Quiz time again, and music, sequences and a picture round with a twist lie in store this week.
Round 1 – Music
1. Which legendary rock guitarist wrote the theses “A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud“?
2. The singer songwriter behind the American indie band Eels – who generally goes by the stage name of E – is the son of which prominent American physicist, particularly noted for being the first to propose the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics?
3. Which Russian classical composer of the 19th century was also known as a highly respected chemist, publishing many papers, particularly on aldehydes?
Round 2 – Diseases
1. What is the common alternative name for Hansen’s disease?
2. Which disease, caused by ascomycete microfungi, first arrived in Europe and North America from Asia in the early part of the 20th century, and has since caused the death of millions of trees across both continents?
3. Sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis are sometimes prescribed injections of a liquid form of which valuable metal in order to relieve symptoms?
Round 3 – The Picture Round
A picture round with a twist this week – after identifying the entities in each picture, you have to work out what links them:
1. Which planet is indicated by the arrow here?
2. Who is this famous chemist – responsible for ‘inventing’ perhaps the most fundamental aspect of his field?
3. What is the country highlighted here?
And so for a bonus point – what links all of these things?
Round 4 – Family affairs
1. What was the name of Charles Darwin’s grandfather, himself a prominent physician, naturalist and thinker?
2. Which aristocratic family from the 17th – 19th century produced a succession of prominent scientists, including mathematician Charles, science writer Margaret, and Henry, one of the most distinguished experimental scientists of his day?
3. What specific achievement links Irène Joliot-Curie (1935), George Thomson (1937), and Aage Bohr (1975)?
Round 5 – Sequences
1. Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis…
2. Species, Genus, Family, Order…
3. 2, 10, 18, 36, 54…
Answers, as old hands will know by now, will be published on Monday…
Answers as follows:
Round 1 – Music
1. This was, of course, Brian May of Queen
2. The real name of the enigmatic E is Mark Everett, and his dad was renowned physicist Hugh Everett III
3. Alexander Borodin was classical composer/chemist.
Round 2 – Diseases
1. Hansen’s Disease is also known as Leprosy
2. Dutch Elm Disease has claimed millions of victims over the last few decades
3. Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers may be injected with a liquid form of Gold
Round 3 – The Picture Round
1. This planet is Uranus
2. The chemist is periodic table pioneer Dmitri Mendeleev
3. And the highlighted country is Poland
Did you work out the link? The answer is that they all have elements named after them (namely Uranium, Mendelevium and Polonium).
Round 4 – Family Affairs
1. Charles Darwin’s grandfather was Erasmus Darwin
2. The Cavendish family produced all those scientists
3. In the years given, Joliot-Curie, Thomson and Bohr all won the same Nobel Prize as one of their parents had won previously (chemistry for Joliot-Curie, physics for Thomson and Bohr)
Round 5 – Sequences
1. This is of course the names of the NASA Space Shuttles – the final one in the list is Endeavour
2. No prizes for working out that this list refers to the taxonomic hierarchy of living things – but you do get a point for identifying Class as the next item in the sequence
3. This is the atomic numbers of the noble gases – next (and indeed last) on the list is 86, the atomic number of Radon.
Tune in for the next round of quizzing this Friday!