Never Before Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sandra Day O'Connor

O'Connor, nominated by President Reagan, became a Supreme Court Justice in 1981. Never before had any woman served on the highest court in the USA. She retired in 2006. Nominated by President Clinton, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed in 1993. Sonia Sotomayor, appointed in 2009, and Elena Kagan, appointed in 2010, were both nominated by President Obama.

Answer: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President of Liberia in 2005 and took office on January 16, 2006. The other three women were also the first of their gender to be elected Presidents in their countries. Rousseff became President of Brazil on January 1, 2011. Jahjaga assumed the Presidency of Kosovo on April 7, 2011. And Gurib became President of Mauritus on June 5, 2015. (Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson were both Presidents of the USA.)

Answer: Amelia Earhart

Never before had any woman flown alone across the Atlantic until Earhart did so on May 20, 1932. Leaving from Newfoundland, she landed in Ireland after a flight of about 15 hours. Peltier was the first female to pilot an aircraft (France, 1908). Scott was the first woman to fly solo (USA, 1910). And Johnson of the United Kingdom as the first woman to fly from England to Australia (1930).

Answer: Marie Curie

In 1903, Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with Pierre Curie (her husband) and Henri Becquerel. Never before had a woman won any Nobel Prize. In 1911, she was also the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The others were also the first women to win Nobel Prizes in their areas: Lagerlof of Sweden for Literature in 1909; Cori of the USA for Physiology or Medicine in 1947 (shared with Carl Cori and Bernando Houssay); and Elinor Ostrom of the USA in 2009 for Economics (shared with Oliver Williamson).

Answer: Janet Guthrie

Never before Janet Guthrie (USA) raced in 1977, had a woman driven in the Indy 500. Because of mechanical problems, she had to drop out in the 27th lap. The next year she returned and finished the race in ninth place. The other three drivers all won the Rookie of The year Ward at the Indianapolis 500: St. James (USA) in 1992, Patrick (USA) in 2005, and Simona de Silvestro (Swiss) in 2010. (Arlo Guthrie was a country singer.)

Answer: Junko Tabei (Japan)

On May 16, 1975, Junko Tabei conquered Mt. Everest, the first woman to do so. Moni Mulepati became the first woman to be married at the top of Everest; on May 30, 2005, she married her climbing partner Pem Dorjee, also of Nepal. In 2012, Wantanabe became the oldest woman to that date to climb Everest; she was 73 years and 180 days old.

When Purna reached the top in 2014, she was, to that date, the youngest female to do so at 13 years, 11 months.

Answer: Sara Teasdale

In 1918 the Pulitzer Committee presented a Pulitzer Special Citation for poetry books to Teasdale. (In 1919, they did the same to Carl Sandburg and Margaret Widdeman.) The Pulitzer Awards now recognize all of those as Pulitzer Poetry prizes. The others each won the Poetry Prize: Millay in 1923, Lowell in 1926, and Speyer in 1927.

Answer: Valentina Tereshkova

On June 16, 1963, Tereshkova (USSR) began a 70+ hour flight during which she made 48 complete orbits of the earth. Sally Ride was the first US woman in space (1983). Svetlana Savitskaya (USSR) was the first woman to walk in space (1984). Liu Yang was the first Chinese woman in space (2012). (Cupid, the god of love, is often depicted on Valentine cards.)

Answer: Bertha von Suttner

Baroness von Suttner of Austria was a dedicated advocate of peace. Her influential 1889 anti-wasrnovel "Lay Down Your Arms" was had 37 editions and was translated into 12 languages. She became an international advocate for peace. The others also won Nobel Peace Prizes which were shared: Addams, USA, in 1931; Balch, USA, in 1946' and Williams (UK) in 1976.

Answer: Gertrude Ederle (USA)

After an outstanding amateur career in which she won three Olympic medals in 1924, Ederle became a professional. After an unsuccessful attempt at the English Channel in 1925, she completed the swim on August 6, 1926 in 14 hours/39 minutes. Corson also swan the Channel in 1926; on August 28th she made it in 15 hours/29 minutes. Chadwick was the first woman to swim the Channel in both directions, going from England to France to England in 1953.

In 2006, Hlavacova set the women's record up to that date of 7 hours/25 minutes.