› added 2 years ago

51

TIL while trying to perform a magic trick to amuse his children, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (generally cited as one of the most important engineers ever) inhaled a coin which stuck in his windpipe. After a machine Brunel devised failed, his father proposed turning him upside-down, dislodging the coin.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

nGMo TIL half of the US population lives in 9 states (CA, TX, FL, NY, IL, PA, OH, GA, NC)
LkAMr TIL, entrepreneur Suzanne Ciani was the first female to have a voice on a pinball game, specifically Xenon, through a vocoder, and was even inducted into The Pinball Expo Hall of Fame in 2013 for that work of hers.
Rdk1 TIL it takes 7 shuffles to randomize a deck of cards.
v15Z8 TIL of Godiva, who wanted lower taxes. To convince her husband the Earl, she rode her horse naked through the streets. The public was ordered to close their shutters. Tom decided to look and was struck blind. This produced the term "Peeping Tom" as well as the name of the chocolate company Godiva.
P1MAg TIL ABBA member Anni-Frid was born as a result of the Lebensborn experiment, the scheme run by Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, to create an Aryan master race.