The Wright Stuff Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wilbur and Orville Wright

Wilbur and Orville Wright were American brothers who developed a keen interest in manned, powered flight. They believed that success depended on having a reliable way for the pilot to have control over the aircraft and to this end they developed a system of three-axis-control which was so efficient that it became the standard method of steering used on most aircraft with fixed wings.
They drew inspiration from bicycles and the way that the riders turned and banked to control that machine They also drew inspiration from watching birds fly, angling their wings to control their direction in an approach that was similar to bike riding.
While not the only inventors working on manned flight, the Wright brothers are considered by many to be the inventors of the first successful airplane (1903).

The Montgolfier brothers invented the hot air balloon.
Wilbert and Robert Gore were a father and son responsible for developing the fabric known as Gore Tex.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to walk on the moon. **Personal note: I remember watching the first moon walk with my grandmother who was alive at the time of the Wright Brother's flights. It's staggering to think of how far technology developed in one lifetime.

Answer: Johannes Gutenberg

Among many other things, German-born Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press, a machine that allowed for the mass production of printed material, making education available to many. His printing press is considered to be an essential part in civilisation's growth from the Renaissance throughout the Modern Age.
Gutenberg was also responsible for the introduction of oil-based ink to the printing process.

William Addis invented the toothbrush.
Ernest Beaux developed Chanel No. 5 perfume.
Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel engine.

Answer: Frederick Banting

Unable to enlist in the army because of his eyesight, Canadian Frederick Banting entered university, first as a divinity student and later transferring to medicine. He was able to serve in WWI in the Medical Corp.
Building on the research of doctors including (but not limited to) Schafer, who had identified insulin as the hormone which controlled how the body metabolised sugar and Baron who wrote about unsuccessful ways of harvesting insulin, Banting developed a method of extracting and producing insulin for human use.
Banting was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923, which he shared with his partner Charles Best and was knighted by King George V in 1934.

Edward Jenner invented smallpox vaccine.
Ronald Ross made the connection between malaria and mosquitos that carried the disease.
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.

Answer: Thomas Saint

Before the invention of the sewing machine, the sewing of all clothing was done by hand. Englishman Thomas Saint invented (and was awarded the first patent) for a sewing machine (1790) but his machine was intended for use on leather (for the making of saddles) and canvas (for the making of ships' sails). Saint's strength seemed to be more about invention than practical application though, and he was not successful in marketing his invention. So although he is credited with inventing the first sewing machine, it never saw widespread use.
Other versions of sewing machines were invented in the late 1700s but it wasn't until the Singer Sewing Machine was invented (patent 1851) that a practical machine existed for mass use. Singer had based his design on improvements made to a machine that Elias Howe had invented. Howe sued and Singer had to pay him royalties.

Robert Adler invented the wireless remote control.
Clarence Birdseye invented a process for freezing food.
Harry Brearley invented stainless steel.

Answer: Guglielmo Marconi

Born in Italy, Marconi was an electrical engineer who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physics, in 1909, which he shared with Karl Ferdinand Braun for their developments in the area of "wireless telegraphy". Marconi is considered to have invented the radio and a radio telegraph system. He was made a Marquis in 1924 by the King of Italy.
Although there is some skepticism about its success, Marconi claimed to have made the first trans-Atlantic radio signal, between England and Signal Hill in Newfoundland, Canada in 1901. In 1902 a radio transmission from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia (also in Canada) to England became the first eastward trans-Atlantic radio transmission.

Harold Brown invented the electric chair.
Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano.
Ellen Eglin invented the clothes wringer.

Answer: Alexander Graham Bell

Born in Scotland, Bell became interested in speech at an early age, which developed into an interest in using electricity to transmit sound. He moved to Canada, with his family, in 1870 at age 23. He had his fingers in many pies and worked with nearby Six Nations people, learning their language and developing Visible Speech Symbols for their unwritten words. This led to work with the deaf and training of the instructors for a school for the deaf in Boston, USA although he never gave up his interest in transmitting sound.
On March 3, 1876 Bell received a patent for an 'acoustic telegraph' that encompassed "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically...by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound".

Louis Braille developed a system of reading and writing for the blind.
Marion O'Brien Donovan invented waterproof diapers.
Benoit Fourneyron invented the water turbine.

Answer: James Watt

Born in Scotland, James Watt is often considered to be the inventor of the steam engine. While this is not strictly true, the improvements that Watt made to the existing, Newcomen steam engine (a machine that was used for pumping water out of mines), were largely responsible for the Industrial Revolution. Watt's design included a separate condenser which made great improvements to the functioning of the machine, enabling it to be used for other purposes than pumping water.
The steam engine shown in the diagram is one that was designed by Watt and Boulton in 1784.

Alec John Jeffreys invented DNA profiling.
John Harvey Kellogg invented cornflakes.
Charles Macintosh invented the waterproof raincoat and life vest.

Answer: Benjamin Franklin

Including being a signatory of The Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin was quite a Renaissance Man. His accomplishments included (but were not limited to) being a printer, a well-known humourist, a diplomat, a scientist, the first Postmaster of the newly born United States (1775-1776) and an inventor.
Franklin is often depicted (in cartoons) as flying a kite with a key attached in a thunder storm, which is a bit of a misrepresentation. He actually had a great respect for electricity and the experiment, conducted without putting himself at risk, was to prove that lightning was electricity. He developed the concept of being grounded, which led to his invention of a lightning rod.
He also invented bifocal glasses and the Franklin stove.

Sidney Russell invented the electric blanket.
Chester Greenwood invented thermal earmuffs.
Norm Larsen invented WD-40.

Answer: Samuel Morse

American born Samuel Morse was a painter by profession. His interest in developing a method of speedy communication over long distances came from a personal tragedy. While away painting a portrait, he received a note delivered by a messenger on horseback (even slower than snail mail) that his wife was sick, followed by a second one saying that she had died. Even though he set off for home immediately, she was already buried when he got there.
A chance meeting on a ship with one Charles Thomas Jackson, who was studying electromagnetism, led to his invention of the telegraph, eventually adding relays to increase the distances a message could be sent. He also developed Morse Code as a means of communicating over the telegraph.

Garret A. Morgan invented the gas mask and traffic signals.
James Naismith invented the game of basketball and a helmet used in US football.
Fritz Pfleumer invented magnetic tape.

Answer: Christopher Lantham Sholes

Born in America, Sholes invented the first standardized typewriter with a QWERTY keyboard that was so efficient that it continued to be used with the invention of computers.
Sholes familiarity with the written word was long standing. He was an apprentice printer before becoming a newspaper publisher. He was also a politician.
The invention of a typewriter grew out of an attempt to build a machine for numbering pages, which was made with Samuel Soule and patented in 1866. Around this time John Pratt invented a typewriter, which Sholes thought was too complicated. So he and his partner, Soule, set about designing one of their own.
The original model displayed the letters alphabetically, which caused the jamming of keys and prevented speed as some letters were used more frequently than others. The solution of this problem led to the birth of the QWERTY keyboard in 1873.

John Pemberton invented Coca Cola.
William Murdoch invented gas lighting.
Hyman George Rickover invented a nuclear submarine.