| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Arthur Lakes worsened this period by inviting its participants to dig at Como Bluff. One central figure in this period discovered both the horridus and prorsus species of a type of animal. After placing a skull at the wrong end of an (+) Elasmosaurus skeleton, one figure in this argument was attacked by his rival, who later discovered the first Triceratops and Stegosaurus remains. (*) For the point, name this 19th-century feud between the paleontologists Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope, who competed to discover dinosaur skeletons. | The Bone Wars (accept Great Dinosaur Rush; accept Cope-Marsh rivalry or other equivalents) |
| This man carved an equation into Brougham Bridge after a walk over the bridge gave him the inspiration to discover it. This man created a formulation of the principle of stationary action, his namesake principle. This man's system of mechanics replaced generalized velocities (+) in an earlier system with generalized momenta. In classical mechanics, a function named for this physicist is obtained by taking the Legendre transform on the Lagrangian. (*) For the point, name this Irish physicist who developed the concept of quaternions and names a quantity equal to the total energy of a system. | William Rowan Hamilton |
| This process was invented by astronomer John Herschel in 1842 alongside a similar method that used colloidal gold. This technique was used to create plant impressions in Anna Atkins's book Photographs of British Algae. (+) Traditionally, this photographic technique creates a negative image by using ferrous salts that become reduced upon exposure to the sun. In 1876, this process was commercialized for the reproduction of architectural plans called blueprints. (*) For the point, identify this photographic printing process whose name comes from the Greek for "dark blue." | cyanotype (accept blueprints before mention) |
| Using a complex system of measurements, this man testified as a handwriting expert to wrongly send Alfred Dreyfus to prison. This scientist standardized the process of taking mugshots of prisoners. This scientist utilized the La Santé (+) Prison in Paris to develop a technique used by police stations worldwide, though his technique was eventually made obsolete by fingerprinting. (*) For the point, name this police officer who developed the technique of anthropometry to identify criminals through physical measurements. | Alphonse Bertillon [[bert-EE-on]] |
| These devices are vulnerable to current-driven instabilities, unlike stellarators. The largest one of these devices, which is currently being built in France, already has a proposed successor named DEMO. (+) The project ITER [["eye"-tur]] will use the largest one of these devices to produce fusion energy. Andrei Sakharov [[AHN-dray SAH-kuh-roff]] and Igor Tamm [[EE-gor "TOM"]] were the first to propose these devices, whose name is derived from a Russian acronym meaning (*) "toroidal chamber with magnetic coils." For the point, name these devices that confine plasmas. | tokamaks |
| Throughout the late 1960s and early 70s, remains of these animals were searched for by Jeremy Griffith and James Malley. In the 1990s, missionaries near Mount Carstensz claimed to have seen these animals in Western (+) New Guinea. The last one of these animals was a specimen named Benjamin who died of neglect in 1936 in zoo in Hobart. This animal's closest living relative is the (*) Tasmanian Devil. For the point, name this large predatory marsupial, which formerly inhabited an island south of Australia. | thylacine (or Tasmanian tiger; or Tasmanian wolf) |
| This man invented the signal-flow graph while working on a contract with the National Defense Research Committee during World War Two. In this scientist’s MIT thesis, A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits, (+) he proved that electrical switches could replicate Boolean Algebra problems. This scientist’s A Mathematical Theory of Communication introduced his namesake information entropy, the average quantity of information within a message. (*) For the point, name this inventor of the bit, the father of information theory. | Claude Elwood Shannon |
| In 1937, Fritz Zwicky posited that this phenomenon would apply to galaxy clusters, allowing for its utilization on Earth. Extrasolar planets can be detected with the "micro" type of this phenomenon. The James Webb (+) space telescope exploited this phenomenon from SMACS 0723 to get higher resolution images. Albert Einstein names so-called "rings" and "crosses" visible in telescopes due to this phenomenon. (*) For the point, name this phenomenon in which a supermassive object magnifies the light of an object behind it. | gravitational lensing (prompt on just “lensing”) |
| This person’s first experience teaching was without pay at the University of Erlangen. This mathematician's namesake rings have ideals that satisfy the descending chain condition. This mathematician’s work has been divided into three epochs, with (+) her second paper discussing hypercomplex numbers that satisfy the ascending chain condition. (*) For the point, name this “most important woman in the history of mathematics,” who discovered a namesake theorem about the existence of conservation laws that correspond to physical symmetries. | Amalie Emmy Noether |
| The names of 87 people who shared this man’s profession were included in the Catalogus Auctorum of his most famous work, which was created at the urging of Gillis Hooftman. This man’s depiction of North and South America (+) is included in the largest jigsaw puzzle on the planet. The first dedicated map of the Pacific Ocean was created by this man, who inspired Gerardus Mercator’s 1569 map. Best known for his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, (*) for the point, what cartographer created what is considered the first modern atlas? | Abraham Ortelius |
| This person was considered to become an astronaut in an Apollo moon flight but was disqualified because of Addison’s disease. Before dying in a car accident, this person and his wife photographed the Comet Hale-Bopp. The (+) Lunar Prospector space probe delivered this person’s remains to the moon. A comet named for this man with an alphabetically earlier scientist crashed into (*) Jupiter in 1994. For the point, name this American geologist who co-discovered that comet along with his wife, Carolyn, and Daniel H. Levy. | Eugene Merle Shoemaker (accept Shoemaker-Levy 9) |
| Reporting in The Lancet, Thomas MacLagan used this plant to create an early effective treatment of rheumatism. This plant was used by Felix Hoffman to create the first aspirin from acetylsalicylic acid, which he harvested from its (+) bark. Native American groups are believed to have chewed the bark of this plant to alleviate pain, predating its Western medical application by centuries. (*) For the point, name this tree whose bark has historically been used for a variety of medicines, whose most famous example is the "Weeping" one. | willow tree (accept Salix) |
| This invention was originally patented by a collaboration between Henry Dircks and its namesake pioneer. This invention works when a large glass screen, set at an angle, catches the bright reflection of an actor hidden from the audience. (+) A variation of this technique is used to create teleprompters for speeches, and this technique is also used to make deceased artists appear at concerts. (*) For the point, name this illusion technique famously used to project ghoulish figures in Disney’s Haunted Mansion. | Pepper's ghost (do not accept or prompt on "hologram" or "holograph") |
| This zone was first discovered by a man while he was working on his book "The Face of the Earth." Founding a field of study called "comparative orography," Edouard Suess studied lineaments in a region of subsidence he called Tethys. (+) This region’s location was found after Suess discovered “trend-lines” of what are now called convergent plates. (*) For the point, name this second most seismically active region in the world encompassing mountain ranges along the southern margin of Eurasia, including the Atlas and Himalayan mountains. | Alpide belt (accept Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt; accept Tethyan orogenic belt before mentioned) |
| This technology was invented by French engineer Eugene Houdry, who was inspired by oil refining. The Newark-based company Engelhard was the first to commercially manufacture this technology. The adoption of this technology (+) inadvertently led to the phase-out of the antiknock agent tetraethyl lead in gasoline. Two-way examples of this technology that create water and CO2 were first adopted in 1975 in response to EPA regulations. (*) For the point, name this exhaust control technology used to process automobile pollutants into less toxic forms. | catalytic converter |
| This material's creator earlier invented Velox, the first commercially available photographic paper. Catalin is a transparent resin with similar properties to this material, which was initially intended as a replacement for shellac. (+) A condensation reaction between phenol and formaldehyde is used to produce this material, whose moldability and heat resistance gave it the tagline "the material of a thousand uses." Radios and telephones were often made of, (*) for the point, what first synthetic plastic, which was invented by Dr. Leo Baekeland? | Bakelite (accept polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride; prompt on "plastic") |
| One of these structures in Niederfinow, Germany takes advantage of the Ward Leonard motor control system. Four of these structures near La Louvière are located in the sillon industrial by the Canal du Centre. One of these structures named for (+) Strépy-Thieu consists of two independent counterweighted caissons that travel vertically due to Archimedes' Principle. The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating one of these structures built as part of an effort to connect Glasgow with Edinburgh. (*) For the point, name these machines that transport vehicles between water at two different elevations. | boat lifts (accept ship lifts; accept lift locks; prompt on "lift (s)" or "lock (s)") |
| This man wrote his doctoral thesis at Harvard University on gall wasps, which make up a large collection he developed at the American Museum of Natural History. This man published a high school textbook called An Introduction to Biology (+) and founded a research institute at Indiana University where he authored two namesake "reports" on sexual behavior. (*) For the point, name this American sexologist and creator of a scale that ranges from zero to six to describe a person's heterosexuality or homosexuality. | Alfred Charles Kinsey (accept Kinsey Scale) |
| A photo taken by Pablo Bartholomew in this city shows a dead girl half-buried in debris. Warren Anderson faced manslaughter charges for a disaster in this city at a facility that produced Sevin. After a water leak caused an excess of pressure in Tank E610, about 40 tons of (+) methyl isocyanate escaped into the atmosphere above this city and killed over 2,000 people. The capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh, (*) for the point, what Indian city was where a 1984 chemical leak at a Union Carbide plant caused the worst industrial disaster in history? | Bhopal (accept Bhopal disaster) |
| This company's RenderMan system, which was co-created by Turing Award winner Edwin Catmull, won the first Academy Award for a software program. A co- founder of this company invented Z-buffering and texture mapping, which add depth and details to (+) 3D models. After being funded by Steve Jobs, this company split off from Lucasfilm's Computer Graphics Group and began producing shorts like Luxo, Jr. under the direction of John Lasseter. (*) For the point, name this pioneering animation studio behind Finding Nemo and Toy Story. | Pixar Animation Studios (accept Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Group before mention; prompt on "Disney" or "Walt Disney Animation Studios" or "Lucasfilm" or "Industrial Light and Magic") |
| This mathematician applied his triple product formula to rewrite a set of elliptic theta functions. This man was the first Jewish mathematician to be appointed a professor at a German university. With William Rowan Hamilton, (+) this mathematician formulated an alternative to classical mechanics in which the motion of a particle can be represented as a wave. This man names a mathematical object used to transform polar and spherical coordinates into their Cartesian counterparts. (*) For the point, name this mathematician who names the matrix of a function's first partial derivatives. | Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi |
| Islamic zijes were models based on this text and its companion pieces, the Handy Tables. To preserve circular orbits, this text posited equants and epicycles. Most of the ideas of this text were earlier explained in the Canopic Inscription. (+) This book originated the most widely accepted order of the planetary spheres, starting with the moon and Mercury and ending with the stars. This text’s central role was displaced as a result of the Copernican Revolution. (*) For the point, name this astronomical treatise, written in the 2nd century C.E. by Ptolemy. | Almagest |
| This scientist created the Computer Modern font, which was built for use with his Metafont program. This man names a linear-time string-searching algorithm along with Morris and Pratt, and he developed the "up-arrow" (+) notation to represent repeated exponentiation. This man offered a reward of "one hexadecimal dollar" for anyone who could find errors in his massive reference book called The Art of Computer Programming. (*) FTP, name this Stanford computer scientist and "father of algorithm analysis" who developed the popular TeX [[tek]] typesetting program. | Donald Ervin Knuth |
| Colonel L. A. Strange noted how the introduction of a smaller tank into this plane to give way for dual control led to a decrease in training incidents. The F.1 and 2F.1 were among the variants of this craft, which succeeded the Pup. (+) This plane was first flown by Harry Hawker over Surrey in 1916 a year before entering the Royal Naval Air Service, and is credited with the most Allied aerial victories during the Great War. (*) For the point, name this British World War One aircraft manufactured by Sopwith. | Sopwith Camel (prompt on "Sopwith") |
| In 1986, this man created the World Food Prize to honor people who have advanced food availability globally. This scientist, while working at a research center in Campo Atizapan, developed a short-stemmed variety of (+) wheat that greatly increased Mexico’s wheat yield until it became self-sufficient in 1956. This man was known as the "Father of the Green Revolution." (*) For the point, name this plant pathologist who won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for helping reduce hunger issues in India, Pakistan, and Mexico. | Norman Ernest Borlaug |
| In one text, this man wrote that "Too much nitre corrodes a plant, too much water drowns it." For one product, this man removed the gudgeon from a wheelbarrow and added a rotating cylinder, as well as parts from the soundboard of an organ. (+) This man's work on horse hoes showed that pulverization effectively increases crop yields. The imprecision of hand broadcasting was corrected by a product created by this man that positions seeds in the soil and buries them at a specific depth. (*) For the point, name this inventor of the seed drill, who also names a progressive rock band. | Jethro Tull |
| This thing, according to Malcolm Gladwell, was the third most expensive thing developed by the U.S. military during World War Two after only the B-29 and Manhattan Project. The efficacy of this object was described with the analogy of a pickle and a barrel (+) by Carl Norden. The shift from "area" to "precision" forms of one practice was assisted by the development of this item that allowed specific factories and military objectives to be targeted at high speeds. (*) For the point, name this item that improved the accuracy of planes dropping their explosive payloads. | bombsight (accept bombing sight or bomber sight; prompt on partial answers; prompt on "precision bombing" or synonomous descriptions) |
| This man was the first American to use hydraulic sluicing for the construction of a dam at the Silver Lake Reservoir. At least 431 people were killed when a structure this man inspected twelve hours earlier collapsed, wrecking much of Santa Paula. Ranchers (+) in the Owens Valley clashed with a nearby city after this man oversaw the construction of an aqueduct, leading to the California water wars. The St. Francis Dam collapse ended the career of, (*) for the point, what civil engineer who supervised the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and names an L.A. "Drive"? | William Mulholland |
| The goal of this process is guaranteed under the conditions of the Picard and Lindelöf existence and uniqueness theorems. Ways to do this task include the methods of annihilators and of unknown coefficients. One starts from an ansatz infinite series to do this by the method of (+) Frobenius. This task can be accomplished by multiplying the starting equation by an expression of the form “e to the power F of x” in the method of integrating factors. (*) For the point, name this mathematical task of finding a function that satisfies boundary conditions and an equation involving rates of change. | solving differential equations (accept reasonable equivalents; accept ODEs or PDEs in place of "differential equations"; prompt on "solving equations" or "finding solutions") |
| This country's Sisu Nasu all-terrain vehicle was specially developed for use in snow and bog-lands. This country's corporation of Kone manufactures elevators, taking its name from the word in this country's Uralic language for "device." (+) This country also contains the headquarters of Rovio Entertainment, which developed the game Angry Birds, in its city of Espoo. Supercell is headquartered in, (*) for the point, what country where, during the dot-com bubble, Nokia made up 70 percent of market capital at the Helsinki Stock Exchange? | Republic of Finland (accept Suomi; accept Suomen tasavalta or Republiken Finland) |
| This alkaloid compound is derived from a namesake plant in the genus Erythroxylaceae [[ee-rith-rok-see-LAY-see-ay]], which is commonly brewed into a type of "tea." (+) Sigmund Freud notoriously prescribed this compound to his patients as a cure for morphine addiction. This compound was once used in and loaned its name to a cola-flavored soft drink sold in red cans. (*) For the point, name this stimulant most commonly used today in its illicit drug form. | cocaine (prompt on "crack") |