The Lincoln cent is a cent coin (or penny) which has been struck by the
United States Mint since 1909. The obverse or heads side was designed
by Victor David Brenner, as was the original reverse. The coin has seen
several reverse, or tails designs, and now bears one by Lyndall Bass
depicting a Union shield. In 1905, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens was
hired by the Mint to redesign the cent and the four gold coins, which
did not require congressional approval. Two of Saint-Gaudens's proposed
designs for the cent were eventually adapted for the gold pieces, but
Saint-Gaudens died in August 1907 before submitting additional designs
for the cent. In January 1909, the Mint engaged Brenner to design a
cent depicting the late President Abraham Lincoln. Brenner's design was
eventually approved, and the new coins were issued to great public
interest on August 2, 1909. Brenner's initials, on the reverse at its
base, were deemed too prominent once the coins were issued, and were
removed within days of the release. The initials were restored, this
time on Lincoln's shoulder, in 1918. The coin was struck in steel in
1943 to aid in the war effort. Brenner's reverse was replaced in 1959
by a depiction of the Lincoln Memorial by Frank Gasparro. The Lincoln
Memorial reverse was itself replaced in 2009 by commemorative designs
marking the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. Beginning in 2010, Bass's
shield design was coined.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_cent>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1657:
Citizens of New Netherland presented the Flushing Remonstrance to
Director-General Peter Stuyvesant, requesting an exemption to his ban
on Quaker worship.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flushing_Remonstrance>
1922:
The Imperial Japanese Navy commissioned Hōshō , the world's first
purpose-built aircraft carrier.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_H%C5%8Dsh%C5%8D>
1949:
Indonesian National Revolution: Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed
papers that relinquished sovereignty of most of the Dutch East Indies,
officially recognising the independence of Indonesia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_National_Revolution>
1978:
Juan Carlos I of Spain promulgated a new constitution after it was
passed by a referendum on December 6, marking the culmination of the
Spanish transition to democracy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Constitution_of_1978>
2004:
Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reached Earth,
the most magnetic object ever perceived by mankind, with a magnetic
field of over 1015 gauss in intensity.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGR_1806-20>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
inexorably (adv):
In an inexorable manner; without the possibility of stopping or
preventing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inexorably>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is
the torch which illuminates the world.
--Louis Pasteur
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur>