North Korea and Finland are technically separated by only one country

Harvard University was founded before calculus was discovered

Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the U.S.,established in 1636. Calculus wasn’t discovered until roughly 50 years later, thanks to Gottfried Leibniz’s 1684 “Nova Methodus” and Isaac Newton’s 1987 “Principia” (and the countless refinements that followed from subsequent mathematicians). Also, Galileo Galilei – the famous European physicist, mathematician, engineer, astronomer, and philosopher – was still alive during Harvard’s early years. He died in 1642.

Heroin was once used to treat children’s coughs

Bayer, the German pharmaceutical company that produces aspirin, commercialized heroin in the 1890s as a cough, cold, and pain remedy. What’s really shocking, however, is that Bayer marketed heroin for use in children as late as 1912, years after reports began to surface that it could be a dangerous drug.

In 1914, heroin was restricted to prescription-only use in the U.S. and eventually banned by the FDA altogether in 1924. See more incredible ads of Bayer marketing heroin for children here.

In 1986, two people died during a charity event in Cleveland, Ohio because 1.5 million balloons were launched into the sky

Balloonfest 1986 was a fundraising stunt by United Way of Cleveland that was meant to be a harmless world record for the simultaneous release of balloons. Unfortunately, the balloons drifted back down over the city, falling on Lake Erie, Burke Lakefront Airport, and the surrounding area, causing massive city-wide problems. Most tragically, the balloons hampered the United States Coast Guard search for two boaters who were later found drowned. The organizers and the city faced lawsuits from people seeking millions of dollars in damages, and cost overruns put the event in the red.

A man received the highest honor of service from both the Allies and Axis in World War II.

His name was Joan Pujol Garcia, and he was a Spanish spy working as a double agent for both the Allies and Nazis. He originally approached the Allies to work for them but was denied, so he instead created a fake identity and began “working” for the Nazis, supplying them with false information. Soon thereafter, Garcia was accepted as a double agent for the Allies.

Throughout his time as a double agent, Garcia gave the Nazis a mixture of false reports, true but nonessential information, and high-value info that had arrived a little too late. He and his British MI5 handler even created a network of 27 fictitious subordinate agents who all received salaries from the Nazis and submitted expense reports. Garcia was eventually given both the Iron Cross by the Germans and the Most Excellent Order by the British Empire.

Alaska is the most eastern, western, and northern state in the United States

Alaska is obviously the most northern state in the U.S., but thanks to its Aleutian Islands, Alaska stretches right up to the edge of the Western Hemisphere at the 180o line of longitude and across into the Eastern Hemisphere (all the way up the edge of the Russian Federation). This makes it the most northern, western, and eastern state in the United States. Hawaii is the most southern state.

Russia’s surface area is more than Pluto but its population is even less than Bangladesh

Russia may span 9 time zones and cover more surface area than Pluto as the world’s largest country, but tiny Bangladesh (slightly bigger than the size of New York state) has a population of 156.6 million people. Russia has 143.5 million.

Source: www.businessinsider.in/Crazy Facts That Sound Fake But Are Actually True