› added 1 year ago

46

TIL that Donald Triplett was the first man in the world to be diagnosed as autistic. He was noted for having some savant abilities and to perform rapid mental multiplication.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9YXyM TIL that in ww2 there was a group of german scientists that wanted to send out a satellite with a concave mirror mounted on it into space, this was so the sun would bounce of the mirror and create a concentrated ray of sunlight destroying targets or killing through heat.
XjnP TIL the first time the word “astronaut” was used to refer to a human traveling in space was in Neil R. Jones’s short story “The Death’s Head Meteor,” in 1930
Z8JP4 TIL Marie Skłodowska Curie changed the world not once but twice. She founded the new science of radioactivity – even the word was invented by her – and her discoveries launched effective cures for cancer. She is the 1st woman to win a Nobel Prize, and 1st person to win a second Nobel prize.
GYDm5 TIL almost 90% of Israeli wastewater is purified and used in irrigation, four times more than any other country.
v14v7 TIL that a NYC man was exonerated and released, after being held in jail for transporting child pornography, when pornstar Lupe Fuentes flew from spain to appear at his trial with her ID and passport proving her age.