› added 6 years ago

87

TIL Penguin Diagrams used in quantum field theory to illustrate the behavior of subatomic particles were so named because physicist John Ellis lost a bar bet playing darts and had to use the word "penguin" in his next published paper. The so-called diagrams look like the outline of a penguin.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

kJGR1 TIL researchers are able to study atmospheric composition, stretching back thousands of years, by examining air bubbles trapped in ice
x6OJb TIL as the horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto mounted, the inhabitants knew they would not survive. A team of historians, writers, rabbis, and social workers created a secret cache of documents to record their way of life. 2/3 of the cache survived the war
loA0r TIL that Harley-Davidson motorcycles are made almost entirely from foreign parts and have been for decades.
Z81Y4 TIL that “World’s quietest rally race” exists: it’s a rally race which only the electric vehicles can participate in and it’s held annualy in Croatia, the birthplace of Nikola Tesla - ingenious inventor who discovered and developed alternating current electricity we use today
ADp7g TIL that the first Olympics had an event called Pankration, a mix of wrestling and boxing where the only restrictions were of biting/gouging. Breaking digits and dislocating limbs was common, the battle only ending in death/surrender. The Greeks invented sports medicine in response to this event.