Images Dated 20th February 2006

Abraham Lincoln and his son Tad, 9 February 1864

Abraham Lincoln and his son Tad, 9 February 1864. Lincoln (1809-1865) was the sixteenth President of the United States of America (1861-1865). On Good Friday, 14 April 1865, while at Ford's Theatre, Washington, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth and died the following morning. His son Thomas, also known as Tad (1853-1871), died at the age of 18, probably of tuberculosis

© Art Media / Heritage-Images

St Elmos fire

St Elmo's fire. Historical artwork of St Elmo's fire glowing from the tops of a ship's masts. St Elmo's fire is a continuous electrical discharge that occurs towards the end of thunderstorms. The air between the surface and the clouds becomes strongly electrically charged. The electrical fields are most intense at the tips of pointed objects, such as a ship's masts. These very strong electrical fields ionise, or excite, the air molecules, changing them to a plasma state and causing them to release energy as light, resulting in a glow. The ship in this illustration is Christopher Columbus's caravel

© SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Cape Evans hut, Antarctica

Cape Evans hut. Food supplies in the wooden hut built by the British explorer Robert F. Scott (1868-1912) and his team during the build-up to the South Pole Expedition of 1910-1912. The expedition ended in failure, with the death of Scott and several of his men. The interior of the hut has remained largely untouched and many of the items are as the explorers left them. The hut is located on Cape Evans, Ross Island, Antarctica, and is part of the McMurdo Station, a research facility operated by the US government. Photographed in the 2005/2006 summer season

© DAVID VAUGHAN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY