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Saturday, June 8, 2019

Wikipedia article of the day for June 8, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 8, 2019 is Kim Clijsters.
Kim Clijsters (born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian tennis player who competed professionally from 1997 to 2012. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, she won four Grand Slam singles titles, including three US Open championships. Together with Justine Henin, she established Belgium as a force in women's tennis, leading their country to its first Fed Cup crown in 2001. Clijsters won forty-one Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles titles, including three WTA Tour Championships. After retiring at the age of 23, Clijsters returned to tennis and won a record-tying three Grand Slam singles titles as a mother on the way to becoming the only mother to be ranked No. 1 in singles by the WTA. She was known for her athleticism, in particular her ability to perform splits on court in the middle of points. Clijsters won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award eight times. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017.

Friday, June 7, 2019

Wikipedia article of the day for June 7, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 7, 2019 is History of aluminium.
The history of aluminium in human usage goes back at least 2,500 years, when its compound alum was used for dyeing and city defense. During the Middle Ages, alum was traded in international commerce. In the Age of Enlightenment, the earth of alum, alumina, was shown to be an oxide of a new metal which was then discovered in the 1820s. Pure aluminium remained scarce until industrial production began in 1856; since the 1886 discovery of the Hall–Héroult process, production has grown exponentially. Engineering and construction applications began in the first half of the 20th century; aluminium was a vital strategic resource for aviation during both world wars. In 1954, it surpassed copper as the most produced non-ferrous metal. In the following decades, aluminium production spread throughout the world, and the metal became an exchange commodity and gained usage in transportation and packaging. Aluminium production in the 21st century exceeds that of all other non-ferrous metals combined.