Where's My Flying Car? Predictions Gone Wrong Online Trivia | People

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What German-born rocket scientist said in 1972, "I'm convinced that before the year 2000 is over, the first child will have been born on the moon."

Answer: Wernher von Braun

During WWII, von Braun worked on weapons programs developing anti-aircraft rockets and eventually the V2 ballistic missile. After surrendering to American troops, he came to the US and worked first on military missiles, then for NASA where he led the development of the Saturn rockets for the moon program.

Despite his expertise, his prediction of childbirth on the moon appears quite optimistic.

2. In early 1955 "Variety" magazine wrote "It will be gone by June". They were predicting the failure of what phenomenon?

Answer: Rock & Roll

1955 was the year that Rock & Roll exploded into the public eye. Protests based on taste, 'morality' or both were common. Records were burned and banned. 15,000 teens wrote to a Chicago radio station complaining about the "indecent" music the station was playing. The protests have failed and the predictions of rock's demise seem to have been wrong.

3. The telephone is such a ubiquitous part of modern life that it's hard to believe that not everyone thought it useful when it was new. Which of these experts did NOT predict that Mr. Bell's invention would be a failure?

Answer: Mark Twain

Twain was a techie of his day and was one of the first private citizens to have a telephone in his home.
In 1878 Preece said, "Here [Britain] we have a superabundance of messengers, errand boys and things of that kind ... The absence of servants has compelled America to adopt communications systems for domestic purposes".
An 1876 Western Union internal memo stated, "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
President Hayes, upon seeing a demonstration of Bell's device in 1876, said, "That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?"

4. "The world potential market...is 5000 at most." With those words, IBM opted not to buy the rights to what machine that is now the backbone of virtually every office in the world?

Answer: Photocopier

IBM had been offered sales rights to the "914" plain paper copier by the small firm that developed it. IBM hired a consultant to determine the potential market for such a product and his report stated that due to the low cost of carbon paper, no more than 5000 copiers would be sold worldwide. Ten years later the company that developed the "914" (now known as Xerox) was generating $1 billion in sales annually.

In the mid 60s IBM's "experts" struck again, estimating worldwide demand for word processing at 6000 work stations. By 1990 there were 90 million.

5. William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, was a leading scientist of the Victorian era. He worked in electronics, thermodynamics and other fields. In 1896, upon hearing of Rontgen's discovery of X-rays, what was Lord Kelvin's reaction?

Answer: "X-rays will prove to be a hoax"

Kelvin proclaimed X-rays a hoax - not an uncommon opinion at the time. But upon seeing Rontgen's research, Kelvin was convinced of the value of the work and even had his own hand x-rayed.

6. During the "Atomic Age" of the 1950s, there were many predictions of marvelous peaceful uses of atomic energy. In 1955 businessman Alex Lewyt predicted that what home appliance would soon be nuclear powered?

Answer: Vacuum cleaner

Lewyt, president of the Lewyt Corporation, told "The New York Times" that "Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years." The vacuum cleaner produced by Lewyt's company successfully eliminated interference to radio and television receivers (which was actually a problem prior to the 1940s) but they never produced an atomic model.

7. Upon seeing the first flight of the plane he helped design, who said, "There will never be a bigger plane built."?

Answer: A Boeing engineer

For its time - 1933 - the Boeing 247 was, indeed, large and loaded with advances. But it only took about 14 months until a larger airliner, the Douglas DC-2, went into operation. The 247 had a wingspan of 74 feet. The Airbus A380 which went into service in 2007 as the world's largest airliner has a wingspan 261 feet.

8. In March of 1949 "Popular Mechanics" foretold the coming of smaller computers with a statement that still raises eyebrows. What was that prediction?

Answer: Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.

The entire quote was, "Where a calculator like ENIAC today is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh only 1.5 tons."
ENIAC was an early electronic, programmable computer which entered service in 1946. In addition to its enormous weight, it took up 1800 square feet. So a prediction of computers weighing less than two tons really was quite speculative.

9. In 1954 Wilhelm C. Heuper said, "If excessive smoking actually plays a role in the production of lung cancer, it seems to be a minor one." For whom did Heuper work?

Answer: National Cancer Institute

Heuper was an early researcher into environmental causes of cancer and was one of the first to warn the public of the danger of asbestos, among other carcinogenic substances. In its full context, his statement about smoking can be seen to mean that data was just starting to be available on the health effects of smoking.

10. "There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." What scientist, whose theories contributed to the development of atomic energy, made this prediction in 1932?

Answer: Albert Einstein

Einstein's Theory of Relativity is popularly said to have led directly to the development of atomic energy. In fact, the connection is not that close. Einstein's larger contribution was probably his signature on the letter physicist Leo Szilard sent to President Roosevelt warning of the danger that Germany might develop an atomic bomb. That letter was instrumental in the creation of the Manhattan Project.

Source: Author wilbill

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Where's My Flying Car? Predictions Gone Wrong Quiz

I read "Popular Mechanics" magazine as a kid and they told me that we'd soon have cars that could turn into airplanes, allowing us to fly over the gridlocked traffic. There have been other erroneous prediction made by "experts". Here are a few.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>