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Scientists

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#AnswerCountSample Clue
1 Sir Isaac Newton 18 ( I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson.) One of my heroes is unquestionably this 17th century man who at various times in his life was a member of Parliament, Ward...
2 Louis Pasteur 17 The process named for him exposes food (like yogurt) to an elevated temperature to destroy some microorganisms
3 Marie Curie 15 Her book "Radioactivite" was published posthumously in 1935
4 Charles Darwin 10 In 1859 a theory was born when he wrote, "from so simple a beginning endless forms... have been, and are being, evolved"
5 Luther Burbank 9 In 1926 this botanist was buried under a cedar tree in the yard of his Santa Rosa, California home
6 Niels Bohr 9 The dad of this physicist was professor of physiology at the U. of Copenhagen & his bro, a big-time mathematician
7 Edmond Halley 9 This English astronomer died on Jan. 14, 1742 at age 85; that's 9 years longer than than we might have expected
8 Carolus Linnaeus 9 This Swedish botanist coined the term Homo sapiens to classify humans
9 Albert Einstein 8 He changed the world through physics: LENT INEBRIATES
10 Galileo 7 In 1609 he presented his eight-powered telescope to the Venetian Senate; he got life tenure & doubled his salary
11 Nicolaus Copernicus 7 I look at the world & I notice it's turning—thanks to this man who studied at the University of Krakow in the 1490s
12 Gregor Mendel 7 Scientists in Brno dug up the remains of this local hero around the bicentennial of his birth & analyzed his genetic code
13 mercury 6 It was Gabriel Fahrenheit who substituted this for alcohol in the thermometer
14 Kelvin 6 Known for the second law of thermodynamics, this lord helped with the laying of the transatlantic cable
15 DNA 6 Alec Jeffreys won for his 1984 discovery of fingerprinting of this genetic material
16 Tycho Brahe 5 Uranienborg & Stjerneborg were this Danish astronomer's observatories on the island of Ven
17 Robert Goddard 5 In 1920, the New York Times said he lacks the “knowledge ladled out daily in high schools”; on July 17, 1969, the paper apologized
18 George Washington Carver 5 Well, that's just nuts: AVERAGE CHOWING STRONGER
19 Heisenberg 5 His uncertainty principle says a particle's position & momentum can't be known simultaneously
20 Stephen Hawking 5 Lucasian Prof. of Mathematics at Cambridge, he was born on January 8, 1942, 300 years to the day after Galileo's death
21 Pavlov 5 In 1890 he became professor of physiology at the Imperial Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia
22 Johannes Kepler 5 Best known for his theories about planetary orbits, in 1604 he became the first to explain how eyeglasses correct vision
23 Ptolemy 4 ( Kelly of the Clue Crew indicates a diagram of the solar system on the monitor.) The sun revolves around the Earth in the model of the universe by th...
24 oxygen 4 Proving air is a composite substance, 1772 winner Joseph Priestley discovered the gases nitrogen, ammonia & this one he called "pure air"
25 Los Alamos 4 ( Emily Blunt presents the clue.) Arguing that the far-flung Manhattan Project needed a central facility, Oppenheimer helped choose an isolated New Me...
26 Linus Pauling 4 This American chemist is the only person to have won 2 unshared Nobel prizes
27 hydrogen 4 While studying the Solar Spectrum, Angstrom found this element in the sun's atmosphere
28 Tesla 4 After this coil inventor moved to America, he worked briefly with another genius⁠—Thomas Edison
29 a telescope 4 Around 1668 Isaac Newton built the first reflecting one of these
30 Blaise Pascal 4 This 17th c. French scientist's law states that a fluid in a container transmits pressure equally in all directions
31 Jane Goodall 4 This British woman discovered that chimpanzees are not vegetarian but omnivorous
32 Roentgen 3 Last name of the man who took the image seen here in the 1890s
33 nitroglycerin 3 Early in his career, a factory Alfred had built to produce this liquid explosive blew up, killing his brother Emil
34 Max Planck 3 The first major physicist to support Albert's ideas, this quantum theory originator was a constant support
35 Marconi 3 Hertz was the 1st to send & receive radio waves; this Italian devised a practical means for communicating via those waves
36 malaria 3 Sir Ronald Ross won the award for discovering how this disease is transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito
37 light 3 Einstein's theory that this travels in a stream of particles led to the "electric eye"
38 Joseph Priestley 3 In 1774 this British chemist discovered a gas he called "dephlogisticated air", what we now call oxygen
39 Israel 3 In 1952 Einstein was offered & turned down the presidency of this country
40 Fleming 3 This bacteriologist was knighted in 1944 for his discovery of penicillin
41 Fahrenheit 3 Ran hot & cold: FINE HEARTH
42 Enrico Fermi 3 In 1942 at the University of Chicago, Leo Szilard helped this Italian create the first nuclear reactor
43 electricity 3 Galvani said he'd found a new type of this restricted to animal tissue; Volta proved it's the same type that goes through metal
44 Archimedes 3 Discovery can happen anywhere; legend says he was in the bath c. 260 B.C. when had that famous "Eureka!" epiphany
45 Wernher von Braun 3 Born in Germany in 1912, he co-developed the V-2 rocket against the Allies but became a U.S. citizen in 1955
46 the Moon 3 Its cycle includes crescent, full, new & quarter phases
47 Oppenheimer 3 From 1947 to 1952 he was chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission
48 Andrei Sakharov 3 Called father of the Soviet H-bomb, he's a hero in the West but not in Russia
49 (Robert) Bunsen 3 In 1834 one of the projects this German had on the back burner was finding an antidote for arsenic poisoning
50 (Rachel) Carson 3 1929: Bachelor's in bio from Penn. College for Women; 1962: published "Silent Spring", first serialized in The New Yorker

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68 Worth Knowing

Must-Know Answers

These appear 8+ times. Memorize these first.

Sir Isaac Newton 18 Louis Pasteur 17 Marie Curie 15 Niels Bohr 10 Charles Darwin 10 Edmond Halley 10 Luther Burbank 9 Carolus Linnaeus 9 Albert Einstein 8

Answers by Category

Jump to: Chemistry / Elements | Astronomy / Space | Biology / Animals | Other | Math / Physics | Earth Science | Medicine / Health

Chemistry / Elements

46 answers | 190 clues
Must-Know (5)
Louis Pasteur 17x 12.5% stumper $825 avg J:3 DJ:13 FJ:1
J $200 2018 On Dec. 27, 1822 this Frenchman was born to show the world that microorganisms cause fermentation
J $800 2024 This Frenchman was practicing medicine without a license when he tried out his rabies vaccine on a boy in 1885
DJ $1,200 2023 Mais oui & merci, this man seen here sheepishly came up with an anthrax vaccine in 1881
Marie Curie 15x $393 avg J:3 DJ:12
DJ $400 1993 Physicist Frederic Joliot added this name to his when he married Pierre & Marie's daughter Irene
DJ $800 2022 M.C. (born M.S.), a 2-time Nobel winner
DJ $1,200 2010 For a French physicist, this unit of radioactivity: Ci
Niels Bohr 10x $1,333 avg J:1 DJ:8 FJ:1
DJ $600 1998 In 1920 this Dane became director of The Institute For Theoretic Physics in Copenhagen
J $1,000 2023 1916: University of Copenhagen, professor of theoretical physics; 1922: Nobel Prize
FJ 2014 Accepting his 1922 Nobel Prize in Stockholm, he spoke of "the intellectual solidarity" in the Scandinavian countries
Charles Darwin 10x $556 avg J:2 DJ:7 FJ:1
J $200 2002 It was a natural selection to put this man seen here in the category
DJ $800 2022 His interest in the variation of animals between islands was first aroused not by finches but by the Galapagos mockingbird
DJ $1,200 2020 This naturalist's journey on the Beagle took him to barren Ascension Island; he promoted terraforming it with trees
Albert Einstein 8x $514 avg DJ:7 FJ:1
DJ $200 1991 While working at the Swiss patent office in 1905, he published his special theory of relativity
DJ $2,000 2009 In the 1880s Hertz observed the photoelectric effect, for which this famous man would win a Nobel in 1921
FJ 1991 In 1902, at age 23, he was appointed to a position in the patent office in Bern, Switzerland
Should-Know (14)
DNA 7x $467 avg DJ:6 FJ:1
DJ $400 2020 Alec Jeffreys won for his 1984 discovery of fingerprinting of this genetic material
DJ $600 1988 Once a "Quiz Kid" on radio, James Watson helped figure out the double-helix structure of this
FJ 2012 1910 winner Albrecht Kossel studied a new material in the control center of cells; today, we know it as this
Gregor Mendel 7x 14.3% stumper $857 avg DJ:7
DJ $400 1998 This monk conceived the laws of heredity while minding his peas & Qs as a teacher in Brunn, Austria
DJ $600 1996 The results of this monk's "Experiments with Plant Hybrids" appeared in a scientific journal in 1866
DJ $2,000 DD 2003 The abbey in Brno where he once lived & worked now houses a genetics museum that's named for him
George Washington Carver 6x 20.0% stumper $1,200 avg DJ:5 FJ:1
DJ $400 1995 In 1921 he testified about his peanut products before the House Ways & Means Committee
DJ $800 1986 In 1943, the year of his death, the plantation on which he was born was made a national monument
DJ $1,600 2023 Well, that's just nuts: AVERAGE CHOWING STRONGER
Heisenberg 5x 20.0% stumper $1,360 avg J:1 DJ:4
J $1,000 2018 It's certain he was born Dec. 5, 1901, in Wurzburg, Germany, 26 years before publishing his famous principle
DJ $1,200 2025 With certainty he was director of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich from 1958 until 1970
DJ $1,600 2007 After WWII, scientist Samuel Goudsmit & team located this German atomic weapons project leader
Stephen Hawking 5x $900 avg J:1 DJ:3 FJ:1
J $400 DD 2000 His official website includes a link to the Motor Neurone Disease Association
DJ $800 2004 This physicist is Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, a post once held by Sir Isaac Newton
DJ $1,200 2023 Perfect for someone who wrote about the Big Bang: KNEW THE SHAPING
Pavlov 5x $1,480 avg J:1 DJ:4
J $200 2006 This Russian famously conditioned dogs to salivate every time a bell rang
DJ $800 2015 This Russian physiologist went to the dogs & termed salivation the "unconditioned reflex"
DJ $4,000 DD 1992 In 1890 he became professor of physiology at the Imperial Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia
oxygen 4x 25.0% stumper $550 avg J:1 DJ:3
J $200 1989 Pause, take a deep breath, & then buzz in if you know that Joseph Priestley helped discover this
DJ $800 2024 2024 breaking news: "Evidence of Dark" (not photosynthetic) this element "Production at the Abyssal Seafloor"
DJ $400 2003 Air consists of about 78% nitrogen, 1% argon & 21% this gas
Los Alamos 4x 50.0% stumper $1,300 avg J:1 DJ:3
J $800 2007 Bohr escaped Europe during WWII, eventually making his way to this atomic research center in New Mexico
DJ $1,200 2008 The 6-foot Oppenheimer weighed 115 lbs. as director of this New Mexico lab in the early 1940s
DJ $1,600 2023 ( Emily Blunt presents the clue.) Arguing that the far-flung Manhattan Project needed a central facility, Oppenheimer helped choose an isolated New Mexico location for this top-secret site, described as an ivory tower frontier boomtown
Linus Pauling 4x 50.0% stumper $1,100 avg J:1 DJ:3
DJ $600 1997 While a professor at Stanford in 1970 he published "Vitamin C And The Common Cold"
J $1,000 DD 2003 In 1958 this chemist published his book against nuclear testing called "No More War"
DJ $1,200 2014 This American chemist is the only person to have won 2 unshared Nobel prizes
Tesla 4x $1,000 avg DJ:4
DJ $400 2021 America welcomed him as a citizen in 1891, the year he invented a coil that's still used in electronics today
DJ $1,200 2022 N.T., who made sparks fly
DJ $400 2020 Worked for Edison / His AC lit World Expo / Ahead of his time
Marconi 4x $1,050 avg DJ:4
DJ $800 2011 ( Sarah of the Clue Crew hovers over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in a helicopter.) To switch on floodlights for Christ the Redeemer's dedication in 1931, this radio pioneer sent shortwave signals from Naples
DJ $1,200 2009 Hertz was the 1st to send & receive radio waves; this Italian devised a practical means for communicating via those waves
DJ $1,600 2013 In 1901 this engineer proved that wireless waves were not affected by the curvature of the earth
Blaise Pascal 4x 50.0% stumper $1,600 avg DJ:4
DJ $400 2000 This measure of pressure is named for French scientist Blaise
DJ $2,000 2022 ...has his own principle of pressure & has a computer language named for him
DJ $2,000 2013 This 17th c. French scientist's law states that a fluid in a container transmits pressure equally in all directions
Jane Goodall 4x $650 avg J:1 DJ:3
J $200 2025 In 1960, she set up camp & began what's now the longest-running study of its kind, observing chimps at Gombe on Lake Tanganyika
DJ $800 2017 She 's helped us to better understand some of our closest relatives
DJ $800 2016 In a 1979 issue of National Geographic, she reported on chimp warfare & cannibalism
(Robert) Bunsen 4x $275 avg J:2 DJ:2
DJ $200 1991 This chemist known for his gas burner discovered the elements cesium & rubidium
J $600 2003 In 1834 one of the projects this German had on the back burner was finding an antidote for arsenic poisoning
J $100 1989 The name of this German chemist is immortalized by the gas burner in every science lab
Worth Knowing (27)

Astronomy / Space

26 answers | 116 clues
Must-Know (3)
Sir Isaac Newton 18x 12.5% stumper $869 avg J:1 DJ:15 FJ:2
J $400 2007 In 1705 this Brit became the first scientist to be knighted for his work; you could say he had some "pull"
DJ $800 2010 Einstein said this 17th & 18th c. physicist "stands before us, strong, certain and alone"
DJ $1,500 DD 2013 In the mid-1660s he laid the foundations of calculus & wrote the essay "Of Colours"
Edmond Halley 10x 22.2% stumper $711 avg J:3 DJ:6 FJ:1
DJ $400 2024 By him in 1705: "A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets"
DJ $600 1995 He was almost right in predicting a comet seen in 1682 would return in 1758; it returned in 1759
DJ $1,200 2020 Gazing into space / Ev'ry 76 years / His object flies by
Carolus Linnaeus 9x $983 avg J:1 DJ:5 FJ:3
DJ $500 DD 1996 While in Holland in 1735, this Swede published his "Systema Naturae", a taxonomy system
DJ $1,000 1992 This Swedish botanist coined the term Homo sapiens to classify humans
FJ 2010 "Kings play chess on finely grained sand" is a mnemonic device used to help remember a system devised by this scientist
Should-Know (9)
Galileo 7x $586 avg J:1 DJ:6
J $100 1993 The gal, a unit for measuring the acceleration of gravity, got its name from this Italian scientist
DJ $600 1996 Isaac was born in 1642, the same year this Italian astronomer died
DJ $1,200 2021 In 1609 he presented his eight-powered telescope to the Venetian Senate; he got life tenure & doubled his salary
Nicolaus Copernicus 7x 16.7% stumper $883 avg J:4 DJ:2 FJ:1
J $200 2023 c. 1491-94: Student of astronomy & astrology, U. of Krakow; c. 1515: invited to Fifth Lateran Council to aid calendar reform
J $500 1989 His 1543 book refuting an Earth-centered solar system was published when he was on his death bed
DJ $1,600 2010 The surname of this 16th century Polish astronomer means "one who works with copper"
mercury 6x 16.7% stumper $933 avg DJ:6
DJ $200 2001 It was Gabriel Fahrenheit who substituted this for alcohol in the thermometer
DJ $1,200 2009 In the mid-18th c. Mikhail Lomonosov became the first scientist to record the freezing of this liquid metal
DJ $200 1991 Though not the first to make one, Fahrenheit was the first to fill a thermometer with this metal
Tycho Brahe 5x $880 avg DJ:5
DJ $600 1991 This astronomer is known by the Latinized version of his Danish name, Tyge
DJ $1,000 1998 This Dane's 1572 supernova sighting helped disprove the idea that no changes occur past the moon's orbit
DJ $800 1995 A correct prediction of a 1560 eclipse fascinated this Dane & launched him on a scientific career
Robert Goddard 5x 50.0% stumper $1,300 avg J:1 DJ:1 FJ:3
J $600 2006 This American was a real rocket scientist, launching his first one March 16, 1926
DJ $2,000 DD 2007 On March 16, 1961 NASA dedicated its space flight center to this man on the 35th anniversary of a major feat of his
FJ 2013 In 1920, the New York Times said he lacks the “knowledge ladled out daily in high schools”; on July 17, 1969, the paper apologized
Johannes Kepler 5x 25.0% stumper $950 avg J:1 DJ:3 FJ:1
J $400 2024 This German discoverer of the 3 laws of planetary motion also invented a valveless gear pump
DJ $800 1997 In 1600 this German astronomer became an assistant to Tycho Brahe
DJ $1,000 DD 2023 When Tycho Brahe died in 1601, his protégé, this astronomer, succeeded him as "imperial mathematician"
Ptolemy 4x 25.0% stumper $1,100 avg J:2 DJ:2
J $400 1993 c. 140 A.D. this Alexandrian astronomer cataloged 48 of the 88 constellations now recognized
J $800 2006 ( Kelly of the Clue Crew indicates a diagram of the solar system on the monitor.) The sun revolves around the Earth in the model of the universe by this Alexandrian; it held up about 1,500 years until Copernicus
DJ $1,600 2022 The Earth-centric theories of this astronomer of the 2nd century A.D. were largely taken as fact until the 1500s
hydrogen 4x $450 avg J:1 DJ:3
DJ $200 1994 While studying the Solar Spectrum, Angstrom found this element in the sun's atmosphere
J $800 2021 In the early periodic table of elements, Baumhauer's spiral spins out from this element in the center
DJ $400 2010 In 1766 England's Henry Cavendish discovered this element & later showed that with oxygen, it produces water
a telescope 4x 25.0% stumper $375 avg J:1 DJ:3
DJ $200 1996 Though James Gregory had designed a reflecting type of this instrument, Newton built the first one
J $500 DD 2000 Newton designed one of these that used mirrors in addition to lenses
DJ $400 2023 Created by a French astronomer in the 1930s, the coronagraph is a type of this
Worth Knowing (14)

Biology / Animals

8 answers | 28 clues
Must-Know (1)
Luther Burbank 9x 33.3% stumper $600 avg J:1 DJ:8
DJ $200 1995 This horticulturist was the 13th child of Samuel Walton Burbank
DJ $600 1986 Using $150 earned by developing the Idaho potato, he moved to California
DJ $1,600 2016 A prolific breeder: BARK BUN
Should-Know (1)
Kelvin 6x $1,000 avg DJ:6
DJ $400 2015 He tipped his scale in 1848, setting absolute zero at a brisk -460 degrees Fahrenheit
DJ $800 1995 While at Cambridge, this creator of the absolute temperature scale won a university rowing title
DJ $1,600 2009 Keep making that face & it'll freeze that way... absolute zero, mister! on this scale named for a British scientist
Worth Knowing (6)

Earth Science

4 answers | 9 clues
Worth Knowing (4)

Medicine / Health

3 answers | 8 clues
Worth Knowing (3)
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