1. Douglas Noel Adams born on March 11, 1952, in Cambridge, is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ( H2G2 ), which was a radio series that spawned a world of comedy onscreen and on books. He was also a huge fan of science and technology and took immense pride in collecting news about the latest advances. He was very proud of the fact that in the same year he was born, and in the same city, a particular molecule was discovered that changed science forever. What was this discovery which, very interestingly, shares its initials with Adams?
2. Jef Raskin was an American human-computer interface expert who started the first personal computer project for a technology company. He wanted to name the project after his favourite type of fruit. This was the national apple of Canada and got its name from the original farmer (of Scottish descent), who cultivated it in the early 1800s. Unfortunately the name was already taken, so Jef had to add an extra ‘A’ to the prefix of the name, which was the Scottish way of saying ‘Son of’. What is the name of the fruit and of the computer, which Douglas Adams was the first person to buy in Europe?
3. ‘___fish.com’ by Yahoo and the Google’s ‘Pixel Buds’ are both examples of websites and hardware that carry out instant translation between languages. The first one is named and the other modelled after a small leech-like fish that Adams introduced in H2G2 . It is a universal translator that neatly bridges the language divide between any species. The name comes from the Bible , which tells the story of a united human race building a tower so high it reaches heaven. God brings down the tower and makes them all speak different languages so that they cannot understand each other. What is the name of the city which lends its name to the fictional fish and consequently the translation service?
4. In H2G2 , the main character’s best friend is an alien, who when he came to Earth decided to name himself after the dominant life form on Earth so that he can be inconspicuous. Unfortunately, what he picked turned out to be an automobile. The brand is an American one. This company made the first assembled car and this specific model gets its name from a Roman term, which you would have most probably heard in school as the name given to the class leader. What is the character’s name?
5. In 1990, Adams made a fantasy documentary called Hyperland , which talked about how information might be accessed in 2000 and quite accurately predicted a technology we now take for granted. Almost a year later the first web browser came out and had a text which contained links that opened up more information (just like in the documentary). What are these texts and links known as?
6. The Alien Telescope Array is a project by the University of California and SETI to see if they can find any clues to alien life. It has 42 antennas as homage to H2G2 . What does SETI stand for?
7. The Douglas Adams Memorial Lectures take place in London with all proceeds going to save a particular animal species. Adams was closely involved in the conservation project for this animal. He once trekked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya wearing a full costume of this animal. Currently there are only about 25,000 of these animals, of which 3,555 live in the Indo-Gangetic plain. What majestic animals are these which Adams loved dressing up as?
8. ‘25924 Douglasadams’ is the name given to a big piece of rock which is about 2.4 kilometres in diameter. If you lived on it, one year would be equal to three years and nine months on Earth. What is ‘25924 Douglasadams’?
9. May 25 is celebrated to honour Adams as ‘X’ day. This is in reference to X being the most useful thing in the Universe for a traveller. You can wrap yourself with it, you can lie on it, wet it for hand-to-hand combat, wrap it around your head to ward of fumes, wave it as a form of distress signal and, of course, dry yourself. Fans go around carrying one of these with the words “DON’T PANIC” written on them. What is this very useful daily object, which has come to symbolise the world of H2G2 ?
10. The band, Disaster Area, in H2G2 , is modelled after an actual British band, X, of which Adams was a huge fan. Just like X, Disaster Area had huge light shows, aircraft crashing during the song and really loud noises. Adams even named one of X’s albums, ‘Division Bell’ and played guitar onstage with them. Which band is this that was renowned for pyrotechnics and legendary light shows?
Answers
1. DNA
2. McIntosh, Macintosh
3. Babel
4. Ford Prefect
5. Hypertext and Hyperlinks
6. Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence
7. Rhinoceros
8. An Asteroid
9. Towel
10. Pink Floyd
A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley
