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TIL the Nazis were very close to developing plutonium, a material used to make atomic bombs. However, the factory producing it was bombed by a team of 11 Norwegian saboteurs, one of them stopping the operation to find his glasses at one point, completely destroying the equipment related.

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eeKJ TIL Gorillas were originally thought to be Humans when discovered by Carthage, and Gorilla is the Greek word for “tribe of hairy women”
DvWP TIL Director John Ford was sent to the island of Midway to film a documentary on life at a small, isolated military base. He ended up getting caught in the Battle for Midway; he filmed the entire thing and was also injured during the fight.
OoyGg TIL that Louis Vuitton (the designer) left his childhood home at age 13 after his mother's death. He then decided to go to Paris by foot, a journey that took him 2 years, finding shelter and work as he went along.
D1ddp TIL an airplane losing an engine is considered to be a fairly inconsequential issue, and will not affect the plane’s ability to take off, fly or land.
VBXbD TIL that during the Mexican-American War, nearly 90 percent of US Army deaths were due to infectious diseases, the highest of any US conflict