Sunday Quiz Some historic firsts
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April 12 is celebrated as International Day of Human Space Flight since 2011, which was the 50th anniversary of a particular mission. That mission lasted 108 minutes and was a single orbit around Earth. The person handling this mission was an Air Force pilot who had earlier been a foundryman in a steel plant. Who was this person who, 59 years ago, made this historic ascent?
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This explorer was originally a bee-keeper by profession. He led the first mechanised expedition to the South Pole and led other expeditions to remote corners of the earth. Later in life, he became an active environmentalist and also devoted his energies to humanitarian efforts on behalf of the Nepalese. He wrote an autobiography titled 'Nothing Venture, Nothing Win'. Who is this person who we know better, for having reached heights no one else had, with a friend?
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This gentleman was appointed the first National Professor by the new government of Independent India. He went on to become the first non-Caucasian individual to win a Nobel Prize in science. A keen lover of music he also investigated the harmonic nature of the sound of the tabla and mridangam. He started a company which manufactured potassium chlorate for the match industry. Who was he who had such fascination with light?
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Born in present day Patna in 475 CE, this person is regarded as the first mathematician-astronomer from ancient India. His major work covers arithmetic, algebra, plane trigonometry, and spherical trigonometry. It also contains continued fractions, quadratic equations, sums-of-power series, and a table of sines. In it he talks about how pi is irrational, a theory which was only proved in Europe in 1761. The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune has a statue of him in its courtyard. Who was this pioneer physicist?
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This king suffered from chronic bronchitis and was close to death. His lead physician knew that the end was near but realised if he passed away after midnight the news would not be printed in the morning newspaper but in the less respected evening journals, which could embarrass the family. So, the king was injected with morphine and cocaine after which he died at 11:55 p.m. and the news made it to the morning papers. Which king was this who was the first monarch of the currently reigning House of Windsor?
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Henry Dunant was a Swiss businessman who, on a business trip in 1859 to Italy, witnessed the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino. This inspired him to create the International Committee of the Red Cross to care for wounded soldiers. This led to him and Frédéric Passy, a French pacifist, becoming the first people to win a certain award in 1901. What award did they win which, according to the founder’s will, is administered in Norway?
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The Joshee Crater is named after Anandibai Joshi, who was the first Indian-origin woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S. The Jhirad Crater is named after Jerusha Jhirad, who was the first woman to be awarded a government of India scholarship to study in the U.K. and her efforts to improve medical education, especially for women, in India earned her the Member of the British Empire (MBE) title in the U.K. and the Padma Shri in India. These women were trailblazers and are honoured by these craters named after them. Where in the universe are these three craters located?
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Frank Whittle was an English Royal Air Force officer. On April 12, 1937, he successfully ran an experimental engine. It had four parts, a single stage centrifugal compressor, a combustion chamber, an axial flow turbine and a convergent propelling nozzle. Although he showed the functionality of this engine, the first operational version of this was shown by Hans von Ohain years later. What did Whittle run for the first time on that date which is now a common feature on aircraft?
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On April 12, 1607, a new flag was created on the orders of King James VI of Scotland. He had inherited the English and Irish thrones, thereby uniting the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland. What is the name of this flag which we would see in many other flags as well?
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Armalcolite is a titanium-rich mineral ((Mg,Fe2+)Ti2O5). It was first discovered in 1969 and named after the three men who were closest to it at that time. The synthesis of Armalcolite requires low pressures, high temperatures and rapid quenching from about 1,000 °C to the ambient temperature. Who are the three people it is named after?
Answer : Armstrong (Neil), Aldrin (Buzz) and Collins (Michael) — the first men on the moon.
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