› added 4 years ago

159

TIL, about Joan Struthers Curran who, developed Chaff used to disguise where the D Day invasion was going to happen, but was never awarded a Degree in her time "because women were simply not granted degrees". Remarkable

Read more smithsonianmag.com

via reddit.com

da1E TIL the actors who portrayed the king and queen in “Coming to America” were the same actors that play the king and queen in “The Lion King” (James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair)
7rvpZ TIL John Krasinski wore a wig in season 3 of The Office so he could film Leatherheads. Krasinski pitched the idea to the producer who rejected it because it would be too obvious. John, who was wearing the wig during the meeting, told him it wouldn't be, took off the wig, and was granted approval.
OG8Y7 TIL that in 1847, during the Mexican-American War, 6 Mexican Cadets refused to retreat at the Battle of Chapultepec Castle and were killed. In 1947 President Harry S Truman paid his respects at their memorial saying "Brave men don't belong to any one country. I respect bravery wherever I see it."
MnJ0 TIL that until 2011, anything containing less than 10% alcohol in Russia was considered a foodstuff, not an alcoholic beverage.
ADNXo Of all the bodies in our solar system, the sun is probably the one we want to give the widest berth. It gushes radiation, and even though its surface is the coolest part of the star, it burns at about 9,940°F, hot enough to incinerate just about any material. As such, there are no plans to send a manned mission in its direction anytime soon (Mars is much more interesting, anyway), but it can't hurt to figure out at what distance a person would want to turn back. You can get surprisingly close.