Identify and explain (in a paragraph) the most surprising bit of information you learned:
I thought the story behind how life insurance was invented was fascinating— I had no idea the same Halley behind Halley’s comet was the one who laid the foundation for tabulating annuities and determining life insurance policies. Halley disproved a lot of prevailing ideas about how long people lived and what affected this: for example, the myth that people were more likely to die in multiples of seven. Turns out that when he wasn’t busy predicting the orbit of comets, Halley was a pretty adept life insurance mathematician!
Additional reading: Ciecka, J. (2008). Edmond Halley’s Life Table and Its Uses. Journal of Legal Economics 15(1): 65-74.