› added 3 months ago

13

TIL Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930, by Clyde Tombaugh. The name was suggested by an 11-year-old English schoolgirl, Venetia Burney. Tombaugh liked the name because it began with "PL," the initials of Percival Lowell, the astronomer who first predicted its existence.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

6E7aY TIL Nicholas Culpeper, a 17th century physician married to wealthy heiress, enabling him to provide services free of charge while translating Latin medical text into English then sold them very cheaply for the poor who can't afford expensive physicians
JYjwj TIL you are more likely to be hit by lightning than become a billionaire
9v9M TIL Before the United States dropped the two atomic bombs on Japan, it showered 35 Japanese cities, including Nagasaki & Hiroshima, with over 5,000,000 leaflets warning Japanese civilians of the impending destruction. (link to leaflet in comments)
6D5w TIL people have been found dead casually sitting next to open electrical equipment - they got a fatal shock to the heart but sat down because they only felt a little lightheaded
9RMX TIL a greater percentage of Dutch people speak English than Canadians. 90% of Dutch people speak English. Only 85% of Canadians do.