Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. He was sixty-nine years old, and his hair and beard were as white as hoar frost. His eyes, which had looked deep into the heavens, and had seen further than any human being before him, were now dimmed by age. His reputation as one of the great scientists of his time had made kings, queens, princes and dukes vie for his services. Now he knelt before the dreaded tribunal of the Inquisition, compelled to publicly confess an error that was no error. His lips moved, uttering the words that were put in them, and he rose.
Nevertheless, some say, that as he stood, he muttered inaudibly, "Eppur si move" (The earth does move). Who was this man, one of the most famous men of the 17th century, a man whose name is still uttered with awe even today?
2. King Ptolemy I was, to put not too fine a point on it, a bit put out. When he was having difficulty studying "Geometry from the Elements", and had requested its author for some easier way for a monarch to learn the subject, he received the answer, "Sire, there is no royal road to Geometry."
Who was the scholar who delivered this royal rebuff, who has been called by ancient writers of history, "a gentle and kindly old man"?
3. The room was unbearably hot, and eleven upstanding Dutch citizens were wondering why they had allowed themselves to be coaxed into coming there. Two of the men were priests, one a notary public, and the rest were burghers of the town of Delft, who frequented the store of the owner of the room. One by one, they stepped near a glass window, held up a lens and stared at the world of the 'little beasties' that wriggled beneath the convex glass all around them. They were looking at a sight which only one man in the world had seen before. When they had seen their fill, they attached their signatures to an affidavit that the owner of the shop had thoughtfully drawn up. The world was about to be informed of a discovery that would turn the world of science on its head, the microscope.
Who was the Scientist who was responsible for this earth-shattering discovery, that there exist beings in this world that we cannot see with the naked eye, but that still affect every facet of our lives?
4. The year was 1696. He had just recovered from a prolonged illness of the nervous system and had been given a lucrative job at the London Mint. There was widespread anxiety among the scientific community as to whether he, the most famous scientist in the world, still retained his edge. John Bernoulli, famous for his work in integral and exponential calculus, sent a letter to all leading mathematicians propounding a problem. He challenged the world's mathematicians to solve this problem within six months. He received a reply within a week. When he read it, he recognised the touch of the master, and remarked, "Tanquam ex ungue leonem". (It is the touch of the lion's paw.) Thus was the scientific world informed that the 'master' had not yet yielded his pre-eminence.
Who was the 'master'?
5. The rear door of the fashionable London townhouse opened slowly. A shadowy figure, dressed in clothing which had gone out of style some twenty years ago, appeared in the doorway. He glanced furtively up and down the street and then, when he was sure that the neighbourhood was deserted, slipped into the blackness of the evening. Suddenly a coach clattered around the corner, and its two female occupants, catching sight of the muffled figure, called out to him, "Good evening, Sir."
He looked up for a moment, terrified. Then, burying his face in his great coat, he sprinted out into the night, to the mortification of the ladies. Thief? No. Spy? No. Murderer? Certainly Not! Abnormal Genius out for an evening stroll? Of course!
Who was he?
6. The beautiful velvet knee breeches, the glossy buckled shoes, and the gleaming sword were all laid out for him to wear. He was to be presented to King George IV in a traditional ceremony in which the King honoured his most distinguished subjects. But he was a Quaker, and his beliefs forbade him from wearing such garments or wearing a sword. The Lord Chamberlain was in a fury over his stubbornness, but he would not listen. At long length, a bright young groom saved the day. He was told that he could cover himself with a robe that he had recently been awarded when accepting an honourary degree from Oxford. The flaming red cloth was draped over his frail shoulders and he was ushered into the impatient King's prescence. A number of Quakers in the audience gasped when they saw him bedecked in scarlet, a colour that no true Quaker would be permitted to wear. However he was colour-blind and was hence unaware of the faux pas he was commiting.
Who was he?
7. When this scientist was ten years old, his teacher, thinking to keep the class occupied for some time, asked the class to find out the sum of all numbers from one to one hundred. He was therefore extremely astonished a young boy put up his hand and came up with the correct answer immediately. At first the teacher thought the boy had memorised the answer, but when the student revealed that he had found the answer out through algebra, he realized the true extent of the child's mathematical prowess. Who was this child?
8. The wind whistled through past the ropes of the small craft, and tore at the furled sails. Would this wretched storm never end? Perhaps he should quit this uncomfortable voyage now, before it really began. He had failed to qualify for the medical profession, unlike his father and grandfather, and now, at twenty two years of age, was the naturalist on board the HMS Beagle, under the command of young Captain Fitzroy. What would his father, who was successful and respected, think of him if he withdrew from the career that he had chosen in Science? Little did he know that this very voyage would make him one of the most famous scientists of all time.
Who was this man, whose discoveries virtually led to the establishment of a new branch of Science?
9. On the sixth of April, 1846, an group of eminent scientists had just begun their regular meeting. It featured the reading of a scientific paper on the production of ovals and refraction. The speaker was Professor James Forbes, a distinguished mathematician from the University of Edinburgh, and group was the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
The unique feature about this meeting was the fact that the original author of this noteworthy paper had been barred from appearing and publicly reporting on his work for "it was not thought proper for a boy in a round jacket to mount the rostrum there."
Who was this young genius who was fourteen years old at the time?
10. The world famous English scientist Michael Faraday, had just clapped his hands with glee and said, "Hurrah for the Yankee Experimenter! What in the world did you do?" If the recipient of this barbed praise had been anyone but who he was, then he might have exploded with, "If you would only read what I publish, and understand what you read, you'd know what you just saw!" Instead, the Princeton Science professor patiently explained the phenomenon of self-induction to the man whom the world had already credited with the discovery of induction.
Who was this man, America's greatest experimental investigator of the nineteenth century?
Source: Author
Shrivats
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