Dream the Impossible Dream Trivia Quiz

Answer: New Zealand

Rutherford was born in 1871 to parents who had emigrated from Britain. He died in 1937 and is buried in Westminster Abbey, London. He was knighted in 1914 and created Baron Rutherford of Nelson in 1931. He was responsible for identifying alpha and beta rays, and is widely credited with being the first man to show that the atom could be split.

He trained many men who went on to great success in atomic science, including Chadwick, Cockcroft and Walton.

Answer: Mini

Issigonis came from a Greek background, but was a British national by descent from his grandfather and moved to the UK with his mother in 1923. He worked as a designer for the Morris Motor Company in Cowley, Oxfordshire, leaving in 1952 when Morris merged with Austin to become BMC.

He returned in 1955, and was based at Longbridge, Birmingham. Fuel shortages due to the Suez crisis of 1956 meant that a small, fuel efficient car was needed, and the Mini was born. Issigonis also designed the Morris Minor and Austin Maxi.

Answer: Frederick Banting

Banting was born in Canada and originally went to the University of Toronto to study divinity, before transferring to medicine. He served in the first World War in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Although others, notably Schafer, had identified that diabetes was caused by a lack of insulin, it was Banting, assisted by Charles Best and supported by John MacLeod, who found a way to isolate and use it. Brown was an aviation pioneer, Baird developed an early television system and Barnard carried out the first human heart transplant.

Answer: Steel

Bessemer bought the patent for the process of blowing air through molten pig iron in 1855 from an American called William Kelly, who was forced to sell due to bankruptcy. Bessemer had been working on a similar process himself, and steel is still produced using technology using the 'Bessemer Process'.

Answer: Psychology

Born in Switzerland in 1896, Piaget worked in the area of child psychology. He developed the theory of the four stages of development and his work formed the basis of child-centred education. His research showed that children learn best through interaction. Piaget described himself as an epistemologist, interested in the theory of knowledge.

He established the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1955 and remained a director until his death in 1980.

Answer: Clive Sinclair

This was one of Sinclair's less successful inventions. Although it was ahead of its time in being powered by electric batteries, its top speed of 15 mph was unimpressive. It had only three wheels and no protection for the driver from the elements. Sinclair had more success with the invention of the pocket calculator and early computers, such as the Spectrum. Sugar also made his name in electronics and home computers and Dyson is best known for the invention of the bagless vacuum cleaner. Trevor Baylis invented the wind-up radio, which can be used in areas where there is no mains power or batteries available.

Answer: Cornwall

Trevithick was an inventor and mining engineer who developed the first full-scale steam locomotive. He was born near Camborne, Cornwall in 1771 and built a steam powered road locomotive in 1801. It was named 'Puffing Devil' and was burned out after three days as its operatives allowed it to run out of water, while they enjoyed the hospitality of a local public house. Devon was the birthplace of Thomas Newcomen, Northumberland of George Stephenson and Warwickshire of Matthew Boulton. All these men were involved in the early stages of the development of steam power.

Answer: Smallpox

Jenner was born in Berkeley, in Gloucestershire and researched the folklore that milkmaids who had recovered from cowpox were immune to smallpox. His early work met with ridicule, but he was proved right and smallpox has now been eradicated. Jenner came up with the name 'vaccine' from the Latin word for cow - vacca. Vaccines against polio were developed much later, by Salk and Sabin, in the 1950s and 1960s. Tuberculosis vaccines were developed in France, in the early twentieth century and work on a vaccine against malaria is still ongoing.

Answer: Barnes Wallis

The 'bouncing bomb' was designed to skip across water thus avoiding torpedo nets. It was used against dams in the Ruhr valley of Germany in May 1943. This event was immortalised in the 1955 film 'The Dam Busters', which starred Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis. Reginald Mitchell was the designer of the Spitfire fighter aeroplane and Christopher Cockerell developed the hovercraft. Frank Whittle created the jet engine, which he patented in 1930.

Answer: Menai Suspension Bridge

Brunel won a competition in 1830 to design the Clifton Suspension Bridge, although it was not completed until 1864, after his death. Paddington Station was designed and opened in 1854 as the terminus of the Great Western Railway, and SS Great Western was the first purpose built Atlantic steamship, launched in 1838.

The Menai Suspension Bridge was one of the designs of Thomas Telford, a great Scottish engineer, who was also the judge for the Clifton Suspension Bridge design competition.