| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| This thinker used the term "universe of discourse" before it was popularized by Augustus De Morgan. This mathematician created a system that contrasted with elementary algebra in which variable values were replaced by truth values. For the point, identify this British mathematician who developed a namesake system of logic that helped spur the growth of computers. | George Boole (accept Boolean Algebra; accept Boolean Logic) |
| This argument was first proposed in the paper “Minds, Brains, and Programs” and holds that no matter how human-like a computer appears it will always lack consciousness even if it can pass the Turing test. For the point, identify this John Searle thought experiment that uses a namesake language’s characters to argue against the existence of strong AI. | Chinese Room Argument (prompt on "Weak AI" or descriptions of the thought experiment) |
| The existence of silicon was predicted by this man, who worked in customs as the administrator of the ferme générale. This nobleman supported the Ancien Régime amidst his experiments, which studied the combustive role of oxygen, an element this scientist named. For the point, name this Frenchman who helped spur the rise of quantitative methods in chemistry. | Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier [[lah-VWAH-syeh]] |
| A conversation between Napoleon the Third and the namesake of this process involved a discussion of the benefits of its central product in artillery. An open hearth furnace was used to subject pig iron to this process, which made use of air to remove impurities via oxidation. For the point, name this process that greatly increased the output of steel. | Bessemer Process (prompt on descriptive answers) |
| In 1732, this scientist voyaged around the Gulf of Bothnia during his expedition to Lapland. This scientist was given access to the library of the Celsius family after deciding to study at Uppsala University. This author of Flora Lapponica and Systema Naturae came up with a means of dividing minerals, animals, and plants. For the point, name this "father of modern taxonomy." | Carl Linnaeus (accept Carolus Linnaeus; accept Carl von Linné; accept Carolus a Linné) |
| Albert von Kolliker was responsible for the 1857 discovery of this organelle, which occurred during a study of muscle cells and included the observation of granule-like entities. More than 100 years after its discovery, this organelle was found to contain ribosomes and the matrilineal form of DNA for which it is named. For the point, name this organelle that generates ATP. | Mitochondria (accept Mitochondrion) |
| This man's wife, Elizabeth Jarvis, was often referred to as the "First Lady of Connecticut." A 1,000- unit order by the Texas Rangers boosted sales for one company led by this man, who made use of interchangeable parts. The founder of a namesake Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company, this is, for the point, what American inventor and namesake of a Single Action Army revolver? | Samuel Colt (accept Colt Single Action Army) |
| This man gained publicity after challenging Wildman Whitehouse of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, who disputed this man's data related to the transatlantic telegraph cable. This man came to prominence for his formulation of the second law of thermodynamics. This president of the Royal Society determined that a certain value was equal to −273.15 degrees Celsius. For the point, identify this British scientist who measured absolute zero. | William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (accept either underlined portion) |
| One scientist developed safer ways of producing this compound after an explosion killed his younger brother in a Heleneborg factory. This compound is the primary active ingredient in an invention that was referenced in a prematurely published obituary condemning that scientist as the “merchant of death.” For the point, name this chemical that was used by Alfred Nobel to create dynamite. | Nitroglycerin (do not accept or prompt on "Dynamite") |
| The term baktun is often used in this system and is a collection of kʼatuns. The earliest inscription of this system may have been a stela numbered Two that was found at Takalik Abaj. August 11, 3114 BC is considered the day of creation within this system, which uses the base-20 number system. Also known as the Long Count, for the point, what is this system developed by a Mesoamerican civilization? | Mayan Calendar (accept Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar before mentioned; prompt on partial answers; prompt on "Mesoamerican Calendar") |
| Guido van Rossum developed this system as a successor to ABC. This system's creator sought DARPA funding for his "Computer Programming for Everybody" initiative. Django is among the web frameworks for this programming language, known for having a large standard library. For the point, name this programming language named after a British comedy troupe. | Python |
| This body was first observed after Vesto Melvin Slipher handed a task to a farm boy from Kansas following the death of Percival Lowell. A set of glass discs for a thirteen-inch telescope contributed to the discovery of this body event, which Clyde Tombaugh is credited with observing 48 years prior to locating its moon, Charon [["Sharon"]]. For the point, identify this Kuiper Belt Object and trans-Neptunian dwarf planet. | Pluto |
| One device of this type was developed and named for the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [[GUHR-tuh]]. A student of Galileo named Evangelista Torricelli was inspired to invent this device by the limitations of suction pumps. Questions concerning the supposed weightlessness of air led to the development of, for the point, what device that measures air pressure? | Barometer (accept Goethe Barometer; accept Water Barometer) |
| In the early twentieth-century, this man's namesake Illinois-based company experienced competition from the International Harvester Company, ultimately contributing to a decision to focus on certain gas-powered agricultural vehicles. For the point, identify this Vermont-born founder and namesake of a company known for its green and yellow tractors. | John Deere |
| Founded in 1889, this company originally sold a type of playing card known as hanafuda that proved popular at parlors run by the yakuza. This company hired Gunpei Yokoi, who was the creator of the Control Pad and the producer of such series as Kid Icarus. In 1981, this company expanded internationally after the release of Donkey Kong. For the point, name this video game company based in Japan, known for creating Mario. | Nintendo Co., Ltd. (accept Nintendo Karuta) |
| An early windwheel was developed by a mathematician from this city. The Almagest was written by a mathematician who worked in this city where the formulator of the parallel postulate lived. Claudius Ptolemy lived in this city where the Elements were written by Euclid. For the point, name this Egyptian city that was subject to a fire that destroyed its ancient library. | Alexandria (or al-Iskandariyya; or Eskenderiyya; or Rhacotis; accept Library of Alexandria) |
| This statement appears after one which says that "the determination is composed" in a set of “Axioms.” Mark Sappenfield of the Christian Science Monitor used a political application of this scientific law to analogize the election of Donald Trump after the election of Barack Obama. Initially stated in 1687 in the book Principia Mathematica, for the point, what is this law claiming that every action has an equal and opposite reaction? | Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion (prompt on "Newton's Laws of Motion" or similar answers) |
| The creator of this object said it was intended "will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for." The Curved Dash was the first object to be produced using the method that was popularized by this object, which was nicknamed "Tin Lizzie." Created via assembly lines, this vehicle was said to be available in all colors "so long as it is black." For the point, name this early affordable American automobile developed by Ford. | Ford Model T (prompt on "Tin Lizzie" before mentioned; prompt on "Leaping Lena" or "Flivver" or "Ford") |
| In 1895, Fridtjof Nansen attempted to make his way to this location, which Etukishook and Ahwelah were said to have reached alongside Frederick Cook. The person who claimed to be the first to reach this location in 1909 was a naval engineer accompanied by Matthew Henson. Robert Peary claimed to be the first to reach, for the point, what extremity of Earth? | True North Pole (accept Geographic North Pole; accept Terrestrial North Pole; accept 90th Parallel North; do not accept "North Magnetic Pole") |
| A commercially successful variety of this device was created in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen. By removing the spent variety of one product to an isolated vessel to be condensed, a key improvement was made to this device, aiming to combat the excess heat required to sufficiently warm this device’s cylinder. That improvement to this technology was made by James Watt. For the point, name this device that was famously used to propel boats. | Steam Engine (prompt on partial answers; accept Watt Steam Engine; accept Newcomen Steam Engine; or Newcomen Atmospheric Engine; prompt on "Fire Engine") |
| Transitional varieties of these objects indicate similarities to both ancestral and descendant groups. In antiquity, medicine and jewelry were made from a variety of these objects derived from tree resin called amber. The trace variety of these objects often contains tracks of their subjects. For the point, name these remains that have historically been used to reconstruct dinosaur skeletons. | Fossils (accept Transitional Fossils; accept Trace Fossils; accept Dinosaur Fossils; prompt on "Remains" or "Bones" or "Teeth" or "Skeleton") |
| Before his most widely known effort, this man invented a type of suppressor tube used by his former employer's 747 airplanes. The direction of one of this man's programs was influenced by a discussion in which Carl Sagan told him to "focus on pure science." That show starred this in his trademark bowtie and lab coat. For the point, name this communicator known as the "Science Guy." | Bill Nye (or William Sanford Nye; accept Bill Nye the Science Guy) |
| Elliptic verse was often used for the writing of mathematical texts in this country that recorded the earliest known use of the decimal system. This country was home to a scholar who developed rules for the computation of zero, and trigonometric series expansions were developed by the Kerala School of this country, which was home to Brahmagupta. For the point, name this country whose ancient mathematical texts were often written in Sanskrit. | Republic of India (or Bhārat Gaṇarājya; accept Hindustan) |
| This region was referred to by Vincent Gaddis as "Deadly" in a pulp magazine. The book Invisible Horizons deals with this location where one man was allegedly heard saying "nothing seems right." The subject of "Sea Mystery at Our Back Door," this region is found in the northern half of the Atlantic Ocean. For the point, name this geographical region where ships and planes have been thought to disappear under strange circumstances. | Bermuda Triangle (accept Devil's Triangle) |
| Tu Youyou won a Nobel Prize for her work developing artemesinin to combat this disease, which is thought to have killed over 50 billion humans in history, or half of everyone who has ever lived. In a fifteen- year period beginning in 2000, over 660 million cases of this disease transmitted by Anopheles were thought to have been prevented by certain nets. For the point, name this mosquito-borne disease that causes severe fever and death. | Malaria |
| The Karoo and Ferrar Large Igneous Provinces formed in the early years of this period, which saw the creation of Gondwana and Laurasia from Pangaea. A subrange of the Western Alps lends its name to this period, in which the main flying vertebrate was the pterosaur. For the point, name this geologic period characterized by the dominance of dinosaurs following the Triassic. | Jurassic Period |