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TIL of Margaret Dickson, a woman who was hanged for the murder of her baby. She later woke up in her coffin and was given a full pardon, living till old age. To prevent that from repeating the sentence for hanging was officially changed to "hanged by the neck UNTIL DEAD", where it remains today.

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vPdvj TIL in the 1880s, the director of Harvard Observatory was dissatisfied with his team and remarked, "My Scottish maid could do better!" He hired Williamina Fleming, his Scottish maid. For decades, Fleming led a team that made significant discoveries, including white dwarfs and the Horsehead Nebula.
RKM1 TIL Hermann Goering banned vivisection and announced an end to the “unbearable torture and suffering in animal experiments” and said that those who “still think they can continue to treat animals as inanimate property” will be sent to concentration camps.
ln0V TIL that ships are often built with coins inside them, a tradition started by the Romans
wLpLJ TIL On July 21, 1861, the first major battle of the American Civil War, known in the North as the First Battle of Bull Run and in the South as the Battle of First Manassas, also earned the nickname the “Picnic Battle” because spectators showed up with sandwiches and opera glasses to watch the battle
5wgB TIL that the hubble telescope required the most perfect mirror ever created. Work on it had to be done at night because the vibrations caused by cars driving 4 miles away were enough to cause damage.