r/todayilearned • u/scott3387 • 2h ago

TIL Einstein bequeathed his likeness to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. They raise over $1m a year on average by licencing his likeness.

en.wikipedia.org

278 Upvotes

36 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Adorable-District106 • 3h ago

TIL that in 1999, Google's founders were willing to sell the company to Excite for $750,000, but the CEO of Excite turned them down. Today, Google's parent company is worth over $2 Trillion

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

89 comments

r/todayilearned • u/joe_at_large • 4h ago

TIL that most “CGI” in Jurassic Park (1993) was actually practical effects and animatronics, with CGI used only for a few shots, which is why the movie still looks convincing today.

screenrant.com

1.6k Upvotes

131 comments

r/todayilearned • u/the2belo • 10h ago

TIL John Lennon said The B-52's were his favorite band, and their hit single "Rock Lobster" directly inspired his 1980 album "Double Fantasy"

en.wikipedia.org

263 Upvotes

34 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NorthKoreanMissile7 • 8h ago

TIL Christopher Columbus made significant errors in estimating the distance to Asia. If the Americas didn't exist, then he'd have ran out of food and died long before reaching Japan.

en.wikipedia.org

9.0k Upvotes

372 comments

r/todayilearned • u/flying_ina_metaltube • 8h ago

TIL David Eisenhower, grandson of Dwight Eisenhower & son in law of Richard Nixon (married to his daughter Julie), is one of the inspirations for the song Fortunate Son. His father also changed the name of the presidential retreat from Camp Shangri-La to Camp David after him & his own father.

en.wikipedia.org

462 Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/random_agency • 6h ago

TIL about Broomgate where during the 2015-2016 curling season had a technology doping scandal. Where new brush head technology drastically changed gameplay. This resulted in the standardized yellow brush head we see on brooms in today's competitive curling.

en.wikipedia.org

279 Upvotes

62 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Nero2t2 • 10h ago

TIL As part of his research for his painting "The raft of the Medusa", Théodore Géricault became obsessed with studying dead and dying. On top of frequenting morgues and hospitals, he brought severed limbs back into his studio and spend 2 weeks with a severed head he "borrowed" from a mental asylum

en.wikipedia.org

303 Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/UsualOkay6240 • 9h ago

TIL Apple recently paid $95 million because Siri was caught eavesdropping on private conversations, like doctor visits and drug deals, then sending those recordings for human contractors to listen to. Siri was triggered not just by "Hey Siri," but by phrases that sounded similar like "seriously."

usatoday.com

29.9k Upvotes

916 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RiverMesa • 14h ago

TIL Dr Pepper is not a cola, root beer, or fruit-flavored soft drink, but instead belongs to its own category called "pepper sodas", named after the brand itself

en.wikipedia.org

23.9k Upvotes

1.3k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 19h ago

TIL a woman nicknamed the 'Rooftop Ninja' lived for about a year inside a sign on the roof of a Family Fare grocery store in Midland, Michigan. Inside the sign, she had a computer, printer, desk, and coffee maker. She was discovered by a contractor who noticed an extension cord running into the sign

globalnews.ca

18.2k Upvotes

428 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Away_Flounder3813 • 14h ago

TIL while filming the Bond film "Goldfinger" (1964), the re-creation of the Fort Knox repository was incredibly accurate and looked so real that a 24-hour guard was placed on the set at Pinewood Studios so that pilferers would not steal the gold bar props.

en.wikipedia.org

3.2k Upvotes

30 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tomispev • 18h ago

TIL that the Trojan Horse is not in Homer's Iliad, that it's briefly mentioned in the Odyssey, and that most of the story surrounding it actually comes from Virgil's Aeneid

en.wikipedia.org

4.8k Upvotes

127 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Overall-Register9758 • 1d ago

TIL that in 1960, a B52 crashed during training. The navigator, thinking the plane was crashing, ejected without orders. The pilot, heard the ejection, thought the plane was breaking up, and ordered the crew to eject. The plane flew crewless for 50 miles before crashing.

en.wikipedia.org

20.2k Upvotes

518 comments

r/todayilearned • u/therealvelichor • 20h ago

TIL that Mark Steven Zuckerberg sued Facebook in September of 2025, because his account was repeatedly removed for impersonation of Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook.

bbc.com

1.7k Upvotes

16 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Physical_Hamster_118 • 12h ago

TIL KFC attempted to sell roast beef (Kentucky Roast Beef) and open motels (Colonel Sanders Inns), both ventures failed.

en.wikipedia.org

391 Upvotes

40 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Mountain_Love23 • 22h ago

TIL chickens can perform simple arithmetic, have basic time perception, show self-control (can delay a smaller reward for a larger one later), show object permanence (understand an object exists when out of sight; humans get at age 2), and possess transitive inference (humans achieve at age 7)

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

2.4k Upvotes

200 comments

r/todayilearned • u/fanau • 15h ago

TIL piranhas are known as a vicious carnivore but are an important source of food for local people and are sold at local markets in Amazon.

en.wikipedia.org

612 Upvotes

71 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Firecracker048 • 20h ago

TIL about Rick Rescorla, a survivor of America's toughest battle in Vietnam(Ia Drang, LZ X Ray), was also the one to organize an evacuation plan in case a plane hit the Twin Towers. He was last seen entering the tower looking for survivors.

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

68 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RotaryDane • 20h ago

TIL of Évariste Galois, a 19th century mathematician and womaniser. Age 20 he fought a duel for seducing a mans fiancé. He lost the duel, but had spent night prior madly writing down his theories. The rambling and ink-stained pages would end up birthing an entire new field of maths: “Galois Theory”

britannica.com

1.5k Upvotes

59 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HungryOil9277 • 12h ago

TIL that the Zenith Space Command TV remote worked mechanically rather than electrically (no wires, no batteries)

zenith.com

217 Upvotes

36 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DivestPanties • 20h ago

TIL in 1871, to force accountability of Boss Tweed's corruption in NYC, 70 reformers/financial leaders of the City formed a committee that convinced property owners to stop paying taxes, and got a Judge to block the city Comptroller from issuing bonds or spending money. Quickly ending Tweed's reign.

en.wikipedia.org

873 Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/havertz007 • 1d ago

TIL that Bruce Lee was only a leading man for three years. He left Hollywood broke and disappointed at only being able to secure small parts. After returning to HongKong to star in his own films, he finally starred in a Hollywood production, Enter the Dragon, before dying 3 weeks before its release.

en.wikipedia.org

35.0k Upvotes

775 comments

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