1. The open-air thermometer was invented by Galileo Galilei, c.1607. Match these improvements to their country and year of discovery.

   A. The clinical thermometer, by Santorio Santorio	1. Germany, 1714
   B. Absolute-temperature (or Kelvin) scale, by William Thomson, Lord Kelvin	2. Sweden, 1742
   C. The mercury (also called the Fahrenheit) scale, by Gabriel D. Fahrenheit	3. England, 1848
   D. The centigrade scale, by Anders Celsius	4. Italy, c.1612

2. True or false: The parachute, hot-air balloon, and airplane were all invented in France.

3. Belgian inventor Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944) was a pioneer in the plastics industry. True or false: He named his breakthrough substance Orlon.

4. Alfred Nobel of Sweden (1833-1896) left the bulk of his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes, which are awarded each year in the categories of medicine, physics, literature, chemistry, peace, and economics. Nobel made his fortune inventing and marketing:

   A. Pneumatic tires

   B. Dynamite

   C. Hydrofoils

5. Dutch naturalist Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) reported his observations of microscopic animalcules in a series of letters to the Royal Society of London. True or false: van Leeuwenhoek constructed only one microscope.

6. Luis F. Leloir's discovery of sugar nucleotides won him the 1970 Nobel Prize for chemistry. He is a citizen of which South American country?

   A. Argentina

   B. Brazil

   C. Chile

   D. Peru

7. The 1965 Nobel Prize for physics was jointly awarded to scientists from Japan (Shinichiro Tomanaga) and the USA (Julian Schwinger and Richard P. Feynman). Their Nobel Prize was awarded for work in which field?

   A. Nanotechnology

   B. Quantum electrodynamics

   C. Education

8. Many Italian scientists came to the United States to work, except for which of the following. (Hint: He's the only one who didn't win a Nobel Prize.)

   A. Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), nuclear physics

   B. Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), telegraphy

   C. Giulio Natta (1903-), polymer chemistry

   D. Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), electricity

9. Which specialists work in Hawaii?

   A. Astronomers

   B. Botanists

   C. Volcanologists

   D. All of the above

10. Two scientists from Canada, Sir Frederick Banting and John J.R. Macleod won the 1923 Nobel Prize for medicine. True or false: They are credited with discovering insulin.

Answers