› added 12 years ago

271

TIL a mathemetician worked out a formula for perfect parallel parking

Read more telegraph.co.uk

via reddit.com

Br0r TIL upon its discovery by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898, the element polonium was named after Poland (in latin Polonia) to shed light on the countries lack of independence. It may be the first element named to highlight a political controversy.
epN54 TIL that the famous American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman was called "Cump" by his friends and family
yVraw Today I learned that patriarchal surnames were uncommon in England before the Norman Invasion of 1066-1071.
rR56e TIL that David Zucker (writer of the film Airplane!) named his racehorse All Pink to mess with the commentators. Zucker specifically instructed the jockey riding All Pink to hug the inside of the track so the commentator would have to keep saying the phrase “It’s all pink on the inside!”.
L0Vp TIL a microbiologist named Maurice Hilleman developed eight of the fourteen vaccines that are now routinely administered. He is credited with saving more lives than any other scientist of the 20th century.