Welcome once again to the Friday quiz – and to celebrate this week’s announcements of the 2012 Nobel Prizes, we have a Nobel Prize special.
Round 1 – Citations
In this round, you’ll see excerpts from the citations from some of the most famous recipients of scientific Nobel Prizes down the years – can you identify the Nobel laureate in each case? To help a bit, we’ve also given the country represented by each winner.
- “[for] the services he rendered to the advancement of Physics by his discovery of energy quanta” – GERMANY
- “for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons” – ITALY
- “for his discovery of human blood groups” – AUSTRIA
- “for his discovery of the citric acid cycle” – UK
- “for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances” – UK/NEW ZEALAND
Round 2 – Controversies
The awarding of Nobel Prizes has for various reasons been the source of controversy down the years. Here’s a look at just a few instances.
- Why were Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt, and Gerhard Domagk all unable to accept their Nobel Prizes (in Chemistry, Chemistry and Medicine, respectively)?
- The Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz won the 1949 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his pioneering use of what controversial surgical operation on the brain, now no longer in use having long fallen into disrepute?
- When Ralph Steinman was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine last year, a major dilemma arose for the awards committee, one unprecedented in the 110 year history of the prizes. Eventually, it was agreed that Steinman would be allowed to receive the award despite being what?
Round 3 – The Picture Round
No Nobel Prizes will be awarded for guessing the theme of this week’s picture round. You just have to identify the individual pictured in each case. Once again, we’ll give you the nationality, and perhaps another hint or two:
1. Who is this Swede?
2. Who is this British crystallographer?
3. Who is this American particle physicist?
{credit}World Economic Forum{/credit}
Round 4 – High Achievers
The subjects of these questions each have unique claims to fame…
- Andre Geim is, to date, the only person to have won both a Nobel Prize and which other award, created in 1991 as a parody of Nobel?
- Ernest Walton, 1951 Nobel laureate in Physics, is so far the only person from which country ever to have won a Nobel Prize in science?
- In 2006 George Smoot won the Nobel Prize for Physics, and with it came a cheque for something in the region of $650,000 (the $1.3 million prize was split between him and John C Mather). However, three years later, Smoot topped this when he won a cool $1 million – doing what?
Round 5 – Bronze pile
In this round, all the answers can be made from the letters found in NOBEL PRIZE.
- What is the innermost of the four largest (“Galilean”) moons of Jupiter?
- Which noun can be defined as “a slender and usually flexible instrument for exploring a wound” , “a lead connecting to or containing a measuring or monitoring circuit used for testing” or “a thorough inquiry”?
- Can you name five European cities whose names can be formed using the letters above?
Good luck. There are no Nobel Prizes in quizzing, and all too few opportunities to win $1 million+ prizes – but if you get over half marks then you are at least entitled to feel a warm sense of satisfaction. Answers will be revealed on Monday…
How was your Nobel knowledge? Time to find out…
Round 1 – Citations
1. Max Planck
2. Enrico Fermi
3. Karl Landsteiner
4. Hans Adolf Krebs
5. Ernest Rutherford
Round 2 – Controversies
1. These were all German scientists who won at a time when Hitler had banned any German winners from collecting Nobel prizes, as he had taken umbrage at the Nobel Peace Prize awarded in 1935 to the anti-Nazi writer Carl von Ossietzky. All three were later able to collect their certificates and medals but not the money.
2. Moniz was an enthusiastic advocate of lobotomy, at the time seen as a leap forward for medical science, but only a few years later falling into disrepute and being banned in many countries.
3. When Steinman was announced as the Medicine laureate, the organisers did not know that he had died only days before. The Nobel rules stipulate that only currently living people are eligible. There is, however, a rule allowing awards to be given to those who die between the announcement of the prize and the awards ceremony – and this was used to allow Steinman to posthumously receive the honour.
Round 3 – The Picture Round
1. You’ll note that the blurb at the beginning of this round avoided stating explicitly that those pictured were Nobel prize winners. That’s because this is not a prize winner, but Alfred Nobel himself.
2. This is Dorothy Hodgkin, who won the 1964 prize in Chemistry for describing the structure of Vitamin B12 and other important substances.
3. This is Murray Gell-Mann, 1969 Physics laureate for his work on elementary particles – and in particular for coming up with the concept of quarks.
Round 4 – High achievers
1. Andre Geim is the only person to have won both a Nobel Prize and an Ig Nobel Prize.
2. Walton is the only person from Ireland ever to have won a Nobel Prize in a science (there have, however, been multiple Nobel laureates in both Peace and Literature).
3. Smoot bettered his Nobel Prize-winning cheque when he won $1 million on the American TV quiz show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? All things considered, I think we can safely say the answer to that question is “yes”.
Round 5 – Bronze pile
1. Io is the innermost of Jupiter’s Galilean moons
2. All these things can be called a probe.
3. Five European cities that can be made from the letters of NOBEL PRIZE are: Berlin, Berne/Bern, Brno, Plzen and Leon. Did you think of any others?
After all the Nobel Prize excitement, we’ll return to business-as-usual quizzing at the same time this Friday. Until then, have a great week!