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Inventors and Inventions Trivia Quiz

Inventors and inventions.

A multiple-choice quiz by sportcon. Estimated time: 7 mins.

Author
sportcon

Time
7 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
13,912

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
7 / 15

Plays
1873

Last 3 plays: Tanya_1102 (7/15), Guest 50 (6/15), Guest 45 (8/15).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. Who is often called the 'first African-American man of science'? Hint

Bessie Blount

George Washington Carver

Benjamin Banneker

Elijah McCoy

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Question 2 of 15

2. Benjamin Franklin was a prolific inventor. He invented the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, studied electricity, discovered the Gulf Stream, started the first library, and on and on. Among his many other inventions, what musical instrument did he invent? Hint

banjo

oboe

clarinet

harmonium

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Question 3 of 15

3. This statesman, politican, scholar, inventor, and one of the earliest US presidents invented the swivel chair, the spherical sundial, the moldboard plow, and the cipher wheel. Who was he? Hint

Alexander Hamilton

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

John Adams

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Question 4 of 15

4. Who was the first American female to patent her invention, a method of weaving straw with silk? Hint

Mary Kies

Amanda Jones

Marjorie Joyner

Margaret Knight

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Question 5 of 15

5. What invention is credited to the Russian born American inventor Vladimir Kosma Zworykin? Hint

telegraph

radio

television

dishwasher

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Question 6 of 15

6. This English inventor is known as the 'Father of Computing.' Hint

Charles Babbage

John Mauchly

Philo Farnsworth

J. Presper Eckert

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Question 7 of 15

7. Thomas Alva Edison harnessed the power of electricity to create a whole series of inventions, from the electric light blub to the movie projector. Edison is know as 'The Wizard of ________?

Answer: (Two Words)

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Question 8 of 15

8. Who is the only U.S. President to invent and patent something? Hint

Thomas Jefferson

Abraham Lincoln

Theodore Roosevelt

Rutherford B. Hayes

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Question 9 of 15

9. What is the name of the CalTech seismologist who invented the scale used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes? Hint

Giuseppe Mercalli

Joshua Rumble

Hiram Walker

Charles Richter

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Question 10 of 15

10. William Frederick is credited with the invention of the modern frisbee in the mid 1950's. In 1957 the Wham-O Company bought his idea and the rest is history. They named the toy after William Frisbie who was a ________? Hint

ceramic plate designer

student at Yale

pie maker

owner of a pizza parlor

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Question 11 of 15

11. This African-American woman physical therapist worked with soldiers disabled in World War II. She invented a device that helped the disabled to eat by delivering food through a tube to a mouthpiece. Hint

Mae Jamison

Bessie Blount

Marjorie Joyner

Beulah Henry

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Question 12 of 15

12. Who is the English physicist responsible for the 'Big Bang Theory'? Hint

Michael Skube

Albert Einstein

Roger Penrose

George Gamow

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Question 13 of 15

13. The Manhattan Project was started by President Roosevelt in 1942 to ensure that the U.S. beat the Germans in developing a nuclear bomb. Who was appointed as scientific head of the Manhattan Project? Hint

Robert Oppenheimer

James B. Conant

Leslie R. Groves

Vannevar Bush

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Question 14 of 15

14. This part-time race car driver invented the bucket seat in 1969. Hint

Paul Newman

John Wayne

Harrison Frazier

Steve McQueen

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Question 15 of 15

15. What African-American inventor received 5 patents in the field of shoemaking? Hint

Jan Ernst Matzeliger

Elijah McCoy

Ernest Just

Lewis Latimer

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Most Recent Scores

Apr 10 2024 : Tanya_1102: 7/15
Apr 10 2024 : Guest 50: 6/15
Apr 10 2024 : Guest 45: 8/15
Mar 28 2024 : Guest 67: 2/15
Mar 23 2024 : Guest 104: 5/15
Mar 20 2024 : Guest 146: 8/15
Mar 11 2024 : Guest 68: 7/15
Mar 07 2024 : Guest 204: 5/15
Mar 02 2024 : Guest 184: 3/15

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Who is often called the 'first African-American man of science'?

Answer: Benjamin Banneker

Banneker was a member of the planning committee that designed Washington, DC along with Pierre L'Enfant. When L'Enfant was fired Banneker recreated the plans from memory.

Answer: harmonium

Ben also holds a lot of firsts - first U.S. ambassador, first political cartoonist, first American philosopher, organized the first fire department, and on and on.

3. This statesman, politican, scholar, inventor, and one of the earliest US presidents invented the swivel chair, the spherical sundial, the moldboard plow, and the cipher wheel. Who was he?

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson managed all this while being the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third US president.

4. Who was the first American female to patent her invention, a method of weaving straw with silk?

Answer: Mary Kies

Mary was not the first American woman inventor to be sure, there were many female inventors before her, but they never bothered to get a patent.

5. What invention is credited to the Russian born American inventor Vladimir Kosma Zworykin?

Answer: television

Zworykin invented both the tube (iconoscope) for transmission and the receiver (kinescope) in 1923 and 1924, respectively.

6. This English inventor is known as the 'Father of Computing.'

Answer: Charles Babbage

Mauchly and Eckert invented the ENIAC computer. Farnsworth was a pioneer of early television.

7. Thomas Alva Edison harnessed the power of electricity to create a whole series of inventions, from the electric light blub to the movie projector. Edison is know as 'The Wizard of ________?

Answer: Menlo Park

One of Edison's school teachers told his mother that young Tom was incapable of learning, so his mother home schooled him.

8. Who is the only U.S. President to invent and patent something?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

In 1849 Honest Abe invented a method to aid ships that got stuck on sandbars. He called it A Device for Buoying Vessels Over Shoals. It was never used.

9. What is the name of the CalTech seismologist who invented the scale used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes?

Answer: Charles Richter

Richter was born on an Ohio farm in 1900. He died in 1985.

Answer: pie maker

Frisbie made a brand of pies that were popular with Yale students in the 1870's. After eating the pies they would throw the pie tins through the air.

Answer: Bessie Blount

Unfortunately Blount could never get anyone to buy her invention. Finally, in 1952 she sold the rights to the French government.

12. Who is the English physicist responsible for the 'Big Bang Theory'?

Answer: George Gamow

Gamow, who died in 1968, was a physicist, who published "Thirty Years that Shook Physics".

Answer: Robert Oppenheimer

Leslie R. Groves, however, was the military head of the project and the overall supremo, while Robert Oppenheimer was the scientific director. The world's first atomic bomb was exploded in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945.

14. This part-time race car driver invented the bucket seat in 1969.

Answer: Steve McQueen

McQueen died in 1980 from a rare form of lung cancer.

15. What African-American inventor received 5 patents in the field of shoemaking?

Answer: Jan Ernst Matzeliger

Matzeliger never benefited financially from his inventions. He died in 1889 at the age of 37 from tuberculosis.

Source: Author sportcon

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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