Wikipedia:Main Page history/2024 March 12

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From today's featured article  Carl Sagan with a mock-up of a Viking lander The Sagan standard is the aphorism that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". It is named for Carl Sagan (pictured), who used the phrase in his 1979 book Broca's Brain. The standard has been described as fundamental to the scientific method and is regarded as encapsulating the basic principles of scientific skepticism. The Sagan standard is similar to Occam's razor in that both prefer simpler explanations to more complex ones. The Sagan standard is often invoked to challenge data and scientific findings, or to criticize pseudoscientific claims. Similar statements were previously made by figures such as Thomas Jefferson in 1808, Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1814, and Théodore Flournoy in 1899. The formulation "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" was used a year prior to Sagan, by scientific skeptic Marcello Truzzi. It has also been argued that philosopher David Hume first fully characterized the principles of the Sagan standard in his 1748 essay "Of Miracles". (Full article...)

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Ongoing:  Recent deaths&#58;   On this day March 12  Andrew Watson
 * At the Academy Awards, Oppenheimer (director Christopher Nolan pictured) wins seven awards, including Best Picture.
 * Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama, author of Dragon Ball, dies at the age of 68.
 * Sweden becomes the thirty-second member state of NATO.
 * The Haitian government declares a state of emergency after gangs storm two prisons and demand the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
 * Israel–Hamas war
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 * Russian invasion of Ukraine
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 * Jose Concepcion Jr.
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 * 1537 – Croatian–Ottoman wars: After the execution of feudal lord Petar Kružić, Croatian forces at Klis surrendered to the Ottoman forces in exchange for their safe passage to northern locations.
 * 1881 – Andrew Watson (pictured) captained the Scotland national football team against England, becoming the world's first black international footballer.
 * 1947 – Cold War: U.S. president Harry S. Truman proclaimed the Truman Doctrine to help stem the spread of communism.
 * 1952 – British diplomat Lord Ismay was appointed the first secretary general of NATO.
 * 1971 – The Turkish Armed Forces executed a "coup by memorandum", forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel.
 * 2006 – U.S. Army soldiers gang-raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdered her along with her family members.

<templatestyles src="Hlist/styles.css"> <ul><li>William Henry Perkin ( b. 1838)</li><li>Gemma Galgani  ( b. 1878)</li><li>Zhao Wei  ( b. 1976)</li><li>Arina Tanemura ( b. 1978)</li></ul>

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