Welcome to Wikipedia

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit

Almanac · Categories · Glossaries · Lists · Overviews · Portals · Search · Questions · Site news · Index

	Art		Geography		History	File:Socrates blue.png	Philosophy		Society
	Culture		Health		People		Science		Technology

Today's featured article

Meghan Trainor

Thank You is the second major-label studio album by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. Epic Records released it on May 13, 2016. Trainor wrote it with Jacob Kasher Hindlin and producer Ricky Reed, among others, incorporating various genres to showcase her versatility. Thank You is a pop, dance-pop, and R&B album with themes such as self-acceptance, empowerment, and fame. Trainor promoted it with televised performances and the Untouchable Tour (2016). Thank You's singles included "No" and "Me Too", which reached the top twenty in the US. A few reviewers thought its production was an improvement from her 2015 album Title, while others believed it lacked artistic identity and criticized the lyrical themes. Thank You debuted at number three in the US. It reached the top five in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, and the United Kingdom and received Platinum certifications in the US and Canada. (This article is part of two featured topics: Thank You (Meghan Trainor album) and Meghan Trainor albums.)

Recently featured:

{{{Image text}}} Today's featured picture

{{{caption}}}

Wikipedia community

Every page on Wikipedia is a collaborative effort. But there are some special places reserved for specific types of discussion and assistance. Find what you're looking for here:

Help (contents) — Use this if you need help editing. There is also a comprehensive range of help articles available here. You can ask a question about using Wikipedia at the Help Desk.
Community bulletin board — Requests for help within the Wikipedia community.
The Village Pump — These are main discussion forums for Wikipedia.
The Signpost — This is Wikipedia's local newspaper.
The Community Portal — This is the center of community involvement. Learn about projects and activities you can join to help improve Wikipedia.

Collaborations — Weekly, monthly, and ongoing collaborative article improvement drives within specific subject areas.
Reference Desk — Help other Wikipedians who are looking for specific information by answering their subject-related questions at the reference desk (like a library's information desk).
Local Embassy — For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Department of Fun — Dedicated to FUN on Wikipedia.
Clinic for Wikipediholics — Sign-in to Wikipedia!
Welcoming committee — Greet newcomers.
Wikipedia Boot Camp — Take a crash course about Wikipedia!

In the News

Aurora borealis seen from Southern England

A series of solar storms impact Earth, creating aurorae (pictured) at lower latitudes than usual.
Former prime minister of Fiji Frank Bainimarama is sentenced to one year in prison for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Mahamat Déby is declared the winner of the Chadian presidential election.
Flooding in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, leaves more than 110 people dead and at least 140 others missing.
Kyren Wilson wins the World Snooker Championship.

Did you know?

COSMOS field, imaged by CFHT

... that the COSMOS field (pictured) is the largest contiguous survey of the universe ever taken by the Hubble Space Telescope?
... that Harrogate War Memorial, by Ernest Prestwich, names 1163 casualties of the First and Second World Wars, of whom more than 300 have unknown graves, and the youngest was 15 years old?
... that within a week of its upload, YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind became YouTube's most-disliked video of all time?
... that no voting was held in four out of six curiae in the 1916 Warsaw City Council election, as the Polish and Jewish parties had agreed on a single joint candidate slate?
... that Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority general manager Phillip Eng brews his own beer?
... that the oldest complete versions of the Book of Jonah and 1 Peter are from a 3rd-century codex discovered in Egypt in 1952?
... that social media influencer Andrew Tate described himself as "absolutely a misogynist"?
... that when the Bukharian-Jewish Soviet newspaper Bajroqi Miⱨnat switched to the Latin script, it initially did not use capital letters, following Jewish writing rules?
... that actress Edna May Sperl's fiancé was arrested on the day of her wedding by a federal marshal because her fiancé's father opposed the marriage?

On this day...

May 12

B-17 bombers intercepting the Rex

1743 – War of the Austrian Succession: Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa was crowned Queen of Bohemia after Austrian forces drove French troops from the territory.
1938 – During an exercise to demonstrate air power, United States Army Air Corps bomber aircraft intercepted the Italian ocean liner SS Rex (pictured) 620 nautical miles (1,100 km) off the US Atlantic coast.
1948 – The United Kingdom publicly announced that it was independently developing nuclear weapons, after the US Atomic Energy Act of 1946 ended cooperation on the matter.
1968 – Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force began the defence of Fire Support Base Coral in the largest unit-level action of the war for the Australian Army.
1998 – Four students were shot and killed by Indonesian soldiers at Trisakti University in Jakarta, which led to widespread riots and the resignation of President Suharto nine days later.

Thomas Palaiologos (d. 1465)
Otto Frank (b. 1889)
Moto Hagio (b. 1949)

More anniversaries:

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: