Science quiz for school kids as part of World Junior Championship September 2017

1. FINAL

2. Round 1: Bounce and pounce +10/-5

3. Professor Shonku
is a character in
Bengali Science
fiction modelled
loosely on
Professor
Challenger by
Arthur Conan
Doyle.
Name the creator
of this character.

6. The Malayalam
Movie
Kalachakram
was advertised
as the first
Indian movie on
____.

9. The Marathi Vidnyan Parishad – an institution
dedicated to propagating science in society – receives a
submission from one Narayan Vinayak Jagtap for its
annual story writing competition.
This science fiction story, Krishna Vivar, goes on to win
the first prize.
It’s only later that people find out that Narayan Vinayak
Jagtap or NVJ was in fact just another name for ____.

11. Jayanth Vishnu Narlikar

12. Name this Indian live-action superhero science fiction
television series directed by renowned director Ketan
Mehta. It starred Milind Soman in the lead role.

15. The Malayalam
Movie Karutha
rathrikal starring
Madhu was loosely
based on which
Classic Novel by R L
Stevenson?

18. My Friend Mr Leakey is a book of
light-hearted fantasies for
children.
It was written by a British-born
scientist known for his work in the
study of physiology, genetics,
evolutionary biology, and in
mathematics, where he made
innovative contributions to the
fields of statistics and biostatistics.
Name him

21. Round 2:Bounce and pounce +10/-5

22. The Red Forest is a 10-
square-kilometre Pine tree
forest in Ukraine.
The name "Red Forest"
comes from the ginger-
brown colour of the pine
trees.
What caused these colour?

24. The colour is from the absorption of
radiation from Chernobyl Disaster

25. Name the phenomenon
observed in some tree
species, in which the
crowns of fully stocked
trees do not touch each
other, forming a canopy
with channel-like gaps.

28. The great famine
happened in China in
1960s which killed
around 36 million people.
The reason for this
famine was a campaign
started in 1959.
What was this campaign?

30. The great Sparrow
campaign to kill all
sparrows who eat
grains.
Death of sparrow
increase population of
insects which attacked
crops.

31. The purple-faced langur
is a species of Old World
monkey that is endemic
to Sri Lanka. It is an
endangered species
whom the poachers
hunt.
Why is it hunted for?

33. Its skin is
used to
make
drums

34. The summer of 1976 was
considered to be one of the
hottest summers in Europe.
1976 was dubbed "The year
of the ____" in Britain due
to the rise in the mass
numbers of _____ brought
on by the long hot period

37. This lady is an actor and
conservationist .
Her first name Bindi comes
from the name of her father's
favourite female crocodile and
her middle name sue from
the family's late dog Sui.
Identify her legendary father.

41. Round 3:Round on Rivalries in Science
Bounce and Pounce +10/-5

42. Andreas Vesalius was a 16th-century anatomist and author of one of the most
influential books on human anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica .
He had to disprove many theories of Galen of Pergamon ,a prominent Greek
physician who opined that the femur bone(thigh bone) is bent in humans.
Why did Galen made such a mistake?

44. Galen only done
dissection of
monkeys and
thought that the
same is
applicable to
humans.

45. Roy Jay Glauber was awarded the
2005 Nobel Prize in Physics for his
contribution to the “quantum
theory of optical coherence“.
X, a person of Indian origin who
found similar things were denied
Nobel prize although this award
winning representation later
becomes known as the X- Glauber
representation.“
Name X

48. Humphrey Davy is remembered
for inventing a safety lamp to be
used in Mines .
But it was rumoured to be
invented by his assistant at that
time who went on to become a
more famous scientist.
Name him

51. In 1871, the newly created German Empire's demanded & annexed Alsace from France after its
victory in the Franco-Prussian War. X was professor in the University of Strasbourg, located in
Alsace.
The enmity between then Germany & France is one of the reasons that set the rivalry between X &Y
two greatest figures in medical microbiology.
Y is a Nobel Laureate while X is not. Identify X (French) and Y (German)

53. X - Louis Pasteur (French); Y – Robert Koch (German)

54. X was produced first in 1879, by Constantin Fahlberg, working on coal tar derivatives in Ira Remsen's
laboratory. Even though Fahlberg & Remsen published articles on benzoic sulfimide it was Fahlberg
who patented it and became very wealthy.
Annoyed by Fahlberg’s behaviour Remsen commented, "Fahlberg is a scoundrel. It nauseates me to
hear my name mentioned in the same breath with him.“
Because of shortage of Y, during world war I, use of X became widespread. Because of the difficulty
of importing Y from the West Indies the British produced X. Identify X and Y
Constantin Fahlberg
Ira Remsen

56. X – Saccharin; Y - Sugar

57. In 1856, J.H. Speke joined Sir R.F. Burton on an expedition to search for origin of Nile river. During
the trip, Speke left Burton, who was unwell, & found a great lake which he named & claimed to be
source of Nile.
Speke's theory was rejected by Burton, beginning a bitter public dispute between them. In1864,
shortly before Speke & Burton were to debate the subject publicly, Speke was killed by his own gun
while hunting.
Identify the great lake in Africa.
John Hanning Speke Sir Richard Francis Burton

59. LAKE VICTORIA

60. ROUND 4:Round on Failures in Science
Bounce and pounce :+10/-5

61. An MNC headquartered in Redmond, USA
did an AD campaign to change negative
consumer perception of its product X.
The product X was rebranded as
“Mojave” & demonstrated to people who
had never used the product but heard
bad about it.
Most of the people rated the “Mojave”
positively.
In spite of this campaign the product X
miserably failed.
Identify the company & the failed product
X.
“The Mojave Experiment”

63. MICROSOFT &WINDOWS VISTA OS

64. There have been calls asking Nobel
Foundation to take back the prize it
awarded to Egas Moniz in 1949.
The controversial surgical procedure
invented by him was initially praised
as being revolutionary but later
vilified as barbaric which led to its
ban every where.
Identify the surgery technique which
is now considered one of the worst
medical failure ever to take place.

66. LOBOTOMY (BRAIN CUTTING)

67. Mauveine was the 1st synthetic organic chemical dye discovered in 1856 accidentally by William
Henry Perkin. He was doing an experiment to synthesize X which yielded only a black solid. When
he was cleaning the flask with alcohol he saw a purple colour emerging.
Even though his aim to produce X in lab met with failure, he patented the synthetic dye and started
mass producing it.
Identify X

69. QUININE

70. In the late 40s, in an American air force base, an experiment was being conducted to
check the human tolerance for g-forces. During 1such experiment , the instrument
showed error.
Mr X was irritated at his assistant and said that if this guy has any way of making a
mistake, he definitely will.
Identify Mr. X whose namesake adage (saying) is called -------- --------.

72. MURPHY’S LAW

73. The first product manufactured
by a company, shortly after
World War II, was an electric
cooker. But it undercooked or
burned the food. Because of
this, the product was never
actually released onto the
market. The product was such a
failure that the company failed
to sell even a single one.
Identify the iconic company
which later became a hugely
successful MNC.

75. SONY
Masaru Ibuka

76. According to Stephen Reysen, when data do not reach statistical significance (p<.05), researchers do
not publish , merely file reports & begin new research.
Not publishing insignificant results prevents other researchers from knowing what studies have
already been conducted.
This made him start a online journal to post studies found to be insignificant.
The journal is called as The Journal of Articles in Support of the -------- ------------

78. NULL HYPOTHESIS

80. ROUND 5:Round on Indian Science and Technology
Bounce and pounce :+10/-5

81. X actively encouraged Dr. Jagadish Chandra Bose to pursue
scientific research, editing his manuscripts & helped him
financially as well in getting due recognition when he was put
down by indifferent British.
X continuously wrote about him in newspapers to attract wider
attention to his extraordinary talent and achievement.
In recognition of X’s support to JC Bose, Rabindranath Tagore said:
"In his success, he gained an invaluable energiser in X, & in any
record of his life’s work X’s name must be given a place of
honour.“
Identify X

83. X – Sister Nivedita (Margaret Elizabeth Noble)
The Nun and the Scientist

84. The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is an annual global competition ( by Breakthrough Prize
Foundation) for students (ages 13 -18 ) to inspire creative thinking in science. They are invited to
submit original videos (3 minutes) explaining a concept in the biology, physics or maths. The
student’s ability to communicate complex scientific ideas in simple & interesting ways is judged.
The foundation partners with National Geographic Channel, Cold spring harbor lab & X
Id X
Apekshik Panigrahi
Kaustav Mehta
 X
2016 Indian finalists

86. KHAN ACADEMY

87. X was the co-discoverer of Raman scattering, for which his mentor
C. V. Raman was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics.
X was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1940,
awarded Padma Bhushan in 1954 and was the first recipient of the
prestigious S.S.Bhatnagar Award in 1958. X has also published
research papers on magnetic properties of crystals.
Id X

89. KS KRISHNAN

90. In 2005, Indian government established a expert group on patent laws
under X. The report generated controversy because some part of the
reports were plagiarised.
X was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the PM & also of the
Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet set up by successive
governments.
X chaired 12 committees established to examine a variety of issues
including higher education, national fuel policy, the drug regulatory system,
patents & the agriculture research system.
As head of CSIR he was also in the forefront of fight against bio-piracy
involving basmati rice, turmeric & neem.
Identify X , a chemical engineer by training, former Director General of the
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and recipient of Padma
Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan.

92. RA MASHELKAR

93. Biometrika was founded by Karl Pearson. The first issue appeared in
October 1901. It started as a journal for "the statistical study of biological
problems". Its focus has since broadened to cover statistics. Modelled on
Biometrika, Sankhya journal was started in 1933 by an Indian.
Identify the Indian scientist who is a recipient of Padma Vibhushan.

95. PC MAHALANOBIS

96. Recently in India lot of scientists are turning entrepreneurs. Indian premier science
and technology institutes are acting as business incubators for such start-ups.
Given below are two such start-ups. Connect each of these start-ups to their alma
maters.
SensiBol audio technologies – X
Strand - Y

98. SensiBol – IIT Bombay; Strand – IISc Bengaluru
Indian Institute of Science, BengaluruIndian Institute of Technology, Bombay