Test your knowledge about the year that just passed into history.
1) On 3rd January, China
became the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon. The
Chinese probe Chang’e-4 landed in a crater located in the South Pole – Aitken
basin on the far side of the moon, that never faces earth. The crater where the
probe landed is named after a famous Hungarian-American mathematician and
aerospace engineer noted for many key advances in aerodynamics. Who is he?
2) On 12th February, a
country renamed itself by adding the label “North” to its name. This renaming
followed 30 years of dispute with a neighbouring country, which accused it of
appropriating its cultural identity and heritage. What are these 2 countries?
3) On 10th April, the
world was blown away by the first ever image of a Black Hole. The Black Hole is
located in the Messier 87 galaxy, 500 million trillion kms away from us.
Astronomers soon named the Black Hole as M87*, the asterisk mark indicating a
“black hole”. But a Hawaiian language professor came up with a poetic name,
which means “embellished dark source of unending creation”. What is this
unofficial name of the Black Hole?
4) On 30th April, Emperor
Akihito stepped down to become the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in 200
years. This brought to an end the Heisei Era. The next day, his son, Naruhito
ascended the throne to usher in a new era. What is the name of this new era,
which has been inspired from the 7th Century collection of Japanese
poetry called Manyoshu?
5) On 6th May, Archie was
born, seventh in line to the British throne. What would be his pompous title,
if his parents choose not to let him grow up as a private citizen?
6) On 18th June, Marta
Vieira da Silva of Brazil became the leading goal scorer in women’s or men’s
World Cup tournaments by scoring her 17th goal in the 1-0 win
against Italy in Valenciennes, France. Whose record did she eclipse?
7) The Hong Kong protesters, who
were in news for most of 2019, use colour coded maps to identify establishments
that are sympathetic to their movement and those against. What 2 principal
colours are used for this code?
8) On 18th August, a
group of around 100 people walked up a mountain and installed a plaque to mourn
a passing away. The plaque mentioned “415 ppm CO2” as the cause of the tragic
demise. What was being mourned?
9) On 18th October, 50
years after man first set foot on Moon, two NASA astronauts, Christina Koch and
Jessica Meir, created history through their first all-woman spacewalk. They
spent 7 hours outside the International Space Station to replace a faulty power
control unit. This historic spacewalk was originally scheduled for March but
had to be postponed. What was the reason for this reschedule?
10) On 27th June, Matty
Roberts, a 21-year old college student created a storm on the Internet by
asking people to raid a top-secret military base in Nevada, that has been
associated with aliens and UFOs. It brought FBI knocking on his door. What was
this event touted as on Facebook?
11) A photo editing app is fuelling a
fashion revolution on the Internet, which is characterized by female teenagers
dressing and acting in a certain manner that is indistinguishable from each
other. What is this meme called?
12) Finally, Donald Trump, who became
the third American President to be impeached. At the heart of the controversy
was Trump’s alleged request to his Ukrainian counterpart, to investigate Joe
Biden’s son, Hunter, about his work with Burisma Holdings Limited, a large
energy exploration and production company. Where is the headquarters of Burisma
located?
