Desperate to keep the tower going, in 1908 they figured out that the metal monstrosity had a radio antenna range of 6,000 km (3,728 miles). A distance so great it can pick up signals all the way to China.

The tower was granted a life extension in 1910, and it gets equipped with new radio capabilities. 4 years later in 1914, the tower is catching and decoding German war messages.

https://www.snexplores.org/article/how-science-saved-eiffel-tower

On the verge of losing a broken Paris to imminent German invasion, the tower heard transmissions about the Germans having difficulty and delaying their attack. The French used this knowledge to stop retreating and instead start an immediate counter offensive. They saved Paris and turned the tide of the war, in a battle known as the Miracle of the Marne.

>i wanna learn stuff, but i am bad at assessing quality of information.

Lots of great universities have been trying to make their education accessible for free. Universities get paid for the credit courses - for gatekeeping quality and the prestige of the degree. So they don't mind as much letting people take the class for free when there's no credit attached.

Youtube has tons of recorded university classes available. For instance, here is a truck load of classes from MIT on their channel. You won't enjoy the benefit of a classroom with peers and access to the teacher to ask questions, but you can receive the same lectures the students get in the classroom.

Much easier than finding courses on Youtube, Coursera has tons of classes that have been contributed by universities, even top ones like Stanford and Yale. You can take most classes for free, and they ask for money if you want to receive an optional certificate at the end.