Inventors, Scientists and Inventions Quiz

Answer: The theremin.

He was born in Russia in 1896. The theremin was one of the first fully electronic musical instruments to be created. The unusual thing about a theremin is that is it NOT controlled physically by the musician. It was designed to play without actually needing to be touched.

Answer: The sousaphone.

The sousaphone was invented J. W. Pepper in conjunction with Sousa himself. Sousa requested that the sousaphone be created and offered a number of suggestions in its creation. A sousaphone is a brass musical instrument.

Answer: Nickel zinc battery.

If you answered bass drum or cymbals then you were wrong - This was a bit of a trick question - you were being led down the garden path with musical questions. Sorry! Have to keep you on your toes. :)

Dr Drumm was an Irish inventor who was born in 1897 and passed away in 1974.
His nickel zinc battery successfully powered a train in Ireland. It is a rechargeable battery.

Answer: Leukemia.

Marie Curie was born Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867.

She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 together with her husband for their work with spontaneous radiation, and in 1911 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry solo.

Marie's daughter, Irène, was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935 with her husband!

The notebooks Marie Curie used are still radioactive.

Marie died from leukemia caused by her constant exposure to radioactive material. She died on July 4, 1934.

Answer: True

He invented the light bulb. I wonder why!

Edison did not learn to talk until he was four years old.

Edison later became totally deaf in his left ear, and 80% deaf in his right ear. He claimed that the worst thing about being deaf was not being able to enjoy the sounds of singing birds. He later had an aviary containing over 5,000 singing birds.

He only spent three months at school before being sent home by the teacher, after that he was homeschooled.

He saved the life of a three-year-old child from being hit by a train. His "reward" was being trained as a telegraph operator.

Answer: Dr David Warren.

The "Black box" is a device that records in-flight conversations and data.

These other famous Aussies invented or designed the:

Evelyn Ernest Owen invented the machine gun named after him; Mervyn Victor Richardson invented the Victa rotary lawnmower; and Ben Lexcen designed the 'Australia 2' yacht with the winged keel.

Answer: Velcro

George de Mestral was a Swiss Engineer that invented Velcro. He came up with the idea after a hiking trip and saw cockleburs on his pants. After looking at them in a microscope he saw how the hooks of the cockleburs attached to the loops in his pants material. He then mimicked what he saw and created the hook and loop product.

Velcro comes from the French words for velvet (velour) and hook (crochet).

Answer: The dial telephone.

Strowger came up with his invention in 1888 while he was an undertaker. Convinced that all of his calls were being diverted by the telephone operator to another undertaker, he invented the first dial system so callers could make the calls themselves. The town telephone operator was the wife of the rival undertaker and he suspected the calls were being there.

Answer: 1959

Nils Bohlin, a Swede, invented the three-point seat belt, that is the "modern Seatbelt". It was NOT the FIRST seatbelt used in a car.

All Volvos had front seatbelts by 1963.

Answer: False

The inventor was Dr. Alfred Southwick and he was a dentist! The idea was conceived when Southwick saw a drunk male electrocute himself on an electric generator. The man died quickly and Southwick thought that it was a good alternative to hanging.