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General knowledge · 12 questions
Who Invented That?
Credit where it is due: match documented breakthroughs to the people behind them.
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Question 1 of 12
Who patented a practical dishwashing machine in 1886?
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- 1. Who patented a practical dishwashing machine in 1886?
- A. Marion Donovan
- B. Mary Anderson
- C. Josephine Garis Cochran (answer)
- D. Margaret Knight
Cochran developed and commercialised a practical dishwasher, with mechanical assistance from George Butters. - 2. Whose 1903 patent described a driver-operated windscreen-cleaning device?
- A. Josephine Garis Cochran
- B. Mary Anderson (answer)
- C. Florence Lawrence
- D. Charlotte Bridgwood
Anderson designed a lever-operated arm and rubber blade for clearing a vehicle windscreen. - 3. Whose polymer research produced the breakthrough behind Kevlar?
- A. Stephanie Kwolek (answer)
- B. Katharine Blodgett
- C. Ruth Benerito
- D. Edith Flanigen
Kwolek studied liquid-crystalline polymers, leading to the high-strength para-aramid fibre. - 4. Who developed the synthetic resin Bakelite?
- A. Charles Goodyear
- B. Alexander Parkes
- C. Wallace Carothers
- D. Leo Baekeland (answer)
Baekeland synthesised Bakelite, used in electrical insulation and many moulded products. - 5. Who invented the laserphaco device and technique for cataract removal?
- A. Gertrude Elion
- B. Rosalyn Yalow
- C. Patricia Bath (answer)
- D. Gerty Cori
Bath developed laserphaco and received her first US patent for it in 1988. - 6. Who invented the waterproof nappy cover called the Boater?
- A. Josephine Garis Cochran
- B. Marion Donovan (answer)
- C. Bette Nesmith Graham
- D. Mary Kenner
Donovan used snap fasteners and waterproof material. This is not a claim that she invented every disposable nappy. - 7. Who invented the Super Soaker water blaster?
- A. Lonnie Johnson (answer)
- B. Ralph Baer
- C. George Parker
- D. Marvin Glass
Johnson developed the compressed-air water blaster that became the Super Soaker. - 8. Who co-invented the electret microphone with Gerhard Sessler?
- A. Ray Dolby
- B. Edwin Armstrong
- C. Amar Bose
- D. James West (answer)
West and Sessler developed the compact electret microphone at Bell Labs. - 9. Who invented a computer-controlled telephone switching system to manage call traffic?
- A. Grace Hopper
- B. Radia Perlman
- C. Erna Schneider Hoover (answer)
- D. Sophie Wilson
Hoover developed stored-program control that helped telephone exchanges handle heavy demand. - 10. Whose computer-mouse patent grew out of the NLS interactive-computing project?
- A. J. C. R. Licklider
- B. Douglas Engelbart (answer)
- C. Alan Kay
- D. Ivan Sutherland
Engelbart developed the mouse concept within NLS. His colleagues contributed to the working hardware. - 11. Whose Brown Box project became the basis of the Magnavox Odyssey?
- A. Ralph Baer (answer)
- B. Nolan Bushnell
- C. Gunpei Yokoi
- D. Jerry Lawson
Baer developed the home-console project licensed to Magnavox, which released the Odyssey in 1972. - 12. Who developed the successful mobile refrigeration system associated with Thermo King?
- A. Clarence Birdseye
- B. John Gorrie
- C. Willis Carrier
- D. Frederick McKinley Jones (answer)
Jones developed mobile refrigeration technology that greatly improved transport of perishable goods.
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