Question 1

Automotive firsts: Identify Karl Benz's landmark invention.  Full question: What did Karl Benz invent that transformed personal transport in the 1880s?  Choose the correct option.

Accepted Answer

Given data Inventor: Karl Benz (Germany). Reasoning Benz built the Patent-Motorwagen (1885/1886), widely recognized as the first practical gasoline-powered automobile with integrated chassis and engine design. Common pitfalls Diesel engine — Rudolf Diesel; steam locomotive — earlier 19th century; electric trams — developed by others later. Final Answer The first practical automobile powered by an internal combustion engine.

Question 2

Transport technology (tyres): Identify what J. B. Dunlop invented.  Full question: What did J. B. (John Boyd) Dunlop invent that revolutionized cycling and later motoring?  Choose the correct option.

Accepted Answer

Background Inventor: John Boyd Dunlop (Scotland/Ireland). Era: Late 1880s. Reasoning Dunlop invented and patented the pneumatic tyre for his son's tricycle in 1888, greatly improving ride comfort and performance. The concept was later applied widely to bicycles and automobiles. Distractors Radial tyres — 20th-century Michelin innovation; ball bearings and brakes are unrelated to Dunlop's specific invention. Final Answer The pneumatic (inflatable) tyre.

Question 3

Food technology — origin of instant mashed potatoes: Who is credited with developing the modern process that led to instant mashed potato flakes? Context: Government food scientist who patented a dehydration/flaking method in the early 1960s, widely…

Accepted Answer

Given data We are asked who came up with the idea for instant mashed potato. Clue points to the inventor of the modern potato flake process that made instant mash practical at scale. Concept / Approach In general-knowledge and food-tech histories, Edward A. Asselbergs (a Canadian Department of Agriculture scientist) is credited with the patented process for dehydrated mashed potato flakes, which enabled today’s instant mashed potatoes. Reasoning Among the options, only Asselbergs is associated with potato flakes. Birdseye pioneered commercial freezing (not instant mash), Pemberton created Coca-Cola, Crum is linked with potato chips (folklore), and Pasteur is a microbiology pioneer. Common pitfalls Confusing frozen foods (Birdseye) or potato chips (Crum) with the flaked mashed potato invention. Final Answer Edward A. Asselbergs is credited with developing the process that led to instant mashed potatoes.

Question 4

Telecom history (1889): Which invention was first installed at a bank in Hartford, Connecticut? Context: Late-19th-century public telephony; coin-operated device debuted in a banking hall. Choose the correct device.

Accepted Answer

Given data Place: Hartford, Connecticut. Year: 1889. Venue: a bank. Reasoning In 1889, inventor William Gray installed the first successful pay telephone in a Hartford bank. Cash registers and pneumatic tubes existed earlier in other settings; ATMs arrived much later (1960s–70s). Common pitfalls Choosing ATM due to the bank context—ATMs were not invented until the mid-20th century. Final Answer The pay (coin-operated) telephone was first installed there in 1889.

Question 5

Elevator safety pioneer: What did Elisha Otis invent that made passenger elevators practical? Context: Mid-19th-century safety demonstration preventing car fall if the hoisting rope failed. Choose the correct invention.

Accepted Answer

Concept / Approach Elisha Otis invented a safety brake that prevents an elevator car from falling if its hoisting rope breaks, demonstrated famously in 1854. This made passenger elevators acceptable and safe. Final Answer The elevator safety brake (safety elevator).

Question 6

Payments history (1950): Which charge card was the first to gain nationwide acceptance in the United States? Context: Launched in 1950 for restaurants and travel; users paid the full balance monthly. Choose the correct card.

Accepted Answer

Reasoning The Diners Club card debuted in 1950 and is generally recognized as the first widely accepted U.S. general-purpose charge card. AmEx followed in 1958; bank cards (revolving credit) came later. Final Answer Diners Club card.

Question 7

Agricultural revolution: Who invented the seed drill that mechanized sowing in rows? Context: Early 18th-century England; improved seed placement and germination rates. Choose the correct inventor.

Accepted Answer

Concept / Approach Jethro Tull is credited with inventing the mechanical seed drill (early 1700s), which planted seeds at proper depth and spacing, boosting yields. Final Answer Jethro Tull.

Question 8

Transport history: Who is widely credited (in quiz literature) with inventing the bicycle in pedal-driven form? Context: 19th-century development from hobby-horses to pedal mechanisms; answer reflects common GK attribution. Choose the correct name.

Accepted Answer

Reasoning While several inventors contributed (Drais: draisine; Michaux: pedal cranks on velocipedes; Starley: safety bicycle), many general-knowledge sources credit the first pedal bicycle to the Scottish smith Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1839). Note Historically nuanced attributions exist, but the expected quiz answer is Macmillan. Final Answer Kirkpatrick Macmillan.

Question 9

Television technology pioneer: What invention is credited to Vladimir Kosma Zworykin, the Russian-born American engineer? Context: Early electronic television; key tubes for camera pickup and display. Choose the correct invention.

Accepted Answer

Concept / Approach V. K. Zworykin pioneered electronic television, credited with the iconoscope camera tube and the kinescope display tube, essential for early TV systems. Final Answer Iconoscope and kinescope (electronic television).

Question 10

Clothing history: In which year were blue jeans (riveted denim trousers) invented? Context: Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received the U.S. patent for riveted pockets. Choose the correct year.

Accepted Answer

Reasoning Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis received U.S. Patent No. 139,121 on May 20, 1873 for rivet-reinforced denim trousers — the birth of blue jeans. Common pitfalls Choosing 1853 (Levi Strauss arrived in San Francisco) or 1886 (later branding milestones). Final Answer 1873.

Question 11

Engineering societies: In which decade was the AIEE (often misstated as AEEE), a predecessor of today’s IEEE, founded? Context: The American Institute of Electrical Engineers formed in the late 19th century; IEEE emerged in 1963 from AIEE–IRE merger…

Accepted Answer

Reasoning The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) was founded in 1884, which lies in the 1880s. (IEEE later formed in 1963 via AIEE–IRE merger.) Final Answer 1880s.

Question 12

Retail technology: In which decade were bar code scanners first introduced into commercial use at checkout counters? Context: UPC adoption in U.S. supermarkets culminated with the first live scan of a Wrigley’s gum pack. Choose the correct decade.

Accepted Answer

Reasoning Although bar code concepts date to the 1940s–50s, commercial scanners at checkouts took off in the 1970s. The first retail UPC scan occurred in 1974 on a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum in Ohio. Final Answer 1970s.

Question 13

Medical device history (cardiology): Identify Dr. Paul Zoll's 1952 invention in Massachusetts.  Full question: What did cardiologist Dr. Paul Zoll invent in 1952 in Massachusetts—an innovation used to maintain a patient's heart rhythm noninvasively?…

Accepted Answer

Given data Year and place: 1952, Massachusetts. Inventor: Dr. Paul Zoll (cardiologist). Domain: Devices to manage cardiac rhythm. Concept/Approach Zoll pioneered external transthoracic cardiac pacing, applying electrical impulses through chest electrodes to maintain heart rate—decades before fully implantable pacemakers became routine. Why other options are incorrect ICD: implantable defibrillators arrived later. Coronary stent: 1980s innovation. Heart-lung machine: developed by Gibbon and others earlier in the 1950s, but not Zoll's 1952 Massachusetts milestone. Final Answer External cardiac pacemaker (noninvasive transthoracic pacing).

Question 14

Discovery of radium: Name the scientist(s) who discovered the radioactive element.  Full question: Which scientist is credited with the discovery of radium, identified in 1898 during pioneering research on radioactivity?  Choose the correct option.

Accepted Answer

Given data Target element: Radium. Period: Late 1890s, early radioactivity research. Concept/Approach Radium was discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie and Pierre Curie while separating radioactive constituents from pitchblende (uraninite), following Becquerel's discovery of natural radioactivity. Option analysis Becquerel discovered radioactivity (1896) but not radium specifically; Rutherford elucidated atomic/nuclear structure; Thomson discovered the electron. Final Answer Marie and Pierre Curie.

Question 15

Galileo Galilei: Identify the device most commonly attributed to his invention in general-knowledge sources.  Full question: What did Galileo invent (as popularly cited), beyond his astronomical observations and improved telescopes?  Choose the corr…

Accepted Answer

Context Galileo is famed for physics/astronomy, but also devised instruments. Clarification Galileo created a thermoscope (early 1600s), a temperature-indicating device regarded as a precursor to the thermometer. He did not invent the barometer (Torricelli), nor the microscope as first originator, and certainly not the steam engine. Final Answer Thermometer/thermoscope (precursor to the modern thermometer).

Question 16

Household technology (1869): Identify the item originally called the ‘‘Whirlwind’’ by its inventor Ives McGaffey.  Full question: What item, first marketed under the name ‘‘Whirlwind’’ by Ives McGaffey in 1869, was invented as a labor-saving househo…

Accepted Answer

Given Inventor: Ives W. McGaffey. Year/Name: 1869, ‘‘Whirlwind’’. Explanation McGaffey patented an early hand-cranked vacuum cleaner known as the ‘‘Whirlwind,’’ predating motorized suction cleaners and distinct from carpet sweepers. Eliminating distractors Carpet sweepers (e.g., by Spangler or earlier) differed; washers and fans are unrelated to McGaffey's 1869 patent. Final Answer Vacuum cleaner (hand-operated).

Question 17

Early plastics: Identify the inventor of Bakelite, the first fully synthetic thermosetting plastic.  Full question: Who invented Bakelite, widely used for electrical insulators and consumer goods in the early 20th century?  Choose the correct option.

Accepted Answer

Background Bakelite is a phenol–formaldehyde resin, a 1907–1909 breakthrough. Concept Leo Baekeland synthesized Bakelite, the first fully synthetic thermoset, enabling heat-resistant, non-conductive components (e.g., radio/telephone housings, sockets). Distractors Parkes: Parkesine (cellulose-based). Staudinger: macromolecule theory. Hyatt: celluloid improvements—not Bakelite. Final Answer Leo Baekeland.

Question 18

Beverage brands (1929): Identify the soft drink invented by Charles Leiper Grigg.  Full question: What drink did Charles Leiper Grigg invent in 1929, originally launched as a lemon–lime soda?  Choose the correct option.

Accepted Answer

Given Inventor: Charles Leiper Grigg. Year: 1929. Explanation Grigg created a lemon–lime soda first branded Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda, soon renamed 7 Up, which became a major soft drink brand. Why others are incorrect Sprite (Coca-Cola, 1961), Mountain Dew (1940s origins), Fanta (WWII-era Germany) were not Grigg's 1929 invention. Final Answer 7 Up (originally "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda").

Question 19

Who is the english physicist responsible for the "Big Bang Theory"?

Accepted Answer

George Gamow. Gamow, who died in 1968, was a physicist, who published “Thirty Years that Shook Physics”.

Question 20

Helicopter was invented by

Accepted Answer

Broquet

Inventions Questions