› added 5 years ago

263

TIL Jonas Salk, who played a key role in prevention of polio outbreaks, entered college as a pre-law student, hoping to be elected to Congress one day. He switched to medicine because his mother thought that he wouldn't become a successful lawyer.

Read more mentalfloss.com

via reddit.com

pY7re TIL The founder of France's criminal investigative agency, Eugène François Vidocq, was an escaped convict. Vidocq's superiors would repeatedly receive messages from jails demanding Vidocq's arrest, they were ignored and ultimately Vidocq received a pardon from King Louis XVIII.
QJYga TIL that the buttoning of women's garments on the left side arises from historically placing buttons for the convenience of (right-handed) maids/servants who would dress them
Zra4 TIL that the “Great Pyramid” was constructed using approx. 2.3 million stones, each weighing between 2.5-15 tons. In order to finish the “Great Pyramid” in 23 years, the workers would have to set a block every 2.5 minutes, every day of the week for 23 years using no wheels, pulleys or work animals.
xVyd5 TIL that Sigurd Eysteinsson was a Viking leader of the 9th century. In 890, when he began the conquest of Scotland, he killed and decapitated a Scottish leader before hanging his head to his saddle. A tooth scratches Sigurd's leg, the wound became infected and Sigurd "The Mighty One" died soon after
X01jk TIL the urban legend of a time capsule buried under the Georgia Guidestones was disproven after they were destroyed.