GlyphSignal — 2024-08-21 Top Wikipedia Reads

2024-08-21

Top reads and historical moments for this date. 5 min read

Doug Emhoff

413,753 views · 1 min read

Douglas Craig Emhoff is an American lawyer who was the second gentleman of the United States from 2021 to 2025. Married to the 49th vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, who was the first woman in the role, and the Democratic Party's nominee for president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Emhoff was…

Kamala Harris

400,054 views

Kamala Devi Harris is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States fro…

JB Pritzker

348,586 views

Jay Robert "JB" Pritzker is an American politician, lawyer, and businessman serving since 2019 as the 43rd governor of I…

Mike Lynch (businessman)

319,925 views

252,706 views

243,079 views

215,627 views

210,786 views

195,793 views

191,026 views

171,819 views

159,803 views

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On This Day

10 events

2015

Thalys

Passengers on a Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris confronted and subdued an attacker who attempted a mass shooting.

2013

Syrian_civil_war

Syrian civil war: Areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in Ghouta, Damascus, were attacked by rockets (launcher pictured) containing sarin, killing at least 281 people.

2007

BioShock

BioShock was released in North America, becoming a critical success and a demonstration of video games as an art form.

1986

Limnic_eruption

A limnic eruption of Lake Nyos in Cameroon released a cloud of carbon dioxide, suffocating 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock.

1971

San_Quentin_Six

Six people were killed during an escape attempt and riot at San Quentin State Prison in California; the subsequent trial of six inmates was the longest in state history at the time.

1963

Army_of_the_Republic_of_Vietnam_Special_Forces

South Vietnamese special forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, the brother of President Ngô Đình Diệm, raided and vandalised Buddhist pagodas (one pictured) across the country, arresting thousands and leaving hundreds dead.

1945

Harry_Daghlian

American physicist Harry Daghlian accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto a plutonium bomb core, exposing himself to neutron radiation and later becoming the first Manhattan Project fatality due to a criticality accident.

1944

World_War_II

World War II: A combined Canadian–Polish force captured the town of Falaise, France, in the final offensive of the Battle of Normandy.

1942

World_War_II

World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army lost the Battle of the Tenaru, the first of its three major land offensives during the Guadalcanal campaign.

1911

Leonardo_da_Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (pictured) was stolen from the Louvre by museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia and was not recovered until two years later.