Historical Figures Beginning With 'F' Quiz

Answer: Athlete

Regarded as one of the all-time greats in the world of professional tennis, Roger Federer, born in Switzerland, is amongst the top-earners in the sport, raking in more than $100,000,000 USD in earnings across his decades in the sport. In addition to winning titles at Wimbledon eight times, Federer has won a gold medal in the Olympics (doing so in Doubles Tennis in Beijing) and a silver (for singles in London). Federer retired from professional tennis in 2022.

Answer: Government whistleblower

At one time the Associate Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, W. Mark Felt is likely better known to people by the codename 'Deep Throat', as it was his role in breaking the Watergate Scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Felt only revealed this fact to the public in the 2000s, believing he needed to do so before he died.

He would inevitably pass away in 2008 at the age of 95.

Answer: Author

Though Elena Ferrante, as a name, may seem familiar to those browsing through literary fiction, it's actually a pseudonym for the author of the popular 'Neapolitan Novels', which commenced with "My Brilliant Friend" in 2011. Originally writing in Italian, Ferrante's works led her to become one of the most influential people in the world, per "Time", in 2016, despite no one knowing her identity for decades at that point. Several of her novels have been adapted to film and TV, many of which have been highly regarded, like the Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed "The Lost Daughter".

Answer: Civil engineer

Full name George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., this gentleman of the late 19th century was the namesake of the world-famous ferris wheel, which made its debut at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. When planners of the Columbian Exhibition reached out to engineers to try and create something more magnificent than Paris' Eiffel Tower (which also debuted at a World's Fair), they landed on Ferris' concept because it was considered the most daring.

Planners also refused to give Ferris any share of the profits, and he spent the final two years of his life in legal quagmires trying to fight for it before passing away in 1896.

Answer: Businessman

Born in Ohio in the mid-to-late-19th century, Harvey Firestone was amongst a high tier of American business magnates, and his specialty was in tire-making. It's a business that would remain in his family for generations with his son continuing as the head of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company after his death, and then his great-grandson, William Clay Ford Jr., remaining a key figure on the board of directors with the Ford Motor Company, which the Firestones married into.

It's not to say Firestone wasn't without the trappings and faults of the Industrial Revolution, though. He and his associates leased 10% of the farmland in Liberia solely for the production of rubber, and it wasn't done through particularly safe or just means.

Answer: Political artist

A scholar of fine arts born in New York in the lat 19th century, Flagg found his success in cartooning throughout the 1900s and 1910s, and while most wouldn't necessarily know him for his earlier works, he managed to create one of the most enduring animated figures of American history when he used his own likeness as the basis for Uncle Sam in late recruitment posters for the U.S. Army in World War I. Flagg continued to find recognition for his craft in the decades to follow, working for some of the most famous publications in the States and becoming the highest-paid magazine illustrator for a time.

He passed away in 1960.

Answer: Puppeteer

Launching into a career as a puppeteer in the 1960s, Waylon Flowers found his fame in subsequent decades when he introduced his ventriloquist puppet, Madame, to the world. Created to be a raunchy, vaudevillian, old lady, Madame proved to be an odd, underground comedy hit, especially in New York and New England and mostly in gay clubs. From the mid-1970s to the 1980s, however, Wayland and Madame appeared on numerous comedy shows on television, especially "The Hollywood Squares". Wayland would pass away during the AIDS epidemic in 1988.

Answer: Zoologist

Fossey is best-known for her conservation efforts in the mountains of Congo and Rwanda from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s as her time spent there brought great awareness to the plight and lives of primates residing amongst the rainforests. Much of this work was chronicled in her well-known book, "Gorillas in the Mist", which subsequently became the title of her biopic (starring Sigourney Weaver in an Oscar-nominated role).

Unfortunately, her research came to an end when she was murdered in her encampment in Rwanda in 1985.

Answer: Postmaster General

Benjamin Franklin is quite the famous American figure, having been one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and one of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, but his body of notable work is much more than these items. Though Franklin was the first Postmaster General for the U.S. in several months of 1776, he had, earlier been Postmaster General for British America for nearly two decades preceding.

He was a newspaper editor, an almanac publisher, an abolitionist, and a keen student of the sciences, experimenting with electricity amongst other things.

His multifaceted legacy persists to this day.

Answer: Architect

Though an architect by trade, Buckminster Fuller was a futurist at his core, creating designs and concepts that would help reshape our understanding of the modern (and postmodern) world. He's particularly known for the creation of geodesic domes as strong structures; buildings like the Montreal Biosphere, for instance, are massive, eye-catching pieces that act as clear examples of his unique aesthetic.

These structures proved so strong that when scientists discovered similar shapes in carbon allotropes, they named them 'Fullerene', after him.

He received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1983 and passed away later the same year.