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How many of these inventors can you
match with the following little-known facts about them? Regardless
of how well you do, this is the last quiz of the year … I promise.
1. This Frenchman was one of the founders of the theory of
electricity.
2. He was a college dropout who conceived of his invention while
working in the Arctic.
3. He published a chemical magazine to support his invalid parents
when he was in high school, and went on to license his photocopying
technology to Xerox.
4. Born to slaves in Missouri and kidnapped by Confederates, he was
known as “The Plant Doctor” and later became head of the Department
of Agricultural Research at the Tuskegee Institute.
5. His mouse is more than 70 years old.
6. He sometimes gets credit for inventing the game of baseball, and
he fired the first shot in defense during the Civil War.
7. His partial deafness helped him concentrate better by being able
to block out noise, leading to an invention that helped brighten
people’s lives.
8. Conceived the idea of television at age 14.
9. This inventor named his heating process after Vulcan, the Roman
god of fire, and was $200,000 in debt when he died.
10. She co-founded Mattel before designing a doll which she named
for her daughter.
11. Prior to becoming our nation’s first patent commissioner, he
opposed the concept of granting patents because he considered them
to be an unfair monopoly.
12. He established a company to make corporate jets, was a
co-inventor of the world’s first car radio and was sole inventor of
the 8-track tape player. He was also born in the same hometown as
Mark Twain.
13. One of four famous brothers, he invented a clamping device which
was used to strap down the atomic bombs before they were dropped in
World War II.
14. The original version of his machine, which led him to start what
later became the International Harvester Company, was pulled by
horses.
15. Before he became known for the biblical phrase, “What hath God
wrought?” he was well-known for his paintings and was commissioned
to paint President James Monroe, Eli Whitney and his neighbor Noah
Webster.
16. This Canadian golfer invented the do-over in his sport.
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17. This Canadian minister created
basketball at a YMCA; his rules originally called for each team to
have nine players, including a goal keeper (yes, a goal keeper).
18. This “man of peace” invented dynamite.
19. He used coca leaves and the cola nut in his recipe for Coca
Cola.
20. His “cool” invention was first used in southern California long
before the NHL had a hockey team there.
Choose the correct answers from the following names. Each answer is
used only once.
Ruth Handler
Zeppo Marx
Philo Farnsworth
George Washington Carver
David Mulligan
Chester Carlson
Alfred Nobel
Nelson Doubleday
Thomas Jefferson
Clarence Birdseye
James Naismith
Thomas Edison
Samuel Morse
Walt Disney
Frank Zamboni
Charles Goodyear
André Marie Ampère
William Lear
Cyrus McCormick
Dr. Pemberton
ANSWERS: 1. Ampère, 2. Birdseye, 3. Carlson, 4. Carver, 5. Disney,
6. Doubleday, 7. Edison, 8. Farnsworth, 9. Goodyear, 10. Handler,
11. Jefferson, 12. Lear, 13. Marx, 14. McCormick, 15. Morse, 16.
Mulligan, 17. Naismith, 18. Nobel, 19. Pemberton, 20. Zamboni
You may have noticed a trend developing. The answers to each clue
are listed in alphabetical order, according to each inventor’s last
name.
Invention Mysteries wishes you a very Merry Christmas!
[Paul
Niemann]
Invention Mysteries is written each
week by Paul Niemann. He can be reached at
niemann7@inventionmysteries.com.
Copyright
Paul Niemann 2003
Last week's column in LDN:
"What kept these inventors from obtaining patents on their own?"
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