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TIL the name X-Ray came from its discoverer Wilhelm Röntgen while he investigated many properties of the new rays. He temporarily termed them "X-rays", using the mathematical designation ("X") for something unknown.

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WkrpB TIL what jauhar is. During foreign invasions of India, women would often throw themselves onto pyres when they felt a war or battle was lost or beyond victory. This was to avoid pillage and plunder. The practice is no longer around today, and was phased out around the Mughal era.
6E4j7 TIL the origins of Chemotherapy come from mustard gas during WWII when scientists realized that it damaged DNA and decreased the formation of blood cells by the bone marrow. They wondered if similar compounds would have a similar effect on cancer cell proliferation. And so Chemo was born.
9YmjG TIL that in Canada it's legal to pirate something for personal, non commercial use.
OG6kR TIL of the "Pittsburgh Toilet". A basement toilet configuration with no surrounding walls
8l14 TIL Income tax in the UK was a temporary measure introduced to pay for the Napoleonic wars. It’s still a temporary tax, which will expire if not renewed by an act of parliament each year.