Professor Challenger Trivia Quiz

Answer: Deeply learned in many subjects, but aggressive and domineering

There is no question that Challenger possesses a profound knowledge of, and will not hesitate to express an opinion on, any scientific subject. He is also noted for his self-esteem and shortness of temper. One character refers to his "his insufferable rudeness and impossible behaviour", and another describes him as "a primitive cave-man in a lounge suit".

Answer: The Lost World

"The Lost World" was the first of the Professor Challenger stories, published in 1912. It describes the Professor and three companions exploring a plateau in South America. It is surrounded by high cliffs which cause it to be inaccessible. As a result the fauna and flora have not evolved as have those of the outside world and it is populated by dinosaurs and other creatures which are extinct elsewhere. "The Land of Mist" is another Challenger novel; "The Land that Time Forgot" is a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, again describing a land populated by prehistoric animals, but set in the South Atlantic. "The Darkest Hour" is a chapter in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel "The Valley of Fear", and also the title of an unrelated 2011 film.

Answer: Newspaper reporter

Malone is introduced in "The Lost World" as a newspaper reporter. At a public meeting he volunteers to join an expedition to South America to test Challenger's story of the isolated plateau and describes himself as "the reporter of the "Daily Gazette", an odd choice of words, implying that he is the only one. Challenger dislikes and distrusts reporters, whom he describes as "infernal scribblers" and "creeping vermin". Malone initially gains his trust by not pressing charges after the Professor has assaulted him for gaining an interview under false pretences, and later showing a real and intelligent interest in Challenger's story.

Answer: Spiritualism

"The Land of Mist" is unusual in the Challenger series in that it is narrated in the third person. Conan Doyle may have used this literary device because the book demonstrates a strong support of Spiritualism, in which he himself had an increasing belief following the death of his first wife in 1906, and those his son, his brother, two brothers-in-law and two nephews during and after the First World War.

It is rather pathetic that shortly after his death a Spiritualist meeting was organised in the Albert Hall in London so that Sir Arthur could make a final appearance.

He failed to make the rendezvous. Conan Doyle refers to Mormonism in the Sherlock Holmes novel "A Study in Scarlet". The pseudo-religion Scientology was not invented by L. Ron Hubbard until 1952.

Answer: He carried a native baby with smallpox on his back for a great distance in South American rain forest

Challenger could be extremely altruistic. In "When the World Screamed" Malone recounts to a friend how Challenger "carried an Indian baby with the smallpox on his back for a hundred miles from the back country down to the Madeira river." The Madeira is the largest tributary of the Amazon.

Answer: Scotland

"The Lost World" contains a "Who's Who" type of potted biography on the Professor, which starts: "Challenger, George Edward. Born: Largs, N. B., 1863. Educ.: Largs Academy; Edinburgh University". "N.B." (North Britain) was an old term for Scotland, and Largs is a town in Ayrshire in that country. Conan Doyle himself was born in Edinburgh and gained his medical degree from its University.

Answer: Medicine

In "The Poison Belt" Challenger sends invitation cards to a number of people to witness a great scientific experiment. Characteristically, the cards are headed:
"Professor G. E. Challenger, F.R.S., M.D., D.Sc., etc. (late President Zoological Institute and holder of so many honorary degrees and appointments that they overtax the capacity of this card)"
Nowhere are we told that he was a professor of zoology, but internal evidence (including the above) point strongly to this. The fact that he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and held the degree of D.Sc. (Doctor of Science, which in Britain is a higher doctorate than the more usual Ph.D.) indicates professional eminence. M.D. ("Medicinae Doctor"), on the other hand, is a medical qualification.

Answer: Peerless

Peerless Jones was the engineer chosen by Challenger to complete the mighty experiment described in "When the World Screamed". With his customary tact, the Professor admitted when writing to Jones that "looking down the list of artesian authorities, a certain oddity - I had almost written absurdity - in your name attracted my attention." "Peerless" means "incomparable", and an artesian engineer is a specialist in boring deep wells.
It is worth quoting further from this letter because it shows Challenger's insolent style in dealing with other people: "I will not conceal from you that my opinion of experts is not a high one, and that I have usually found that a man who, like myself, has a well-equipped brain can take a sounder and broader view than the man who professes a special knowledge (which, alas, is so often a mere profession), and is therefore limited in his outlook."
The other three options have all been used as first names. The best known example of Endeavour is perhaps Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse, and Jubilation T. Cornepone was the founder of the town of Dogpatch in the comic-strip-turned-musical "Li'l Abner".

Answer: Professor Summerlee and Lord John Roxton

Both Professor Summerlee, a professional colleague of Challenger's, and Lord John Roxton, traveller and sportsman, accompanied him to "The Lost World" and feature in "The Poison Belt". In "The Land of Mist" Roxton appears in the unlikely rôle of an enquirer into psychic matters, and Summerlee (now deceased) makes a brief manifestation as a spirit. Dr Watson was, of course, the companion and biographer of Sherlock Holmes. "Dr Illingworth of Edinburgh" is a colleague, held in contempt by both professors, in "The Lost World". Mr Nemor (without a title) was the villain in "The Disintegration Machine".

Answer: The Disintegration Machine

"The Disintegration Machine" tells the story of Theodore Nemor, a Latvian inventor who has created a machine capable of reducing objects to their component "atoms or molecules" and reversing the process. Challenger and Malone visit Nemor, who demonstrates a small version of the machine by disintegrating and reassembling each of them. Challenger perceives the danger of the machine if used in warfare and, when Nemor states that he has sold the secret to a foreign European power, is repulsed by Nemor's greed.

He tricks Nemor into allowing himself to being disintegrated and fails to reassemble him. "The Lost World" and "The Poison Belt" are, of course, other Challenger tales, whereas "The Five Orange Pips" is a Holmes story.