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Margaret Sibella Brown (1866–1961) was a Canadian amateur bryologist specializing in species native to Nova Scotia. Early in her career she was involved with gathering sphagnum moss to be used as surgical dressings during World War I, when cotton was in short supply. After the war, she researched mosses from around the world, publishing papers on materials she had collected herself as well as cataloging samples collected by others; her collections are now housed at major herbaria in North America and Europe. Born into upper-class society, Brown was educated in Nova Scotia and abroad. Although lacking formal scientific training, she has been recognized for her contributions to bryology and as an authority on the mosses and liverworts of Nova Scotia. At the age of 84, Brown was awarded an honorary MA degree from Acadia University after declining their offer of a PhD. She died at her home in Halifax aged 95 and in 2010 was posthumously inducted into the Nova Scotia Scientific Hall of Fame. (Full article...) Recently featured: Epistemology Initial campaign of the Breton Civil War Portland spy ring Archive By email More featured articles About
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J. J. Walser Jr. House ... that Chicago's deteriorating J. J. Walser Jr. House (pictured) has not been repaired because it is unclear who owns the house? ... that the lifeboat Sir William Hillary was sent to Dover in case of aircraft crashes, but did not save anyone from an aircraft in ten years' service with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution? ... that Martha Burgess's 1993 sculpture of two female World War II personnel kissing was inspired by the photograph V-J Day in Times Square? ... that on the first day of the 1995 São Tomé and Príncipe coup d'état, President Miguel Trovoada emerged from hiding in his pajamas and nightgown? ... that Marcia Coyle, who covers the U.S. Supreme Court for PBS News Hour, got her start in journalism by writing obituaries? ... that Dutch East India Company officials considered the inhabitants of the Bungku Kingdom to be "the fiercest of all Malukan peoples"? ... that Ardo Hansson was appointed to the committee overseeing the transition from the Soviet ruble to the Estonian kroon as a replacement for someone who fell ill? ... that Keurbos's placement within arthropods is uncertain, as its two surviving fossils lack limbs? ... that Green Thumb Industries produces cannabis on lands of a former prison? Archive Start a new article Nominate an article

In the news

Mark Carney

In Canada, the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney (pictured), wins the most seats in the federal election.
A major power outage affects most of the Iberian Peninsula.
An explosion and fire at the Port of Shahid Rajaee, Iran, kills at least 70 people and injures more than 1,200 others.
At least 11 people are killed in a car-ramming attack at a street festival in Vancouver, Canada.
Militants attack a group of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 26 people.

On this day...

May 2: Flag Day in Poland

Mireya Moscoso in 2012

1559 – Presbyterian clergyman John Knox returned from exile to lead the Scottish Reformation.
1889 – The Treaty of Wuchale was signed, ending the Italo-Ethiopian War, but differences in translation later led to another war.
1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion attributed to Viet Cong commandos caused the escort carrier USNS Card to sink in the port of Saigon.
1999 – Mireya Moscoso (pictured) became the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
2014 – Two mudslides in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, killed at least 350 people.

Marutha of Tikrit (d. 649)
Mary Moser (d. 1819)
Giacomo Meyerbeer (d. 1864)
Engelbert Humperdinck (b. 1936)

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