Only the Greatest! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Archimedes

What Archimedes of Syracuse had discovered came to be known as the Archimedes Principle. In simple words, this significant principle states that when any body is kept in water, or any other fluid for that matter, then it experiences an upward force called upthrust.

This force which the fluid exerts on the body is equal to the weight of displaced liquid. The discovery, a bolt from the blue, helped him to expose a corrupt goldsmith who had cheated the king.

Answer: Galileo Galilei

Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei was accused of heresy by the Church and forced to "abjure, curse and detest" his opinions. Stephen Hawking says of him, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science."
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei

Answer: Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal was a child prodigy. Pascal's Law states that "pressure applied to confined liquid is transmitted undiminished through the liquid in all directions, regardless of the area to which pressure is applied." The unit of atmospheric pressure (Pa) is named in his honour. He invented a mercury barometer, syringe and the hydraulic press.
Source: www.answers.com/topic/blaise-pascal

Answer: Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton's birth coincided with the death of Galileo Galilei. It is said that Newton was a rather "idle and inattentive" boy at school. One day, he was kicked by a bigger boy who was senior to him. This made Newton angry and he retaliated and gave a sound beating to the older boy. He also decided to beat him at lessons and started improving in his studies. So perhaps the boy did a service to the world!
Source: www.collegenet.nl/studiemateriaal/verslagen.php?verslag_id

Answer: Antoine Lavoisier

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier was the 'Father of Modern Chemistry'. When he was guillotined, Lagrange, the French mathematician, rued, 'It took them only an instant to cut off that head, but France may not produce another like it in a century.'

Answer: Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin taught the principle of 'survival of the fittest'. His theory that primates were the ancestors of man was, understandably, a hard pill to swallow. Darwin was the "father of evolution" as opposed to creationism, and received fierce criticism from all quarters.

Answer: Thomas Alva Edison

It was Edison's never-say-die spirit that saw him scaling heights of success. Even as a child, Edison would plead with every adult he met to explain to him the workings of just about everything he encountered. If they said they did not know, he would look them straight in the eye and ask 'Why?'. He asked that question throughout his life!

Answer: Marie Curie

Marie Curie married Pierre Curie, the professor of physics at Sorbonne, Paris, from where she graduated. They together announced the discovery of two new radioactive elements, polonium and radium. Polonium is named after Poland, the country where Marie Curie was born.

Answer: Albert Einstein

Einstein once declared that his second greatest idea after the theory of relativity was to add an egg while cooking soup in order to produce a soft-boiled egg without having an extra pot to wash! In 1952, the Israeli government offered the post of President to him, but he declined.
Source: www.juliantrubin.com/einsteinjokes.html

Answer: Stephen Hawking

One day, Hawking and his Oxford classmates were given a set of difficult physics problems. Two of his friends worked on them all night and managed to answer one and a half by morning. Another man solved one problem all by himself. Hawking did nothing.

The next morning, after breakfast, Hawking retired to his room. When he emerged before the class, three hours later, someone teased," So Hawking, how many problems have you got?" "I've only had time," Hawking replied," to finish the first ten."