The Life of Roget Trivia Quiz

Answer: London, England

Peter Mark Roget was born to Catherine and Jean Roget on January 18, 1779 in London England. Jean Roget was a Swiss minister who passed away when his son was four years old. Catherine Roget (née Romilly) moved the family several times while her son was young. She passed away at the age of eighty.

Answer: He was eight years old

Peter was eight years old when he sat down and began to write his first notebook. His father had just died from tuberculosis. Peter filled his first notebook with lists. His first list was Latin words and their English cognates and translations.

Answer: Medicine

In 1793, Peter and his family moved to Scotland. When Peter was fourteen years old, he entered medical school in the city of Edinburgh. He graduated in 1798 at the age of nineteen.

Answer: Nitrous oxide

Peter's uncle advised him that he was still too young to practice medicine and wouldn't be taken seriously. With this in mind, Peter signed up for a study on the use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) on the human body. The experiments were run by inventors Thomas Beddoes and Humphrey Davy. After he concluded the experiments, Peter went on to tutor.

Answer: Refrigerator

Roget met Jeremy Bentham through the experiments he did with Beddoes and Davy. The same year that Roget joined the experimentation with laughing gas, he joined Jeremy Bentham in developing the frigidarium, or refrigerator.

Answer: The Royal Society

When Roget was twenty-nine, he opened a private practice in London and treated people in poorer parts of the city for free.He was thirty-six when he was inducted into the the Royal Society (FRS).

Answer: False

Peter Mark Roget married Mary Hobson when he was forty-five years old. They had two children, Kate and John. Mary died nine years later of cancer. After Mary died, Roget found a letter she had written him when she was pregnant with their daughter Kate that stated her eternal love for her husband.

Answer: Kaleidoscope

When David Brewster, Roget's friend, patented the kaleidoscope in 1817, Roget began writing an article about it for "Encyclopedia Brittanica". (This was the correct spelling of the name of the encyclopedia at the time).

Answer: Roget's Thesaurus

"Roget's Thesaurus" was completed in 1852. The complete title of the book was "Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, Classified and Arranged so as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and Assist in Literary Composition". The first printing was a thousand copies and sold out quickly.

Answer: England

Peter Mark Roget died on September 12, 1869 while vacationing in West Malvern, England. He was ninety-years old when he died. He was buried in England at St. James Church.