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TIL that in 1869, physicist Ludvig Lorenz developed an equation for the relationship between the refractive index of a medium and it's density. In 1878, unrelated physicist Hendrick Lorentz independantly discovered the same equation. The result is called the Lorentz–Lorenz equation.

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d8PBE TIL on April 27, 2011, 360 total tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down in 21 states spanning from Texas to New York and southern Canada, killing 348 in total and making it the largest and deadliest tornado outbreaks recorded.
p8QX4 TIL As late as 1000 B.C. lions idled on the banks of the Nile—and some even lounged in palaces as domesticated pets for the royals. Very rare lion mummies discovered in Egypt, until today, only one lion mummy had been found by Egyptologists.
5VY5p TIL that while impressed by his book "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica", the UK's science academy couldn't publish Isaac Newton's book due to being nearly bankrupt from spending all of its money printing the "History of Fish". Thankfully, scientist Edmond Halley's funded the printing.
7rV4M TIL that actress Lucy Liu has also led a successful career as a visual artist, having produced art through painting, photography, and mixed media. She's published this art under the pseudonym, Yu Ling (her Chinese name) since 1993.
epw6n TIL one of the moons of Mars (Phobos) orbits Mars much faster than Mars rotates, and completes an orbit in just 7 hours and 39 minutes. From the surface of Mars it appears to rise in the west, move across the sky in 4 hours and 15 minutes, and set in the east, twice each Martian day.