(Just explore or keep track of your score and then see how you
do!)
In 1899, who said, "Everything that can be invented
has been invented"?
(a) Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of the U.S. Patent
Office
(b) Thomas Edison, inventor
(c) Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist
(d) Robert Goddard, rocket scientist
The population of the world in the year 1 is estimated
to have been 300 million. In the year 2000, it was estimated to be slightly
over 6 billion. What is the estimate for 1900?
(a) 5.1 billion
(b) 3.4 billion
(c) 1.7 billion
(d) 850 million
Who said, "The Edison Company offered me the general
superintendency of the company but only on condition that I would give up
my gas engine and devote myself to something really useful"?
(a) Henry Ford, automobile pioneer
(b) Ransom Eli Olds, automobile pioneer
(c) Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. President
(d) Harry M. Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers
When were the first credit cards issued?
(a) 1920s
(b) 1950s
(c) 1960s
(d) 1970s
We've all heard the expression, "the greatest
thing since sliced bread." The first bread slicing machine was put into
service in a bakery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the year the machine was
invented. What year was that?
(a) 1898
(b) 1908
(c) 1918
(d) 1928
In 1942, a patent was issued for a "Secret Communications
System, a method for securing transmissions between ships and radio-controlled
torpedoes. The same basic method, now called "frequency hopping,"
is used in many applications including today's cordless telephones. Who won
that original patent?
(a) Pearl Buck, Nobel lauteate novelist
(b) Hedy Lamarr, movie actress
(c) Clare Booth Luce, playwright, journalist, diplomat
(d) Eleanor Roosevelt, U.S. First Lady
In 1943, Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, said, "I
think there is a world market for maybe [fill in the number] computers."
(a) 5
(b) 500
(c) 50,000
(d) 5,000,000
In 1955, who said, "I do not hesitate to forecast
that atomic batteries will be commonplace long before 1980"?
(a) Isaac Asimov, science fiction writer
(b) Dwight Eisenhower, U.S. President
(c) David Sarnoff, chairman of RCA
(d) Edward Teller, atomic scientist
Wilson Greatbatch built the world's first implantable
cardiac pacemaker in what year?
(a) 1938
(b) 1948
(c) 1958
(d) 1968
On The Jetsons, the 1962-1963 season television
show, what was the name of the family dog?
(a) Astro
(b) Comet
(c) Fido
(d) Nova
The Concorde was the first commercial supersonic aircraft.
It went into service in 1976. What was the first year in which the sound barrier
was first broken by any aircraft?
(a) 1937
(b) 1947
(c) 1957
(d) 1967
In 1996, the video game industry overtook the movie
industry in total revenues in the U.S. What was the first important commercial
computer game to enter the market?
(a) Breakout
(b) Legend of Zelda
(c) Life
(d) Pong
In 1800, there were about 300 acres of potential farm
land per person in what became the forty-eight contiguous states of the United
States. With the increase in population and the destruction of the environment,
how many acres of farm land were there per person in 2000?
(a) 0.6
(b) 1.8
(c) 5.4
(d) 16.2
The dodo was a flightless bird on Mauritius, an island
in the Indian Ocean. First seen by Europeans in 1507, through hunting and
the introduction of new animals, the dodo became extinct by 1681, leading
to the expression "dead as a dodo." Which of the following animals
was NOT in danger of extinction in the year 2000?
(a) Bighorn Sheep
(b) Rainbow Trout
(c) San Francisco Garter Snake
(d) Whooping Crane
