Remarkable Engineers
RF Cafe Quiz #27

RF Engineering Quizzes - RF CafeAll RF Cafe Quizzes make great fodder for employment interviews for technicians or engineers - particularly those who are fresh out of school or are relatively new to the work world. Come to think of it, they would make equally excellent study material for the same persons who are going to be interviewed for a job. Bonne chance, Viel Glück, がんばろう, buena suerte, удачи, in bocca al lupo, 행운을 빕니다, ádh mór, בהצלחה, lykke til, 祝你好運. Well, you know what I mean: Good luck!

Click here for the complete list of RF Cafe Quizzes.

Note: Some material based on books have quoted passages.

RF Cafe Featured Book - Remarkable Engineers - from Riquet to ShannonThis quiz is based on the information presented in Remarkable Engineers, from Riquet to Shannon, by Ioan James. Published by Cambridge University Press.

 Note: Some of these books are available as prizes in the monthly RF Cafe Giveaway.

 

 

1.  Why is the subtitle "From Riquet to Shannon?

a)  The engineers covered run alphabetically from Ri through Sh; others are covered

      in the rest of the book series.

b)  Riquet is the earliest engineer covered, and Shannon is the latest

c)  Those are the author's most and least favorite engineers, respectively

d)  Those are the author's least and most favorite engineers, respectively

 

 

2.  Who first suggested that water was composed of hydrogen and oxygen?

a)  Edith Clarke

b)  John Ericsson

c)  Sir Charles Parsons

d)  James Watt

 

 

RF Cafe - Charles Babbage3. What was the main motivation for Charles Babbage to develop his Difference Engine?

a)  To make subtraction of larges number easier

b)  To eliminate the errors in existing numerical tables of logarithms, etc.

c)  To make his mark in the world of mathematics

d)  Is was his Senior Project at the University of Leeds

 

 

RF Cafe - Sir William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (or Lord Kelvin)4.  Sir William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (or Lord Kelvin), is well-know for proposing the concept

     of absolute zero. For what else is he famous?

a)  Partnering with the Klein Bottle inventor to manufacture Kelvin-Klein blue jeans

b)  Development of surface integrals

c)  A magnetic compass

d)  He was a renowned chef

 

 

RF Cafe - George Westinghouse5.  Westinghouse is a giant in the nuclear power and household appliance industries,

      and was so formerly in defense electronics (I worked for their Oceanic division in

      Annapolis, MD, in the 1980s). What was George Westinghouse's first major

      successful product?

a)  Compressed air brakes for trains

b)  An adjustable wrench

c)  Portable furniture

d)  Machine screws with left-handed threads

 

 

6.  Who confirmed the existence of electromagnetic radiation?

a)  James Clerk Maxwell

b)  Albert Einstein

c)  Joseph Henry

d)  Heinrich Hertz

 

 

RF Cafe - Elmer Perry7.  What was Elmer Sperry's most notable invention?

a)  The navigational gyroscope

b)  TTL logic

c)  The electron microscope

d)  The solderless breadboard

 

 

8.  Who made the first transatlantic radio transmission?

a)  Heinrich Hertz

b)  Guglielmo Marconi

c)  Nikola Tesla

d)  Thomas Edison

 

 

RF Cafe - Edith Clarke9.  What is Edith Clarke's claim to fame?

a)  She invented a voltage regulator for long-distance power lines

b)  She was the first female to earn an MSEE degree from MIT

c)  She was the first professionally employed woman in the U.S.

d)  All of the above

 

 

RF Cafe - William Shockley10.  Aside from co-inventing the first transistor, for what else was William Shockley well-known?

a)  Practical jokes

b)  Discovery of the memristor

c)  The AC storage battery

d)  Inventing coaxial cable

 

Need some help? Click here for the answers and explanations.