1. Ideas, Inspiring Minds & Breakthroughs
A quiz on the world of ideas, exploration, expression
and knowledge
For the Bombay Quiz Club
2. The Kekule
Six questions - C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6
Six connections – H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6
Answers to be written down
5 points for each answer
20 points bonus for getting all 12 answers.
C1
C6 H6 H1 C2
H5 H2
C5 H4 H3 C3
C4
3. C1
The idea of crossing Greenland
came upon this 21 year old when
he went on a zoological study
expedition in the Arctic waters on
board the Viking. Six years later,
in June 1888, he and five others
set off from the Icelandic port of
Isafjorour on board the Jason.
Name this explorer, who on
his return, would found the
Norwegian Geographical Society?
5. C2
The commission for this work
came in the „20s but he could
finish the 105 plates only by 1956.
This included visits to the Holy
Land, Amsterdam (to study
Rembrandt) and of course the
break because of WW2. The
original publisher had long died
and it was published by Edition
Teriade. Name the painter
who was called “one of 20th
century’s most important
graphic artists”.
7. H1
Fridtjof Nansen Marc
Chagall
Chagall, a Russian Jew, became
a stateless refugee, the
combined effect of the Tsarist
pogroms and the famine
following the revolution. He
was able to leave Russia for
France using a Nansen passport
for himself, his wife and
daughter.
8. C3
This is one stanza out of 389 in Stanza 2, Book 1 translated by AS
Kline, 2009
this work. The rhyming structure
used in iambic tetrameter form is Such our young dog’s meditation,
now generally called the As his horses plough the dust,
“_______ sonnet”, named after Inheriting, as sole relation,
the poet. Name the poet (who By the will of Zeus the Just.
Friends of Ruslan and Ludmila,
may well be the narrator here).
Here without an ounce of bother,
Meet my hero of romance,
Before you, let him now advance.
______ ______, born and raised
There beside the Neva’s shore,
Where you too were nourished or
Found your fame, perhaps amazed,
There I too strolled to and fro:
Though the North affects me so.
10. H2
Marc Chagall Pushkin
Chagall, who also did stage
design, worked with Leonid
Massine (New York Ballet
Theatre) on Aleko, based on
Pushkin’s The Gypsies with
music by Tchaikovskiy. Opened
in Mexico City in September
1942, 19 curtain calls including
numerous encores for Chagall
(audience included Rivera and
Orozco).
11. C4
The four volume History of the Life and Voyages of
Christopher Columbus written and published in 1828 was
possible when the American Consul in Madrid invited
this noted American story teller to peruse through
manuscripts and documents released by the Spanish
government for public access. One product of this work of
history was the myth that Medieval Europeans thought
that the world was flat. Name the author whose other
works of this Spanish period (1828-1831) include
Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada and The
Alhambra: Tales and Sketches of the Moors and the
Spaniards.
13. H3
Alexander Pushkin
Washington Irving
Pushkin’s last work, the fairy
tale in verse “The Tale of the
Golden Cockerel” is based on
two chapters from Irving’s
“Tales of the Alhambra” (full
name: The Alhambra: a series
of Tales and sketches of the
Moors and Spaniards)
14. C5
The 2009 book “Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of
_____ ______” by Peter Mancall, director of USC-
Huntington Early Modern Studies puts a new twist to the
400 year old mystery of _____ ______‟s
disappearance. June, 1611, according to those who came
back (and probably inaccurate given their locus standii in
the matter), the crew of the Discovery mutinied against
this explorer who wanted to head out looking for the
North West Passage. They had spent a harsh winter in the
bay (named after the explorer) and wanted to go home.
They cast him, his teenage son and few people loyal to
him on a boat. No one has heard from him since. Name
the explorer.
16. H4
Washington Irving Henry
Hudson
The Ghosts in Rip Van Winkle
are the ghosts of Henry Hudson
and his crew.
17. C6
The waterbody (masked) is
named in tribute to this Dutch
explorer who, on his third voyage
in 1596, perished in the cold in
the island of Nova Zembla.
Besides this waterbody, there is
also a protein (in the molecular
structure of a fruit fly) named
after him as are couple of Arctic
navigation ships, couple of
whaling ships and a Dutch
maritime institute. Name the
explorer.
20. H5
Henry Hudson William
Barentsz
The first two recorded attempts
at finding the North-East
Passage to Asia, both sponsored
by the Dutch – Hudson paid by
the Dutch East India Company in
1609, Barentsz by the Town
Council of Amsterdam in 1596.
Barentsz never returned.
Hudson however could proceed
only upto Norway and then
turned west.
21. H6
Wiilem Barentsz Fridtjof
Nansen
Farthest North. Barentsz is the
first recorded achievement of
the Farthest North, 79o 59’ on
15th June 1596. Nansen and
Johannsen reached 86o 14’ in
1895
Conquest of the North Pole has
rendered this achievement
obsolete. But that is another
story.
23. 1
This idea was first articulated by Aristotle in his seminal
philosophical work “Metaphysics”. John Stuart Mill also
built upon this foundational idea in his 1843 publication
“On the Composition of Causes”. It forms the basis for the
study of Emergence Theory (in Complexity Studies) in
which a large dynamic system has properties which are
born due to the inherent processes and workings of the
system and not just due to the properties of the elements
that make up the system. In 10 words, explain this
idea?
24. 1
“The Whole is Greater than the
Sum of its Parts.”
25. 2
These three pieces of music are <Audio removed>
examples of what 7-letter
term? - Star wars theme
- A _______ for the common
man (copeland)
- Wedding march from A
Midsummer’s Night Dream by
Mendelssohn
26. 2
Fanfare, a term to describe the
music (usually horns) played as
a mark of welcome /
announcement.
27. 3
In June 1988, two sedimentary rock geologists collected sand
samples from a particular location. On examining they came up
with the following composition: 78% detrital quartz, 9%
feldspar, 3% heavy minerals, 2% chert and other rock
fragments. This is common to most sand samples. However,
they found an unusual item making up 4% of the sand – To
quote from their article in the Earth Magazine:
A thin section of the sand revealed a large number of
angular opaque grains that were magnetic. Shard-like,
they were only slightly rounded. Some were well-
laminated. These grains were also associated with small
spherical beads of iron and glass. At first, we were
uncertain of what we were looking at. However, in a few
days, we concluded that the metal and glass particles were
human-made
Where was the sand sample taken from?
28. 3
Omaha Beach, Normandy.
The iron will remain for
thousands of years; the other
elements of the shrapnel are
likely to be eroded sooner.
29. 4
In Hawaiian mythology, Pele, the goddess of fire, is
chased by Namaka-o-kahai, the goddess of the sea. Even
though they are sisters, Namaka fears that Pele‟s
ambition will smother the homeland. As a result, Pele
leaves and after stopping at various islands builds her
home. This story triggered J Tuzo Wilson, a Canadian
geologist, to take up a particular study, the result of which
gave birth to a new science. What was the study and
what new science was born out of it?
30. 4
Studying the different ages of
the volcanoes of Hawaii, Tuzo
Wilson hypothesized that there
was a tectonic plate under
Hawaii which kept moving in a
north-westerly direction over a
fixed hotspot.
Once it was proved, this gave
rise to the science of plate
tectonics which is now used to
explain phenomena like
earthquakes as well as
volcanoes like Krakatoa.
31. 5
In 2007, three former lab colleagues sat down to discuss a
new experiment – a set of treatments based on a 1973
discovery on the same person who discovered it and was
now diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Besides
conventional chemotherapy, 8 different treatments were
tried, each one of them approved by FDA on a single-
patient compassionate-use protocol. The patient survived
4 years. “It was the ultimate experience in personalised
medicine” said one of the many collaborators who came
in to help their friend. Name the patient and the
discovery that was used for the treatments.
32. 5
Ralph Steinman trying out
vaccines made out of dendritic
cells.
33. 6
In 1861, Lincoln offered a particular gentleman “the
distinguished Soldier of Freedom” a commission to lead
the Union Army in the Civil War. Lincoln figured that if
this person (54 years old and suffering from rheumatoid
arthritis) joined, all the European immigrants in the US
would join the Union Army. This gentleman, while
professing his appreciation for the gesture, asked a
question which Lincoln could not answer. The gentleman
turned down the offer because without the answer he was
looking for, the war was just another internal conflict of
no interest to anyone. Who and what was the
unanswerable question?
34. 6
Guiseppe Garibaldi who asked
“Tell me,” he asked pointedly, “if
this agitation is regarding the
emancipation of the Negroes or
not.”
“Could slavery not be
abolished?” he asked Sanford. If
it was not being fought to
emancipate the slaves, he told
Sanford, “the war would appear
to be like any civil war in which
the world at large could have
little interest or sympathy.”
35. 7
Released in 1970 in his debut <Audio Removed>
album, this song is listed as one of
the 20 most powerful protest
songs of all time by the New
Statesman. The singer, who called
himself a “bluesologist” was
famously described as “the black
man’s CNN” for his use of
references to contemporary
events and issues. Name the
singer.
36. 7
Gil Scott-Heron, “The
Revolution Will Not Be
Televised” released in the
album “Small Talk at 125th and
Lenox”
37. 8
2000+ years before Darwin, this
philosopher of Milesian school
(depicted in this Raphael
painting) hypothesised that
human beings evolved from
organisms in water. His basis for
this hypothesis was just observing
a few fossils. For modern
scientists, this was an illustration
of the “Greek Miracle” –
explaining the nature of the world
using material principles (and not
myth or religion). Name.
Larger Picture Next Slide
39. 8
Anaximander of Miletus,
considered the second Greek
philosopher, student of Thales
(who was the first known Greek
philosopher)
40. 9
One morning, June this year, the
residents of the capital woke up to
see this pop-art vandalism of this
monument. Joe Parkinson of WSJ
says:
“Defiling statues
commemorating the 1944
______ “_________" of
________ is part of an
increasingly bizarre effort to
define communism's legacy”
What was the monument and
where is this?
42. 9
Sofia, Bulgaria – Monument to
the Soviet Army (Soviet
liberation of Bulgaria in 1944)
43. 10
An Internet discovery recently said that if you click on the
first link of an article in Wikipedia and keep following you
will reach Philosophy. Nice but not necessarily
pathbreaking. In 1926, writing in the introduction to this
book, the author said “Science begins with philosophy
and ends as art. It arises in hypothesis and flows into
achievement.” This book started out as little pamphlets
meant for workers to understand philosophy and was so
popular that Simon & Schuster brought out a hardcover
edition. Name the author and the book.
45. 11
The modern meaning of this word is largely influenced by
Plato‟s condemnation of this group of itinerant
intellectuals who, through a method of rhetoric
questioning and for a price, would teach virtue or
excellence to the public. Plato dismissed them as greedy
people using rhetorical subterfuge and wordplay to
deceive or support fallacious arguments. The word
originates from the Greek for a “wise-ist” or “someone
with wisdom”. What word?
47. 12
This is the verse 10.121 from the <Audio removed – chants from
Rg Veda. It starts with a word Bharat Ek Khoj>
referring to the state before the
Universe was created. This word
is usually not translated. What is
the Sanskrit word (features in
the first line but not included in
the clip for obvious reasons)?
50. 13
Linear, Colour and Disappearance– these are the three
types that this person wrote down in his notebooks. He
first wrote it in 1490 and about 20 years later revised it:
diminution in the size of opaque objects, diminution and
loss of outline of opaque objects and third, diminution
and loss of colour at long distances. The first one is
caused by the structure of the eyes, the last two by the
atmosphere which intervenes between the eyes and the
objects. Who is the writer and what is the subject
of discussion?
51. 13
Leonardo Da Vinci on
Perspective (The Notebooks of
Leonardo Da Vinci)
52. 14
On to my favourite historian. This person, in the Introduction
to a set of essays called “Myth & Reality: studies in the
Formation of Indian Culture” (1962) writes:
These essays have one feature in common, namely that they are
based upon the collation of field-work with literary evidence.
Indian critics whose patriotism outstrips their grasp of reality
are sure to express annoyance or derision at the misplaced
emphasis. Why should anyone ignore the beautiful lily of Indian
philosophy in order to concentrate upon the dismal swamp of
popular superstition ? That is precisely the point. Anyone with
aesthetic sense can enjoy the beauty of the lily; it takes a
considerable scientific effort to discover the physiological process
whereby the lily grew out of the mud and filth.
Who?
54. 15
Originally written in 1871 in <Audio removed – something by
French, this song you hear (a Pete Seeger
modern version) was the national
anthem of this country between
1922-1944. There is also a Bengali
and Malayalam version. Name
the song and the country
whose national anthem it
was.
55. 15
The Internationale; Soviet
Union
Written by Eugene Pottier for
the Paris Commune of 1871 and
put to music by Pierre de
Geyter, 1888
56. 16
In the 1878 publication “Lectures on the Origin and
Growth of Religion: As Illustrated by the Religions of
India”, the author, after studying the hymns of Rig Veda
to different gods, coined this term which means “one God
at a time”. Differing from monetheism and polytheism,
this word or concept refers to “a belief in single gods ,
each in turn standing out as the highest”. What it means
is that given the circumstances, one god becomes
supreme over the others. Name the author and the
word / concept he coined?
58. 17
The poem “And did those feet in ancient time” was
essentially a preface to a larger work by the same poet.
The most common interpretation is a heaven created in
England in contrast to the “dark Satanic mills” of the
early Industrial Revolution. In World War 1, it was set to
music and used as a morale booster for England. How
does one know this poem/song?
59. 17
Jerusalem (William Blake); put
to music by Sir Hubert Parry for
a demonstration in London in
1916 and later for the
Suffragate movement in 1917.
60. 18
This scene underlines a key <Video removed – scene from
philosophical concept that was The Matrix>
also used by HP Lovecraft in his
1918 short story Polaris and was
illustrated by a Chinese guy c 4th
century BC. What concept?
61. 18
Zhuangxi’s Butterfly Dream
“Am I a man who dreamt of
being a butterfly or a butterfly
who is now dreaming of being a
man”
This concept is the basis of HP
Lovecraft’s story Polaris.
62. 19
The question is obvious, connect. To answer, you may need
to provide some socio-cultural history as well as a two-
word key phrase
<Video removed – young men <audio removed – a paul simon
dancing on the streets of cape song>
town>
63. 19
Gumboot Dance; started as a
form of communication amongst
black miners who were stripped
of their traditional clothing and
not allowed to speak with each
other (to avoid any chances of
forming any hostile
communities – hostile for the
white mine owners that is)
Paul Simon named his song
“Gumboots” as it uses the same
rhythm (though the lyrics have
nothing to do with SA)
64. 20
In Lectures on the Philosophy of World History (1821 –
1831), this German philosopher presents world history as
a progression through reason and coined a word to refer
to the spirit of the people in the form of culture which is
constantly reworking to keep up with social change.
A French sociologist in his publications between 1893 –
1912 referred to the beliefs of all the members of a society
aggregate together into a whole which has its own life and
expression.
Give both the terms, quite commonly used in modern
internet pop sociology / philosophy.
65. 21
“Zeitgeist” (Hegel) and
“Collective Consciousness”
(Emile Durkheim)
66. 22
There is phenomenon or experiences that are physically
manifested and observed. There is noumenon, experiences
which are thought of or felt. In philosophy, the latter has
generally been considered as not possible. However, in 1781,
through this seminal book, this philosopher plays on the inter-
relation of the two terms to explain human understanding –
how human beings make sense of raw unstructured
experiences. There are limitations to the human mind which is
unable to fathom that which cannot be observed. So knowledge
therefore is a representation of unknown somethings manifest
in the noumenon. He calls this unknown something the “thing
in itself”. Who and which publication which effectively has
divided philosophical inquiry into pre-X and post-X?
69. 23
Norman Rockwell’s Southern
Justice (Murders in Mississippi)
and Simon & Garfunkel’s He
Was My Brother are based on
the triple murder of civil rights
activists by the KKK in
Mississippi in 1964. One of
them, Andrew Goodman was
with Paul Simon in college in
New York.
70. 24
This concept, proposed in the
1930‟s, has been used in legal
cases to differentiate between
genuine science and non-sciences.
The person responsible for this
concept was commenting on the
scientific method and the use of
hypothesis, theories and
propositions. In terms of applying
it in real life, it means making
assertions in such a way that
feasible experiments can be made
to prove or disprove them.
Who was this person and
why do we have a picture of
these water birds?
71. 24
Falsifiability Criterion (The
Black Swan Problem) as
proposed by Karl Popper
72. 25
One, there is an anachronism in
this panel. What is that
anachronism?
74. 24
The Latin phrase “Vanitas
Vanitatum et omnia vanitas” is
from the Vulgate, the Latin
Bible, Ecclesiastes 1:2
(published after Christ).
It means, vanity of vanities, all
is vanity / Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.
75. 25
Who and where? The concept of natural selection (in
evolution) came to him as he was lying in bed stricken
with fever on an island.
The _____ ___________, the land of the
orangutan, and the bird of paradise – A narrative of
travel with sketches of man and nature
To Charles Darwin, Author of “The Origin of Species”
I dedicate this book, not only as a token of personal
esteem and friendship but also to express my deep
admiration for his genius and his works.
76. 25
Alfred Russel Wallace, The
Malay Archipelago (two
volumes where he also drew
the Wallace Line)
Wallace would correspond with
Darwin and through him get his
papers and essays published.
This gave the impression that
Wallace was simply an input for
Darwin. Though in reality, much
of Darwin’s stuff was originally
proposed (and proved through
field observations) by Wallace.
77. 26
A time will come in later years when the Ocean will
unloose the bands of things, when the immeasurable
earth will lie open, when seafarers will discover new
countries, and Thule will no longer be the extreme
point among the lands.
This quotation appears as the opener for two books –
Farthest North, Nansen‟s chronicles of his expedition to
the North Pole and The Tales and Voyages of
Christopher Columbus by Washington Irving. The author
of this quote, a Stoic Roman, was one of Nero‟s teachers
and his writings are collected under the title
Consolations. Who?
78. 26
Seneca the Younger from his
tragedy Medea (based on
Euripides’ Medea)
79. 27
In a set of three lectures made in 1963 at the University of
Washington, this Nobel laureate spoke on the broad theme of
science and society. He made a reference to the US
Constitution.
'The Government of the United States was developed under
the idea that nobody knew how to make a government, or
how to govern. The result is to invent a system to govern
when you don't know how.
He said science requires total freedom and said that USSR,
where freedom of ideas was restricted, was doing nothing. In
1999, these lectures were published with a fairly profound title.
NYT called it “a call for the philosophy of ignorance”. Name
the Nobel laureate and the title of the book?
80. 27
Richard Feynman, The Meaning
of it All, Thoughts of a Citizen
Scientist.
81. 28
These three pieces from popular <Video Removed – The
culture have one theme in Darjeeling Limited>
common. What? (clue: it has
been mentioned in this quiz <Audio Removed – Anjan Datta’s
already) Mala>
82. 28
Vanitas or Emptiness /
meaninglessnes (spiritual
emptiness)
83. 29
This work is written in the style of a geometric treatise.
An avid reader of Descartes and seeing the resurgence of
the geometric method in popular usage, it is believed that
the author may have decided to use this form. In any
case, it is an enormous effort – each part of the work
containing definitions, axioms, propositions, scholia, etc.
(similar to Euclid‟s Elements). It is also an enormous
effort to read. It was never published in the author‟s
lifetime as the object of the book – achieving happiness
through the intellectual love of God – was considered too
sensitive . Who and what work?
84. 29
Spinoza’s Ethics (Ethica Ordine
Geometrico Demonstrata)
85. 30
Last question. This is a line that I have used as my mail
sign many times before
“The Universe is Change and Life Mere Opinion”
It represents the Stoic school and is written by one of the
most famous members of the school . His writings,
collected together under the title “Meditations” are
referenced in Steinebeck‟s East of Eden. Who is this
person whom you will also find if you research the
history of the Roman Empire?
86. 30
Marcus Aurelius, one of the five
Good Emperors
