Challenge
Try our science quiz. It’s just ten questions.
Which came first
Decide which of the following events came first to test your knowledge of scientific progress.
Hint
In each question, the two events compared are always at least one decade apart – usually more.
Answers:
Come after the images below each question.
Assessment:
Check what your score means at the bottom of the page. Are you an Einstein, or… ?
Which Came First?
1. The discovery of the first Neanderthal skull or the discovery of the Rosetta Stone?
Answer 1
2. The discovery of infrared radiation or the first use of rabies vaccine?
Answer 2
3. The discovery of irrational numbers or the first use of negative numbers?
Answer 3
4. The discovery and isolation of the hormone insulin or the discovery of radioactivity?
Answer 4
5. The discovery of hydrogen’s isotope deuterium or the invention of radiocarbon dating?
Answer 5
6. The invention of the Richter Scale for earthquake measurement or the discovery of the electron?
Answer 6
7. The invention of group theory in mathematics or the invention of dynamite?
Answer 7
8. The discovery of new forms of life at deep-sea vents or Moore’s Law of silicon chip processing power doubling every two years?
Answer 8
9. The invention of the mercury thermometer or the discovery of the planet Uranus?
Answer 9
10. The Goldbach Conjecture or the invention of the electric battery?
Answer 10
Your Score?
10 out of 10. When it comes to the history of science, you are an Einstein.
8 or 9 out of 10. Not quite Einstein, but enough for a Nobel Prize.
7 out of 10. No prizes, but definitely a professor in the making.
5 or 6 out of 10. A little more effort, and you’ll be up there with the best of them.
4 or less. Ooops. Guessing the answers at random will usually give a better result than this!
He he – i’m a Nobel prize winner. 🙂
Would never have thought infrared came before the rabies vaccine… that was the only one I got wrong.
Einstein. I wasn’t quite sure about the infrared and rabies vaccine question, but I went with what I believed a little more, the infrared.
Electric batteries ~3000 yrs old have been found in Egypt, so I consider your answer to that (last) question incorrect which brings my score to 10.
Thanks Brad, ancient batteries are at best highly controversial. The most famous and well researched are the Baghdad ‘Batteries’ from Mesopotamia, and it’s fair to say that most scientists simply do not believe they are batteries. So we may have to agree to disagree about your score. 😎
thanks because I learn more things from the information of the scientists.
I first read about these batteries when I was 10 in Chariots of the Gods. I believed at the time but I’m a lot older now and I don’t any more.