The Smithsonian Institution Trivia Quiz

Answer: Norman

Norman style is defined as a twelfth-century combination of late Romanesque and very early Gothic. It looks like something you might find in an old horror movie. "The Castle", as it is affectionately known, was designed by architect James Renwick Jr and completed in 1855. Today it houses the administrative offices and the Smithsonian Information Center.

Answer: Benjamin Franklin

This is fitting, as Ben served as the first postmaster of the colonies (among many other things). The Postal Museum is located at 2 Massachusetts Avenue NE.

Answer: Gilbert Stuart

The Lansdowne portrait was purchased for $20 million (!) by the Donald Reynolds Foundation and donated to the Smithsonian in 2001. The portrait, depicting Washington standing in a black velvet suit, was painted by Stuart in 1796 for William Petty, Lord Shelburne, First Marquis of Lansdowne, a British supporter of the American Revolution. Until 2001 it was privately owned by an English citizen.

Answer: Nigeria

Oshogobo is a Yoruba town in western Nigeria. The exhibit concentrated on the 1960s, the time of a major transformation in art of the society.

Answer: Russel Wright

Long before Martha Stewart and K-Mart, there was Russel Wright, a designer who has been referred to as "the Modfather". The exhibit features Wright's furniture, tableware, glassware, and silverware arranged as you might find it in a "mod" home of the mid-20th century. The other gentlemen named are also artists whose work can be seen at the Cooper-Hewitt.

Answer: Patent Office Building

The Patent Office Building was constructed in 1841, and served as the place where American inventors such as Thomas Edison received patents for their works. In addition, the building was used as a hospital during the Civil War and was the site of President Lincoln's second Inaugural Ball in 1865.

In 1957, this building was saved from the wrecking ball by those who wanted to preserve its history, and it opened as the National Collection of Fine Arts in 1968. In 1980, the name was changed to the National Museum of American Art.

Answer: Madagascar

Lemurs are endangered primates native to Madagascar, an island nation off the east coast of Africa. At the National Zoo you can see ring-tailed lemurs and red-fronted lemurs as they scamper about their island.

Answer: Monkeys

Golden Lion Tamarind (or GLTs) are small monkeys native to Brazil. They are one of four species of lion tamarins (Leontopithicus), so named because their shaggy fur resembles a lion's mane.

Answer: Devi

Devi, also known as Jaganmata, or Mother of the Universe, is a central figure of Hinduism. In fact, the Hindus consider all goddesses different manifestations of Devi.

Answer: Arts and Industries Building

This museum, located at 900 Jefferson Drive SW, is a red brick and sandstone building designed in High Victorian style. Its first use, in 1881, was for the Inagural Ball of President James Garfield. The name of the building, "Arts and Industries", refers to the theme of the Centennial Exposition whose exhibits were stored in it. Today the museum hosts exhibits on a variety of topics, from Chicano culture to deaf Americans.

Answer: First aircraft to travel at the speed of sound

In 1947, pilot Chuck Yeager had the distinction of being the world's first supersonic pilot (first to break the sound barrier in flight) at a speed of 670 miles per hour. The experimental aircraft in which he did this, Glamorous Glennis, was named for his wife, Glennis.

Answer: To locate heavenly objects in the sky

The armillary sphere, invented by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, consists of moveable rings and sighting devices used to measure the position of a celestial object or the differences between the positions of two objects- i.e. the moon and the sun.

Answer: Mars

These craft were launched in 1975 and reached the Red Planet in 1976. Although designed for only six months on Mars, the landers stayed there for six and four years each, sending back thousansa of images of the planet.

Answer: Hope Diamond

This 45.52-carat whopper is described as a "fancy dark grayish-blue". The history of the gem can be traced back to the Kollur mine in Golconda, India, from where it was purchased by the French travelling merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier. He sold it to King Louis XIV of France in 1668, and in 1678 the stone was recut, producing a 67 1/8-carat stone. What was now known as the French Blue Diamond was stolen in 1792 during a looting of France's crown jewels, and resurfaced in 1812 in the possession of London diamond merchant Daniel Eliason.

Its next owner was the well-known Henry Philip Hope, the man for whom the diamond is now named; however, how it came into his possession is a mystery. In 1902 the stone came to New York City, after being sold by one of Hope's descendants to pay debts.

Its next owner was Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean, of Washington D.C., who had it made into the pendant on a necklace as it is today. In 1949 the noted American jeweler Harry Winston of New York City purchased Mrs. McLean's entire jewelry collection, including the Hope diamond, from her estate.

In 1958, after having toured the world on exhibit, the diamond settled down in the Smithsonian, its present home.

Answer: Blankets

The term "cobija" is used to refer to Mayo (American Indians native to Sonora and Sinaloa) textiles in order to distinguish simple blankets from more elaborate ones, called sarapes.

Answer: single-celled organisms that construct shells

The Smithsonian's collection of these numbers over 16,000. According to the paleobiology department's website, foraminifera can be classified into two groups: "benthic, which live in sediments on the sea floor, and planktic, which live in the upper 300 feet or so of the ocean."

Answer: violin

Antonio Stradivari, the Cremona craftsman, was perhaps the most famous violin maker of all time. You can see one of his violins on display in the Hall of Musical Instruments, which features musical instruments from the US and Europe.

Answer: William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison, our ninth President, has the distinction of having the shortest Presidential term. He died of pneumonia in April 1841, after having served as President for only one month. The Vice-President then became the first Vice-President to actually succeed to the Presidency. Harrison chose the log cabin as his campaign symbol in order to stress his humble origins (although he claimed to have been born in a log cabin, historians now believe that this wasn't so).

Answer: Julia Child

The kitchen, designed by Julia's husband in 1961, opened on August 19, 2002. For seven years the kitchen was the setting for three popular public-television series featuring the well-loved chef. It took museum employees six months to unpack over 50 cartons of 1,200 items featured in the exhibit.

Answer: Niagara Falls

"It employed two-phase AC techniques invented by Nikola Tesla and was thus more efficient than previous alternating current systems", according to the Smithsonian's website.
All of the information for this quiz is from the Smithsonian's huge website, which is the next best thing to being there!