IISc quiz 02/8/2009

1. IISc quiz 02/8/2009 Niraj Dudani Eli Lebow Rohini Ramadas (in alphabetical order)

2. Question 1: “Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed by … fired from ... in London in 1978.” (cnn.com) Name the poison and the weapon (5 points each)

3. Question: “Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed by … fired from ... in London in 1978.” (cnn.com) Name the poison and the weapon (5 points each) Answer: Ricin; “Markov was murdered with a ricin-coated pellet, fired from an adapted pen; an umbrella was dropped nearby to distract him” (The Economist, 2008) –points for either pen or umbrella

5. Question 2: connect

6. Answer: elements named after them Marie Curie – wwu.edu Niels Bohr – tps.ac.th Alfred Nobel – www.nobelpreis.org Albert Einstein – haverford.edu Prometheus – pantheon.org Thor – current.com Iris – elfwood.com Tantalus – timelessmyths.com

8. Question 3 • Tom Lehrer, who wrote the song “The Elements” and another on the secret of success in mathematics* claims to have spent his days in the U.S. Army as a “sort of Army liaison to the office of __ __” *plagiarise

9. Tom Lehrer, who wrote the song “The Elements” and another on the secret of success in mathematics* claims to have spent his days in the U.S. Army as a “sort of Army liaison to the office of __ __” *plagiarise Answer: “Navel Contemplation”

11. Question 4 Which city does the word "Dungarees", meaning overalls, find its origin in?

12. Which city does the word "Dungarees", meaning overalls, find its origin in? Answer: Mumbai. Dongar in Marathi means hill. In the 17th century, a thick cotton country-made cloth, Dongari Kapar, was sold in the village close to the Dongari Killa (or Dongari Fort, so named because it stood on a hill), the fort of "Bombay". The cloth was cheap and often poorly woven. As such, it was used by the poorer classes for clothing and by various navies as a sail cloth. Sailors often re-used old sails to make clothes. In time, the name of the cloth came to also mean an item of clothing made out of it. Portuguese sailors started wearing wide-legged trousers made with indigo-dyed dungaree cloth. In 1769, the old Dongari fort, and the hill on which it stood, were razed, and in their place Fort George was built.

14. Question 5 The scientist J.B.S. Haldane, when asked what his studies had taught him about God, is said to have replied, "I'm not sure, but he seems to be inordinately fond of ________." Fill in the blank.

15. The scientist J.B.S. Haldane, when asked what his studies had taught him about God, is said to have replied, "I'm not sure, but he seems to be inordinately fond of ________." Fill in the blank. Answer: beetles Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are classified in the order Coleoptera which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal kingdom, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms. Notes: - Percentages taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetle - The above story may be apocryphal (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane), but is apparently quite famous.

17. Question 6 • Question: • The two most commonly grown species of coffee are Coffea canephora (also known as Coffea robusta) and _____ _____.

18. Question: • The two most commonly grown species of coffee are Coffea canephora (also known as Coffea robusta) and _____ _____. • Answer: • Coffea arabica

20. Question 7 • X paid Y a retainer of 300 pounds per year to solve problems, and keep him up to date, on mathematical topics. A result, found by Y as part of that agreement, appeared in a book by X. X published anonymously, which did not stop Y accusing him of plagiarism. After X’s death, the publisher promoted the no-longer-anonymous book as X’s. To this day, the mathematical result is named after X. • Name X and Y (5 points each).

21. X paid Y a retainer of 300 pounds per year to solve problems, and keep him up to date, on mathematical topics. A result, found by Y as part of that agreement, appeared in a book by X. X published anonymously, which did not stop Y accusing him of plagiarism. After X’s death, the publisher promoted the no-longer-anonymous book as X’s. To this day, the mathematical result is named after X. Name X and Y (5 points each). Answer: X is l’Hôpital, Y is John Bernoulli. Source: Thomas and Finney’s textbook, from which I took some of the wording above.

23. Question 8Connect

24. Connect Source: imdb Source: Wikipedia Answer: Darth Vader Body of Voice of

26. Question 9 Name their baseball team. For moral victory points, also name their hockey team.

27. Name their baseball team. For moral victory points, also name their hockey team. Answer: “the Springfield Isotopes, an AA minor league baseball team. Home games are played at Duff Stadium. The Springfield Isotopes were the inspiration for the new name of the Los Angeles Dodgers' AAA affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes, when they relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico from Calgary…the Springfield Ice-O-Topes hockey team ” (Wikipedia)

29. Question 10 The administrative capital of Sri Lanka is ___

30. Answer: • “The Administrative Capital of Sri Lanka since 1982 is Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte.” from priu.gov.lk