› added 5 years ago

57

TIL of John Von Neumann, a mathematician polymat that invented computers (the architecture in every digital computer today), a precursor theory of DNA without having been a biologist, played a pivotal in creating the Atom bomb, and laid out the mathematical framework for quantum mechanics.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

0wKrL TIL ancient Greeks never mentioned the color blue, with Homer describing the sea as "wine-dark", and while researchers first believed the Greeks were color blind, recent experiments with modern peoples suggest that we can't see the color blue until there's a word for it
QJ9bL TIL that the three eldest people in the UK were all born on the exact same day in 1908.
nm1B TIL comedian Rodney Dangerfield’s last words were a one-liner about how long he would be hospitalized for the heart-valve replacement surgery which ended with his death: “If all goes well, about a week. If not, about an hour and a half”
16aX7 TIL that your clavicle doesn’t complete it’s growth until 23-25
NX4gJ TIL Willie Mays wore his cap one size larger so it would fly off while running and would also deliberately slip to the ground to make catches look tougher. He stated his flashy style of play began early in his career where he felt his job was to give fans something to talk about each game.