› added 11 months ago

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TIL in 1961, astronomer Frank Drake created the Drake Equation, a formula to estimate the number of communicative alien civilizations in our galaxy, sparking the modern search for extraterrestrial life.

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via reddit.com

MelgB TIL The Chief Engineer for the SR-71 started as a tool engineer but was promoted for detecting a flaw in an airliner that made it unstable. He went on to create the famous Lockheed Skunkworks.
RAN4 TIL that Hitler’s Third Reich awarded a gold, diamond-engraved Cross of the German Mother to women upon the birth of their thirteenth child.
VLrZ TIL the fast-paced style of speaking at auctions is unique to America yet nobody knows where/how it originated.
e0v44 TIL Christopher Hitchens was appointed the devils advocate for Mother Thesesas beatification in 2003. Saying "I can thus claim to be the only living person to have represented the Devil pro bono"
neMpW TIL 17-year-old JFK was admitted to Harvard with a 5-sentence-long essay.