20 Facts That Will Blow Your Mind In One Sentence

11. The Notebooks Belonging To Marie Curie Are Still Radioactive

Marie Curie's pioneering research into radioactivity is well-known, as was her unfortunate death due to working in close proximity to radioactive materials. It's perhaps not surprising she was poisoned because even today, 90 years after her death, many of her possessions are still radioactive. Her old notes are kept in lead-lined boxes and any researchers who want to see them must wear protective clothing and sign a liability waiver. Scary stuff.

10. The Guillotine Was Still Used In France Less Than 40 Years Ago

Long synonymous with the French Revolution and the Scarlet Pimpernel, the guillotine is seen as one of those historical methods of execution that was stopped in the West hundreds of years ago - like crucifixion and burning at the stake. But in actual fact beheading by guillotine was still the official method of execution in France until they abolished the death penalty in 1981. The last person to be executed by this method was Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant who was beheaded in 1977 for torturing and murdering his girlfriend. Unlike in the Revolution, the execution took place in private, at Baumettes Prison in Marseilles and the last chief executioner of France, Marcel Chevalier, never actually spoke about his experiences with the guillotine.

9. The Time Difference Between The Stegosaurus And The Tyrannosaurus Rex Is Greater Than Between The Tyrannosaurus And Today

As a child you always pictured the Tyrannosaurs Rex, the Triceratops and the Stegosaurus romping around together millions of years ago. In reality, although the Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops shared the Earth the Stegosaurus wasn't there with them. The Stegosaurus was around in the Jurassic Period, 150 million years ago, while the Tyrannosaurus belonged to the Cretaceous, around 66 millions years ago. That means there were around 84 million years between the two dinosaurs, and only another 66 million to today.

8. The Shortest War Ever Fought Lasted Just 38 Minutes

The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 started because the United Kingdom ordered the new Sultan of Zanzibar to vacate the palace in anticipation of installing their own pro-British ruler. An ultimatum was given to the Sultan which expired at 9AM on 27th August. At 9.02, British ships began firing on the palace. 40 minutes later the Sultan's flag had been destroyed and the palace taken. It remains the shortest war in history, easily beating the "Six-Day War" between Israel and Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq, which lasted (as you can probably guess) six days.

7. The Founder Of Match.com Lost His Girlfriend To Someone She Met On Match.com

Poor Gary Kremen. He made millions from the creation of dating site Match.com, only to have his girlfriend leave him for someone she met on the site. Hopefully he can appreciate the irony and laugh about it now.

6. During The Battle Of Stalingrad A Single Train Station Changed Hands 14 Times In 6 Hours

In 1942 German and Russian forces fought one of the most violent battles in the history of war at Stalingrad. The battle went on for over five months with the initiative shifting back and forth between the two sides. Nowhere was this seen more clearly than in the fighting over the main railway station, one day in September 1942. The Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division were tasked with retaking the station after the initial German attack and were successful at first, but the German forces countered again and retook the station. After six hours of fighting the station had changed hands 14 times and the 13th Guards were reduced from 10,000 to just 320 men.