Physics
What force pulls objects toward each other and keeps planets in orbit?
Gravity
Which planet in our solar system is famous for its large and visible ring system?
Saturn
Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in physics?
Marie Curie
In The Big Bang Theory, what is the name of the physicist protagonist?
Sheldon Cooper
Which astronomer proposed the heliocentric model where Earth revolves around the Sun?
Nicolaus Copernicus
What phenomenon explains why a moving ambulance's siren changes pitch as it moves further or closer to you?
Doppler Effect
What's the term for the boundary around a black hole beyond which nothing can escape?
Event Horizon
Which astronomer is the first woman to have a national observatory named after her? (Hint: the observatory's operations started late 2025)
Vera Rubin
In Star Wars, what mysterious energy field binds the galaxy together?
The Force™️
What year was Pluto demoted to dwarf planet status?
2006
What principle states that it is impossible to know both the exact position and momentum of a particle at the same time?
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
What's the name of the region in a star where nuclear fusion occurs?
The Core
Which astrophysicist discovered the first pulsar as a graduate student in 1967?
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
In Doctor Who, what fictional device allows time and space travel? (300 extra points for the full name)
The TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space)
Which astronomer developed the three laws that describe planetary motion?
Johannes Kepler
Why do clocks run slower in stronger gravitational fields?
Because of Gravitational time dilation.
Massive objects curve spacetime, so time passes more slowly closer to a stronger gravitational source.
What's the name of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way?
Sagittarius A
Who was the first woman in space?
Valentina Tereshkova
In Interstellar, what allows humans to travel between distant parts of the universe?
Wormholes
What was the name of the first artificial satellite launched into space in 1957?
Sputnik I
Which principle explains why identical fermion particles cannot occupy the same quantum state?
What's the name of the radiation left over from the early universe, also called the “afterglow” of the Big Bang?
Cosmic Microwave Background radiation
Which mathematician formed the theorem that proved that every symmetry in physics corresponds to a conservation law?
Emmy Noether (and the theorem is named Noether's theorem) !
Which Marvel superhero is a nuclear physicist and an expert on gamma radiation?
The Hulk (Bruce Banner)
What was the name of the first human spaceflight mission?
Vostok I