Remarkable Engineers
RF Cafe Quiz #27

This 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

3. 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

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

5.  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

7.  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

9.  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

10.  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.