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TIL that Albert Baez, the father folk singer Joan Baez, while enrolled at Stanford's doctoral program in physics co-invented (with his doctoral program advisor) the X-ray reflection microscope for examination of living cells. Later in his career he helped develop the x-ray telescope.

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7vgZ TIL a Russian immigrant to NY in the 1920s, Lillian Alling was so homesick that she resolved to walk home to Siberia. She walked an estimated 5000 miles in 3 years, serving a few months in jail for vagrancy in Canada, and was last sighted on the banks of the Bering Strait.
GYMWJ TIL that Ken Jennings' historic Jeopardy! run nearly ended before it began. Jennings' first Final Jeopardy answer of "Who is Jones" had to be adjudicated before it was allowed. If he hadn't been given credit, he would have finished in 3rd, on his first episode.
Z8bGo TIL Literal Bird Sh*t Was A Driving Factor In US Imperialism
x6rjo TIL that Gambling on who the next pope will be is one of the very few things explicitly punishable by excommunication.
b6e4j TIL In Switzerland it's illegal to use glasses or lenses on domestic poultry