› added 3 years ago

119

TIL of Laura Bassi, the first woman to have a doctorate in science. She was privately tutored till she was 20, when the archbishop of Bologna noticed her talent and became her patron. She earned her doctorate at 21 by defending 49 theses before professors of the University of Bologna.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

P1N5e TIL Australian James Harrison learned that his blood contained a rare antibody capable of treating Rhesus disease, a condition causing miscarriages and infant deaths. Over six decades, Harrison's plasma donations are estimated to have saved over 2.4 million babies.
KYBM4 TIL that the emperor Caligula exploited his descent from both Augustus and Mark Antony as a pretext to punish a senator for commemorating the victory of the former over the latter at the Battle of Actium
xVEL0 TIL Knott's Berry Farm did a Cinco de Mayo promotion where guests would enter the park for only 5 cents. The park closed its gates at 10 a.m. after reaching capacity, turning away 4,000 people from the park, and getting so hectic that over 200 officers in riot gear were called in to restore order.
e0xg4 TIL the Milano cookie was created as a result of Pepperidge Farm's original cookie the Naples, a single vanilla wafer with dark chocolate filling on top. When shipped to warmer climates, the cookies would end up stuck together. The company resolved the problem by sandwiching Naples cookies together.
9wd5m TIL: In Sweden there’s a tradition to watch a Donald Duck’s Christmas special since 1959