Welcome to another Friday quiz! It’s something a little bit different today, with each round devoted to a ground-breaking scientist, finishing off with a picture round that brings them all together…
Round 1 – Charles Darwin
- In which English town was Darwin born in 1809?
- A large chunk of the first chapter of On The Origin of Species is devoted entirely to the breeding of which domesticated animal?
- Between 1846 and 1854, Darwin carried out a mammoth study of what type of creatures (work that is often thought to have severely delayed the publication of his work on evolution)?
Round 2 – Marie Curie
- What was Marie Curie’s maiden name?
- Curie was the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry – but with which two people did she share the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics?
- Which two elements did Curie discover, the first of which she named after her native country?
Round 3 – Albert Einstein
- When Einstein wrote his ground-breaking papers describing relativity, he was working in the patent office in which Swiss city?
- What specific discovery of Einstein’s was cited as the reason for his winning of the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics?
- Shortly before his death, Einstein jointly produced an eponymous “manifesto” with which British philosopher, warning the world of the dangers posed by nuclear warfare?
Round 4 – Robert Boyle
- In which country was Boyle born?
- Boyle’s eponymous law describes the inversely proportional relationship between what two properties of a gas?
- What is the name of the book about chemistry that Boyle published in 1661, considered his masterpiece – and also the inspiration for the name of one of the blogs on the Nature platform?
Round 5 – The Picture Round
In this week’s picture round, you’ll see four charades, with each one linked in some way to one of the four scientists featured above – it could be the name of a person, a place, a concept – or anything really – but each one has some connection to one of the subjects of the first four rounds. If you can get them all first time then congratulate yourself on a fine achievement – but a bit of Googling is probably acceptable to fill in a detail or two on this one:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Good luck, and look out for the answers on Monday…
Thank you for sharing this. Great. post.
How did you do? Time to fine out with this week’s answers:
Round 1 – Charles Darwin
1. Darwin was a Salopian. In other words, he was born in Shrewsbury.
2. Domestic pigeons were the subject of much of the early parts of Origin…
3. If you had a question needing answered about barnacles, Darwin probably had the answer.
Round 2 – Marie Curie
1. Marie Curie was born Marie Skłodowska in 1867.
2. Her physics Nobel Prize was shared with husband Pierre Curie, and also Henri Becquerel.
3. The discoveries of Polonium and Radium feature among Curie’s many achievements.
Round 3 – Albert Einstein
1. Einstein worked in the Bern patent office.
2. The discovery of the photoelectric effect was the only specific achievement cited in Einstein’s Nobel award.
3. Well-known pacifist philosopher Bertrand Russell teamed up with Einstein for this manifesto.
Round 4 – Robert Boyle
1. Boyle was born in County Waterford in Ireland.
2. Boyle’s law describes the relationship between pressure and volume.
3. The Sceptical Chymist was Boyle’s masterpiece.
Round 5
1. Raid + Io + Active [volcano] = RADIOACTIVE. Or you could consider the last one as “[volcanic] activity” to give RADIOACTIVITY. Either way, it relates to the discoveries of Marie Curie.
2. Liz [Taylor] + [Roger] Moore + Castle (Neuschwanstein Castle, to be specific) = LISMORE CASTLE – the birth place of Robert Boyle
3. Man + Hat + Tan = MANHATTAN – Einstein and his discoveries are strongly linked to the Manhattan Project.
4. Emma [Thompson] + Wedge + Wood = EMMA WEDGWOOD – the wife of Charles Darwin