Obscure History
This empire, once centered in Timbuktu, was a center for Islamic scholarship in the 14th century.
What is the Mali Empire?
In French, this word means “hello” or “good day
What is bonjour?
This artist is known for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Who is Michelangelo?
This Irish author’s “Ulysses” mirrors Homer’s epic but takes place all in one day.
Who is James Joyce?
This term refers to the smallest unit of an element that retains its chemical properties.
What is an atom?
The Cadaver Synod of 897 put this pope on trial... posthumously.
Who is Pope Formosus?
The Spanish phrase “estar en las nubes” literally means this, but figuratively implies daydreaming.
What is "to be in the clouds"?
The flying buttress is most associated with this architectural style.
What is Gothic architecture?
"Pale Fire," a novel structured as a poem with commentary, was written by this Russian-American author.
Who is Vladimir Nabokov?
This type of bond involves the sharing of electron pairs between atoms.
What is a covalent bond?
The Taiping Rebellion, one of history’s deadliest conflicts, was led by a man who claimed to be this religious figure's brother.
Who is Jesus Christ?
In Japanese, this concept of “imperfect beauty” is often represented by asymmetry and natural aging.
What is wabi-sabi?
This Dutch painter’s work was unknown during his lifetime but is now considered foundational to modern art.
Who is Vincent van Gogh?
This dense postmodern novel by William Gaddis satirizes legal bureaucracy through endless dialogue.
What is A Frolic of His Own?
This term describes a system that does not exchange matter or energy with its surroundings.
What is an isolated system?
This short-lived revolutionary state in Bavaria (1919) had a poet as its foreign minister.
What is the Bavarian Soviet Republic?
In German, this long word means “taking pleasure in another’s misfortune.”
What is Schadenfreude?
The Bauhaus school, which revolutionized design, was founded in this country in 1919.
What is Germany?
“The Book of Disquiet,” an existential diary of sorts, is attributed to this Portuguese writer’s heteronym.
Who is Fernando Pessoa (writing as Bernardo Soares)?
The "eigenvalue" appears frequently in this branch of mathematics crucial to quantum mechanics.
What is linear algebra?
This term describes the process where an unstable atomic nucleus emits particles to reach a more stable state.
What is radioactive decay?
This Arabic word for “nostalgic longing for home” is also untranslatable in its full cultural context.
What is gharīb or possibly hiraeth (if from Welsh, for contrast)?
This architect designed the modular, Utopian city of Chandigarh in India.
Who is Le Corbusier?
This enigmatic, unfinished novel by Robert Musil spans thousands of pages and is set in the twilight of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
What is The Man Without Qualities?
This term describes the process where an unstable atomic nucleus emits particles to reach a more stable state.
What is radioactive decay?