| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Saccharine was originally sold to the Meyer Brothers by this company. This company that was founded by John Francis Queeny developed a glyphosate-based product that was acquired in 2018 by Bayer, and that selective pesticide created by this company was sold as Roundup. For the point, name this American agrochemical company known for its genetically modified crops. | Monsanto Company (accept Monsanto Chemical Works) |
| In 1941, this company opened a Freeport plant to produce magnesium from seawater for use in World War Two-era aircraft. This company notably continued to sell napalm after other companies discontinued it during the Vietnam War. In 2015, a split and merger agreement was reached between this company and DuPont. For the point, name this American chemical company. | The Dow Chemical Company (accept Dow Inc.) |
| Gordon Welchman was one of the central figures who worked at this location, which was sometimes known as “Station X.” The reverse of the 50-pound Bank of England note displays a man who worked to improve the "Polish design" at this location in Buckinghamshire. This location was the site of efforts under the name “Ultra” that involved attempts to crack the Enigma machine. For the point, name this British estate where Alan Turing worked on cryptography. | Bletchley Park |
| In a "Personal Narrative," the man who patented this process claimed that William Brockedon was responsible for its name. A patent for this process was filed by Thomas Hancock, who made use of sulphur, and a mixture that accidentally landed on a frying pan led to a discovery related to this process by Charles Goodyear. For the point, name this process by which rubber is hardened. | Vulcanization (accept Vulcanisation) |
| The treatment of silver cyanate with ammonium chlorate led Friedrich Wöhler [[VOO-luh]] to artificially synthesize this compound in a moment often considered the founding of modern organic chemistry. One man told Jöns Jakob Berzelius that he could make this compound "without the use of kidneys, either man or dog." For the point, name this organic compound that is found in urine. | Urea (accept Carbamide; prompt on "CO (NH2)2") |
| This device was originally intended for use in Aberdeen, Maryland. Currently held at the University of Pennsylvania, this device was used at what is now the Army Research Laboratory. Primarily serving as a calculator of artillery tables, this device was completed in 1945 and was Turing-Complete and programmable. For the point, name this first large-scale, general-purpose digital computer. | ENIAC (accept Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) |
| After the Anschluss, this scientist issued a statement withdrawing his opposition to Nazism, a decision he claimed to later regret. When describing the NATO-Russia Founding Act, an Estonian ambassador compared the treaty to one of this physicist's thought experiments because "you don't know if it's dead or alive." For the point, identify this Austrian-Irish quantum physicist who names a wave function equation and a thought experiment involving a cat. | Erwin Schrödinger [[SHROO-din-guh]] (or Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger; accept Schrödinger Cat) |
| This man likely designed the anchor escapement device used in grandfather clocks. This man’s Micrographia provided an early inferred account of celestial motion and gravity. This man preceded Antonie van Leeuwenhoek [[van LEH-ven-HOOK]] by nearly a decade in discovering microorganisms with a homemade microscope, after which he coined the term “cell.” For the point, identify this English physicist whose namesake law states, “F equals kx.” | Robert Hooke |
| Animal blood and herbs were combined to make a liquid in which the central body part was placed during this process to create the "lotus" form of said body part. To prevent in-growth, nails were cut prior to this process, which aimed to increase the beauty of its participating girls. Rising in popularity during the Song Dynasty, this is, for the point, what process of tightly tying up and altering the shape of a certain body part? | Footbinding (or Chánzú) |
| This institution was located in the villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii. Clitomachus [[kly-toh- MAH-kuss]] and Philo [[FYE-loh]] of Larissa were among the leaders of this institution, which came to be associated with skepticism. Founded in 387 BCE, this institution's students included the founder of the similar Lyceum. For the point, name this philosophical school in Athens that was founded by Plato. | The Academy (or the Platonic Academy; or Akademia) |
| The Gezhouba was a similar project begun prior to this one, which was approved by the National People's Congress in the 1990s. A vision for this structure was put forth by one leader in the poem "Swimming." Following a set of 2020 monsoons, production in this location almost hit 112 TWh, breaking the record held by a similar project named Itaipu [[ih-TYE-poo]]. Found in the Yiling District of Hubei, this is, for the point, what hydroelectric dam in China? | Three Gorges Dam (or Sānxiá Dàbà) |
| While working at a university in this city, Albert Ghiorso used fallout from the Ivy Mike tests to predict and synthesize Einsteinium. A government lab in this city named for Ernest Lawrence operates the Cyclotron Road fellowship program for up-and-coming inventors. For the point, identify this college town, the namesake of element 97 and the city where Californium was synthesized. | Berkeley, California |
| As part of the Balmis Expedition, millions of people in the Spanish Empire were subject to this procedure between 1803 and 1806. A realization of the asymptomatic nature of those who worked with cattle helped an Englishman develop this procedure, a form of inoculation. Edward Jenner helped develop, for the point, what procedure used to combat a now-eradicated disease? | Smallpox Vaccination (accept word forms; prompt on Smallpox "Inoculation;" do not accept or prompt on "Variolation") |
| One system devised by this man, a graduate of the University of Tübingen [[TYOO-bin-gen]], was described as "a supplement to Aristotle's On the Heavens." The Rudolphine Tables were developed by this man, and that star catalogue developed by this man was based on the findings of Tycho Brahe. For the point, name this German astronomer who developed a set of laws describing planetary motion. | Johannes Kepler |
| The word "umpteen" originated from an informal name for this system, "iddy-umpty." In the 2010s, the popularity of the CWops, advocates of the "continuous wave" mode of this system, grew among amateurs. The developer of this system sent its first message, "What hath God wrought?" to open the first telegraph line. For the point, name this communication system that uses dots and dashes. | Morse Code (accept International Morse Code) |
| In reference to this event, The New York Times claimed that "No finer human interest story [could be told] than is told by the mute objects" involved. One man claimed that a "magnificent" entity had its "seals intact" in a telegram that reported this event to Lord Carnarvon. Beginning on November 4, 1922, this event was overseen by a team led by Howard Carter and took place in the Valley of the Kings. For the point, identify this event that uncovered a now-world famous pharaoh's sarcophagus. | Excavation of King Tutankhamun's Tomb (prompt on partial answers; accept Tutankhamon, Tutankhamen, or Tutankhaten in answers; accept clear-knowledge equivalents like Unearthing or Opening in place of "Excavation" in answers) |
| A forerunner to this modern-day company was founded by a group that included Gardiner Greene Hubbard. MCI increased its competition with this company after a set of RBOCs were created in 1982 following a court-ordered breakup of its monopoly. The aforementioned "Baby Bells" were created from this company, which was founded by Alexander Graham Bell. Headquartered in Dallas, for the point, what is this major telecommunications company? | AT&T Corporation (accept American Telephone and Telegraph Company; accept Bell Telephone Company or Bell System before "Bell" is mentioned) |
| This event occurred after its subject returned to Woolsthorpe Manor amidst an outbreak of bubonic plague. This event was said to have occurred during warm weather while the subject was "in a contemplative mood" and "under the shade" as "the notion of gravitation came into his mind." For the point, name this 1665 event involving a fruit that allegedly inspired a British scientist to derive one theory. | Apple Falling on Isaac Newton's head (accept clear-knowledge equivalents) |
| James "Tama Jim" Wilson taught this man, who James Saxon Childers claimed was responsible for the rise of the boll weevil. The Spingarn Medal was given to this man, who promoted nitrogen restoration. Upon the invitation of Booker T. Washington, this man became the head of a certain department at the Tuskegee Institute. For the point, name this African-American agricultural scientist who promoted crops such as sweet potatoes and peanuts. | George Washington Carver |
| This Congressional Act was passed after a treaty known as CITES was signed earlier in the year. The FWS is among the administrators of this 1973 act, which was partly passed in response to "development untempered by adequate concern and conservation." Aimed at protecting "ecosystems upon which [the titular organisms] depend," this is, for the point, what 1973 Act of Congress concerning organisms on the brink of extinction? | Endangered Species Act of 1973 (prompt on "ESA" or "the Act") |
| 5B18 is a designation given to a building in this country that made use of limestone. Artificial leveling laid the groundwork for El Castillo in this country where a set of low walls separated the Temple of Kukulcán from surrounding buildings. The Gateway to the Americas International Bridge connects a city in this country to Laredo. Chichen Itza was designed by Maya engineers in, for the point, what country? | Mexico (or United Mexican States; or Estados Unidos Mexicanos) |
| A 2004 "outbreak sequence of" these events struck the Canadian province of Ontario. On March 18, 1925, a particularly deadly one of these events killed 695 people in the Tri-State Outbreak, which is thought to have registered an F5 on the Fujita scale. For the point, name these violent weather phenomena often involving contact between land and a cumulonimbus cloud. | Tornadoes (or Whirlwind; or Cyclone; accept Twister before mentioned) |
| After its architect died of tetanus, this landmark was completed under the leadership of that architect's son, Washington. Web truss designs brought recognition to the architect of this structure, which employed the use of caissons. John Roebling was the architect of this landmark that opened in 1883 over the East River. For the point, identify this structure connecting Manhattan to a namesake borough of New York. | Brooklyn Bridge (accept New York and Brooklyn Bridge; accept East River Bridge before "East" is mentioned) |
| The New Safe Confinement is a project to help combat the effects of this event, which resulted in the creation of the purpose-built city of Slavutych in Chernihiv Oblast. Starting in Vyshhorod Raion near the city of Pripyat in a former Soviet Socialist Republic, this incident affected the No. 4 reactor, which contained a certain hazardous material. For the point, name this 1986 nuclear incident in Ukraine. | Chernobyl Disaster (or Chornobyl Disaster) |
| This man worked under a countryman who designed the USS Monitor ironclad, John Ericsson. After supposedly reading a negative obituary, this inventor of dynamite created a yearly endowment aiming to recognize "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." For the point, identify this Stockholm-born chemist who established a world-renowned namesake prize. | Alfred Nobel (or Alfred Bernhard Nobel; accept Nobel Prize) |
| Circa 2000 BCE, Austronesians invented the "crab-claw" variety of these structures, examples of which include the common sprit. A component of the Age of Discovery is often named after these structures, the lateen variety of which was used by caravels. These structures were developed to be supported by spars, and the fore-and-aft and square rigging were developed for use of these items, which were attached to masts. For the point, name these often-fabric structures that rely on wind to propel ships. | Sails (accept Crab-claw Sails; accept Lateen Sails) |