Bags of Glory Trivia Quiz

Answer: Physics and Chemistry

Marie Curie's 1903 Physics award was given both to her and her partner, Pierre Curie, along with Henri Becquerel, who was credited for his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity, and the Curies also won their award for studies into radioactivity.

The 1911 Chemistry award was given for her discovery of the elements radium and polonium, and her detailed analysis of radium. In her honour, she has an element (atomic number 96) named after her called curium, as well as the curie, a symbol of radioactivity.

Answer: Walter Gilbert

Sanger determined the complete structure of insulin through its peptide sequences, and also investigated DNA and RNA sequencing. His 'Sanger method' allowed long chains of DNA to be accurately and directly sequenced, a huge breakthrough at that point.

Gilbert and Sanger also shared the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University, and Gilbert was the founder of the biotech companies Biogen and Myriad Genetics.
Both studied and were awarded their degrees at Cambridge University in England, and Sanger received a first-class degree.

Note that Gilbert and Sanger shared half an award - since Paul Berg won the other distinct half of the award within 1980, for his study into the biochemistry of nucleic acids.

Answer: Combating above ground nuclear testing

Pauling's Chemistry award was given for his active work into the nature of the chemical bond, and how this might help to determine the structure of complex substances.

To one not in the know, it may seem strange he won a Peace award. However, in 1963, the Partial Test Ban Treaty went ahead, signed by John F. Kennedy and Nikita Krushchev. It was largely down to his efforts this occurred, since, in 1958, he gave a petition signed by 11000 scientists as to the harmful nature of nuclear testing above ground. This got him the Peace award a year later in 1963 since nobody in 1962 met the criteria (but is still credited to him as the 1962 award).

Another great man, Francis Crick, who worked in genetics, called Pauling the 'father of molecular biology' - a great accolade indeed.

Answer: False

Bardeen's 1956 award was shared with William Bradford Shockley and Walter Houser Brattain for their work on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect.

His 1972 award was also shared, this time with John Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer, for their work on superconductivity.

The transistor is used in electrical components, notably the computer. So, you can, in part, thank Bardeen for your being able to read this! However, it is said that he was an unassuming, humble person, and that you would not have known of his scientific background if he had not told you himself.

Answer: Irene

Interestingly, their children, Helene and Pierre, also became scientists - there must be something in their family water. Irene studied at the Radium Institute, built by her parents, and wrote a thesis about polonium, one of the radioactive elements her parents had found.

Irene and Frederic first met as Irene was instructed to teach Frederic specific laboratory methods - and presumably they got close whilst doing so. Both Irene and Frederic had, in fact, found the positron and neutron through experiments on atomic nuclei, but were not themselves able to identify them. However, they did manage to turn one element into another through irradiation of the original element with alpha particles, for example, radioactive nitrogen from boron. It was this technique that got them their Nobel award, and the glory that went with it.

Answer: Aage was his son

Again, curiously, Niels was the father of Aage Bohr. It has to be said, though, that Niels Bohr is probably better known of the two, most likely due to his model of the atom's structure, which was published in 1913, which is what got him his 1922 Physics award. This model endured for a long time, although it was adjusted and added to. In addition, he suggested that an electron in a high-energy orbit could drop to a lower one and emit a photon - which is what light is made of.

Aage's 1975 Nobel Physics award was given as part of his work in motion in atomic nuclei, and the application of this motion knowledge to the structure of atomic nuclei. When World War II was taking place, he took flight to Sweden with his father to avoid German arrest. However, he returned to Denmark and eventually became a professor at the Copenhagen University.

Answer: Economics

Or, to give the full name of the prize - the "Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 1969". This award was not established by Alfred Nobel in his will, but was instated to keep in line with his principles, so is accepted as a Nobel prize.

Jan Tinbergen shared his award with Ragnar Frisch, which was awarded for developing models for analysing economic processes. On the face of it, that doesn't sound very impressive, however, many banks have used principles postulated by Tinbergen in terms of the inflation rate and when setting their short-term interest rates.

Nikolaas Tinbergen won his award for his insights into the individual and social behaviour patterns of animals - a far cry from economics!

Answer: Sweden

Whilst Alva won her prize in 1982, jointly with Alfonso Garcia Robles, for her work in nuclear disarmament, Gunnar won his, also jointly, with Friedrich August von Hayek, for work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations.

However, Gunnar was also interested in race relations, and authored "An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy." (1944).
He also authored "Crisis in the Population Question" (1934) with his wife, Alva, and this book focused on the consequences of Sweden's low birthrate, both in terms of statistics, but also in terms of practicalities. It is probable that their shared interest in human affairs was what made Alva and Gunnar a strong couple.

Answer: Glycogen

The specific mechanism entailed how glycogen broke down in muscle tissue to lactic acid, and how it was then recycled by the body, known as the Cori cycle. Gerty Cori has a crater on the Moon named after her (called Cori).

Although both were originally Czech, they emigrated to the United States in 1922 soon after graduating and meeting each other. Whilst Carl found it easy to get research jobs, Gerty struggled - likely a sign of the times. However, both stuck it out together and eventually shared half the award in 1947, with the other half going to Bernardo Alberto Houssay, who was concerned with the metabolism of sugar.

Answer: Physics

William Bragg invented the X-ray spectrometer, and they both worked together on X-ray crystallography, the analysis of X-ray structure. Whilst he was British, he spent over 20 years working in Australia, and managed to boost the University of Adelaide popularity, at least in the science sections, a huge amount.

His son, Lawrence Bragg, was the youngest Nobel award winner of the 20th century, and was also knighted in 1941. However, he also helped Francis Crick and James D. Watson in their discovery of the structure of DNA, in so much as he supported them at the Cavendish laboratory.

More evidence of talent 'running in the family' (or happy coincidence if you like!).