1. What plaything was invented by Joe McVicker in 1956?
a) Silly Putty
b) Etch-A-Sketch
c) Lite-Brite
d) Play-Doh
Explanation: Play-Doh was invented by Joe McVicker in 1956.
2. Who was the first American female to patent her invention, a method of weaving straw with silk?
a) Marjorie Joyner
b) Margaret Knight
c) Amanda Jones
d) Mary Kies
Explanation: Mary was not the first American woman inventor to be sure, there were many female inventors before her, but they never bothered to get a patent.
3. Who invented Gramophone?
a) Michael Faraday
b) Fahrenheit
c) Sir Alexander Graham Bell
d) Thomas Alva Edison
Explanation: Gramophone was invented by Thomas Edison, Emile Berliner and Eldridge R. Johnson. Gramophone is also known as phonograph.
4. What furniture item was invented by California furniture designer Charles Prior Hall in 1968?
a) Sofa bed
b) Captain's chair
c) Waterbed
d) Hammock
Explanation: Waterbed was invented by California furniture designer Charles Prior Hall in 1968.
5. The Manhattan Project was started by President Roosevelt in 1942 to ensure that the U.S. beat the Germans in developing a nuclear bomb. Whom did Roosevelt appoint as scientific head the Manhattan Project?
a) Robert Oppenheimer
b) James B. Conant
c) Leslie R. Groves
d) Vannevar Bush
Explanation: Leslie R. Groves, however, was the military head of the project and the overall supremo, while Robert Oppenheimer was the scientific director. The world's first atomic bomb was exploded in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945.
6. In which decade was the spice simulator introduced?
a) 1950s
b) 1960s
c) 1970s
d) 1980s
Explanation: SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) was introduced in May 1972 by the University of Berkeley, California.
7. Who invented the first controllable flying AEROPLANE (AIRPLANE)?
a) Wright Brothers
b) Lidenbergh Brothers
c) South Brothers
d) West Brothers
Explanation: Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first successful controlled powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903. The twelve second flight covered a distance of 120 feet and an altitude of just ten feet.
8. What groovy item was invented by Englishman Edward Craven Walker in 1963?
a) Leisure suit
b) Lava lamp
c) Eight-track tape deck
d) Hot comb
Explanation: Groovy, baby! Lava lamps, which were a fixture in every hip pad in the 1960s and 70s, featured a mixture of water and colored oil that created swirl patterns when heated by a light bulb.
9. In which decade was the Internet first implemented?
a) 1940s
b) 1950s
c) 1960s
d) 1980s
Explanation: The first message ever sent over what is now called the Internet took place at 10:30 PM on October 29, 1969. Back then, the Department of Defense called it ARPA net (Advanced Research Projects Agency network).
10. For over 500 years, paper was only available and sold as single sheets. In 1902, an inventive Australian used half size sheets of paper, a bit of glue and cardboard to create the what?
a) Notepad
b) Calendar
c) Notice Board
d) Telephone Book
Explanation: Birchall's of Launceston in Tasmania started selling the world’s first notepads, calling them 'Silvercity Writing Tablets' after J A Birchall thought it would be a good idea to back sheets of paper with cardboard and glue them together at the top. His British paper suppliers weren’t so keen, but, they were persuaded by Birchall that it was a good idea!
11. What device for new parents did Ann Moore invent in 1969?
a) Bottle warmer
b) Baby monitor
c) Disposable diaper
d) Infant carrier
Explanation: Ann got the idea for the Snugli infant carrier from the traditional African baby carriers she observed while a volunteer for the Peace Corps in Africa.
12. In which decade was the transistor invented?
a) 1940s
b) 1950s
c) 1960s
d) 1980s
Explanation: On December 23, 1947, William Shockley, Walter Brattain and John Bardeen, of Bell Labs, announced their discovery of the point-contact germanium transistor to management.
13. What invention was first installed at a Hartford, Connecticut bank in 1889?
a) Automatic teller machine
b) Time-lock safe
c) Burglar alarm
d) Pay telephone
Explanation: William Gray, inventor of the pay telephone, also invented the inflatable chest protector worn by baseball umpires and catchers.
14. Ralph Samuelson was only 18 when he invented this sporting item in 1922. What was that?
a) Golf tee
b) Motorboat
c) Water skis
d) Hang glider
Explanation: Ralph Samuelson was only 18 when he invented water skis.
15. Who invented Bifocal Lens?
a) Alfred B. Nobel
b) Thomas Alva Edison
c) Benjamin Franklin
d) Rudolf Diesel
Explanation: Benjamin Franklin invented bifocal lens.
16. When was the first lawn mower invented?
a) 1830
b) 1854
c) 1835
d) 1849
Explanation: The first lawn mowers were not engine powered. Invented in 1830 by Edwin Budding of England, the mowers were turning blades on wooden sticks used to cut grass. Engine powered mowers were not invented until 1919 by an American Army colonel, who used the motor from a washing machine.
17. In which decade were the first successful diode and triode vacuum tubes invented?
a) 1800s
b) 1880s
c) 1890s
d) 1900s
Explanation: In 1904, John Ambrose Fleming invented the first practical electron tube called the 'Fleming Valve', which is a diode rectifier. In 1906, Lee de Forest invented the Audion later called the triode, which provided signal amplification.
18. Who is the English physicist responsible for the 'Big Bang Theory'?
a) Albert Einstein
b) Michael Skube
c) George Gamow
d) Roger Penrose
Explanation: George Gamow, who died in 1968, was a physicist, who published "Thirty Years that Shook Physics".
19. What 'game' was first produced by the Southern Novelty Company in Baltimore, Maryland in 1892?
a) Frisbee
b) Monopoly
c) Ouija board
d) Ping Pong
Explanation: The board was invented by Isaac and William Fuld. The word 'Ouija' comes from the French and German words for 'yes', 'oui' and 'ja'
20. Which insurance salesman invented the fountain pen in 1884?
a) Lewis Edson Waterman
b) Sir William Grove
c) Charles Kettering
d) George Fountain
Explanation: Lewis Edson Waterman patented the first practical fountain pen in 1884.
21. Who developed the idea of Crop Rotation?
a) Potato Peterson
b) Turnip Townsend
c) Cabbage Carlson
d) Swede Svenson
Explanation: Viscount Charles 'Turnip' Townsend developed this revolutionary concept of crop rotation.
22. Who made corn flakes at first?
a) Nabisco
b) Kellogg
c) Quaker
d) Archers
Explanation: Will Keith Kellogg discovered the corn flake, by mistake, in 1906. They were the result of an experiment which went wrong.
23. William Frederick is credited with the invention of the modern frisbee in the mid 1950's. In 1957 the Wham-O Company bought his idea and the rest is history. They named the toy after William Frisbie who was a ________
a) Pie maker
b) Owner of a pizza parlor
c) Student at Yale
d) Ceramic plate designer
Explanation: William Frederick is credited with the invention of the modern frisbee in the mid 1950's. In 1957 the Wham-O Company bought his idea and the rest is history. They named the toy after William Frisbie who was a pie maker.
24. Who came up with the idea for instant mashed potato?
a) S. Tuberosum
b) W. Raleigh
c) E. Asselbergs
d) K. Edwards
Explanation: Instant mash was invented by Edward A Asselbergs, a Canadian, in 1962. The mash is actually dehydrated potato flakes.
25. Who invented Dynamite?
a) Sir Alexander Graham Bell
b) Benjamin Franklin
c) Thomas Alva Edison
d) Alfred B. Nobel
Explanation: Alfred B. Nobel invented dynamite.
26. When was the first elevator built?
a) 1743
b) 1739
c) 1760
d) 1785
Explanation: The first elevator was built in the palace of King Louis XV in 1743. It only traveled up one floor, and was hand powered by men inside the chimney.
27. What charge card, developed in 1950, was the first to be accepted nationally in the US?
a) Visa
b) Discover
c) MasterCharge
d) Diner's Club
Explanation: The card was invented by Frank McNamara and Ralph Schneider.
28. What Enrico Fermi invented?
a) X ray machine
b) Betatron
c) Cyclotron
d) Nuclear reactor
Explanation: Enrico Fermi ( 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1.
29. Which of the following was first patented by an Australian in 1889?
a) Electric Drill
b) Electric Shaver
c) Electric Fence
d) Electric Heater
Explanation: The Electric Drill was the invention of Arthur James Arnot. On 20 August 1889 he patented his design while working for the Union Electric Company in Melbourne. His original design was meant primarily for drilling rock to find coal.
30. Who among the following invented the small pox vaccine?
a) Robert Koch
b) Edward Jenner
c) Robert Hooke
d) Louis Pasteur
Explanation: The smallpox vaccine, introduced by Edward Jenner in 1796, was the first successful vaccine to be developed. He observed that milkmaids who previously had caught cowpox did not catch smallpox and showed that inoculated vaccinia protected against inoculated variola virus.
31. Who invented the ballpoint pen?
a) Biro Brothers
b) Waterman Brothers
c) Bicc Brothers
d) Write Brothers
Explanation: The Hungarian brothers, Laszlo and George Biro, made the first ball point pen in 1894. It followed the first workable fountain pen which was invented by L.E. Waterman in 1884.
32. In which decade was the first solid state integrated circuit demonstrated?
a) 1950s
b) 1960s
c) 1970s
d) 1980s
Explanation: On September 12, 1958, Jack Kilby demonstrated the first working IC while working for Texas Instruments, although the U.S. patent office awarded the first patent for an integrated circuit to Robert Noyce of Fairchild
33. What J. B. Dunlop invented?
a) Pneumatic rubber tire
b) Automobile wheel rim
c) Rubber boot
d) Model airplanes
Explanation: Scotsman John Dunlop developed the first practical pneumatic tire in 1888.
34. Which scientist discovered the radioactive element radium?
a) Isaac Newton
b) Albert Einstein
c) Benjamin Franklin
d) Marie Curie
Explanation: Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
35. When was barb wire patented?
a) 1874
b) 1840
c) 1895
d) 1900
Explanation: Joseph F. Glidden was born in New York on Jan. 18, 1812. He invented barbed wire in 1873 and was granted the patent on Nov. 24, 1874. After a three year battle over the patent, which he eventually won, Gidden became known as the "Father of Barbed Wire".
36. Who invented Gunpowder?
a) G. Ferdinand Von Zeppelin
b) Sir Frank Whittle
c) Roger Bacon
d) Leo H Baekeland
Explanation: Roger Bacon invented gunpowder.
37. Until Victorian times, chocolate was thought of as a drink. When did the first chocolate bar appear?
a) 1828
b) 1831
c) 1825
d) There is no sure date
Explanation: No one knows for sure when the first chocolate bar appeared or even who made it, but an important event occurred in 1828. The Van Houten press was invented, which extracted cocoa butter from the bean - the same press that brought the Cadbury Brothers success with Cocoa Essence.
38. What now ubiquitous device was invented by Zenith engineer Eugene Polley in 1955?
a) Microwave oven
b) Remote control
c) VCR
d) Calculator
Explanation: The first wireless remote control for television was called Flashmatic.
39. What Benjamin Franklin invented?
a) Bifocal spectacles
b) Radio
c) Barometer
d) Hygrometer
Explanation: Benjamin Franklin invented bifocal spectacles in 1760.
40. This part-time race car driver invented the bucket seat in 1969. Who was he??
a) Steve McQueen
b) Harrison Frazier
c) Paul Newman
d) John Wayne
Explanation: McQueen invented the bucket seat in 1969.
41. What African-American inventor received 5 patents in the field of shoemaking?
a) Elijah McCoy
b) Jan Ernst Matzeliger
c) Ernest Just
d) Lewis Latimer
Explanation: Jan Ernst Matzeliger received 5 patents in the field of shoemaking.
42. It travels over land and water. Who invented the hovercraft?
a) S. Sperrow
b) O. Stricheg
c) T. Henman
d) C. Cockerell
Explanation: Christopher Cockerell invented the hovercraft in 1956. His early experiments with the idea involved a cat food tin, a coffee tin and an industrial blower.
43. In which decade was the AEEE (now the IEEE) founded?
a) 1850s
b) 1880s
c) 1930s
d) 1950s
Explanation: The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) was formed in 1963 by the merger of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE, founded 1912) and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE, founded 1884).
44. What type of system did Paul Nipkow, John Baird, and Charles Jenkins all invent?
a) Telephone
b) Early Warning
c) Electricity
d) Television
Explanation: All of the inventors mentioned invented an early mechanical television system.
45. What Sir Isaac Newton invented?
a) Reflecting telescope
b) Chronometer
c) Microscope
d) Spectacles
Explanation: Sir Isaac Newton invented Chronometer.
46. What Karl Benz invented?
a) Gasoline powered automobile
b) Streetcar
c) Glider
d) Steam turbine
Explanation: Karl Benz gets the credit for inventing the automobile because his car was practical, used a gasoline-powered internal-combustion engine and worked like modern cars do today.
47. When were bar code scanners invented?
a) 1940s
b) 1950s
c) 1970s
d) 1960s
Explanation: The first scanning of the now-ubiquitous Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode was on a pack of Wrigley Company chewing gum in June 1974 at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, using scanner produced by Photographic Sciences Corporation. QR codes, a specific type of 2D barcode, have recently become very popular.
48. When was the game Frisbee invented?
a) 1920s
b) 1900s
c) 1870s
d) 1950s
Explanation: The first Frisbee were pie tins from the Frisbee Pie Company in Connecticut. In the 1950s, the pie tins were changed to plastic plates. The name then became the Flying Saucer, but later changed to Frisbee.
49. What piece of clothing was invented by French fashion designer Louis Reard in 1946?
a) Zoot suit
b) Mini-skirt
c) Bikini
d) Tank top
Explanation: The bikini, a two-piece swimsuit named for the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, made its debut on July 5, 1946.
50. In which year was MIDI introduced?
a) 1987
b) 1983
c) 1973
d) 1977
Explanation: The MIDI specification was published in August 1983. The MIDI standard was unveiled by Kakehashi and Smith, who received Technical Grammy Awards in 2013 for their work. In 1982, the first instruments were released with MIDI, the Roland Jupiter-6 and the Prophet 600.
51. For what does the world owe Almon Strowger a debt of gratitude?
a) Parking Meters
b) Vending Machines
c) Automatic Telephone Exchanges
d) Traffic Lights
Explanation: He was an undertaker, and legend has it, he developed the automatic switch in 1889, to stop competitors from getting his work.
52. In which decade was the telegraph invented?
a) 1810s
b) 1840s
c) 1870s
d) 1890s
Explanation: The system was completed and public use initiated on May 24, 1844, with transmission of the message, “What hath God wrought!” This inaugurated the telegraph era in the United States, which was to last more than 100 years. Key-type Morse telegraph transmitter from the 1840s. Morse telegraph register from the 1840s.
53. What inspired reflecting road lights to be invented?
a) Car door reflecting mirrors
b) The light a cat's eyes gave off on a fence
c) Sun light on steel posts on road sides
d) The sun light on the windshield
Explanation: In 1933, Englishman Percy Shaw was driving home when he saw a cat's eyes reflecting. He had been headed straight towards a fence with the cat on it, but on the other side was a drop of hundreds of feet.
54. When were blue jeans invented?
a) 1900s
b) 1860s
c) 1870s
d) 1850s
Explanation: On May 20, 1873, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada, tailor Jacob Davis are given a patent to create work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world's most famous garments: blue jeans.
55. Who invented Electric Generator?
a) Sir Alexander Graham Bell
b) Michael Faraday
c) Alfred B. Nobel
d) Thomas Alva Edison
Explanation: The first electromagnetic generator, the Faraday disk, was invented in 1831 by British scientist Michael Faraday. Generators provide nearly all of the power for electric power grids.
56. Who invented Gunpowder?
a) G. Ferdinand Von Zeppelin
b) Sir Frank Whittle
c) Roger Bacon
d) Leo H Baekeland
Explanation: Roger Bacon invented gunpowder.
57. Until Victorian times, chocolate was thought of as a drink. When did the first chocolate bar appear?
a) 1828
b) 1831
c) 1825
d) There is no sure date
Explanation: No one knows for sure when the first chocolate bar appeared or even who made it, but an important event occurred in 1828. The Van Houten press was invented, which extracted cocoa butter from the bean - the same press that brought the Cadbury Brothers success with Cocoa Essence.
58. What now ubiquitous device was invented by Zenith engineer Eugene Polley in 1955?
a) Microwave oven
b) Remote control
c) VCR
d) Calculator
Explanation: The first wireless remote control for television was called Flashmatic.
59. What Benjamin Franklin invented?
a) Bifocal spectacles
b) Radio
c) Barometer
d) Hygrometer
Explanation: Benjamin Franklin invented bifocal spectacles in 1760.
60. This part-time race car driver invented the bucket seat in 1969. Who was he??
a) Steve McQueen
b) Harrison Frazier
c) Paul Newman
d) John Wayne
Explanation: McQueen invented the bucket seat in 1969.
61. Who invented the ballpoint pen?
a) Biro Brothers
b) Waterman Brothers
c) Bicc Brothers
d) Write Brothers
Explanation: The Hungarian brothers, Laszlo and George Biro, made the first ball point pen in 1894. It followed the first workable fountain pen which was invented by L.E. Waterman in 1884.
62. In which decade was the first solid state integrated circuit demonstrated?
a) 1950s
b) 1960s
c) 1970s
d) 1980s
Explanation: On September 12, 1958, Jack Kilby demonstrated the first working IC while working for Texas Instruments, although the U.S. patent office awarded the first patent for an integrated circuit to Robert Noyce of Fairchild.
63. What J. B. Dunlop invented?
a) Pneumatic rubber tire
b) Automobile wheel rim
c) Rubber boot
d) Model airplanes
Explanation: Scotsman John Dunlop developed the first practical pneumatic tire in 1888.
64. Which scientist discovered the radioactive element radium?
a) Isaac Newton
b) Albert Einstein
c) Benjamin Franklin
d) Marie Curie
Explanation: Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
65. When was barb wire patented?
a) 1874
b) 1840
c) 1895
d) 1900
Explanation: Joseph F. Glidden was born in New York on Jan. 18, 1812. He invented barbed wire in 1873 and was granted the patent on Nov. 24, 1874. After a three year battle over the patent, which he eventually won, Gidden became known as the "Father of Barbed Wire".
66. What is the name of the CalTech seismologist who invented the scale used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes?
a) Charles Richter
b) Hiram Walker
c) Giuseppe Mercalli
d) Joshua Rumble
Explanation: The Richter scale was developed in 1935 by American seismologist Charles Richter (1891-1989) as a way of quantifying the magnitude, or strength, of earthquakes.
67. What James Watt invented?
a) Diving bell
b) Steam boat
c) Hot air balloon
d) Rotary steam engine
Explanation: James Watt invented rotary steam engine.
68. Where is the village of Branston, after which the famous pickle is named?
a) Yorkshire
b) Lancashire
c) Staffordshire
d) Norfolk
Explanation: The village of Branston is in Staffordshire, just south of Burton-on-Trent.
69. Who invented Jet Engine?
a) Sir Frank Whittle
b) Gottlieb Daimler
c) Roger Bacon
d) Lewis E. Waterman
Explanation: Dr. Hans von Ohain and Sir Frank Whittle are recognized as the co-inventors of the jet engine. Each was working separately and knew nothing of the others work. Although Whittle started first, von Ohain was first to design and develop a turbojet engine to power an aircraft.
Of the many honors received by both, the most significant honor was probably "The Charles Draper Prize" in 1992 which was given to both Hans von Ohain and Sir Frank Whittle for their efforts and contributions to aviation and mankind. "The Charles Draper Prize" is recognized as the equivalent to the Nobel Prize in technology.
70. What invention caused many deaths while testing it?
a) Dynamite
b) Ladders
c) Race cars
d) Parachute
Explanation: Many people who tried to test the first parachutes died by jumping from high places. One attempt was a parachute hat, but the inventor broke his neck while testing it. The first successful parachute was tested from a hot air balloon in 1797, in France, by Jacques Garnerin.