› added 1 year ago

72

TIL that until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe. Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Doust Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.

O6R6 TIL Jim Lovell said in his book that if the Apollo 13 crew stayed still long enough when the electricity shut off, their body heat would form a cocoon of warm air around them. With everything shut down as much as possible he said even a slight movement would destroy the layer of heat.
Peow TIL General Douglas MacArthur earned seven Silver Stars in WWI, vomited on the White House steps, wore a kimono while working at home as Army Chief of Staff, was awarded the very first Purple Heart (which he authorized), was Father of the Year in 1942, and told JFK to not get involved in Vietnam.
exX4 TIL X-Men’s Cyclops is a disabled mutant and that his early origin explains that he can’t control his eye beams because he fell out of a plane as a child and suffered brain damage.
xVQjg TIL: about an open-sourced multiplayer space-station simulation called Space Station 13. Originally developed as an atmospherics simulator in 2003, it was eventually open-sourced in 2006. Contributors have made regular additions for over 15 years.
ADwZg TIL Liv Tyler was the product of an affair between her mom, BeBe Buell, and Steven Tyler, during a time when Buell had a live-in relationship with another musician, Todd Rundgren. Liv was born Liv Rundgren and didn't find out until she was 10 years old that Tyler was her real father.