It’s Friday, which means it’s quiz time again – and, having spent the last few weeks enjoying the hospitality of the Nature London blog, the Friday Quiz has a brand new home right here in the August surrounds of Of Schemes and Memes. A warm welcome to all new players, and a warm welcome back to old hands.
Round 1 – Science and Literature
We kick things off with a look at some of the links between great men of science and great men of fiction.
1. The subatomic particles we know as ‘quarks’ were given their name by Murray Gell-Mann, who took the word from which classic work of literature?
2. Michael Frayn’s play ‘Copenhagen’ centres around an encounter between which two figures of 20th Century science?
3. Which great Russian novelist was also a research fellow at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, named more than 20 genera, species and subspecies within the Lepidoptera order of insects, and published 22 scientific papers? (Notoriously, however, he was a passionate anti-Darwinian.)
Round 2 – Silver Medallists
In which we celebrate life’s runners up…
1. What is the second largest object in the solar system?
2. Canada has a longer coastline than any other country in the world – but which country has the second longest coastline?
3. In 1880, Gadolinium became the second element to be named after what kind of entity?
Round 3 – The Picture Round
In this week’s picture round you’ll see pictures of constellations – you simply have to identify them:
1.
{credit}Blueshade{/credit}
2.
{credit}Sadalsuud{/credit}
3.
{credit}Torsten Bronger{/credit}
Round 4 – Scientific nobility
The following scientists were all ennobled in some way. Here are their birth names – can you give the title by which they are equally or better known?
1. William Thomson
2. Benjamin Thompson
3. John Strutt
Round 5 – Initial thoughts
In this round you’ll see a number, and then a description of something that number corresponds to in initial form – your task is to work out what the initials stand for. For example if the question was “100 = The BP of W in C”, then the answer would be “the boiling point of water in Centigrade”.
1. 18 = G in the PT
2. (Approximately) 2.5 million = LY the AG is from E
3. 23 = P of C in a HC
4. 1921 = YAEW the NP in P
5. 110 = MO
Good luck, have fun – try not to get too frustrated if any of the answers to Round 5 stubbornly refuse to reveal themselves – and all the answers will be revealed on Monday.
Answers as follows:
Round 1 – Science and Literature
1. Gell-Mann took the word ‘quark’ from the James Joyce classic Finnegans Wake.
2. There’s a clue in the title even if you don’t know the play – the two scientists in question are Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.
3. Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov is the man who made careers in both writing and lepidoptery.
Round 2 – Silver Medallists
1. The largest object is obviously the Sun, so the second largest is the largest planet, Jupiter.
2. Being made up of more than 17,000 islands helps Indonesia have the world’s second longest coastline.
3. Gadolinium was ultimately named after Finnish chemist Johan Gadolin, making it the second element to be named after a person.
Round 3 – The Picture Round
1. A reasonably straightforward start – this is Orion.
2. This is the distinctive ‘W’ shape of Cassiopeia.
3. Perhaps slightly trickier, this one is Boötes.
Round 4 – Scientific nobility
1. Probably the most famous ennobled scientist, William Thomson was better known as Lord Kelvin.
2. Kelvin’s near namesake Benjamin Thompson was also known as Count Rumford. If you’re not familiar with this chap, his life story is worth a read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Rumford
3. A Physics Nobel prize laureate who discovered Argon and helped explain why the sky is blue, John Strutt was perhaps better known as Lord Rayleigh.
Round 5 – Initial thoughts
How many did you get? Answers as follows:
1. 18 – Groups in the Periodic Table
2. (Approximately) 2.5 million = Light Years the Andromeda Galaxy is from Earth
3. 23 = Pairs of Chromosomes in a Human Cell
4. 1921 = Year Albert Einstein Won the Nobel Prize for Physics
5. 110 = Messier Objects
There’ll be more quizzing at the same time this Friday…