The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Russian-American author Ayn Rand. The protagonist, Howard Roark, is an individualistic young architect who designs modernist buildings and refuses to compromise with an architectural establishment unwilling to accept innovation. Roark embodies what Rand believed to be the ideal man, and his struggle reflects Rand's belief that individualism is superior to collectivism. Twelve publishers rejected the manuscript before an editor at the Bobbs- Merrill Company risked his job to get it published. Contemporary reviewers' opinions were mixed. Some praised the novel as a powerful paean to individualism, while others thought it overlong and lacking sympathetic characters. Initial sales were slow, but the book gained a following by word of mouth. It became a bestseller, and more than 6.5 million copies have been sold worldwide. The novel was Rand's first major literary success and has had a lasting influence, especially among architects and right-libertarians.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1697:

Stockholm's royal castle, dating back to the 13th century, was destroyed in a huge fire; the blueprint for the current royal palace was presented within a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Palace

1895:

Alexander Stepanovich Popov presented his radio receiver, refined as a lightning detector, to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stepanovich_Popov

1931:

New York City Police engaged in a two-hour-long shootout with Francis Crowley that was witnessed by 15,000 bystanders before he finally surrendered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Crowley

1960:

Cold War: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced that his country was holding American pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union six days earlier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_U-2_incident

2010:

A team of researchers presented a complete draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome, demonstrating that today's modern humans have Neanderthal ancestors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaic_human_admixture_with_modern_humans

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

scrofulous: 1. (pathology, dated) Of, related to, or suffering from scrofula (form of tuberculosis tending to cause enlarged lymph nodes and skin inflammation). 2. (figuratively) Having an unkempt, unhealthy appearance. 3. (figuratively) Morally degenerate; corrupt. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrofulous

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

There's a tremendous popular fallacy which holds that significant research can be carried out by trying things. Actually it is easy to show that in general no significant problem can be solved empirically, except for accidents so rare as to be statistically unimportant. One of my jests is to say that we work empirically — we use bull's eye empiricism. We try everything, but we try the right thing first!   --Edwin H. Land https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edwin_H._Land