› added 5 years ago

86

TIL the word "vodka" comes from the Slavic word for water.

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5YXjp TIL that in 1736 the mathematician Leonhard Euler was trying to find a way to cross every single one of the seven bridges of Königsberg exactly once. He realized that this was, in fact, impossible and based on that created a new area of mathematics called Graph Theory.
mxOVE TIL That the ghost on Ghostwriter (90's PBS kids show) was a runaway slave during the Civil War that was murdered in the woods after being tracked down by slave catchers and their dogs. He was teaching other runaway slaves to read.
7MrM TIL that a Japanese mathematician independently invented much of calculus
8emWL TIL of Nzeli, a female Gorilla monitored by the Fossey foundation: at 37 years old, she has been observed voluntarily switching between family groups 10 different times, occasionally leaving her infants behind
eyNn TIL That dead batteries bounce when you drop them, while good batteries don’t.