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TIL that arguably the person credited with saving the most lives in human history is WWI chemical weapons scientist, Fritz Haber. His work directly lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands during the war, while accidentally saving billions from starvation by developing a way to convert N2 to NH3.

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4Xjpa TIL the greatest weight loss ever was by Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari who went from 610kg (1340lb) in 2013 down to 68kg (150lb) in 2017. He also holds the record for the highest BMI ever at 204.
Lk6e0 TIL: In 1969 24 journalists came together to write the worst novel they could come up with to make fun of US’s vulgar and declining literary culture. That hoax book became a bestseller the same year.
nebyo TIL Benjamin Franklin was a popular author at 16 under the name Silence Dogood. The articles are written in the persona of a middle-aged woman and Franklin received several marriage proposals in the process. Franklin would slide these articles under the door of his brother's newspaper print shop.
npyr TIL that during the time Jack Johnson (the first black world champion heavyweight boxer) was incarcerated in Leavenworth, he modified a wrench for tightening loosened fastening devices and received a patent for his improvements on April 18, 1922, known as US Patent 1,413,121.
yppp TIL even though 300 was historically inaccurate, most of the one-liners (“We will fight in the shade”, “Tonight we dine in Hell”, “Only spartan women give birth to real men”) are word-for-word accurate quotes.