Inventions & Discoveries Trivia Questions and Answers

Who made what, when, and how often the popular answer is wrong. This topic has more disputed attributions than anything else in the bank, so the questions were written to ask what is actually settled — the patent, the first working version, the person who made it usable rather than the person who thought of it. It covers the industrial era through to the technology on the table in front of you. The satisfying tier is the middle: inventions everybody uses daily and nobody could place within fifty years, like the barcode, the microwave and the modern zip.

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  1. 1. Which two brothers are credited with inventing and flying the first powered airplane in 1903?Easy

    • The Wright brothers ✓
    • The Montgolfier brothers
    • The Lumière brothers
    • The Curtiss brothers

  2. 2. Which famous business rivalry, between Edison's DC power and Tesla's AC power, is known as the "War of the Currents"?Easy

    • The War of the Currents ✓
    • The Battle of the Bulbs
    • The Electric Wars
    • The Power Struggle

  3. 3. Which German physicist first proved the existence of electromagnetic waves, work that later enabled radio technology?Hard

    • Heinrich Hertz ✓
    • Guglielmo Marconi
    • James Clerk Maxwell
    • Nikola Tesla

  4. 4. Which company, founded by Alexander Graham Bell, became the dominant American telephone provider for a century?Medium

    • AT&T (the Bell System) ✓
    • Western Union
    • RCA
    • General Electric

  5. 5. Which American inventor developed the telegraph and the code of dots and dashes that bears his name?Medium

    • Samuel Morse ✓
    • Alexander Graham Bell
    • Thomas Edison
    • Guglielmo Marconi

  6. 6. Which Italian astronomer improved the telescope and used it to make groundbreaking observations of the solar system?Medium

    • Galileo Galilei ✓
    • Isaac Newton
    • Nicolaus Copernicus
    • Johannes Kepler

  7. 7. Which brothers are credited with inventing the first practical hot air balloon in 1783?Easy

    • The Montgolfier brothers ✓
    • The Wright brothers
    • The Lumière brothers
    • The Curtiss brothers

  8. 8. Which French brothers are credited with inventing an early motion picture camera and projector in the 1890s?Hard

    • The Lumière brothers ✓
    • The Montgolfier brothers
    • The Wright brothers
    • The Curie brothers

  9. 9. Which photographer's motion studies proved a galloping horse lifts all four hooves off the ground?Hard

    • Eadweard Muybridge ✓
    • Thomas Edison
    • The Lumière brothers
    • George Eastman

  10. 10. Which American inventor and businessman founded Kodak and made photography accessible to the general public?Easy

    • George Eastman ✓
    • Thomas Edison
    • Eadweard Muybridge
    • Louis Daguerre

  11. 11. Which Polish-French scientist won Nobel Prizes in both physics and chemistry for her research on radioactivity?Easy

    • Marie Curie ✓
    • Lise Meitner
    • Rosalind Franklin
    • Ada Lovelace

  12. 12. Which two scientists are officially credited with discovering the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953?Easy

    • James Watson and Francis Crick ✓
    • Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins
    • Gregor Mendel and Charles Darwin
    • Linus Pauling and Erwin Chargaff

  13. 13. Which computer scientist and Navy admiral developed early compilers and popularized the term "bug"?Hard

    • Grace Hopper ✓
    • Ada Lovelace
    • Katherine Johnson
    • Margaret Hamilton

  14. 14. Which company, co-founded by Bill Gates, developed the Windows operating system that dominates personal computing?Easy

    • Microsoft ✓
    • Apple
    • IBM
    • Google

  15. 15. Which company, co-founded by Steve Jobs, developed the Macintosh computer and later the iPhone?Easy

    • Apple ✓
    • Microsoft
    • IBM
    • Google

  16. 16. Which company's 1980s PC became a commercially dominant personal computer platform?Hard

    • IBM ✓
    • Apple
    • Microsoft
    • Xerox

  17. 17. Which pointing device, essential to modern computer use, was invented by Douglas Engelbart in the 1960s?Easy

    • The computer mouse ✓
    • The keyboard
    • The touchpad
    • The joystick

  18. 18. Which American inventor developed practical methods for flash-freezing food, founding a major frozen food company?Hard

    • Clarence Birdseye ✓
    • Willis Carrier
    • Percy Spencer
    • Ruth Wakefield

  19. 19. Which American inventor developed an early fully electronic TV system as a teenager?Hard

    • Philo Farnsworth ✓
    • John Logie Baird
    • Vladimir Zworykin
    • Charles Jenkins

  20. 20. Which Swiss inventor came up with the idea for Velcro after noticing burrs stuck to his dog's fur?Easy

    • George de Mestral ✓
    • Percy Spencer
    • Willis Carrier
    • Earl Tupper

  21. 21. Which fastening device, a small strip of paper and metal, became a popular 19th-century office tool?Easy

    • The paper clip ✓
    • The stapler
    • The rubber band
    • The binder clip

  22. 22. Which American inventor is generally credited with the first practical, reliable zipper design?Hard

    • Gideon Sundback ✓
    • Whitcomb Judson
    • Elias Howe
    • Levi Strauss

  23. 23. Which American inventor patented an early, less reliable slide fastener design that predated the modern zipper?Hard

    • Whitcomb Judson ✓
    • Gideon Sundback
    • Elias Howe
    • Levi Strauss

  24. 24. Which English inventor developed the water frame, an early water-powered spinning machine?Hard

    • Richard Arkwright ✓
    • James Hargreaves
    • Eli Whitney
    • Edmund Cartwright

  25. 25. Which invention, a metal frame with two wheels, became popular personal transportation in the 1800s?Easy

    • The bicycle ✓
    • The automobile
    • The motorcycle
    • The scooter

  26. 26. Which German inventor created an early two-wheeled vehicle sometimes called the "running machine"?Hard

    • Karl Drais ✓
    • John Kemp Starley
    • James Starley
    • Pierre Michaux

  27. 27. Which Scottish inventor developed the first practical pneumatic tire for bicycles and cars?Hard

    • John Boyd Dunlop ✓
    • Charles Goodyear
    • Harvey Firestone
    • B.F. Goodrich

  28. 28. Which invention, using a heated metal surface, is used to smooth wrinkles out of clothing?Easy

    • The iron ✓
    • The washing machine
    • The dryer
    • The steamer

  29. 29. Which German housewife is credited with inventing the paper coffee filter still used today?Medium

    • Melitta Bentz ✓
    • Josephine Cochrane
    • Ruth Wakefield
    • Earl Tupper

  30. 30. Which American engineer, working at Texas Instruments, is credited with inventing the integrated circuit (microchip)?Medium

    • Jack Kilby ✓
    • Robert Noyce
    • William Shockley
    • Gordon Moore

  31. 31. Which country is generally credited with the invention of eyeglasses in the 13th century?Medium

    • Italy ✓
    • Germany
    • France
    • England

  32. 32. Which invention, a simple writing tool with a graphite core, can be erased unlike ink pens?Medium

    • The pencil ✓
    • The pen
    • The crayon
    • The marker

  33. 33. Which ancient civilization is generally credited with inventing the wheelbarrow, centuries before it appeared in Europe?Medium

    • Ancient China ✓
    • Ancient Rome
    • Ancient Egypt
    • Ancient Greece

  34. 34. Which invention, a simple machine consisting of a rope over a grooved wheel, is used to lift heavy objects?Medium

    • The pulley ✓
    • The lever
    • The wedge
    • The inclined plane

  35. 35. Which invention, using pressurized chemicals or water, is used to put out small fires in homes and businesses?Medium

    • The fire extinguisher ✓
    • The smoke detector
    • The sprinkler system
    • The fire hose

  36. 36. Which DuPont chemist accidentally discovered Teflon, a non-stick coating material, in 1938?Hard

    • Roy Plunkett ✓
    • Wallace Carothers
    • Leo Baekeland
    • John Wesley Hyatt

  37. 37. Which invention, using two rigid frames covered in fabric, protects people from rain when carried overhead?Medium

    • The umbrella ✓
    • The raincoat
    • The poncho
    • The tarp

  38. 38. Which invention, a simple fastening device with two holes, is sewn onto clothing to hold pieces together?Medium

    • The button ✓
    • The zipper
    • Velcro
    • The snap fastener

  39. 39. Which invention, a curved metal pin with a coiled spring and clasp, is used to fasten fabric or diapers securely?Medium

    • The safety pin ✓
    • The straight pin
    • The button
    • The clip

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