German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen is usually credited with the discovery of X-rays in 1895, because he was the first to systematically study them, though he is not the first to have observed their effects. He is also the one who gave them the name "X-rays" (signifying an unknown quantity).

It is commonly believed that Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei invented the telescope, but the earliest known record of a refracting telescope is in fact credited to German-Dutch spectacle-maker Hans Lippershey who filed a patent for the device in 1608.

Lead has the highest atomic number of any non-radioactive element, although the next higher element, bismuth, has one isotope with a half-life that is long enough (over one billion times the estimated age of the universe) to be considered stable for all practical purposes.

Magnesium, the eighth most abundant element in the earth's crust, is classified as an alkaline earth metal.

Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system, and the only moon known to have a magnetic field.

Since the conversion of ethanol to ethanoic acid involves the addition of oxygen to ethanol, it is an oxidation reaction.

The hottest planet in our solar system is Venus. When it comes to temperature, distance from the Sun matters, but it takes a backseat to wrapping a planet in a atmospheric blanket of carbon dioxide.

the crust is the thinnest layer of the Earth, amounting to less than 1% of our planet's volume.

U-shaped or glaciated valleys are formed when a glacier travels across and down a slope, carving the valley by the action of scouring.

While oxygen (o2) is the second most abundant gas in our atmosphere, it does not absorb thermal infrared radiation.