Nobels Shining Under the Southern Cross Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Some basic numbers.... Up to 2014, which of our under the Southern Cross countries collected more Nobel Prizes (all categories, since the start of Nobel Prize Awards)?

Answer: Australia

"Ozzies" take the lead under the Southern Cross with a total of 13 Nobel prizes in every category except the Peace Nobel Prize, which has never been won by an Australian so far.

2. Which is the category in which Australia collected the most prizes over the years?

Answer: Medicine

Australia: From its 13 Nobels, almost the half of them are from one field: MEDICINE:
-Sir Howard Florey- 1945
-Sir Frank MacFarlane-1960
-John Carew Eccles- 1963
-Peter Doherty- 1996
-Robin Warren- 2005
-Barry Marsgall- 2005
-Elizabeth Blackburn- 2009

3. But remaining with the Medicine Nobels....Alan Cormack and Sydney Brenner also won it; also Cesar Milstein and Bernardo Hussey. Which pair of countries have got the Nobel in Medicine thanks to these 4 gentlemen?

Answer: South Africa and Argentina

Alan Cormack, from South Africa won his Nobel Prize in 1979 and Sydney Brenner, also from South Africa won it in 2002. Bernardo Hussey won his award in Medicine in 1947 and Cesar Milstein in 1984 - both from Argentina.

New Zealand only got one Nobel Prize of Medicine in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins.

Interesingly, Dr. Christiaan Barnard, from South Africa, who performed the first heart transplant in history, in 1969 at Groote Schuur Hospital, in Cape Town, was never awarded a Nobel Prize.

4. These two "giants" of international Literature won the Nobel Prize for their country in 1945 and 1971. Who were they and which was their country?

Answer: Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, Chile

Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American to be awareded with the Nobel Prize for Literature. Among many things, she was a feminist, a teacher and of course a prolific writer. Mistral may be most widely quoted in English for "Su Nombre es Hoy" (His Name is Today):

"We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow,' his name is today."

Pablo Neruda, won the Nobel Price in 1971. Neruda's father opposed his son's interest in writing and literature, but he received encouragement from others, including, interestingly, the future Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral, who headed the local girls' school. He was later on in his life involved in politics, diplomacy and supporting socialist ideas in Chile and elsewhere.
"Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair" or "On the Blue Shore of Silence" were one of the many books his incredible pen gifted the entire world.

5. And talking about literature....We have another pair of excellent writers who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991 and 2003. Which were they and which country are they from?

Answer: Nadine Gordimer and John Maxwell Coetzee - South Africa

In 2013, Richard Poplak of the Daily Maverick described Coetzee as "inarguably the most celebrated and decorated living English-language author" among his most famous books we can highlight "Disgrace" and "Waiting for the Barbarians".
Nadine Gordimer was the first South African to be awareded with the Literature Nobel Price in 1991. She died in 2014 and some of her memorable works were "The Conservationist" and "Burger's Daughter". Both authors were (specially Gordimer) incredibly brave in expressing their support of anti apartheid movements.
Patrick White, for Australia, got his Literature Nobel Price in 1973.

6. We know Australia takes the lead, as far as 2014, in Nobel Prizes....but which is the second country following it really close?

Answer: South Africa

South Africa has given to the world, as per the end of 2014, 11 Nobel Prizes and these are in every field except Economics and Physics.

7. "The Rainbow Nation" is the leader among the Southern Cross countries in winning which category of Nobel Prizes?

Answer: Peace

South Africa leads with 4 Peace Nobel Prizes:
-Albert Luthuli in 1960
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 1984
-Frederik De Klerk and Nelson Mandela in 1993

Argentina is the following one with
-Carlos Saavedra Lamas in 1936
-Adolfo Perez Ezquivel in 1984

8. Mikhail Gorbachov, many German and Dutch professors as well as many universities worlwide, suggested this popular president for the Peace Nobel Prize candidate for 2014 although he immediately said he would not accept it. Who is this president and from which country?

Answer: Jose Mujica-Uruguay

Jose "Pepe" Mujica, president of Uruguay, has become worldwide famous for his behaviour as president of a nation. He has been nicknamed in a famous BBC interview as the 'Poorest President in the World" (which is probably true). Some stunning examples of the way of living of this man are: giving up 96% of his salary to the Uruguayan State (he argues that if an average uruguayan worker can live with the 4% of what his salary as president is, therefore, he must equally live on a similar income and why should he be earning more than the worker in any case?).

He refused to leave his very modest house in the outskirts of Montevideo to use the Presidential House. He refused to use official cars, and, instead, he drives himself to "work" in his 1981 VW Beetle.

His government meetings are held in "normal" bars in downtown Montevideo with all his ministers. He always insists on paying the bill and leaving a tip for the waiter!

9. The King of Sweden gives the Nobel Prizes in Stockholm every year. But he doesn't give the Nobel Prize of Peace. Which country gives that award?

Answer: The King or Queen of Norway

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee of five persons who are chosen by the Norwegian Storting (Parliament). Ninety-five Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded from 1901 to 2014.The Peace category was the fifth and final prize area that Alfred Nobel mentioned in his will.

10. Which of the Southern Cross countries is the only one which has ever won (up to the end of 2014) Nobel Prizes in Economics and Physics?

Answer: Australia

"Advance Australia Fair"! "Oz" again leads the group, with 3 awards for Physics, and one for Economics.
The three winners in Physics were:
- William Henry Bragg in 1915.
- Alexander M. Prokhorov in 1964.
- Brian P. Schmidt in 2011.

The one in Economics was won by John C. Harsanyi in 1994.

11. Which country under the Southern Cross was the first to receive a Nobel Prize as early as 1915?

Answer: Australia

Australia wins again! William Lawrence Bragg, from Adelaide, won the 1915 Nobel Prize of Physics and he was also up to the end of 2014 the youngest ever Nobel Prize winner. He also was the only one son to joint his father, William Henry Bragg, to share a Nobel Prize (for Physics in 1915) "For their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-ray".

12. Which of our "Southern Cross" countries won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Politics?

Answer: There is no such Nobel Prize

The categories awarded by the Academy are as follows: Economics, Chemistry, Physics, Literature, Medicine and Peace. The Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the Nobel prizes more than 100 years ago, in 1895, The age of computing has come about, as have drastic changes in Earth's environment and the way humans interact with the world. There are many who think new categories should be added, such as Mathematics, Environmental Sciences and Computer Sciences among others.

Note the prize in Economics was a later addition and is funded by the Swedish central bank. It was not provided for in Alfred Nobel's will.

13. The leader of the Chemistry Nobel Prize up to 2014 is split among these two Southern Cross countries.

Answer: South Africa and New Zealand

South Africa got this award twice:
-Aaron Klug in 1982 and Michael Levitt in 2013.
New Zealand got this award also twice:
-Ernest Rutherford in 1958 and Alan MacDiarmid in 2000.

Argentina got it only once in 1970 with Federico Leloir so did Australia in 1975 with John Warcup.

14. This country won its only Nobel Prize in its history (up to the end of 2014). Which country are we talking about and in which category did it win?

Answer: Literarture-Peru

The Nobel Prize in Literature was won in 2010 by one of the most famous contemporary Latin American authors, Mario Vargas Llosa, from Peru. The other three countries mentioned under the Southern Cross, not won any Nobel Prize - so far.

15. Up to the end of 2014, Brazil never won a single Nobel Prize ever.

Answer: True

Unfortunately, this "Southern Cross "giant" never got any Nobel Price until the end of 2014 at least. We really hope it will get one soon in the early future.

Source: Author VANEYK

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

How much do you think Southern Hemisphere countries contributed the world's Nobel Prize winners up to 2014? Let's take a look!

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