Legendary Physicians Quiz | Occupational Trivia

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which Ancient Greek physician has a medical oath named after him? The oath states that a physician will treat a patient to the best of their ability amongst other ethical issues.

Answer: Hippocrates

The Hippocratic Oath is still relevant to physicians today even though it was written over 2,000 years ago. It contains many ethical issues but the basic premise is that any physician will treat their patients to the best of their ability. Other than the oath, Hippocrates also founded the Hippocratic School of medicine and many of his ideas are still relevant today.

He is known as the "Father of Medicine."

2. Joseph Lister was a British surgeon known for being a pioneer of anti-septic surgery. Which acid did he use to sterilise his surgical equipment?

Answer: Carbolic Acid

Lister hypothesised that using carbolic acid to sterilise his equipment would be beneficial after he observed that cows suffered no ill harm after grazing on fields that had been irrigated with carbolic acid. His theory and work resulted in lower numbers of patients suffering infections after operations and his work led the way in further surgical improvements that followed on from his work.

3. Edward Jenner was another British scientist famous for developing vaccinations. Which disease did he make a vaccine for which dramatically reduced the incidence of the disease?

Answer: Smallpox

Jenner noticed that milkmaids generally were immune to the deadly disease smallpox. He therefore hypothesised that being infected with the disease cowpox would make you immune to smallpox. He injected a small boy with cowpox and then noticed that the boy, too, was immune to smallpox. Jenner's work was eventually accepted and the government started to issue the vaccine free of charge. Jenner's work paved the way to modern vaccination, a key way to control disease. (His method of testing this would nowadays be regarded as unethical).

4. Frederick Banting was the brains behind the isolation of which hormone, important for controlling diabetes?

Answer: Insulin

Banting theorised that insulin could be extracted after reading other scientists' work and applying it to insulin. He conducted his work using the facilities of Dr JJR MacLeod and was assisted by Charles Best. For his work in the field, Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1923. He shared half of his prize money with Best.

5. Dr Christiaan Barnard was the first physician to conduct what type of transplant in humans?

Answer: Heart

Barnard conducted the first human to human heart transplant in 1967 in South Africa. He transplanted the heart of a woman who had just died into a man by the name of Louis Washkansky. Washkansky subsequently lived for 18 days before he passed away from pneumonia. The operation however was labelled a success and has been seen as pioneering the way to heart transplants.

6. Which Scottish physician is credited with the discovery of Penicillin, a common antibiotic?

Answer: Alexander Fleming

It is said that Fleming discovered penicillin after leaving petri dishes containing his previous experiments to one side while he went on holiday. When he returned he discovered a mould that had destroyed the bacteria. This mould was penicillin, an antibiotic that is key to fighting bacterial infection today.

7. What was the name of the first woman to receive a medical degree and become the first practicing woman physician in the UK?

Answer: Elizabeth Blackwell

Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the USA and the first woman to be on the UK medical register. She obtained her degree in 1849 and started practice as a doctor after that. She has been seen as the first woman to practice medicine (though other women had in fact done so before) and she inspired women such as Florence Nightingale.

8. Which French microbiologist is credited with being the man behind the germ theory of disease?

Answer: Louis Pasteur

Pasteur discovered that milk went sour due to the actions of bacteria in the milk. It was from this discovery that he theorised that disease was caused by germs and not by theories such as miasma that had been put forward by other scientists. Nowadays, Pasteur is known for his technique of pasteurisation, making milk safer to drink for millions around the world.

9. James Watson and Francis Crick were two scientists who helped determine the double helix structure of which key part of human genetics?

Answer: DNA

Watson and Crick furthered the work of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins who produced an x-ray of DNA. Crick and Watson further studied this and produced a 3D model that showed the double helix structure of DNA. This has enabled further advances in genetics that have been able to understand the make up of the body and how the structures and genetic traits move from generation to generation.

10. Though not specifically a discovery made for medicine, what did Wilhelm Roentgen discover that has advanced medical treatment for people with broken bones specifically?

Answer: X-rays

Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895. Though his experiment was not intended as a medical one, it has been used to look at injuries such as broken bones and therefore improve treatment for people with these injuries. X-rays go through the skin and show the bones and therefore give a clear view of the structures and give doctors the details they need to treat their patients effectively.

Source: Author bradez

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Legendary Physicians Trivia Quiz

These people have all played a part in medicine as we know it today. See how much you know about these medical legends.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>