Australian Scientists Trivia Quiz

Answer: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

The CSIRO had its beginnings in World War I and became the CSIRO in 1949. There are 15 major fields of research including mining, health, communications and astronomy. One of the major inventions credited to CSIRO is the polymer bank note which is now used in many countries around the world. They are fabulous as you can wash them by mistake and they won't disintegrate!

Answer: William Farrer

English-born William Farrer came to Australia aged 25. The son of a tenant farmer, he hoped to buy a pastoral property in Australia but became a surveyor first. He experimented with wheat hybrids to find a strain that was disease resistant and produced high quality flour. The most famous strain of wheat he developed was "Federation". Released in 1901, Federation became the most widely grown of his wheats and quadrupled wheat production in NSW within 20 years.

Mr Blaxland, Mr Lawson and Mr Wentworth were early explorers or Australia. They discovered a way across the previously impenetrable Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney in 1813.

Answer: Dr Fiona Wood

Dr Fiona Wood came to the public's attention after the Bali bombings. The largest number of burns survivors were transported to the Royal Perth Hospital and she led the team treating the 28 victims with up to 92% burns. She had been working on "spray on skin" since 1992 and continues to develop the science. Dr Fiona Wood was named Australian of the Year in 2005.

Dr Fiona Stanley is an Australian epidemiologist. Drs Ross and Carter were leading characters on "ER".

Answer: Dr Fiona Stanley

Dr Fiona Stanley has worked in epidemiology since the 1970s. She was the founding director of Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Western Australia. In addition to the folic acid/spina bifida link and continuing research into cerebral palsy, they are a leader in research improving the lives of Aboriginal children. Dr Fiona Stanley was Australian of the Year in 2003 and a hospital bearing her name is planned for construction in Murdoch, a suburb of Perth.

Dr Scholl makes shoes of course. Dr Theodore Geisel? He's Dr Seuss! Dr Fiona Wood is an Australian plastic surgeon.

Answer: Dr Howard Florey

Dr Howard Florey, together with Ernst Chain, revisited Sir Alexander Fleming's work on the naturally occurring penicillium notatum mould. The team they led extracted Penicillin and made it viable to produce. For his works, he shared the Nobel Prize with Chain and Fleming, was knighted and made a life peer. His portrait was on our $50 note for many years. The Howard Florey Institute is Australia's largest brain research institute. Former Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies said of Florey "in terms of world well-being, Florey was the most important man ever born in Australia".

Dr Jekyll is of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde fame. Dr Samuel Mudd treated John Wilkes Booth's injury after Wilkes assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Dr Hannibal Lecter is a character from "The Silence Of The Lambs".

Answer: Dr Graeme Clark

In 1982 The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital implanted the first bionic ear (cochlear implant)for a world wide trial. After years of research the first practical bionic ear was a success and in 1985 the first child recipient was granted the gift of sound. According to The Bionic Ear Institute's website, over 110,000 Australia Bionic Ears have been implanted in people in over 120 countries. Dr Graeme Clark was Senior Australian of the Year in 2001.

Drs Fleming and Florey developed penicillin. Dr Jack Stapleton is a recurring character from the books of Robin Cook.

Answer: Black Box Flight Recorder

Dr David Warren's father was killed in an aeroplane crash in 1934. In the 1950s and now a chemist specialising an aircraft fuels, Dr Warren had the idea to develop the flight recorder. After meeting scepticism initially, the project really took off in the late 1950s. A judicial enquiry into a 1960 plane crash led to the judge recommending flight recorders be placed in all aeroplanes. Australia became the first country to make a cockpit-voice recorder compulsory.

The Inflatable Aircraft Escape Slide & Raft was also an Australian invention but not by Dr Warren. I'm not sure who receives the credit (or blame) for airline food.

Answer: Microsurgery

Dr Earl Owen first had the notion about microsurgery when he was operating on a newborn baby. A microscope would make visualising the structures much easier. Together with Zeiss, he developed a microscope for intra-operative use. The first microsurgical operation was performed in 1968 when a child's amputated finger was successfully reattached. 1998 saw the first human hand transplant and since then, double hand transplants have been performed for patients who were born without hands, or have lost them in accidents.

Answer: Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

Dr Karl as he is known, is a popular media figure in Australia explaining science to the public. He makes science interesting and relevant. Not as well known is his scientific background. He has degrees in physics and mathematics, biomedical engineering, medicine and surgery. That ever inquiring mind has also studied astrophysics, computer science and philosophy.

Born in Sweden in 1948, Dr Karl moved to Australia in time to attend high school in Wollongong and then moved on to various courses at Sydney, NSW and Wollongong Universities.

Dr Henry Higgins was as character from "My Fair Lady". Dr John Watson is Dr Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories. Dr Henry Wu is from Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park".

Answer: Medicine

Professor Blackburn and two colleagues won the Nobel Prize for their work investigating chromosomes and the discovery of an enzyme which they named Telomerase. Telomerase is critical to the regeneration of cells in the body and their discovery will aid learning about aging and the disease process. Advances in cancer treatments may also follow.