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TIL From 1812-1814, Joseph Fraunhofer studied the spectrum of solar light passing through a thin slit and recorded 500 dark lines. Newton missed seeing dark lines in 1666 because he shone light from the whole solar disk through a circular hole into his prisms

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Nmmb TIL that residents in Mosinee, Wisconsin held a mock Communist invasion which had concentration camps, a purged library, and inflated prices. The mayor, seemingly unaware of the plan, died due to the excitement.
XJRj TIL in 1799 a boy found a 17lb. rock in a creek in North Carolina & used it as a doorstop. It was gold.
a8OZJ TIL cancer associated with the 9/11 attacks has impacted 11x more people than died in the attacks
oRerY TIL: That between the years 1790 and 1800, Philadelphia was in fact the capital of the United States of America. The capital of the United States was moved to Washington D.C. in 1800 upon completion of the White House and U.S. Capitol buildings, where it has remained ever since.
LQoNP TIL that St. Urho's Day is observed every March 16th, celebrating his driving grasshoppers out of Finland and saving the grapes for the Finnish wine industry