Mixed Nobel Prize Winners Trivia Quiz

Answer: Physics

Roentgen's most notable contribution to science was his discovery of X-Rays (called Roentgen Rays in many European countries) in 1895. While they are used mostly in the medical field, the X-Rays earned Roentgen the inaugural Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

He donated his prize money to research at the University of Wurzburg, and refused to take out patents of his work as he intended the society as a whole to benefit from his discovery. In 2004, a new element in the periodic table was named in his honor.

Answer: Physics

It's no surprise that such a brilliant mind was decorated with the Nobel Prize. The first name that comes to mind when thinking of a scientist, or a genius, is Einstein's, most of the time.

Among his numerous outstanding researches and developments, the most famous is the Theory of Relativity, published between 1905 and 1915. In 1921 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, not only for his many contributions to the discipline as a whole, but also, particularly, because the discovery of the law of photoelectric effect, which paved the way for the development of quantum theory.

Answer: Physics

Charpak was a Polish-French scientist. He invented and developed the "multiwire proportional chamber", a groundbreaking particle detector, which he made public in 1968. This device is of great help in some physics experiments, as it helps to study the trajectories of some particles and the interaction between them, with much more accuracy and in less time than with the existing particle detectors.

These researches earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1992.

Answer: Physics

Anne L'Huillier, jointly with Ferenc Krausz and Pierre Agostini, has been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics for research on attosecond physics (with an attosecond being 10^-18 seconds). Her team's research was based on the generation of ultrafast laser and light pulses.

It helped the study of the movement of electrons in real time, which is of great interest in atomic physics. Furthermore, the depth of her research is credited with setting the foundations for the field of attochemistry.

Answer: Literature

Born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga in 1889, Gabriela Mistral is one of the most decorated authors in Chile, and the first Latin American writer to be condecorated with the Nobel Prize in Literature after she won it in 1945. Mostly known for her poetry work, she also worked as an educator, and as a journalist after she relocated to Europe in 1926. Mistral had a long diplomatic career as well, serving as consul from 1932 until her death in 1957.

Her poetry explores feelings of sadness and grief, but also touches on some brighter themes such as maternal love, nature and religion. From 1979 to 2000, a literary award, named in her honor, was established by the Organization of American States.

Answer: Literature

One of the most influential Latin American writers of the 20th century, Garcia Marquez was a key author of the "magic realism" style, showcased in his famous works, such as "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Times of Cholera". He is the most translated Spanish-language writer.

His fruitful career earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, making him the first Colombian personality to win such an award (later followed by Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, former president of the country, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016).

Answer: Literature

Pasternak remains one of the most celebrated Russian authors. His work was mostly focused on poetry, and he also took on Russian translations of the works of famous authors, including Shakespeare. However, he is mostly known for his novel "Doctor Zhivago" (1957), which showed such critical views of the October Revolution by Pasternak, that the Soviet regime refused to publish it.

The manuscript was smuggled to Italy and published there, to critical worldwide acclaim. In 1958 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he was forced to decline it by the Soviet authorities.

It wasn't until 1989, 29 years after Pasternak's death, that his son Yevgeny could finally accept the award on his behalf.

Answer: Literature

Elfriede Jelinek is one of the most prolific and important contemporary Austrian writers. Her work encompasses over 30 plays, several novels and a few poetry books. Jelinek's writings focus strongly on criticisms to the capitalist system and on the oppression of women in society. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004.

Answer: Peace

Mandela's story is one of the best known examples of peaceful fight and resistance. He devoted most of his life to fight the Africa colonial regime, first, and the South African Apartheid policy later on. His actions led the authorities to accuse him of conspiration against the government, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment after the trial of Rivonia.

Following his incarceration, intense international pressure, manifested through several sanctions to South Africa and its racial segregation regime, led to president F. W. De Klerk to release Mandela from prison in 1990, after serving 27 years, and promptly negotiate an end to the Apartheid. In 1994, the first fully representative presidential election took place in South Africa, with Mandela winning it to become the first black head of state in the country, and effectively ending the regime. His lifelong struggle for his country made him a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, which was shared with De Klerk.

Answer: Peace

Muhammad Yunus became the first Bangladeshi to win a Nobel Prize, when in 2006 he was awarded the Peace Prize for his efforts on reducing poverty and improving economic development through microcredits and microfinances, both concepts which he coined.

He devised microcredits as a tool for small entrepreneurs to gain access to credit, as some of them weren't eligible to qualify for traditional bank loans. Building on this concept, he founded Grameen Bank following a severe famine in Bangladesh in 1974.

The institution has been growing steadily, and inspired other similar projects in several other countries.

Answer: Peace

Rigoberta Menchu was born into the K'iche' tribe in Guatemala in 1959. From an early age she joined her father in campaigning for the rights of Indigenous people in the region during the Guatemalan Civil War (which lasted from 1960 to 1996), during which most of her family was tortured and even murdered.

After winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, she was appointed as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1996, and she expanded her activism globally, not limited to indigenous people's rights, but also on global inequality and climate change among other topics. During the 2000s decade, she founded Winaq, Guatemalan first indigenous political party, and ran for President in 2007 and 2011.

Answer: Peace

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, born Anjese Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910, is an icon of the fight against poverty. Originally from what is currently North Macedonia, she relocated to India at a young age and took her name after settling in Calcutta. In 1950 she founded the Missionaries of Charity, aimed at providing housing and care for the poor and the diseased, and her efforts earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

Despite her indefatigable service to the cause, Mother Teresa was criticized by some people, with the main issue being the quality of the healthcare her organization provided.

Answer: Physiology or Medicine

Robert Koch was a key figure in microbiology and bacteriology, with some even regarding him as one of the founders of modern medicine. By using many innovative techniques, Koch managed to discover the bacteria responsible for some diseases that were particularly deadly at the time, such as tuberculosis, anthrax and cholera, leading to the modern "germ theory of diseases".

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1905.

Answer: Physiology or Medicine

One of the most important advances in the treatment of diseases took place in 1928, when Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin, the first effective antibiotic. For his discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1945, which was also shared with Howard Flory and Ernst Boris Chain.

Answer: Physiology or Medicine

Bernardo Houssay was a highly influential Argentinian physiologist who conducted extensive researches on the role of pituitary hormones in the regulation of glucose in animals. Particularly, his work on the relationship between hypophysis extracts and the reduced severity of diabetes, made him earn the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1947, becoming the first Latin American laureate in sciences.

He shared the award with Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Cori, who in turn became the first woman laureate in Physiology or Medicine.

Answer: Physiology or Medicine

Barbara McClintock was an American cytogenetist that focused almost exclusively on the study of maize genetics. By analyzing chromosomes of different maize species, she discovered the process of genetic transposition, by means of which certain genetic information can be supressed or expressed from one species to the next by the sole interaction of genes.

Despite initial skepticism of her work (which led her to stop publishing her advances around 1953), her researches became more relevant among the scientific community as years went on. Eventually, her investigations earned her several accolades and awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1983. As of the time of writing this quiz, she remains the only woman to have won an unshared Nobel Prize in the field.

Answer: Chemistry

Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealand scientist who is considered a pioneering investigator in atomic and nuclear physics. Among his most notable contributions, he coined the concept of radioactive half-life, discovered the differentiation between alpha and beta particles, and performed the first artificially induced nuclear reaction in 1917.

His many developments made him the first Oceanic Nobel laureate, as he was presented with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908.

Answer: Chemistry

Alfred Werner was a chemist from Alsace. He made an important contribution to inorganic chemistry (particularly on the field of coordination chemistry, which he helped to develop with his investigation), by proposing and demostrating the octahedral configuration of transition metals, which was not fully described by chemists at the time.

This research, which was first proposed in 1893, has many important applications - among them, it is of great use in the industrial production of organic substances, including fibers, films, and plastics. Werner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1913. (Info extracted from Wikipedia)

Answer: Chemistry

Lars Onsager was a Norwegian-born, American physical chemist, who proposed many theories on statistical mechanics, thermodynamics and physical chemistry. Despite proving himself not very skilled as a teacher, he was very prolific at the formulation of hypotheses, theories and relationships, as well as correcting and expanding some already existing ones.

In 1929 he developed the Onsager Reciprocal Relations, a set of equations of great importance in thermodynamics. In the years after WWII, his researches gained more notoriety, and eventually earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1968.

Answer: Chemistry

Paul Flory was an American scientist who focused his researches on polymers and macromolecules. He was a pioneer in studying the behavior of polymers in solution, helping to understand their properties and structure. His work made him a Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 1974.