Puns and Word Play 4 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Everything is relative

German born Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a world renowned theoretical physicist famous for his general theory of relativity, his special theory of relativity, and his law of the photo-electric effect. Yet, these are but the very tip of the giant iceberg of scientific knowledge unveiled by Einstein's brilliant mind. You could even say the mass of that iceberg - aka Einstein's mind - exploded, releasing an equivalent amount of energy - aka scientific knowledge - to the world.

Perhaps you could go along to a family reunion, mention that to all your relatives, and hopefully impress them. Then of course you could depress them all by wondering about where our individual binding energy goes when we die. The pun for this question unites Einstein's famous theories of "relativity" with family "relatives".

Answer: Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was a famous French scientist whose name will be forever associated with breakthroughs in vaccination, and in pasteurisation of milk. Pasteurisation, however, deals with more than just milk, as delicious and all is this drink. Its process can also be applied to fruit juices and packaged foods, whereby the foods are heated to approximately 212 degrees Fahrenheit to kill or disable organisms which cause spoilage in the products. This can increase the shelf life of various foods for periods of a few days up to several weeks, but without destroying their basic nutritional values.

But ahhh, there's nothing more enjoyable than a nice relaxing cup of tea when one wants to unwind. Some people have it plain black (ugh), some with milk, some with various sweeteners such as honey or sugar, and some with even a squirt of lemon. The pun for this question unites Pasteur's discovery of pasteurization of milk with the milk he possibly liked to have in his cup of tea.

Answer: You reeker

Archimedes was a brilliant man from Ancient Greece who lived circa 287-212 BC. He was exceptionally skilled in the areas of maths, physics, engineering, astronomy and for coming up with various inventions to improve the lot of man. Some of his many inventions include the famous Archimedes screw which allows for raising water up various levels and which is still in use today; a large claw shaped weapon which could lift enemy ships up out of the water, give them a shake and then drop them down, sinking them; a huge manual heat ray which could set attacking ships on fire by using the heat of the sun to reflect off polished surfaces and onto approaching vessels; block and tackle pulleys, a giant catapult; and, most amazingly, a form of the modern day car odometer which allowed distances traveled to be measured accurately in miles.

Archimedes was said to cry out "Eureka!" when he discovered that the amount of water displaced in a bathtub was equal to the mass of the part of the body that had descended into it, a principle that is used today in fluid mechanics. The pun for this question combines the use of the word "Eureka" with the similar sounds of the words "You reeker" which Archimedes applied to his smelly son. He ponged, in other words.

Answer: William of Ockham

English born William of Ockham (1287-1347) was a Franciscan friar, philosopher and theologian who caused quite a rumpus back in his day with his discussion on faith versus reason; his objections to predestination and penance; his belief that church rule and state rule should be separate; his turning away from abstract and universal concepts as opposed to reality and real knowledge; and his concept of efficient reasoning. The latter became known as Ockham's Razor, a belief that nothing should be posited, unless it could be proved or explained in real concrete terms, and that people should "always opt for any explanation in terms of the *fewest possible causes, factors, or variables*... unless it is self-evident" (Wikipedia). This led him to state that neither the immortality of the soul, nor the existence of God, could be proven - unless by pure and direct revelation. It's a wonder he wasn't burned at the stake. Instead he spend the last few years of his life living as an exile in France.

The pun for this question combines the use of Ockham's Razor, his theory of shaving away the extraneous to get down to the bare basics, with a razor used to shave a man's beard.

Answer: Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton (1642-1726 or 1727, depending on which calendar was used) is looked upon as one of the most famous scientists of all time. It's a bit risky making such an assertion really, when the future is full of wonderful discoveries yet unrealised, and their equally amazing founders. Newton's works included putting in place the foundation of classical mechanics (motion); various contributions to the study of light and matter (known as optics); co-creator of infinitesimal calculus (I'll never forgive him for that!); working out laws of gravitation that could be applied universally, and, oh my gosh, the list of his works is astonishing. It goes on and on. He also dabbled in a few areas frowned upon at that time, but that makes him a true scientist, unbound by the constrictive laws of society but led on always by the quest for knowledge.

You've all heard of course how Isaac Newton was inspired to investigate and formulate his theory of gravitation by watching an apple fall from a tree. That's almost biblical in a way, don't you think? However, biblical significance aside, the pun combines Newton's association with an apple falling from a tree, with the notion that an apple may well have been his favourite snack on which to munch.

Answer: William Harvey

William Harvey (1578-1657) was born in Kent, England, and grew up to become very influential in the medical fields of anatomy and physiology. In particular, he is famous for his detailing of the circulation of the blood through the human body and brain. That's pretty amazing, given the time period in which he lived, don't you think? Based at St Bartholomew's hospital in London for most of his working life, the majority of his patients were London's poor and needy, but he build up lucrative practices in other parts of London as well. Having become acquainted with King James I over time, he frequently accompanied the king on hunting trips and it was on slaughtered deer that he first began formulating his theories on the circulation of blood. Dear me. This led to the publication of his most famous work, "De Mortu Cordis" which thoroughly describes the heart and its pumping action that circulates the blood around the body via the arteries and veins. He was ridiculed of course and it took almost twenty years for his work to be accepted - which it finally was in his lifetime. His other major work, "Exercitationes de generatione animalium (On Animal Generation)" that showed how all life develops from an egg, followed in 1651, and proved to be equally controversial.

When he was 68 years old, and now a childless widower, Harvey retired from the various medical positions he had been appointed to over his life, including that of St Bartholomew's. He died following a stroke in 1657. The pun for this question associates the circulation of the blood, with the host of a house party circulating among his guests.

Answer: Francesco Redi

Francesco Redi (1626-1697) was an Italian and biologist who is considered to be the founder of experimental biology - and also, rather gruesomely, the first person to demonstrate that maggots come from fly eggs. Hopefully, you've already had dinner today.

This biologist and naturalist proved or disproved many other theories during his lifetime as well, dealing with many of nature's creatures such as snakes and earthworms, and somewhat peculiarly so, was also a very fine poet. Such a juxtaposition of careers, but ah well, why not.

The pun for this questions rests on Francesco's surname, Redi - which sounds like "ready" - so he was prepared for anything.

Answer: Erwin Schrodinger

Born in Vienna in 1887, Erwin Schrodinger was a Nobel Prize winner physicist who worked in the field of quantum theory, an area of scientific study that goes straight over my head. Am I worried about that? Or am I not worried bout that? Those questions are of course a reference to his famous - and extremely irritating - thought experiment about a hypothetical cat in a closed box, with a hypothetical flask of poison, that wonders whether the cat is both alive or dead at the same time. Who cares! Fancy contemplating the notion of putting a cat in a box with a flask of poison in the first place.

Schrodinger was also the author of many works on physics in addition to asking irritating questions. These works included statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, dielectrics, unified field theory, colour theory, electrodynamics, general relativity, cosmology and genetics. He was married to an unfortunate woman named Annemarie Bertel from 1920 until his death in 1961, but also had a long time affair with another woman, Mrs. Hilde March, took her along on trips with the missus, and by whom he had a daughter. He had daughters by two other women as well while still married to Annemarie. So, in keeping with the pun-like theme to this quiz, perhaps the legal Mrs. Schrodinger sometimes wondered whether she was married to her husband, or was she not married to her husband. Perhaps, too, she also thoughtfully dwelt on a flask of poison for the old tomcat himself.

Answer: In a jar

German jurist, cleric and physicist, Ewald Jurgen Georg von Kleist, lived from 1700 until 1748. During his studies as a young man at the universities of Leipzig and Leyden, he became interested in the potential of electricity and worked on this for some time. By 1745, this scientist had invented his Kleistian Jar which had the ability to store large quantities of charged particles of electricity. This made it, in effect, an original type of capacitor. Later known as the Leyden Jar, the amount of the capacitance stored in that containers and others - from 20,000 to 60,000 volts - became known as jars.

Man had known how to create a form of electricity since the days of the Ancient Greeks, but it took centuries before scientists even began to remotely consider that it could be used for practical purposes. Basically the reason for this slowness was that there was no need for - or knowledge of - the astonishing gifts it could given to the world, So you never know, perhaps one day, that jar of Vegemite sitting in your pantry shelf could also turn out to be something equally as amazing for the benefit of mankind.

Answer: Cell

Robert Hooke was an English scientist, architect and polymath who lived from 1635 until 1703. Even as a very young child, he was fascinated by how objects worked, frequently dismantling same to study their mechanics. This would become a lifelong fascination for him, and lead in turn to some remarkable inventions - and theories for possible future inventions. One of his works included the building of the first Gregorian telescope, by which he then observed the rotations of Mars and Jupiter. He encouraged research into microscopics, began early investigation into evolution, and studied the property of light and refraction, gravity, geology and paleontology, arguing, with the latter, that fossils found on the top of mountains were there as a result of geological changes over vast periods of time.

Hooke also found himself in a spot of bother when disputing the Bible's account of the age of the earth, but didn't let that deter him. He switched his attention to land surveying and map making as well. The list is huge of the topics that this scientist's fertile mind investigated, improved upon, or questioned. What is particularly impressive is his work on the physiology of the brain and how memory works - its capacity, encoding methods, retrieval and forgetting - several hundred years before the psychologists of the modern age verified his theories. It is, however Hooke's work on microscopics and the revealing of microorganisms - cells - for which he is most famous. The pun for this question thus associates his work with the cell to that of a jail cell.