Best of the Best: English Scientists and Inventors Quiz

Answer: Alan Turing

Born in London, England, Alan Turing is considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. During WWII he was one of the leading cryptanalysts, who worked to unlock the Enigma encrypted message system used by the Germans.

While working at Bletchley Park, he found several methods that could be used to break the German codes; in fact, one of the messages he decoded is considered to have been important in aiding the defeat of the Germans during the Battle of the Atlantic.

After the war, one of Turing's endeavors was to set a standard by which a machine could be called intelligent in much the same way a human would be judged. This is called the Turing Test.

Answer: Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday was born in Newington Butts, England. As a young man, he was given free tickets to attend lectures of Humphrey Davy; after Davy saw the collection of notes that had been taken at the lectures, he arranged for Farraday to become a Chemical Assistant at the Royal Institution. Working with Davy and another scientist, William Hyde Wollaston, Faraday began a series of experiments which became the foundation of modern electromagnetic technology.

The SI unit of electrical capacitance, called a farad, which is the ability of a body to store an electrical charge, is named for Michael Faraday.

Answer: John Harrison

Born in Foulby, West Riding of Yorkshire, John Harrison followed in his father's footsteps and became a carpenter. While he was working as a joiner, who does mostly ornamental work with woodworking, he built his first longcase clock, which, of course, was made out wood.

While working as a clock-maker, he invented the gridiron pendulum with alternating brass and iron rods, as well as the grasshopper escapement, a gadget that controlled a clock's driving power. His invention of the marine chronometer, which enabled mariners to determine their longitude while at sea, revolutionized sea travel.

Answer: Frank Whittle

Born in Coventry, Frank Whittle became an aircraft mechanic in the RAF. After being recommended for officer training, he wrote a thesis which eventually led him to the invention of the turbojet, for which he received a patent in 1930. He formed a company called Power Jets with two friends and successfully built a prototype in 1937.

The British government began to support Whittle's idea after the outbreak of WWII, and Power Jets became nationalized in 1944. After retiring from the RAF in 1948, Whittle became Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division.

Answer: William Caxton

Although little is known today about William Caxton's parents or place of birth, it is believed that he was from Kent. After becoming interested in reading and literature, he set up a printing press in Bruges, Belgium, where he had moved. He also began the translation of "Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye", which is considered to be the first book printed in the English language.

After returning to England, he continued his translations and is believed to be the first English seller of printed books.

Answer: Charles Babbage

Born in London, Charles Babbage is credited by many as being the first to construct a mechanical computer; he did, however, invent a number of useful devices, including the pilot, which is also known as a cow-catcher. Attached to the front of a locomotive, the pilot helped to clear railroad tracks of obstructions.

In addition, he formulated the Babbage Principle, which proposed a division of labor, suggesting that workers should only work at tasks that best suited their ability. Although this may seem logical today, it must be remembered that England was just beginning to experience the Industrial Revolution in Babbage's time.

Answer: Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton was born in Lincolnshire. His famous work, "Philosophić Naturalis Principia Mathematica" formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, but he also studied optics, validated the heliocentric model of the universe, and laid the foundation for classical mechanics, which is also called Newtonian mechanics.

Although he shares the credit for the formulation of calculus with Gottfried Leibniz, many believe it was done so independently.

Answer: Edward Jenner

Berkeley, Gloucestershire, was the birthplace of Edward Jenner, who is called the Father of Immunology due to his discovery of a smallpox vaccine. He inoculated individuals with cowpox, a virus that was transmitted to dairymaids from infected cows, and then proved that by doing so, he had made the individuals immune to smallpox. Even Napoleon had his troops inoculated with vaccine, and then, according to Jenner's request, allowed his English prisoners of war to return home! After a well-documented study of the habits of the cuckoo, Jenner was elected into the Royal Society in 1788.

Answer: Stephen Hawking

Born in Oxford, Stephen Hawking was the first to propose a theory of cosmology that utilized a combination of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. His work on black holes, in collaboration with other scientists, proposed that they emit a radiation, which is known today as Hawking radiation.

His famous book, "A Brief History of Time", which was published in 1988 and explained the existence of the universe in a way that was written for the general public to understand, is estimated to have sold over ten million copies.

Answer: Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin, born in Shropshire, gained prominence as a geologist after participating in the five-year voyage of the HMS Beagle, which began in 1831. During this voyage, Darwin began to formulate his theory of natural selection, which stated, among other points, that organisms with traits that are best-suited to their environment will survive. Darwin's book, "On The Origin of Species", which was published in 1859, set forth his still-controversial ideas concerning evolution.