Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 July 4

Half dollar (top) and quarter eagle (bottom)

The United States Sesquicentennial coins, a commemorative half dollar and quarter eagle (gold $2.50 piece) for the 150th anniversary of American independence, were struck in 1926 at the Philadelphia Mint. The half dollar depicts George Washington and then-president Calvin Coolidge, making Coolidge the only president to appear on a U.S. coin while living. The National Sesquicentennial Exhibition Commission was chartered by Congress in 1925, and was allowed to purchase and resell for profit 1,000,000 specially designed half dollars and 200,000 quarter eagles. The Commission had trouble agreeing on designs with Mint Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock, and asked artist John Frederick Lewis to submit sketches. These were adapted by Sinnock for the half dollar, without giving credit to Lewis, whose involvement would not be generally known for forty years. The maximum number of each coin was struck, with many melted when they failed to sell at a premium. The Liberty Bell reverse for the half dollar was reused by Sinnock, again without giving Lewis credit, on his Franklin half dollar, first minted in 1948. (Full article...)

Flag of the United States

• ... that this was the flag of the United States (pictured) in 1815?
• ... that James "Bungy" Watson's nickname was the word used at The King's School, Canterbury, for a rubber?
• ... that the lyrics of Girls' Generation's song "Party" mention drinking lemon soju, mojito and tequila?
• ... that The Imitation Game producer Nora Grossman persuaded Andrew Hodges to let her turn his book into a film even though she had no producing experience?
• ... that 2016 has seen widespread
  rioting and unrest across Sweden
  ?
• ... that Tropical Storm Colin was the earliest third tropical storm ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane season?
• ... that starting in 1991, former test pilot Neil Armstrong hosted an aviation television series, First Flights with Neil Armstrong?

Alexander Van der Bellen (left) and Norbert Hofer (right)

• Two bombings in Baghdad
  kill at least 165 people.
• At least 20 people are killed in
  an armed attack on a bakery in Dhaka
  , Bangladesh.
• The
  2016 presidential election, requiring the round to be re-held (candidates Alexander Van der Bellen and Norbert Hofer
  pictured).
• Istanbul Atatürk Airport
  leaves at least 42 people dead and 230 others injured.
• The conservative
  Spanish repeat election
  but remains short of a majority.

July 4: Aphelion of Earth (16:24 UTC, 2016); Feast day of Ulrich of Augsburg (Roman Catholicism); Republic Day in the Philippines (1946); Independence Day in the United States (1776)

Crab Nebula

• 1054 – Chinese astronomers recorded the sudden appearance of a "guest star", which was in actuality the supernova that created the Crab Nebula (pictured).
• Polish–Muscovite War: The outnumbered forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth defeated the Tsardom of Russia at the Battle of Klushino
  .
• 1855 – The first edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass was published, and it went on to become one of the most important collections of American poetry.
• University of Lwów
  .
• raided Uganda's Entebbe International Airport
  to free hostages taken by hijackers on Air France Flight 139.