Independent Thinkers! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in a little town in France. She was always an independent thinker, and felt she heard the voice of God speaking to her as a child. When her homeland, France, was embroiled in a war with England over its autonomy, Joan convinced the King that she could be victorious in leading the troops to battle because of her guidance from God. Later, she was thought to be a witch working for forces of evil and was burned at the stake. Finally, in the 20th century, she was canonized as a saint who was unwilling to give up her independent thoughts on pain of death.

The other three women are independent thinkers from other periods in history. Mary of Nazareth is the mother of Jesus, an independent thinker who was unafraid to believe she was carrying the child of God. Teresa of Calcutta (or Mother Teresa) was an amazing giving woman who lived among the poor in Calcutta for many years, and whose independent thinking kept her unworried in the face of disease, poverty and suffering. Catherine of Aragon was the first wife of Henry VIII, and a young independent thinker from Spain, who became the first female ambassador.

Answer: Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was an inventor, statesman, connoisseur of different beliefs and cultures--definitely an independent thinker. His many talents led to his publishing of Poor Richard's Almanac and serving as US Ambassador to France after the US won independence from England. If any further proof of Franklin's independent thinking is needed, the fact that he tried to get the Wild Turkey to be the symbol of the US (because it is native to America) instead of the Bald Eagle shows that he did not go with the flow!

While the others mentioned are also independent thinkers, none of them evokes the image asked for in the question. George Washington is the father of his country, the United States, whose independent thinking prevented him from becoming a dictator and led him to serve two terms as America's first president. Paul Revere was a silversmith by trade and an excellent rider and patriot, which led to his idea of alerting the revolutionary fighters of the means of approach by the British--one if by land, two if by sea. Thomas Jefferson was a wealthy landowner in Virginia whose independent thinking led him to pen the Declaration of Independence.

Answer: True

The queen we think of today as Cleopatra is the most well-known of a series of rulers who went by that name. This independent thinker has been immortalized in a play by Shakespeare, movies and in books, both historic texts and fictionalized accounts. Though originally of Greek descent, Cleopatra learned to speak Egyptian and presented herself as the reincarnation of the goddess Isis. Cleopatra's rebelliousness and independent thinking didn't save her, however, and she committed suicide by inducing an asp (a poisonous snake) to bite her breast.

Answer: Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci is the symbol of the Renaissance thinker and had ideas that were way before his time. This Italian genius tried to protect his inventions by omitting key parts of his designs from his drawings so that they couldn't be stolen easily and even used mirror writing to obscure some of his explanations.

The others listed are also independent thinkers, but did not do the things listed. Michelangelo was an Italian Renaissance artist, most famous for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Thomas Edison was a prolific American inventor who came up with inventions like the phonograph and electrical lighting. Leonardo Di Caprio is a gifted American actor who uses his independent thinking to portray a wide variety of characters, including Howard Hughes, the Man in the Iron Mask and Romeo.

Answer: Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was the most famous of the women pilots, but she was by no means the only one. She did accomplish the first solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1928. Earhart disappeared in her plane in 1937 when she was attempting to fly around the world. All of the women mentioned in this question had a love of flying and three of them were important contributors to early flight.

Katherine Wright is the sister of the fathers of aviation, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Some say that Katherine contributed equally to the ideas that led to her brothers' invention of the first viable airplane. Harriet Quimby was an American journalist who became the first licensed female pilot in 1911. She also met a tragic end when she fell out of a plane that was flying at 1500 feet during an exhibition in Boston harbor in 1912. Katharine Hepburn was not a licensed pilot, but she was an independent thinker and lover of flying and she did play a Russian pilot opposite Cary Grant in the movie "The Iron Petticoat" and a headstrong pilot in "Christopher Strong".

Answer: Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's musical ability flourished from a young age because of his father, who was instructor and tutor to both Mozart and his older sister, Maria Anna. The siblings toured Europe as child prodigies, giving concerts and recitals. Wolfgang's talents as a composer and musical genius surpassing his father's soon became evident, and he was composing as of the age of 5. A gifted pianist and violinist, Mozart was employed by the court at Salzburg at the age of 17, and from that time forward he went on to compose and perform prolifically until his death in 1791.

The other musicians mentioned were gifted composers and independent thinkers, but they were not Austrian child prodigies. Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer from his 20s under the tutelage of Josef Haydn. Beethoven composed his whole life, even after becoming totally deaf. George Handel was a German baroque composer who came to renown in the later part of the 17th century as an adult. George Gershwin was a more modern American composer who brought his music to life as an adult composer and pianist in the early 1900s. One of his most famous works is "Rhapsody in Blue".

Answer: Russia (then the U.S.S.R.)

Because the Soviet Union had won the race to space with the first male astronaut with Yuri Gagarin's flight in 1961, they wanted to be the first to have a woman astronaut as well. Valentina, who had been a textile worker and amateur parachutist, underwent the necessary training and was the first woman in space.

She did many scientific experiments while in orbit to help us understand the effects of space travel on the human body. Valentina is considered a Russian hero and an independent thinker to this day.

Answer: True

Confucius lived from 559 to 479 BC, between 500 and 400 years before the birth of Christ. His influence in China extended to many different areas, including philosophy, politics, education, journalism and justice. Many people think of quips and sayings that are attributed to Confucius, but his undisputed contribution lies in the basis for Chinese literature, called the Five Classics.

Answer: Poland

Marie Curie was born Marie Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland in 1867. She became a famous scientist after traveling to Paris at the age of 24 to do her college and university studies. She married husband Pierre Curie and earned her first Nobel Prize in Physics, which she shared with her husband and Henri Becquerel, in 1903. Marie Curie proved that she was an independent thinker when she won a second Nobel Prize in another field, Chemistry, in 1911. Marie Curie is the only woman to have won two Nobel Prizes, the only person to have won them in different fields of science.

She is also the mother of another female Nobel Prize winner, her daughter Irene Joliot-Curie.

Answer: Christopher Columbus

Columbus was right that the world was round, but he did not realize that there were large unmapped land masses that he would come to before reaching India. The other names mentioned were all seafarers, but none fit the description given except Columbus.

Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who led the first exploratory mission to circumnavigate the world for King Charles I of Spain. Drake was an English hero who was considered a pirate by the Spanish. His exploits against the Spanish Armada led to the second circumnavigation of the globe for the English government. Cortes was a Spanish Conquistador who conquered the Aztecs in Mexico for the Spanish government.