Did I Do That? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Irène

Irène Joliot-Curie was born in 1897 and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935, with her husband Frédéric Joliot (who later changed his last name to Joliot-Curie). Their daughter Héléne would become a famous physicist, working in the field of nuclear physics.

Pierre and Marie Curie had another daughter called Eve. She worked as a journalist. In 1937 she published the biography of her mother which was entitled "Madame Curie".

Bronislawa was the name of Marie Curie's sister. She is two years older than Marie. Bronislawa persuaded Marie to join her in Paris, where Marie would study at the famous university of Sorbonne. In Paris Marie would meet her husband Pierre in 1894.

Answer: Austria

Hedy Lamarr was born in 1913 in Vienna, the capital of Austria to Jewish parents. Her original name is Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. After studying ballet and piano, she went on to become a star in German films as a young girl. She met film producer Louis B. Mayer in London. He persuaded her to change her name to Hedy Lamarr. She would go on to play in several Hollywood films.

She created her invention together with composer George Antheil. They submitted a patent for a secret communications system in 1941. Their idea was first implemented much later in 1962, when the USA used it during a naval blockade of Cuba. It was only in 1997 that the Electronic Frontier Foundation handed Lamarr an award for her work on the system.

Answer: Debugging

As Grace Hopper was working on the Mark I computer, a moth flew into the system. The system had to be quite literally debugged. At the Smithsonian Institute you can find the remains of the famous moth in the National Museum of American History.

Born in 1906 as Grace Brewster Murray, she studied mathematics and physics. She worked as a professor of mathematics, before joining the Navy Reserve, where she started working on various computer projects.

Answer: Women were not allowed to own patents at the time

Sadly women were not allowed to own patents at the time. The patent was given out in England in 1715. A second patent for weaving straw into hats was also credited to her husband.

Sybilla was truly one of the first American female pioneers. She is the first American woman to be credited with a patent. Sybilla Masters died in 1720, five years after the first patent was issued and was only fully credited for her achievements much later in history.

Answer: Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ruth was making a batch of chocolate cookies, but ran out of baker's chocolate. She added a few broken pieces of Nestlé chocolate into the batter, expecting it to melt. It did not melt, yet created a whole new type of cookie. She named it the Toll House Crunch Cookie. Other versions of the story insist that some pieces of chocolate accidentally fell into the batter, thus creating the now famous cookie.

Ruth Wakefield was born in 1903 in East Walpole. She was recognised as a good chef and wrote her own cookbook "Toll House Tried and True Recipes".

Answer: Psychology

Marjorie Stewart Joyner never really received the credit for her invention. Her employer Madame Walker held the patent for the invention and received the royalties. She would go on to co-found the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association. She is credited for being the first African-American woman to hold a patent, although this claim is sometimes being contested.

Marjorie was born in 1896 in Monterey. She studied cosmetology and graduated in 1916 at the A. B. Molar Beauty School in Chicago. She was the first African-American woman to do this. It is at the school where she met her future employer Madame Walker.

Answer: France

Bessie Blount was also a teacher of physical therapy at a hospital in New York. She tried to get help with marketing her invention from the United States' Veteran Administration. When they failed to help her, she offered the patent rights to the French Government, who did see the potential of her invention. Many of the war veterans that were injured and as a result confined to a wheelchair or bed. The device that Bessie created allowed them to feed themselves, which improved their quality of life.

Bessie was born in 1914 in Hickory. Besides working as a physical therapist, she was also a forensic scientist.

Answer: The Monkees

Michael Nesmith gained fame as a member of The Monkees, a band created for the televison series of the same name. He would go on to be a successful solo artist and producer. He won a Grammy Award in 1981 for Video of the Year, which was awarded for his video Elephant Parts.

His mother Bette, who was born in 1924, gained a lot of money with her invention. She later sold her company to the Gillette Corporation. At her death in 1981, her son Michael inherited half the estate, which was valued at $ 50 million. The other half went to organising a think tank about solving the world's problems.

Answer: Ken

Barbie's boyfriend was named after Ruth's son Kenneth. This was shortened to Ken.

Ruth Handler was born in 1916 in Denver. She became the president of toy manufacturer Mattel in 1967, a company originally founded by her husband Elliott and his business partner Harold Matson. She was succeeded by Robert E. Eckert.

She is also known for starting a company creating a new, more realistic type of breast prothesis, called "Nearly Me". Ruth Handler survived breast cancer herself.

Answer: Windshield Wiper

Mary Anderson is the inventor of the windshield wiper. She noticed in 1903 that streetcar drivers were forced to drive with the window open, when it rained. She then set to making a device that would wipe the window while driving in the rain.

She was born in 1866 in Greener County. She developed real estate and also managed her own cattle ranch and vineyard in the state of Alabama, where she grew up.