Inventors, engineers and explorers quiz (50 questions)
Safer cities, clearer communication, books for the blind, journeys to the poles and to space: match the maker or explorer to what they did.
About this quiz: the people, prizes and dates were checked against official and reference sources, and the stories are retold in makekite's own words with the help of AI. If you spot a mistake, please tell us on the contact page.
50 multiple-choice questions, with the answer explained after each one.
Answer each question, see why, and beat your best score.
All 50 questions and answers
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- Johannes Gutenberg, working in Mainz, introduced what to Europe in the 1400s, helping knowledge to spread widely?
- The compass
- The telescope
- The steam engine
- The printing press with movable type
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The printing press with movable type. Printed books became cheaper and many more people could learn to read.
- John Harrison built marine chronometers to solve which problem for sailors?
- Finding longitude at sea
- Predicting storms
- Finding fresh water
- Mapping coastlines
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Finding longitude at sea. Accurate clocks let navigators work out how far east or west they were.
- Joseph Bazalgette designed a sewer system for which city, helping to end its cholera outbreaks?
- Sydney
- London
- Calcutta
- Paris
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London. He was chief engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works.
- Louis Braille was a teenager when he created a reading system for blind people. How old was he?
- Eight
- Fifteen
- Forty
- Twenty-five
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Fifteen. His system of raised dots is used all over the world.
- Alexander Graham Bell was a teacher of deaf people as well as the inventor of what?
- The telephone
- The camera
- The typewriter
- The radio
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The telephone. His work on speech and hearing led him to experiment with transmitting sound.
- The Wright brothers made the first powered flights in 1903 at which place in North Carolina?
- Kitty Hawk
- Roanoke
- Charlotte
- Raleigh
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Kitty Hawk. They were bicycle makers and studied birds and wings.
- Lawrence Hargrave, who lived in Sydney, invented the box kite. What was it important for?
- Early aircraft design
- Fishing
- Mining
- Weather forecasting
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Early aircraft design. His box kite helped aviation pioneers, and he never patented his work.
- Hedy Lamarr, born in Austria, was a film star who also co-invented a way of sending signals that hops between what?
- Time zones
- Languages
- Frequencies
- Cities
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Frequencies. Frequency hopping is a forerunner of technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
- Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web while working at which laboratory?
- NASA
- Bell Labs
- CERN
- MIT
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CERN. He proposed it in 1989, and the technology was made available free of royalties.
- Garrett Morgan, an American inventor, designed an early version of which road safety device?
- A road sign
- A speed camera
- A traffic signal
- A seat belt
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A traffic signal. He also invented a safety hood for firefighters.
- Stephanie Kwolek of DuPont invented which strong, lightweight fibre?
- Kevlar
- Teflon
- Spandex
- Nylon
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Kevlar. It is used in protective clothing and many other products.
- Percy Julian, an American chemist, found a way to make the medicine cortisone from which plant?
- Rice
- Corn silk
- Potatoes
- Soybeans
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Soybeans. His work made the treatment cheaper and easier to get.
- Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, a famous Indian engineer, served as diwan of which princely state?
- Hyderabad
- Mysore
- Baroda
- Travancore
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Mysore. He is remembered for water engineering and city planning.
- E. Sreedharan, known as India's Metro Man, led the building of which rail projects?
- The Delhi Metro and the Konkan Railway
- The Bullet Train
- The Suez Canal
- The Himalayan Railway
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The Delhi Metro and the Konkan Railway. He is admired for finishing big projects on time.
- Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the top of Mount Everest in which year?
- 1985
- 1969
- 1924
- 1953
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1953. Hillary later helped to build schools and hospitals in Nepal through the Himalayan Trust.
- Tenzing Norgay belonged to which mountain-dwelling people?
- The Inuit
- The Sherpas
- The Tibetans of Lhasa only
- The Gurkhas
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The Sherpas. He and Hillary were the first confirmed climbers to reach the summit.
- Douglas Mawson led expeditions to which continent?
- Antarctica
- South America
- Australia only
- Africa
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Antarctica. He was based in Adelaide and is one of Australia's best-known polar explorers.
- Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in which year?
- 1963
- 1957
- 1981
- 1969
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1963. She flew aboard Vostok 6.
- Kalpana Chawla, born in Karnal, India, was an astronaut on which Space Shuttle?
- Discovery
- Columbia
- Atlantis
- Challenger
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Columbia. She is remembered as an inspiration to many young people in India.
- Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel in space. In which year?
- 1969
- 1984
- 1999
- 1975
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1984. He flew to the Soviet space station Salyut.
- Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman to do what?
- Cross the Atlantic by plane
- Climb Everest
- Win a Nobel Prize
- Travel in space
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Travel in space. She was also a doctor.
- Jacques Cousteau explored the oceans aboard which ship?
- Calypso
- Titanic
- Endurance
- Beagle
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Calypso. He helped to bring the ocean world to millions of television viewers.
- Sylvia Earle is a famous marine biologist known as an explorer of what?
- The Sahara
- Outer space
- The deep sea
- Caves of Asia
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The deep sea. She is called 'Her Deepness' for her ocean work.
- Roald Amundsen, from Norway, led the first expedition to reach the South Pole in which year?
- 1935
- 1922
- 1901
- 1911
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1911. He arrived on 14 December 1911.
- Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition aboard which ship became famous for the survival of its crew?
- Endurance
- Discovery
- Fram
- Terra Nova
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Endurance. The ship was trapped and crushed in ice, yet Shackleton led his men to safety.
- Ibn Battuta, born in Tangier, was a famous what?
- Admiral
- Traveller who wrote about his journeys
- Mathematician
- Architect
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Traveller who wrote about his journeys. He travelled across Africa, Asia and Europe in the 14th century.
- Zheng He led large treasure voyages for China during which dynasty?
- The Tang dynasty
- The Qing dynasty
- The Ming dynasty
- The Han dynasty
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The Ming dynasty. His fleets sailed as far as East Africa.
- Amelia Earhart became famous for her solo flight across which ocean?
- The Atlantic
- The Indian
- The Pacific
- The Arctic
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The Atlantic. She flew solo across the Atlantic in 1932.
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed which famous ship, the SS Great Britain?
- A balloon
- A pioneering iron steamship
- A submarine
- A wooden galleon
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A pioneering iron steamship. He also designed railways and a tunnel under the Thames.
- Gustave Eiffel's company built the framework inside which famous statue?
- Christ the Redeemer
- The Great Sphinx
- The Colossus of Rhodes
- The Statue of Liberty
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The Statue of Liberty. He also gave his name to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
- Cai Lun, from China, is credited with improving the making of what material?
- Paper
- Silk
- Porcelain
- Gunpowder
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Paper. He lived during the Han dynasty.
- Ismail al-Jazari wrote a book about clever mechanical devices. Which famous creation of his is mentioned in it?
- A steam train
- A telescope
- A flying carpet
- An elephant clock
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An elephant clock. He was an engineer in the Islamic world in the 12th century.
- George Washington Carver taught farmers in Alabama about growing which crop that adds nutrients to soil?
- Corn
- Sugar cane
- Peanuts
- Cotton only
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Peanuts. He taught at the Tuskegee Institute.
- Mary Anderson patented an early version of which car part?
- The seat belt
- The horn
- The windshield wiper
- The rear-view mirror
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The windshield wiper. She patented it in Alabama.
- Josephine Cochrane invented which kitchen machine?
- The dishwasher
- The blender
- The toaster
- The refrigerator
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The dishwasher. She wanted to protect her good china from chips.
- Margaret Knight invented a machine for making what?
- Shoes
- Glass bottles
- Flat-bottomed paper bags
- Matches
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Flat-bottomed paper bags. Her design is still the basis of paper shopping bags.
- Lewis Latimer helped to improve which part of the electric light bulb?
- The socket
- The switch
- The filament
- The glass shell
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The filament. He worked with both Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison.
- Marie Van Brittan Brown invented an early version of what?
- A home security system
- A microwave
- A telephone answering machine
- A smoke alarm
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A home security system. It included a camera and a way to speak to visitors.
- Sunita Williams, an astronaut of Indian descent, has lived on which space station?
- Mir
- Tiangong
- The International Space Station
- Skylab
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The International Space Station. She is of Indian descent and has made long stays in orbit.
- Hubert Wilkins, an Australian explorer, is famous for exploring which regions?
- The Himalayas
- The Arctic and Antarctic
- The Sahara
- The Amazon
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The Arctic and Antarctic. He also attempted to travel beneath the Arctic ice in a submarine.
- Nikola Tesla is known for developing systems using which type of electric current?
- Solar power
- Alternating current
- Direct current
- Static electricity
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Alternating current. AC systems made it easier to send electricity over long distances.
- Hedy Lamarr developed her frequency-hopping idea together with which composer?
- George Antheil
- Igor Stravinsky
- Leonard Bernstein
- Aaron Copland
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George Antheil. They planned it as a way to stop enemy forces jamming radio-guided torpedoes.
- In which city was Alexander Graham Bell born?
- Boston
- Toronto
- London
- Edinburgh
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Edinburgh. He later moved to Canada and the United States.
- Louis Braille was born in a village near Paris. What is its name?
- Coupvray
- Fontainebleau
- Giverny
- Versailles
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Coupvray. He became blind as a child.
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel worked with his father on the first tunnel under which river?
- The Thames
- The Seine
- The Rhine
- The Danube
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The Thames. The Thames Tunnel opened in 1843.
- Edmund Hillary was from which country?
- Australia
- Nepal
- Britain
- New Zealand
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New Zealand. He and Tenzing Norgay reached the top of Everest in 1953.
- Kalpana Chawla was the first woman of what origin to fly in space?
- Brazilian
- Chinese
- Indian
- Japanese
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Indian. She was born in Karnal.
- The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was led by which explorer?
- Roald Amundsen
- Robert Scott
- Ernest Shackleton
- Douglas Mawson
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Douglas Mawson. It explored the coast of Antarctica south of Australia in 1911 to 1914.
- Ernest Shackleton was born in which country?
- Norway
- New Zealand
- Scotland
- Ireland
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Ireland. He led the Endurance expedition.
- What trade did the Wright brothers have before they built aeroplanes?
- Shipbuilders
- Blacksmiths
- Bicycle makers
- Watchmakers
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Bicycle makers. Their workshop skills helped them to build a light aircraft.