QUIZ - 100

To mark the 100th edition of this Quiz, I bring you a set of 10 questions built around the centenary theme. The answers to all these 10 questions are people who were born in 1910; so this is their centenary year. Hope you enjoy the Quiz.


1) Born in Lahore and studying in Madras, he went on to become a US citizen and received the Physics Nobel Prize in 1983 for his work on the structure and evolution of stars.

2) This British engineer invented the hovercraft.

3) This French naval officer, explorer and oceanographer co-developed the Aqualung for Scuba diving.

4) This Japanese director is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers. Among his most important films are Seven Samurai, Ran, Rashomon and Yojimbo.

5) He co-invented the transistor along with John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain, for which they received the Nobel Prize in 1956.

6) Born in Taiwan, he became a Japanese citizen after World War II and invented Instant Noodles in response to the problem of food shortage.

7) He designed the first working programmable computer, Z3 in 1941

8) Known as Freddie among friends, this British philosopher is known for promoting Logical Positivism – a school of philosophy that combines Empiricism and Rationalism.

9) She became part of a notorious criminal gang that looted small stores, gas stations and banks in the Central United States during the Great Depression. She and her partner went on to become cult figures and have been immortalized through a 1967 film bearing their names.

10) A highly influential blues musician, he is widely regarded as the first to use the Electric Guitar.

Answers to Quiz - 99

1) What is the name of a crescent shaped water body formed when the bend of a river is cut off from the main river by forces of erosion?

Oxbow Lake

2) What is the term for a tributary that runs parallel to the main river before eventually joining it?

Yazoo

3) Water bodies that have excessive nutrients are called ‘Eutrophic’. What term describes nutrient deficient water bodies?

Oligotrophic

4) What is the name given to the thin layer in a large water body like ocean or lake, where the temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below?

Thermocline

5) Name the Greek historian who coined the term ‘Delta’ for the landform created at the mouth of a river because of it’s resemblance to the uppercase Greek letter Delta.

Herodotus

6) An estuary is a water body that forms a transition between a river environment and an ocean environment. Name the largest estuary in the world.

Gulf of Saint Lawrence

7) Over the edge of which mountain in Venezuela does the world’s highest waterfall, Angel Falls, drop?

Auyantepui

8) What term describes a watershed from which there is no outflow of water?
Endorheic Basin

9) What is the legendary water spirit of German mythology that assumes human form but constantly shifts shapes?

Nix

10) Named after a pioneering Norwegian oceanographer what unit is used to measure the volume of water transported by ocean currents?

Sverdrup after Harald Sverdrup

QUIZ - 99

Water, the final element in the 5 part series.


1) What is the name of a crescent shaped water body formed when the bend of a river is cut off from the main river by forces of erosion?

2) What is the term for a tributary that runs parallel to the main river before eventually joining it?

3) Water bodies that have excessive nutrients are called ‘Eutrophic’. What term describes nutrient deficient water bodies?

4) What is the name given to the thin layer in a large water body like ocean or lake, where the temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below?

5) Name the Greek historian who coined the term ‘Delta’ for the landform created at the mouth of a river because of it’s resemblance to the uppercase Greek letter Delta.

6) An estuary is a water body that forms a transition between a river environment and an ocean environment. Name the largest estuary in the world.

7) Over the edge of which mountain in Venezuela does the world’s highest waterfall, Angel Falls, drop?

8) What term describes a watershed from which there is no outflow of water?

9) What is the legendary water spirit of German mythology that assumes human form but constantly shifts shapes?

10) Named after a pioneering Norwegian oceanographer what unit is used to measure the volume of water transported by ocean currents?

Answers to Quiz - 98

1) What does an Arenophile collect?

Sand

2) What is the Geological term for grotesquely shaped rocks?

Hoodoos

3) Named after the Swedish Chemist Albert Atterberg, what does the Atterberg Limits classify?

Soil

4) What Geological term is used to describe an isolated rock formation or hill that abruptly rises from the surrounding plain ground, like the Ayers Rock in Australia?

Inselberg

5) What term describes ash and rocks that are ejected from a volcano and flies through the air?

Tephra

6) Green sand beaches are rare. What mineral imparts the green colour to this sand?

Olivine

7) What term in the Geological vocabulary defines a depression formed by the collapse of the cone of a volcano?

Caldera

8) Who proposed the Gaia Hypothesis, which views the Earth as a self- regulating organism?

James Lovelock

9) When is Earth Day celebrated each year and who founded it in 1970?

22nd April, Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator

10) Name the 12 point scale used to measure the intensity of an Earthquake.

Mercalli intensity scale

QUIZ - 98

Earth, the fourth element in the 5 part series.


1) What does an Arenophile collect?

2) What is the Geological term for grotesquely shaped rocks?

3) Named after the Swedish Chemist Albert Atterberg, what does the Atterberg Limits classify?

4) What Geological term is used to describe an isolated rock formation or hill that abruptly rises from the surrounding plain ground, like the Ayers Rock in Australia?

5) What term describes ash and rocks that are ejected from a volcano and flies through the air?

6) Green sand beaches are rare. What mineral imparts the green colour to this sand?

7) What term in the Geological vocabulary defines a depression formed by the collapse of the cone of a volcano?

8) Who proposed the Gaia Hypothesis, which views the Earth as a self- regulating organism?

9) When is Earth Day celebrated each year and who founded it in 1970?

10) Name the 12 point scale used to measure the intensity of an Earthquake.

Answers to Quiz - 97

1) If Vulcan was the Roman God of Fire, who was the Greek God of Fire?

Hephaestus

2) What is the highest grade of sacred fire in Zoroastrian Temples?

Atash Behram

3) In 1667 Johann Joachim Becher postulated a scientific theory (now defunct) stating that all combustible substances contain within a fire-like element, which is released during the process of combustion. What name did he give to this fire-like element?

Phlogiston

4) What happened at the bakery of Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane, shortly after midnight on 2nd September 1666?

The Great Fire of London

5) What term describes the property of a substance that will spontaneously ignite in air?

Pyrophoric

6) The Olympic flame commemorates the theft of fire from Greek God Zeus by Prometheus. In which modern Olympics was the practice of lighting the flame introduced?

1928 Amsterdam

7) What does Haines Index measure?

The potential for forest wildfire growth

8) What is Pyrolatry?

Worship of Fire

9) Fahrenheit 451, a cult science fiction by Ray Bradbury published in 1953 describes a futuristic American society. What is the significance of the number 451 in the book’s title?

Paper catches fire by itself at 451 degrees Fahrenheit. The protagonist in the novel is a fireman who burns books

10) What enzyme is responsible for the glow in fireflies?

Luciferase