In World War II the American psychologist B. F. Skinner trained pigeons to guide bombs.
One to three birds in the nose cone would peck at an image of the target on a screen, and their pecks steered the bomb.
More amazing facts
- 1942 · 1951 Superglue was discovered by accident and promptly rejected.
- 1942 Casablanca was not filmed in Casablanca.
- 1942 · 1944 A brown bear served in the Polish army in World War II. Wojtek was enlisted as a private so he could board a ship in Egypt, and his company’s badge became a bear carrying an artillery shell.
- 1943 · 1945 The Slinky was invented when a spring fell off a shelf.
- 1943 During World War II the Oscars were made of plaster.
- 1943 The famous 'world market for maybe five computers' was probably never said.