The Most Important 'K' People Trivia Quiz

Answer: al-Khwarizmi

His nickname, al-Khwarizmi, gave way to the modern term 'algorithm'. Another important math term, 'algebra', comes from the title of his greatest work, namely: 'Hisab al-jabr w'al-muqabala'. His algebraic work is considered to be the foundation (along with Diophantus) for much of modern mathematics, and all performed without the use of signs (his equations were all done solely with the use of words!)

Answer: Yuan

The Yuan Dynasty was rather short-lived in China, but the Mongols made their mark. Beijing was established as China's capital under Kublai Khan, and travelers the world over were invited to the new, cosmopolitan Mongol empire that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Danube. It was during Kublai's reign that Marco Polo made his famous journey east to witness a China flourishing under Kublai's reign. Unfortunately, his successors frittered away the benefits of Kublai's rule and the empire soon declined.

Answer: John Maynard

John Maynard Keynes developed his famed economic theories chiefly in his 1936 book, 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money'. Keynesian economics call for the lowering of taxes and increased government spending during times when consumer demand lags behind the productive capacity in a nation's economy. Doesn't this sound familiar?

Answer: Planetary orbits

Kepler's three planetary laws state, in a nutshell: planets orbit the sun in an elliptical pattern, the line between a planet and the sun always sweeps equal areas in equal amounts of time, and the time of a planet's orbit around the sun squared is proportional to its distance from the sun cubed. Kepler had taken his cues from the research of Tycho Brahe, and was influenced by Copernican theory. Newton employed Kepler's ideas, alongside those of Galileo, to develop his unified theory of gravitation. You might say that Newton had one foot on the shoulder of Galileo and the other on the shoulder of Kepler.

Answer: Immanuel Kant

Kant was shaken from his 'dogmatic slumber' after reading the works of Scottish philosopher David Hume, and proceeded directly into writing several responses ('Pure Reason', 'Critique of Practical Reason' (1788) and 'Critique of Judgement' (1790)). Lest one think of Kant as merely a philosopher, he also developed some rather striking theories on the nature of the universe and described his ideas on the theory of evolution, which he tended to support.

His philosophic ideas are still in play today, and many of his ideas have been linked to similar ideas developed in the Far East by Buddhist and Daoist scholars.

Answer: William Thomson

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, working from the ideas and experiments of French scientist Carnot and the British scientist Joule, formulated the Second Law of Thermodynamics. At the same time, he developed his absolute temperature scale whose units (kelvin) still bear his name.

His work also contributed to the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable. Working off of Kelvin's ideas, James Clerk Maxwell developed the theoretical arm of the science of electromagnetism. (Lots of interaction of thought going on in this quiz, wouldn't you say?)

Answer: August Kekulé

Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz lived from 1829 to 1896. Though English scientist Michael Faraday had first identified the compound 'benzene', it was Kekulé who, supposedly inspired by a dream, formulated the concept of the ringed structure of benzene (C6H6), one of the key compounds of organic chemistry. Supposedly, Kekulé's dream involved an ouroboros, or snake eating its own tail. The veracity of this tale is questionable. Kekulé's other claim to fame must be his definition of organic chemistry as the chemistry of carbon-containing compounds...a definition which still stands.

Answer: Electrical conduction

Kirchhoff is probably best known for his set of two laws having to do with the governance of electrical circuits. His ideas were significant during the dawning of the development of electricity for practical purposes. Kirchhoff also was involved in the science of spectroscopy, and in fact, with Bunsen (yes, the 'burner' guy), is considered the founder of that modern science. Through Kirchhoff and Bunsen's joint work, the light spectrum of the sun was examined, and found to contain numerous elements, including several never before identified.

This work led directly to the development of spectroscopy for chemical analysis (via instruments like gas chromatographs and mass-spectrometers.) Chemical analyses using these instruments have a vast array of uses!

Answer: Kangxi

Kangxi, the fourth Manchu emperor, lived from 1654-1722, and reigned as emperor for an astounding 60 years! His reign period was fraught with difficulties, which he managed quite well. Early in his reign he was forced to deal with recalcitrant former Ming Dynasty officials and claimants to the royal throne. Several rebellions were quashed with some difficulty.

His domestic agenda included some reforms, and a general opening up to the outside world. He accepted European scholars (Jesuits) into his court and took a personal interest in astronomy and the improvement of scientific knowledge. One of the largest encyclopedias in world history was assembled during Kangxi's time on the throne.

His relatively benign rule was continued by his son Yongzheng, who succeeded Kangxi upon his death.

Answer: Atlanta

Martin Luther King, Jr. identified early on in his life that racial equality in the United States could be achieved. Influenced by the successes of M. K. Gandhi in India, King became a Baptist minister in 1954 and received a Ph.D. at Boston University in 1955 before setting out on a peaceful crusade to establish equal rights in the United States.

He is famous for his 'I have a dream' speech in Washington, D.C. in 1963, and for receiving a Nobel Prize for Peace the following year. Through his and many other good people's efforts, civil-rights laws were passed during the mid/late 1960s. Sadly, like Gandhi, he was assassinated (in 1968). Thank you for trying this quiz, I hope that you enjoyed it and will try the others in this series!