General Awareness · Science General

Inventors and Scientific Discoveries

4,616 Questions

This hub provides questions related to great inventors and their scientific discoveries. It covers the inventors of the telephone, radio, and microchips, alongside Nobel Prize winners. These facts are crucial for the general awareness section of major competitive exams.

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Inventors and Scientific Discoveries Questions

Multiple choice

Direction: Choose the appropriate answer from the options given below :

The idea of the cell culture rose from the concept of the ______.

  1. Totipotency

  2. Self sustained cell

  3. Eukaryotic property

  4. None of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Totipotency is the ability of a single cell to divide and produce all the differentiated cells in an organism. This concept forms the foundation of cell culture theory - that individual plant cells can regenerate into entire plants. The other options are not foundational concepts that led to cell culture development.

Multiple choice

Direction: Choose the appropriate answer from the options given below :

The first electron microscope was developed by the Knoll and ______ of Germany in 1932.

  1. Ruska

  2. Jensen

  3. Hans

  4. Vohn Mol
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska developed the first transmission electron microscope (TEM) in Germany in 1932, for which Ruska later won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. This invention allowed scientists to see structures far smaller than light microscopes could resolve.

Multiple choice

Direction: Choose the appropriate answer from the options given below :

The term mitochondria was first introduced by ______ in 1898.

  1. Robert brown

  2. Robert hook

  3. Schinger

  4. Benda
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The term 'mitochondrion' (plural: mitochondria) was coined by Carl Benda in 1898, derived from Greek words 'mitos' (thread) and 'khondrion' (granule), referring to their thread-like or granular appearance under microscope. Robert Brown discovered the nucleus, and Robert Hooke discovered cells.

Multiple choice

Who invented ' Safety Pin' in 1849?

  1. Ernest Rutherford (Great Britain)

  2. William Hunt (U.S.)

  3. Samuel Colt (U.S.)

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The safety pin was invented by Walter Hunt in 1849. He sold the patent for $400 to pay a $15 debt. The design was revolutionary and remains largely unchanged to this day.

Multiple choice

What did Dobereiner propose?

  1. Law of Triads

  2. The periodic table

  3. Law of octaves

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

It is correct, he observed when elements with similar chemical properties were grouped together with increasing atomic masses, occured in groups of three.These are called Triads.

Multiple choice

The first TB vaccine was discovered by

  1. Joseph lister

  2. W.J. Kolff

  3. Leon Calmette and Camelle Guerin

  4. Marie and Pietrre Curie
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The first TB vaccine (BCG - Bacille Calmette-Guérin) was developed by Leon Calmette and Camille Guérin (Option C). This is historically accurate. Joseph Lister is known for antiseptic surgery, W.J. Kolff for dialysis machines, and the Curies for radioactivity research.

Multiple choice

Microscope was invented by

  1. Z. Jansen

  2. W. St Orgeon

  3. E.A. Edison

  4. E.G. Otis
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The microscope was invented by Zacharias Jansen (Option A). Jansen, a Dutch spectacle maker, is credited with inventing the first compound microscope around 1590. The other names listed are not associated with microscope invention.

Multiple choice

Who discovered Radium?

  1. John G Burg

  2. JC Bose

  3. Arya Bhatta

  4. Madam Curie

  5. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Madam Curie (Marie Curie) discovered radium in 1898 along with her husband Pierre Curie. She was a Polish-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.

Multiple choice

Motor car was invented by________.

  1. Paul Muller

  2. Thomas Alva Edison

  3. Karl Benz

  4. Torricelli

  5. None
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Karl Benz is credited with inventing the first practical motor car, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, in 1885-1886. He patented this automobile in Germany. While others like Edison contributed to technological innovations, Benz specifically invented the motor car as we know it.

Multiple choice

Who is said to have discovered nucleic acids?

  1. Friedrich Miescher

  2. Erwin Chargaff's

  3. Maurice Wilkins

  4. Linus Pauling

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Nucleic acids are biological molecules essential for life and include DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid). Together with proteins, nucleic acids make up the most important macromolecules; each is found in abundance in all living things. Nucleic acids were first discovered by Friedrich Miescher in 1871.

Multiple choice

Who propounded the theory of split genes?

  1. Hargobind Khurana

  2. Carl Von Linne

  3. RJ Roberts and P.A Sharp

  4. Robert Brown
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Richard J. Roberts and Phillip A. Sharp discovered split genes (genes containing introns) in 1977 through their research on adenovirus. They showed that genes could be discontinuous, with non-coding regions (introns) removed during RNA processing. This breakthrough earned them the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Multiple choice

R.T.H Laenne C invented the

  1. stethoscope

  2. optical telescope

  3. safety pin

  4. radio
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

R.T.H. Laënnec invented the stethoscope in 1816. He was a French physician who created this diagnostic tool to listen to heart and lung sounds without placing his ear directly against the patient's body. The stethoscope revolutionized physical examination and remains a fundamental medical instrument today.