Many Tried, None Succeeded Trivia Quiz

Answer: Charles Babbage

The title of "first computer" varies based on definition, but Babbage's proposed Difference Engine and later Analytic Engine have a claim to it. The Difference Engine would have worked as a calculator that evaluated polynomials, but Babbage had great difficulty in obtaining enough identical gears, wheels and equipment to the uniformity required for the machine to work, as such things were not fully standardized in the 1800s.

By 1842, Babbage had designed an Analytic Engine that would be general-purpose, rather than limited to a particular type of calculation, and which rendered his work in constructing the Difference Engine redundant.

Babbage's assistant Ada Lovelace is sometimes credited with being the first computer programmer, as she wrote the first recorded algorithm (set of instructions) that was designed to be executed on a particular machine - the Difference Engine.

Answer: Al Gore

Al Gore - the Democratic candidate - narrowly lost to Bush in the 2000 presidential election, with a 0.5% higher vote share, but five fewer electoral votes after the hotly contested state of Florida was decided in Bush's favor. Disputes over recounts in Florida made it to the Supreme Court, where it was decided that Bush had won by 0.009% of the Floridian votes.

After this failure in his life, Al Gore began dedicating his career to environmentalism, a passion of his since the 1970s. His most famous work is the book "An Inconvenient Truth", and he has become a public speaker about climate change. He supports carbon offsetting (for instance, tree planting) to reach carbon neutrality. In his personal life, he became a vegan in 2013.

Answer: Emily Davison

Davison was educated at Royal Holloway College and Oxford before becoming a teacher. She was passionate in her Christianity, socialism and feminism, introducing militant tactics like postbox arson. She went to prison several times, where she repeatedly went on hunger strikes and attempted suicide to draw attention to the anti-democratic oppression of women.

In the 1913 Derby, she walked onto the track and was fatally struck by King George V's horse, aged 40. Her exact motive is unknown - she may not have intended to die - but she did it to draw attention to the suffrage movement.

The suffragettes did not achieve success until 1918 and 1928, when legislation introduced voting rights for someone women and then all women over 21. The effect Davison had on securing the vote for women in Britain is disputed. However, the effect of the movement and her activism overall in inspiring later waves of feminism and movements to fight for equal rights for women in all areas of society is undeniable.

Answer: Franziska van Almsick

Franziska van Almsick participated at four Olympics: 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens. Three of her medals were from individual races and the other seven were from relays. She was aged just 14 when winning her two silver medals in Barcelona! Though she had much success in other world-class swimming competitions, including the World Aquatics Championships, European Aquatics Championships and European Short Course Swimming Championships, she never achieved the legendary Olympic gold medal.

Answer: Leonardo da Vinci

Perpetual motion - that is, a collection of objects continuing to move forever with no external energy input - is impossible, due to laws of thermodynamics. In da Vinci's era, it was not known that it was impossible. After much investigation, da Vinci concluded that the task must be impossible, writing scathingly of the task. He said, "Oh ye seekers after perpetual motion, how many vain chimeras have you pursued? Go and take your place with the alchemists."

Da Vinci also guessed that the reason perpetual motion could not occur was that every action has an equal and opposite reaction - this would later be known as Newton's Third Law of Motion.

Answer: Judit Polgár

Judit Polgár began competing in chess tournaments aged 6 and was one of the strongest 100 chess players in the world at 12 (setting a record). Her list of achievements, regardless of gender, are extraordinary. She defeated eleven World Champions in chess games and peaked at a world ranking of No. 8.

However, the first time she reached the World Chess Championship - then a tournament between eight players where the winner would be declared World Champion - she finished eighth of eight. In 2007, she was again unsuccessful, being defeated 3.5 to 2.5 in the single-elimination round of 16 by a lower-rated player.

Despite these failures, the incredible results she had in order to reach these competitions was groundbreaking for women's chess.

Answer: Jim Lovell

Jim Lovell had a long career as an astronaut before Apollo 13: he narrowly missed out on being one of the "Original Seven" astronauts selected in 1959 for the Project Mercury spacecraft missions, due to high levels of a particular compound in his blood.

He was one of the "Next Nine" to take part in Gemini and Apollo missions. Lovell broke several records, including being one of the first three people to orbit the Moon, the first to fly to it twice, and the first person to enter outer space on four separate occasions - Gemini 7 (1965), Gemini 12 (1966), Apollo 8 (1968) and Apollo 13 (1970).

Answer: Anna Sewell

"Black Beauty" was Anna Sewell's only book. She wrote it for an adult audience, but it is largely considered to be a children's book today. Sewell lived mostly in Norfolk, England, throughout her life from 1820 to 1878. Despite her physical limitations, Sewell was able to have a significant impact on horse welfare - for instance, after the publication of "Black Beauty", the cruel and painful usage of bearing reins declined in popularity.

Answer: Srinivasa Ramanujan

A devout Hindu, Ramanujan thought that a mathematical identity or equation expressed a "thought of God". His results were based heavily on intuition, and lacked the proof formalities of Western mathematics. As a result, his work was little understood by mathematicians of the time - only G. H. Hardy and a handful of others took him seriously. In the century after his death, almost all of his known results have been proven correct, and have led to many new areas of mathematical discovery and investigation. The way in which he arrived at his results is still little-understood.

He was born in India and had little formal education in mathematics. A couple of textbooks made available to him were extremely formative in his mathematical development. He was disinterested in other subjects, and in areas of math outside his specialism, and had many academic failures along his journey through school and college. After contacting many mathematicians, Hardy and his colleagues finally gave Ramanujan the opportunities he needed to continue his work and record it in history. Unfortunately, Ramanujan died at 32, possibly of a complication of dysentery that would have been treatable if diagnosed.

Answer: Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853 and lived only 37 years. He produced over 2,000 pieces of art, including almost 1,000 oil paintings. Even in asylum he made over 100 paintings, showing that hope can be found even in the darkest of times. Art can be a beautiful way to express emotions, and it has therapeutic effects. Van Gogh would no doubt be disbelieving if he could watch the sale of his asylum artwork "Irises" for over $50 million in 1987 - at time the largest amount ever paid for a painting. If only he could see the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam or the number of people today who recognize his "Sunflowers" painting, he may have a very different view of his life.