History of the World for Experts Quiz

Answer: Lewis and Clark Expedition

A descendant of the Northern Shoshone (Lemhi) tribe, located in what is now Idaho, Sacagawea served as an interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, or Corps of Discovery, from 1805-1806.

Sacagawea's role was keeping peace between the Native Americans of this region and the explorers. She was also very knowledgeable about the region and was able to help the explorers navigate the territory. She also helped to negotiate trade for horses and supplies.

President Thomas Jefferson was interested in western expansion of the U.S. He was hoping to find a waterway that would link the east coast to the west coast.

The Corps of Discovery, a unit of the U.S. Army, was the result. The expedition was led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. They traveled by boat along the Missouri River heading north to the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the Pacific Northwest. When there were no rivers to navigate, members of the expedition traveled by land.

The expedition lasted from May of 1804 to September of 1806.

Answer: Schooner disappearance

In 1812, Theodosia, beloved daughter of U.S. Vice-President, Aaron Burr, boarded a schooner, the "Patriot", in order to return to New York City from South Carolina to visit her father. The schooner never arrived and the fate of those on board has never been discovered.

Over the years, theories linking piracy to the capture and murder of the schooner's occupants have been developed. However, the explanation that makes the most sense to me is that the schooner shipwrecked off the coast of Cape Hatteras. Logbooks kept from other ships in the area indicated that there had been severe storms at the time the schooner would have been passing directly by Cape Hatteras or just slightly north of the area.

At the time of her disappearance, Theodosia was 29 years old and married to Joseph Alston, a wealthy landowner who became Governor of South Carolina during the War of 1812.

Answer: Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine

Barbara's specialty was genetics, particularly cytogenetics. Cytogenetics involves testing tissue, blood, or bone marrow in relationship to genetic anomalies and pathologic conditions.

She also discovered genetic transposition, or "jumping genes". The idea that genes could "jump" came from her study of generational mutations in maize. Maize was the perfect organism to study transposable elements, or "jumping genes". According to the results of her extensive research, she discovered that each kernel was an embryo produced by a single fertilization, producing hundreds of offspring for genetic study.

Although Thomas Hunt Morgan was the first to discover the link between genetic traits and the exchange of genetic material by chromosomes, it took another two decades for McClintock to prove his scientific theories.

Barbara McClintock received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983.

Answer: Cuyahoga River Fire

Rockefeller was a wealthy American businessman and founder of the Standard Oil Company.

His first oil refinery was built along a stream that fed into the Cuyahoga River, located in northeast Ohio. The refinery had been routinely dumping oil into the river which burned nine times between 1868 and 1952.

The fire that broke out on the river on June 22, 1969 was different. This time the public took notice and became environmentally involved. The 1969 fire led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act.

Answer: Ponzi scheme

While Bernie Madoff may have been a shrewd businessman, but over the decades he defrauded investors of 20 billion dollars in a Ponzi scheme, the largest amount as of 2023.

A Ponzi Scheme is named for Charles Ponzi who came up with the idea of using early investors' funds to pay off later investors. The scheme works as long as all the investors continue to make money. Similar to a pyramid scheme, a Ponzi scheme uses a portfolio manager to handle the investments coming in to pay other investors. In a pyramid scheme, an investor recruits another investor who in turn recruits another investor to buy into what is essentially one big con. Eventually it all collapses.

Madoff was founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and chairman of Nasdaq, a global marketplace for buying and selling securities. It has been theorized that much of the funds from investors went to bad investments, cash stashed away in overseas banks, and to fund Madoff's lavish lifestyle. His schemes went on for years with bogus monthly investment reports fooling investors.

In 2009 Madoff pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering and was sent to prison where he died in 2021.

Answer: Trinity

Julius Robert Oppenheimer was the nuclear physicist in charge of the research and development of atomic bombs used by the U.S. during Word War II. It was known as the Manhattan Project.

On July 16, 1945, a plutonium implosion device was detonated at the Alamagordo Bombing Range, 35 miles southeast of Sirocco, New Mexico. Trinity was the code name for the test. It's considered to be the world's first nuclear explosion.

Placed on top of a tower, 18.6 kilotons of power were released from the plutonium device, nicknamed "Gadget". Vaporizing the tower and turning the surrounding asphalt and sand into green glass, the blast was reportedly heard from witnesses 200 miles away. At first the cause of the blast was downplayed by the Alamogordo Air Base. The true nature of what had occurred wasn't revealed until after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Ground zero is now the location of an obelisk made of black lava rocks and a sign commemorating the historic event. The site is open to the public twice a year.

Answer: Conservative Manifesto

The year was 1937 and Josiah Bailey, U.S. Senator of North Carolina, was the leader of a conservative group of Americans who were opposed to certain programs included in the President's plan for economic recovery, the "New Deal". The drafting of the "Conservative Manifesto" was the result.

The Conservative Manifesto basically promoted less federal government control and more self-reliance at the state and local government levels. Some of the key points of the manifesto, ten in all, included reduction of taxes and limited government spending to achieve a balanced budget.

Bi-partisan support was large enough to do away with some of the "New Deal" programs and to later promote post-war conservatism.

Answer: Children's Peace Monument

The bombing of the Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II left many of the Japanese people with lasting effects of radiation exposure. One of those citizens was Sadako Sasaki, only two years old when the bombs were dropped. She was severely exposed to radiation and, at age twelve, developed leukemia as a result.

During her stay at a hospital, a friend came to visit her with sheets of paper for the purpose of creating origami cranes. That friend told Sadako about a Japanese legend. If someone wished hard enough to be cured, creating 1,000 origami cranes would help that wish come true.

Unfortunately Sadako succumbed to her disease but her memory lives on. The art of folding paper cranes led to the Children's Peace Monument and the Atomic Bomb Children Statue, both located in Hiroshima. These monuments were built as a lasting symbol of peace and a tribute to Sadako and thousands of children who were victims of the bombing of Hiroshima.

Answer: Birth control movement pioneer

This National Diet doesn't include food, unless it's served at meetings. It's Japan's national legislature consisting of an Upper House, House of Councillors, and Lower House, House of Representatives. Shidzue Kato was elected to both Houses as a member of the Socialist Party.

Born into a wealthy Japanese family, Kato was 17 when she married mining engineer Baron Keikichi Ishimoto, whose father had once been Minister Of War.

After she accompanied her husband to a Japanese coalfield, the unhealthy working and living conditions there left a lasting impression on the young Shidzue. Pregnant women and even children worked in the mines.

Kato had admired Margaret Sanger, birth control pioneer in the United States. It encouraged the young Japanese woman to come to the U.S. to discuss the topic of birth control with Sanger. Hopefully she could bring Sanger's ideology back to Japan.

After her return to her native country, she opened Japan's first non-profit birth control clinic in 1934. In 1946 she was elected to the Lower House of Diet and, in 1950, the Upper House, a position she held until 1974.

Shidzue Kato died in 2001 at age 104.

Answer: Harlem Hellfighters

The "Harlem Hellfighters", 369th Infantry Regiment, were an all African-American unit of soldiers who fought during World War I.

William Henry Johnson, Henry to all who knew him, exhibited extraordinary bravery while serving his country. He defended his unit from enemy attack by German forces and prevented a wounded soldier in his unit from being taken by the Germans. Despite being wounded himself, he fought hand-to-hand combat with a knife and rifle. He provided enough resistance to encourage the German forces into retreating.

Since he was badly wounded, Henry returned home to Albany, New York. For his bravery in battle and dedication to his regiment, Henry Johnson was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart in 1996 and the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002.