Making Masterpieces Trivia Quiz

Louis Braille was blinded at the age of 3 after an accident involving an awl in his father's workshop. An infection from the injury spread to both eyes and he became completely blinded. While studying at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in France, however, he created a writing system whereby the visually impaired could "read" and write. He was only 15 at the time in 1824.

The writing system, named Braille after Louis, consists of a set pattern of raised dots, punched into paper. By running the fingers over the dots, the different letters represented by the dot pattern can be read. Braille machines enable people to punch these dots into paper as well. Although Louis's system was not widespread by the time of his death in 1852, it was internationally famous by the late 19th century and has been used worldwide since.

Guglielmo Marconi is credited as having been the inventor of radio, although the truth is somewhat more specific. He was in fact the inventor of a telegraph system using radio waves, which is what we know today as radio. Specifically, he was successful with long-range radio; in 1902, he successfully completed the first transatlantic radio broadcast when he sent messages from Nova Scotia, Canada, to Great Britain.

Marconi built on the discovery of radio waves by Heinrich Hertz to experiment with "wireless telegraphy" from an early age. In 1894, at the age of 20, he demonstrated a successful radio transmitter and receiver set to his mother. By 1897, after many improvements, he was demonstrating to the British government. By transmitting transatlantically, he also disproved the idea that the curve of the earth's surface would disrupt transmissions.

In 1909, Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun. He also founded his own radio company, which became the Marconi Company that operated until 1987. In 1929, he was made the 1st Marquis of Marconi in Italy.

John Muir, who lived from 1838 to 1914, was not as well known for his inventions as he was for his involvement with the American National Park system. As a naturalist, Muir was interested in the conservation of wildlife spaces in the United States, and his advocacy spurred the establishment of Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks. He was the founder of the Sierra Club as well.

However, Muir's inventions were also remarkable. During his lifetime he experimented with a variety of tools and patented several, such as a table saw. Many of Muir's inventions he created while still a youth, including a tool to push him out of bed in the morning! Some of his other experiments included a horse feeder, clocks, and a wooden thermometer.

Gideon Sundback is perhaps more appropriately the man who perfected the zipper, and who made it into the fastener we know today. Zipper-like appliances were patented as early as 1851, by Elias Howe. Later, in 1893, Whitcomb L. Judson patented a zipper-like fastener, and although it was not highly successful he launched the Universal Fastener Company.

That was when Gideon Sundback entered the scene. Employed by the Universal Fastener Company (now known as the Fastener Manufacturing and Machine Company), as well as the husband of the plant manager's daughter, Sundback found himself in a good position to make some changes to the fastener. His patent for the zipper as we know it was filed in 1917. It's been only improving our lives since then!

Although hardly as famous as Bell or Braille, Marcellus Gilmore Edson gave us a precious invention: peanut butter! Edson was born in Quebec, Canada, in 1849. Edson's original idea was to create a nutritious paste for invalids and others who could not eat solids. In 1884, he patented the "Maufacture of Peanut-Candy" in the United States.

Edson's process was very similar to the peanut butter we know today. He milled roasted peanuts until semi-liquefied, and added sugar to harden it slightly. Delicious!

Hans Lippershey might not be the inventor of the telescope, but he was the first in history to attempt to patent the invention. Born around 1570 in Wesel, Duchy of Cleves, Holy Roman Empire, Lippershey was a spectacle maker who used two lenses to create what was later known as a "Dutch perspective glass".

In 1608, he attempted patent an invention "for seeing things far away as if they were nearby". His petition was turned down because of similar claims by other spectacle-makers. His invention truly worked, however, and he sold copies of his design for large fees. Interestingly, his attempt to patent came just weeks before a second telescope patent, this one by Jacob Metius, was attempted.

Bell is well-known for his work in patenting the first telephone. Born in Scotland in 1847, Bell moved to Canada while a young man, and he conducted most of his experiments from his estate in Nova Scotia, where he later died in 1922. Bell was famous for his work with the deaf, which he conducted alongside his experiments with telegraphy.

With his assistant Thomas Watson, Bell developed an acoustic telegraph system and filed a patent for it on the same day in 1876 that another inventor, Elisha Grey, filed his, leading to a controversy. Three days after his patent was granted, on March 10, 1876, Bell's telephone worked properly for the first time, and the first words ever clearly spoken over a telephone were heard by Watson: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you," Bell reportedly said. This was the beginning of the telephone as we know it, which Bell continued to develop for years.

Although Thomas Jefferson was not the first person to create the concept of a swiveling chair - an early version of a swivel chair is depicted in a 1505 manuscript - Jefferson created his own version of one and made it for himself. Legend has it that Jefferson needed additional movement that his own chair was not giving him while he was drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1775. Using a style of chair called a Windsor Chair, he added a spindle and window sash pulley rollers to his chair to create the original office seat.

The American Philosophical Society now has custody of Jefferson's unique swivel chair, which Jefferson made modifications to after 1776. These included adding a writing surface to one of the chair's arms, somewhat like a desk chair.

Thomas Sullivan is credited with having created and popularized tea bags during the early 20th century. A tea seller in New York, he gave out tea samples to customers in small silk pouches during 1908. Rave reviews of the tea followed, including requests that he continue to provide the tea in silk bags.

It appears that several of the customers accidentally steeped their tea without removing it from the bag! Harnessing the idea, Sullivan, and soon many other sellers, began to provide tea this way, intentionally this time.

Although the concept of a device that wakes you at a certain time has been around for centuries - Plato used a water clock to wake himself up for lectures at sunrise during the 4th century BC - Levi Hutchins was the first person to create a mechanical alarm clock that used a bell that rang at a certain time.

In 1787, Hutchins created a clock that rang a bell to wake him punctually every morning at 4 a.m. However, he never patented his creation. The first patented alarm clock came in 1847. This was created by Antoine Redier, who also made his clock adjustable, so the user could set it to go off at any time.