› added 12 years ago

83

TIL that the first woman to earn a PhD in Computer Science in the United States also earned a Masters degree in Mathematics and Physics, helped develop computer programming languages, AND she was a Catholic nun.

Read more womcs.cmu.edu

via reddit.com

nWy1d TIL that John Armstrong Jr was the last surviving member of the Continental Congress and lived up until 1843, dying at age 84.
9wB7Q TIL of Eduard Bloch, Hitler’s family physician that was Jewish. He billed the family at a reduced cost and sometimes refused to bill them when Hitler’s mother was dying of breast cancer. Years later, Hitler gave Bloch special protection and allowed him to emigrate to the United States.
BP4d TIL in December 1939, a ten year old Martin Luther King Jr. was dressed as a slave and sang in a boy’s choir at the premiere of the film “Gone With the Wind.” Two black actresses in the film were prevented from attending the premiere due to segregation laws.
oKJW TIL the Nazis formed a plan in 1939 to counterfeit the British pound to cause hyperinflation. Using a german concentration camp, they manufactured $132 million GBP, which is the equivalent of $6-7 billion modern-day pounds. They partially succeeded.
d8b4K TIL lizards in areas hit by hurricanes have evolved grippier, bigger toe pads in order to hang on against high winds, even within one generation. Researchers studied 188 anole lizard species in 70 years of hurricane data. In areas spared by hurricanes, lizard toe pads were smaller.