Famous Discoverie
Who discovered penicillin?
Alexander Fleming.
What was the name of the Mars orbiter that failed because of a mix-up between metric and imperial measurement systems?
Mars Climate Orbiter.
What is the most abundant protein in the human body?
Collagen.
Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?
Marie Curie (Physics, 1903).
What does the acronym "IRB" stand for in research ethics?
nstitutional Review Board.
What is the name of the AI in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey?
HAL 9000.
Which company developed the first commercially successful PCR machine?
PerkinElmer (later Roche acquired the technology).
What was the groundbreaking discovery of Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray diffraction work?
The double helix structure of DNA.
In the 19th century, it was believed that disease was spread through “bad air.” What was this theory called?
Miasma theory.
Which element is used in most lightbulbs because of its high melting point?
Tungsten.
Which Nobel Prize category has never been awarded to a woman?
Economics.
What is the standard statistical significance level (p-value) commonly used in research?
0.05.
In the TV show Breaking Bad, Walter White was a former teacher of what subject?
Chemistry.
CRISPR technology was adapted from which type of organism’s immune system?
Bacteria.
Which physicist proposed the theory of relativity?
Albert Einstein.
Which 19th-century scientist incorrectly proposed that the atom was a solid sphere with electrons embedded in it, often called the "plum pudding" model?
J.J. Thomson.
How many degrees Celsius does water boil at sea level?
100°C.
In which year was the first Nobel Prize awarded?
1901.
What does "H-index" measure in academia?
An author’s productivity and citation impact.
In the Jurassic Park movies, which insect preserved in amber provides the dinosaur DNA?
A mosquito.
What is the name of the first artificial satellite launched into space?
Sputnik 1.
Who developed the polio vaccine in 1955?
Jonas Salk.
Which spacecraft exploded 73 seconds after launch due to faulty O-ring seals?
The Space Shuttle Challenger.
What element is named after the creator of the periodic table?
Mendelevium.
Who is the only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes?
Linus Pauling (Chemistry and Peace).
What is the term for a review article summarizing multiple research studies on a specific topic?
A meta-analysis.
What popular sci-fi franchise features the phrase “Live long and prosper”?
Star Trek.
What is the name of the algorithm that powers most modern machine learning applications?
Gradient descent.
What element did Marie Curie discover along with her husband Pierre?
Radium (and Polonium)
What famous 20th-century “scientific” concept falsely claimed that intelligence was hereditary and led to eugenics policies?
Scientific racism or eugenics.
What is the pH of pure water at room temperature?
7.
Which Nobel Prize category was Alfred Nobel's own field of expertise?
Chemistry.
In research ethics, what principle emphasizes that participants must voluntarily agree to take part in a study?
Informed consent.
What chemical formula does Walter White famously write in Breaking Bad?
C10H15N (Methamphetamine).
What year was the Human Genome Project completed?
2003.
Who is credited with the discovery of the first antibiotic, Prontosil?
Gerhard Domagk.
What scientific hoax claimed to have discovered a “missing link” between apes and humans but was exposed as a fraud in 1953?
Piltdown Man.
What is the speed of light in a vacuum (in meters per second)?
Approximately 3×10^8 m/s.
Who was the youngest person ever to receive a Nobel Prize?
Malala Yousafzai (Peace Prize, 2014, at age 17).
What statistical test is commonly used to compare means between two groups?
The t-test.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which scientist is credited with creating the arc reactor that powers Iron Man’s suit?
Howard Stark (later refined by Tony Stark)
What does the acronym LASER stand for?
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.