[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 21: An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump

[Faraaz Damji]

   An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump is a 1768 oil-on-canvas
   painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, part of a series of candlelit
   scenes that Wright painted during the 1760s.  The Air Pump departed
   from previous painting conventions by depicting a scientific subject
   in the reverential manner formerly reserved for scenes of historical
   and religious significance.  Wright was intimately involved in
   depicting the Industrial Revolution and the scientific advances of the
   Enlightenment, but while his paintings were recognized as something
   out of the ordinary by his contemporaries, his provincial status and
   choice of subjects meant the style was never widely imitated.  The
   picture has been owned by the National Gallery since 1863 and is still
   regarded as a masterpiece of British art.  The painting depicts a
   natural philosopher, a forerunner of the modern scientist, recreating
   one of Robert Boyle's air pump experiments, in which a bird is
   deprived of oxygen, before a varied group of onlookers.  The group
   exhibit different reactions, but for most scientific curiosity
   overcomes concern for the bird.  The central figure looks out of the
   picture as if inviting the viewer's participation in the outcome.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Experiment_on_a_Bird_in_the_Air_Pump


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Today's selected anniversaries:

1831:
   In Brussels, Leopold I was inaugurated as the first King of the
   Belgians.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I_of_Belgium)

1861:
   In the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle in the
   American Civil War, the Confederate Army under Joseph E.  Johnston and
   P.  G.  T.  Beauregard routed Union Army troops under Irvin McDowell.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Bull_Run)

1925:
   Creation-evolution controversy: High school biology teacher John T.
   Scopes was found guilty of violating Tennessee's Butler Act by
   teaching evolution in class.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial)

1954:
   First Indochina War: The Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone was
   established at the Geneva Conference, partitioning Vietnam along the
   17th parallel into North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam
   under Emperor Bao Dai.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_Demilitarized_Zone)


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Wiktionary's Word of the day:

   garrulous: Excessively or tiresomely talkative.
   (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/garrulous)


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Wikiquote of the day:

   If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love.  -- J.
   K.  Rowling in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling)