› added 5 years ago

77

TIL that the young Michael Faraday, who would go on to become one of the most influential scientists of all time, was inspired at the age of 14 by a book he found that was written by a woman named Jane Marcet. The book was one she had written on chemistry, with the content adapted for women.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

NKV8 TIL that avocados used to be eaten by giant ground sloths and were saved from extinction by humans
X00WP TIL after General Dwight D. Eisenhower found victims of Nazi concentration camps, he anticipated that in the future there would be attempts to deny what happened. He ordered all possible pictures taken, and had Germans from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and bury the dead.
6Ey4W TIL of a 91 year old Czech granny, "street artist" (Anežka Kašpárková), who paints beautiful murals, with traditional Moravian motifs, on the sides of houses and churches.
PbkE TIL that the fourth richest NBA player of all time (only behind MJ, Magic, and Shaq) was a bench player named Junior Bridgeman.
x6oo1 TIL that when Ireland became independent, the government sought to use the traditional image of the Trinity College harp as its national emblem. However, Guinness trademarked the harp decades before, so the government had to adopt a mirrored image.