› added 5 months ago

19

TIL that Louis Braille, who lost his sight at the age of 3 due to an accident, went on to invent the Braille system of reading and writing for the blind at just 15 years old. His system revolutionized accessibility for the visually impaired and is still used worldwide today.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

4Xwda TIL that for centuries after his death there was a persistent legend that Roman emperor Nero would return to life and reconquer the empire. This led to a number of fake Neros, one of whom was so widely accepted as real that it almost led to war
WywA TIL that in 1982 a journalist sent out word-for-word copies of the screenplay for “Casablanca” to every Hollywood film agency. Of the 85 that read it, 33 recognized it and only four made an offer for it. The other 48 rejected the script outright.
46d6 TIL Isaac Newton stuck a needle in his eye, placing pressure on the eyeball, to study the human eye as a lens and how it perceives color.
8aojK TIL that in 1927, despite having roots in Chicago and not being well-traveled, some very talented basketball players -- members of a team that would eventually play more than 26,000 games in 124 countries and territories -- were deemed the Harlem Globetrotters.
OXnL TIL Canada bought a license to produce a fighter the US no longer wanted, and it ended up being so successful as a ground attack aircraft that nobody was able to catch one during more than 20 years of NATO exercises. They won first or second place in nearly every exercise they participated in.