Basic Quizbowl Literature
This former Knoxville resident is most famous for his novels Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-5.
Who is Kurt Vonnegut?
Nate once asked if this country, whose revolutionaries included Michael Collins along with other members of the IRA, "Really needed to be independent anyways?"
What is Ireland?
Organic chemistry focuses on compounds containing this element with atomic number six.
What is Carbon?
This composer, famous for his Jupiter symphony, probably didn't actually live long enough to face Skrillex in a rap battle.
Who is Mozart?
Though not the time derivate of work, this term defines the act of buzzing in and earning fifteen points on a tossup question.
What is power?
Alan Paton, one author from this country, described the murder of Arthur Jarvis in his novel Cry, the Beloved Country.
What is South Africa?
Nate Muncy has made various comments supporting this woman, the first female Prime Minister of the U.K.
Who is Margaret Thatcher?
This scientist, who names a process used to treat milk, also created one of the first rabies vaccines.
Who is Louis Pasteur? [accept Pasteurization]
The Toreador Song, from this Georges Bizet opera, was prominently featured in a 2014 video game and survives today with many other mentions in popular culture.
What is Carmen?
This term, often used scornfully, describes when a player buzzes in the middle of the tossup after the other team has negged.
Charles Baudelaire used this language for his collection The Flowers of Evil, originally titled Les Fleurs du Mal.
What is French?
One of Nate's favorite historical figures, Queen Elizabeth II, celebrated this event in 2012 marking her sixty-year reign.
What is the Diamond Jubilee?
This man, who names a law of induction, also created a namesake "cage" made of conductive materials.
Who is Michael Faraday?
This instrument, played by Glen Gould, had its "stride style" pioneered by Art Tatum.
What is the piano?
While not related to water diffusion, this process refers to the improvement of quizbowl players by simply playing more without actual studying.
What is osmosis?
If you're Samuel Beckett, you might perform this action "for Godot," which C.P. Cavafy also did "for the Barbarians."
What is Waiting?
This monarch, who was raised under the Kensington System, is another favorite of Nate Muncy's
Who is Queen Victoria?
Albert Einstein called this constant he proposed the "biggest blunder" in his efforts to explain the expansions of the cosmos.
What is the cosmological constant?
The author of the SCUM Manifesto, Valerie Solanas, attempted to assassinate this artist in 1968.
Who is Andy Warhol?
This term, which now broadly describes cheating in quizbowl matches, gained much of its popularity after University School of Nashville Coach Eric Mukherjee admitted to it in 2020.
What is Biking?
Who is Robert Penn Warren?
One of Nate's rivals, Nikhil Chatra, spoke out against this man who served as the final Viceroy of India and was killed by a bomb planted aboard a fishing boat in 1979.
Who is Lord Mountbatten?
This American scientist is most well-known for discovering transposons while studying in New York.
This artist's The Charge of the Mamelukes was set a single day in the month of May before his other, more famous painting.
Who is Francisco Goya?
This seldom-used term, named for a fast food restaurant, describes useless clues in a quizbowl question.
What is Taco Bell soap?