Biography quiz

Biography quiz



1. New from Fibonacci


The great medieval mathematician known
as Fibonacci produced a series of important works in the early 13th
century. One important innovation in his writings was...


A) Failing to include a specifically religious preface
B) Using Arabic numeric notation instead of Roman ✔
C) Using his native Italian instead of Latin or Greek
D) Using specially trained scribes to ensure accuracy ✕




2. Renaissance man


Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576), the great
mathematician, physician, astrologer and scholar who founded probability
theory, led a colorful and controversial life that included time spent
in prison for the crime of...


A) Casting the horoscope of Jesus Christ ✔
B) Employing the square roots of negative numbers
C) Murdering his daughter-in-law
D) Practising medicine without a license ✕




3. Harvey’s contribution


William Harvey, a 17th-century English scientist, made an important contribution to biology with his:


A) Explanation of the circulatory system ✔
B) Invention of the microscope
C) Research on vaccination to immunize against disease ✕
D) Study of the electrical nature of nerve impulses





4. Qui était-il?


The 18th-century French intellectual François-Marie Arouet is better known by another name. He was:


A) King Louis XIV
B) Diderot, the encyclopedist ✕
C) Laplace, the physicist and mathematician
D) Voltaire, the philosophe ✔





5. Triple threat


What were the professional skills of Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (1743-1795)?


A) Alchemist, healer and magician ✔
B) Author, composer and flautist
C) Exorcist, rabble-rouser and witch-hunter ✕
D) Explorer, linguist and missionary






6. The greatest composer


Ludwig van Beethoven declared in 1806
that another composer of his acquaintance was the greatest of any then
living. Which of his contemporaries had impressed him so deeply?


A) Luigi Cherubini ✔
B) Franz Josef Haydn
C) Johann Nepomuk Hummel ✕
D) Franz Liszt









7. Monumental discoveries


The 19th-century French archeologist Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832) is most famous for his discovery of:


A) The answer to the “riddle of the Sphinx”
B) How to decipher ancient Egyptian inscriptions ✔
C) The techniques used to prepare mummies
D) The tomb of Tutankhamen





8. Napoleon’s last sit


In which ocean is the island of St. Helena, site of Napoleon’s final imprisonment?


A) Arctic
B) Atlantic ✔
C) Indian ✕
D) Pacific




9. Byron’s daughter


Ada Lovelace, daughter of the poet
Byron, lived a brief but full life, ended by illness in 1852 when she
was just 36. By then she had made her own contribution to history as a
pioneer in which field?


A) Aviation
B) Computer programming ✔
C) Philosophy
D) Telephony




10. Darwin’s daily doings


Charles Darwin, the great evolutionary
theorist, was a man of fixed habits. For much of his adult life, his
daily routine always included:


A) A gallop across the downs on his horse, Nelson
B) Making detailed sketches of specimens from his insect collection ✕
C) Smoking a pipe while solving the crossword in The Times
D) Two games of backgammon with his wife, Emma ✔




Ancers.....b...a..a..d...a..a..b..b...b...d.