Top 10 British Inventions That Changed the World

Great Britain produced many of the most influential scientists, mathematicians and inventors in modern history. With influential people, come influential ideas, theories and inventions, some of which have the potential to change the world forever. This list will look at my pick for the top 10 British inventions which did just that. Note that although a couple of these inventions have been disputed, they are all legally recognized as British inventions.

10. United States of America

Let’s open with a little controversy. The United States of America (USA) is a country occupying roughly half the continent of North America, mostly the southern half. As the sole current global superpower (by definition), The USA has been, and continues to be, one of the most influential countries in the world, especially in industry, culture and military power.

The USA was formed when British colonies in North America declared independence after continued and growing disputes with the Kingdom of Great Britain (as it was then known) over taxation of the colonies without representation in British parliament. The Revolutionary War lasted 8 years from 1775 to 1783, resulting in victory and independence for the USA with decisive assistance from the French, Spanish and Dutch during the war.

However, the fact remains that the colonists were British subjects until the point of victory in 1783, at which time they became independent Americans. By that reasoning, The USA was, at its inception, a British invention.

9. Newton’s Laws

Isaac Newton was a British physicist and mathematician. Born in 1642, Newton discovered and documented for the first time three laws of motion in regard to physics. Newton’s Laws are as follows – 1st Law: An object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an external force and an object in uniform motion tends to remain in uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force. 2nd Law: An applied force on an object equals the rate of change of its momentum. 3rd Law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Newton was also the first person to document the mechanics of universal gravitation. Newton’s work is some of the most influential in the history of modern science, many regarding him to be one of the most important scientists in human history.

8. Programmable Computer

The first programmable computer was invented by British mathematician and scientist Charles Babbage in the 1820s. Although he is recognized as the inventor of the programmable computer, Babbage did not live to see the machine completed. Babbage began work on a mechanical computer he called the Difference Engine in 1822, working for more than ten years with government funding. The project was eventually abandoned after losing funding after the British government lost faith in the project after prolonged delays. The machine was built for the first time from Babbage’s original designs over 150 years later in 1989. After his work on the difference engine, Babbage went on to invent the Analytical Engine, a far more complex machine than the Difference Engine, it could be programmed using punched cards. The Analytical Engine, although not built in full until 2011 by British researchers, was the first ever working programmable computer, and was the first step in the history of computing as we know it.

7. World Wide Web

Not to be confused with the Internet (a global system of networked computers invented in the USA), the World Wide Web, invented by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, is the system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. The World Wide Web is most commonly experienced as the system behind the concept of web pages and websites. Berners-Lee first proposed the concept of the World Wide Web in March 1989, later pitching it at CERN along with Belgian scientist Robert Cailliau. CERN then publicly introduced the project in December of 1990. The first website, info.cern.ch, went live at CERN on 6th August 1991. Interestingly, Berners-Lee, although realizing the potential for immense personal profit from his invention, chose instead to gift the idea to the world, requesting no payment.

6. Television

The world’s first publicly demonstrated television was invented by British inventor John Logie Baird in 1925. Logie Baird is also credited with the invention of the first fully electric color television tube. The first public demonstration of Logie Baird’s television was performed before members of the Royal Institution on 26th January 1926. He also later demonstrated the first color television on 3rd July 1928. Logie Baird’s television displayed a 30 line vertically scanned image at 5 frames per second, with later models improving the frame rate to 12.5 frames per second by the time of its first demonstration. Logie Baird’s invention paved the way for what is now nearly a century of work on the development of television technology, which remains one of the most influential inventions in history, allowing people all over the world to communicate via moving images.

5. Steam Locomotive

The first steam locomotive was invented by Richard Trevithick, a British inventor and mining engineer. Trevithick’s steam locomotive was built in 1804 in Pen-y-Darren in South Wales to carrying cargo. Trevithick sold the patents to the steam locomotive to Samuel Homfray. In one of the earliest public demonstrations, the locomotive successfully carried an impressive load of 10 tons of iron, 5 wagons and 70 men 9.75 miles between Penydarren and Abercynon in 4 hours and 5 minutes. Trevithick continued to work with steam locomotives for many more years until his death in April 1833. A full-scale working replica of his first steam locomotive was built in 1981 for the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum, later moving to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. The locomotive is run several times a year along a short length of rail outside the museum.

3. Theory of Evolution

Charles Darwin was a British naturalist born in 1809. Darwin was the first person to propose the now popular theories of evolution, natural selection and common descent. After a 5 year voyage around the globe aboard the HMS Beagle, Darwin returned to Britain finding himself a celebrity in scientific circles following distribution of his letters to various scientists at home while he had been away studying geology aboard the Beagle. Darwin went on to be elected to the Council of the Geological Society, later moving to London to continue his work and join a circle of scientists which included Charles Babbage. Darwin formed his theory of evolution over much of his life, only publishing it in his later years in his book “On The Origin of Species” for fear of how the public would respond to what was, at the time, a highly controversial theory, since it proposed a means by which life developed on Earth without a God. Charles Darwin continued, despite controversy (and in some cases ridicule), his work until his death on 19th April 1882 from heart disease, likely brought on from years of illness, overwork and stress.

3. Telephone

The telephone was invented by British inventor Alexander Graham Bell and patented in 1876. Bell left school at age 15, but maintained a keen interest in science and biology. Moving to London to live with his grandfather, Bell developed a love for learning and spent hours each day in study. Aged 16, he went to teach elocution and music at Weston House Academy in Moray, Scotland. A year later, Bell attended the University of Edinburgh, later being accepted into the University of London. His early experiments with sound began when he was taken to see a “speaking” automaton designed by Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen and built by Sir Charles Wheatstone.

Fascinated by the machine, Bell purchased a copy of a book written in German by Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen and built a similar automaton with his Brother. Many years later, while working at Boston University School of Oratory, Bell became interested in technology to transmit sound. Leaving his job a the university, he made the decision to pursue his personal research on the subject. In 1875, Bell created an acoustic telegraph which he patented in March 1876 following a close race with American inventor Elisha Gray, whom accused Graham Bell of stealing the invention from him. The patent office ultimately ruled in Bell’s favor and he was granted the patent for the world’s first telephone.

2. The Bar code

The first patent for a bar code type product (US Patent #2,612,994) USPTO

These boring sets of black and white lines can now be found on almost every single item bought from a shop. At first glance, it seems hard to see how they possibly made any impact on the world, but they have fundamentally changed the way we shop.

Norman Woodland first developed an early form of the bar code in 1949 by combining ideas from movie soundtracks and Morse code to help him speed up store checkouts. They now stores to instantly access product details, prices and stock levels with a sweep of a laser

1. English Language

English is the second most widely spoken language in the world behind Mandarin. However, it is the official language of more countries worldwide than any other, and the most common second language globally. English is generally used as the intermediary language of choice at global events and international summits. The English language is also the most far reaching language in the world, with native speakers as far spread as Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and, of course, Great Britain, where the language was born. Every great speech in the long history of the English speaking world, every theory, paper, proposal and design too, share one common thing: the English language. That is why it must be Britain’s most influential invention.

Top 10 Unknowable Things

There are lots of things we don’t know; personally I’m a veritable cornucopia of ignorance. But there is a difference between things we don’t know and things that can’t be known. For example, no-one knows when Shakespeare was born (although we do know when he was baptized). However, it’s not impossible that in the future we could find out – a long lost document might be found that mentions his birth, so Shakespeare’s true date of birth is not unknowable, just unknown. This list contains 10 things that are unknowable in principle. Not only are they unknown now, they can never be known.

Most of these are mathematical; I’ve tried to make it as nontechnical as possible – apart from anything else, I’m no mathematician so I’ve tried to dumb it down enough so that I can understand it.

10. Sets and More Sets

Unknowable Thing: What’s in a set of sets that don’t contain themselves?

We have to do a little mathematics for several of these items! This is the first on the list because, in a sense, the concept of the “unknowable” starts with this paradox discovered by Bertrand Russell in 1901.

Let’s start with the idea of a set. A set is a collection of objects – for example, you could have the set of positive even numbers that contains 2, 4, 6, 8… or the set of prime numbers containing 2, 3, 5, 7, 11… so far so good.

Can sets contain other sets? Yes, no problem – you could have a set of sets that contain other sets – and that set would, obviously, contain itself. In fact, you can split sets into two types – those that contain themselves and those that don’t.

So, consider a set (S, say) of sets that don’t contain themselves. Does S contain itself? If it does, then it shouldn’t be in the set, but if it doesn’t, then it should. So S is continually hopping in and out of itself.

This paradox caused quite a lot of consternation amongst mathematicians. Imagine someone proving that a number could be simultaneously even and odd, it’s similarly worrisome to that. Ways have been gotten around the paradox – essentially by redefining set theory.

9. Graham’s Number

It has been said that the problem with people’s perception of the universe is that our brains are only used to dealing with small numbers, short distances and brief periods of time. Graham’s number is big enough to make most people’s brains start to steam; it’s really big; to put it into context, let’s look at some, so-called, big numbers:

Most people have heard of a googol – for most purposes it’s a big number – 10^100 which is 1 followed by 100 zeroes.

There are much bigger numbers out there though; a googolplex is 1 followed by a googol zeroes and the mathematician Stanley Skewes has defined numbers much bigger than a googolplex.

To put these into context, the smallest of them (the googol) is still much bigger than the number of particles in the universe (around 10^87).

However, Graham’s number knocks these “toddlers” out of the ground – it was used by Ronald Graham in his (to me) incomprehensible work on multi-dimensional hypercubes (it’s the upper limit to one of the solutions). Suffice to say that it is way bigger than Skewes’ numbers and in fact, the universe isn’t big enough to store the printed version. Even if each digit was the size of an electron. Not even close.

The truly wonderful thing about Graham’s number is that it’s possible to calculate the last few digits and we know it ends in a 7.

8. Smallest Integer

Unknowable Thing: What’s the smallest positive integer not definable in under eleven words?

This is a problem in the philosophy of mathematics. Just to make things a little clearer – an integer is a whole number (1, 2, 3 etc), and for smaller integers, it’s easy to define them in words:

“The square of 2”= 4
“One more than 4” = 5

…and so on. Now as a thought experiment – consider how many eleven word sentences there are – obviously there are a lot; but there’s only a finite number of words (around 750,000 in English) so there’s only a finite number of eleven word sentences – at some point, you’d run out and there would be an integer you couldn’t define. Except, “The smallest positive integer not definable in under eleven words” only contains ten words, so you can define it in under eleven words.

This is called Berry’s paradox and in fact, it’s a kind of “sleight of hand” with language – we’re subtly moving from naming numbers to describing them, but still no-one can come up with that number!

7. Software

Unknowable Thing: Will a computer program ever stop?

When I sat through Pure Mathematics classes at school, it was a common complaint that what we were learning was “useless.” Unfortunately, the teacher simply responded with “you’re learning this because it’s on the syllabus.” The Turing Halting problem sounds like a grade-A useless, entirely academic, waste of time. Except that it led to the development of digital computers.

Alan Turing was an English mathematician and a child prodigy, particularly in mathematics. His work on computing machines was entirely theoretical at first; he was working on the idea of describing mathematical statements entirely numerically so they could be processed by a theoretical computing machine. He thought up the concept of a general purpose computing machine (now called a Turing Machine) as a thought experiment – he didn’t envision someone actually building one.

He reasoned that a computer program must either run forever or stop. He proved that it’s impossible to automatically determine which will happen – I know you might argue you could “run the program and see what happens” – but supposing it only stops after 7 trillion years?

A little more about Turing: his line of reasoning is particularly remarkable because he did it in 1936 – years before the first digital computer was built. World War II started in 1939 but Turing had been working on code-breaking at Bletchley Park for a year before that; trying to decipher the German Enigma code. It was clear that a “manual” approach was too slow and Turing specified the first decoding machine (called a Bombe), this led to Colossus – arguably the first programmable, digital computer that could automatically run through many possible “keys.” His work was so important to decryption that much remained secret long after the war ended; some was only published this year – 60 years after it was written.

6. Does Not Compute

Unknowable Thing: There are numbers that can’t be computed.

This is another mind bender proved by Alan Turing. For a start, there is more than one “infinity.” For example, how many positive, whole numbers are there? Why, there are infinity – they never stop. How many positive, even numbers are there? The same – if you double a positive, whole number you get a corresponding even number, so there must be the same number.

Okay, how many real numbers are there? Real numbers include all the fractions, irrational numbers (such as pi) and whole numbers (positive or negative). Well, there are a lot more than there are whole numbers – between each whole number, there are an infinite number of real numbers; so the number of real numbers is a much bigger infinity than the number of whole numbers.

With this concept firmly in place; you can reason thus:

Suppose you start writing computer programs to generate real numbers, one for each real number.

You count each program; the first one is “1”, the second, “2” and so on – as you’re counting, you use the positive, whole numbers.

The problem is that although you’re happy to write an infinite number of programs, that infinity is way smaller than the infinite number of real numbers, so there must be many (in fact, most) real numbers missing – that can’t be calculated.

5. True or False?

Unknowable Thing: In mathematics, there are true things that can’t be proved true – and we don’t know what they are.

This brain-hurting theorem was developed by Kurt Gödel. The concept dates back to 1900 when David Gilbert proposed 23 “problems” in mathematics that he would like to see solved in the upcoming century. One problem was to prove that mathematics was consistent – which would be jolly nice to know. However, in 1901, Gödel blew that out of the water with his incompleteness theorem – I won’t go through the theorem in detail here, partly because I don’t understand the full detail, but mainly because it took me three separate lectures before I even felt I was getting there, so if you’re interested: Wikipedia is your friend!

In summary, the theorem shows that you can’t prove mathematics consistent using just mathematics (you’d have to use a “meta-language”). Furthermore, he also showed that there are true things in mathematics that can’t be proved true.

When I learnt the theorem, it was suggested that the famous Fermat’s Last Theorem might be such a “true thing that can’t be proved true,” but that was spoiled as an example when Andrew Wiles proved it true in 1995. However, here are a couple of things that might be true, but not provable:

“There’s no odd perfect number.”

A perfect number is a positive, whole number whose divisors add up to itself. For example, 6 is a perfect number – 1 + 2 + 3 = 1 * 2 * 3 = 6.

28 is the next perfect number. Perfect numbers occur rarely and up to now only 41 perfect numbers have been found. No-one knows how many there are – but it’s between 41 and infinity!

So far, all the perfect numbers have been even but, again, no-one knows if there is an odd one yet to be found, but if there is one it’s a very big number; bigger than 10^1500 – (1 with 1500 zeroes after it).

“Every even number is the sum of two primes.”

A prime number is only divisible by itself or 1 and it’s a curious fact that, so far, every even number that’s been tested is the sum of two of them – for example: 8 = 5+3 or 82 = 51 + 31. Again, it’s known to be true for a lot of numbers (up to around 10^17) and it’s also known that the higher a number is, the more likely it is to be a prime, so it seems more likely the higher you get, but who’s to say there isn’t a really big even number out there where it isn’t true?

4. What’s Truth, man?

Still in the world of provability, we come to Tarksi’s undefinability theorem, but to tantalize, here is something on the background of Tarksi.

He was the son of Jewish parents born in pre-war Poland, and he was very lucky. He was born Alfred Teitelbaum in 1901. There was widespread antisemitism in pre-war Poland and in 1923 Alfred and his brother changed their surname to “Tarski” – a name they made up because it “sounded more Polish.” They also changed their religion from Jewish to Roman Catholic – although Alfred was actually an atheist.

In the late 1930s, Tarski applied for several professorships in Poland but was turned down – luckily, as it turned out. In 1939 he was invited to address a conference in America which he probably wouldn’t have attended if he’d recently taken up a professorship. Tarski caught the last ship to leave Poland before the German invasion the following month. He had no thought that he was “escaping” from Poland – he left his children behind thinking he would be returning soon. His children survived the war and they were reunited in 1946, although most of his extended family were killed by the German occupiers.

Back to the theorem: Tarski proved that arithmetical truth cannot be defined in arithmetic. He also extended this to any formal system; “truth” for that system cannot be defined within the system.

It is possible to define truth for one system in a stronger system; but of course, you can’t define truth in that stronger system, you’d have to move on to a still stronger system – and so on, indefinitely searching for the unreachable truth.

3. Particle Particulars

Unknowable Thing: Where is that particle, and how fast is it going?

We leave the brain-hurting world of mathematics, but alas we enter the even more cortex-boggling world of quantum physics. The uncertainty principle arose when studying sub-atomic particles and changed how we view the universe. When I was at school, we were taught that an atom was like a mini solar system with a sun-like nucleus in the middle with electrons orbiting, and the electrons were like tiny marbles.

That is so wrong – and one of the key discoveries along the way to showing that was Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Werner Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who worked closely with the Danish physicist Niels Bohr in the 1920s. Heisenberg’s reasoning goes like this:

How do I find out where a particle is? I have to look at it, and to look at it I have to illuminate it. To illuminate it, I have to fire photons at it, when a photon hits the particle, the particle will be moved by the photons – so by trying to measure it’s position, I change it’s position.

Technically, the principle says that you can’t know the position and momentum of a particle simultaneously. This is similar, but not the same as the “observer” effect in experimentation where there are some experiments whose outcomes change depending on how they are observed. The uncertainty principle is on much firmer mathematical footings and, as I mentioned, changed the way the universe is viewed (or how the universe of the very small is viewed). Electrons are now thought of as probability functions rather than particles; we can calculate where they are likely to be, but not where they are – they could actually be anywhere.

The uncertainty principle was quite controversial when it was announced; Einstein famously said that “God does not play dice with the universe,” and it was around this time that the split in physics that separated quantum mechanics – which studies the very small and the macro physics that studies larger objects and forces started. That split is still to be resolved.

2. Chaitin’s Constant

Chaitin’s constant is an example of what seems normal and sensible to a mathematician, but crazy sounding to the rest of us. Chaitin’s constant is the probability that a random computer program will halt. What’s crazy about it (actually, one of a few things), is that there is a different constant for each program, so there is an infinite number of values for this “constant” – which is usually shown as a Greek omega (Ω). The other slightly crazy thing about it is that it’s not possible to determine what Ω is – it’s an uncomputable number, which is a real shame – if we could compute Ω, then it’s been shown that most unproven problems in mathematics could actually be proved (or disproved).

1. Unknown Unknowables

So far, we’ve described things we know to be unknowable (if that makes sense). However, the final item describes things that might be true but that can’t be known. You might think I’d struggle to find an example, but consider the following:

We live in an expanding universe; when we look at other galaxies they are moving away from us and accelerating. Now, in a distant future (around 2 trillion years from now) all the other galaxies will be so far away that they won’t be observable (technically, they’ll be moving so fast that the light will be stretched into gamma rays with wavelengths longer than the universe is wide). So, if you were an astronomer in 2 trillion years, there would be no way of knowing that there were billions of other galaxies in the universe – and if anyone suggested it, you’d laugh derisively and say “show me the evidence; you have nothing.”

So, bearing this in mind, come back to the present day – there might be true things about the universe that we can never know. Gulp!

London Olympics Trivia of the Day

The Olympic Motto

In 1921, Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, borrowed a Latin phrase from his friend, Father Henri Didon, for the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius (“Swifter, Higher, Stronger”).

Trivia of the Day

The Official Olympic Flag

Created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1914, the Olympic flag contains five interconnected rings on a white background. The five rings symbolize the five significant continents and are interconnected to symbolize the friendship to be gained from these international competitions. The rings, from left to right, are blue, yellow, black, green, and red. The colors were chosen because at least one of them appeared on the flag of every country in the world. The Olympic flag was first flown during the 1920 Olympic Games.

Theory of Relativity

E= energy            

C= Celeritas (The Speed of Light)

M= Mass 

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“In light of knowledge attained, the happy achievement seems almost a matter of course, and any intelligent student can grasp it without too much trouble. But the years of anxious searching in the dark, with their intense longing, their alterations of confidence and exhaustion and the final emergence into the light — only those who have experienced it can understand it.”

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Einstein’s theories sprang from a ground of ideas prepared by decades of experiments. One of the most striking, in retrospect, was done in Cleveland, Ohio, by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley in 1887. Their apparatus, shown above, was a massive stone block with mirrors and crisscrossing light beams, giving an accurate measurement of any change in the velocity of light. Michelson and Morley expected to see their light beams shifted by the swift motion of the earth in space. To their surprise, they could not detect any change. It is debatable whether Einstein paid heed to this particular experiment, but his work provided an explanation of the unexpected result through a new analysis of space and time.

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The deep connection Einstein discovered between energy and mass is expressed in the equation E=mc² . Here E represents energy, m represents mass, and c² is a very large number, the square of the speed of light. Full confirmation was slow in coming. In Paris in 1933, Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie took a photograph showing the conversion of energy into mass. A quantum of light, invisible here, carries energy up from beneath. In the middle it changes into mass — two freshly created particles which curve away from each other.

Want to listen Einstein explain the equation? Click here

 Or just read the explanation :

“It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing — a somewhat unfamiliar conception for the average mind. Furthermore, the equation E is equal to m c-squared, in which energy is put equal to mass, multiplied by the square of the velocity of light, showed that very small amounts of mass may be converted into a very large amount of energy and vice versa. The mass and energy were in fact equivalent, according to the formula mentioned above. This was demonstrated by Cockcroft and Walton in 1932, experimentally.”

Via Source: http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/emc1.htm#ae22

Trivia of the Day

Did you know, giraffes can go without water longer than a camel.

Different types of Google

Although Google.com remains the No. 1 search engine in the world, some web developers have created different and humorous variations of the Google homepage.

Keep in mind that none of these are affiliated with Google, the company.

Google – http://www.google.com/
Blue Google – http://bigbluesearch.com/
Yellow Google – http://bigyellowsearch.com/
Black Google – http://blackle.com/
Orange Google – http://caliorange.com/
Dark Google – http://darkoogle.com/
Dinosaur Google – http://www.dinoogle.com/
Annoying Google – http://donttypelikethis.com/
Emo Google – http://www.searchemo.com/
Epic Google – http://www.toobigtouse.com/
Save Watts Google – http://www.saveswatts.com/
Giz Google – http://gizoogle.com/
Bear Google – http://google.bearshare.com/
Linux Google – http://www.google.com/linux
Logo Google – http://www.google.com/logos/
Web Hacker Google – http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-hacker
Klingon Google – http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-klingon
Pig Latin Google – http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-piglatin
Loco Google – http://www.thatsloco.com/
Googoth Google – http://www.googoth.co.in/
Goth Google – http://gothle.com/
Help Google – http://helpuu.com/
Pink Google – http://isearchpink.com/
Ninja Google – http://www.ninja.com/
Orange Google – http://oranjoogle.com/
Pink Google – http://www.thinkpinksearch.com/
Purple Google – http://purpoogle.com/
Rainbow Google – http://www.seetherainbow.com/
Scene Google – http://www.scenekidsearch.com/
Weenie (Shrinking) Google – http://www.toosmalltouse.com/
Green Google – http://www.thinkgreensearch.com/
Purple Google – http://www.mypurplesearch.com/
Vampire Google – http://www.myvampiresearch.com/
Yellow Google – http://www.searchincolor.net/yellow/
Spanish Google – http://www.google.es/
Chinese Google – http://www.google.com/intl/zh-CN/
Goth Engine Google – http://www.gothengine.com/
Earth Google – http://www.earthle.com/
Stalk Google – http://shinyplasticbag.com/projects/stalk
Jewish Google – http://www.jewgle.org
Catholic Google – http://www.cathoogle.com
Funny Google – http://www.funny-google.com
English to Irish Slang Google – http://www.doogle.org
Moogle Google – http://www.moogle.com
Student Google – http://scholar.google.com.au
Music Google – http://www.musgle.com
Jewish Google – http://www.ichikoo.com/joogle
Toogle Google – http://c6.org/toogle/
Elmer Fudd Google – http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-elmer
Metal Google – http://www.metalgoogle.com/about.php
Green Google – http://greenle.net/
Woogle Google – http://www.gujian.net/woogle/

 Gothic Google, annoying Google, Google loco, Google rainbow, epic Google, weenie Google, ninja Google, and many more

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/List_of_different_types_of_Google#ixzz1zkScP7Xg

American Independence Quiz Answers

Name That Place Quiz

Answer Key 

1. c. Biscayne National Park. The National Park Service calls Biscayne National Park a “watery
wonderland.” This park in eastern Florida lies within sight of downtown Miami, yet is worlds away,
protecting a rare combination of aquamarine waters, emerald islands, and fish-bejeweled coral
reefs.
2. b. Mississippi. While the Missouri River is longer than the Mississippi River, the Missouri is
considered a tributary of the mighty Mississippi. Cotton and rice are important crops in the lower
Mississippi Valley; sugarcane is raised in the delta.
3. a. Minnesota. The Minnesota River Valley is the site of some of the oldest exposed rock in the
world. Geologists estimate the Granitic Gneiss located here was formed 3.8 billion years ago.
4. b. suspension. The 1.2-mile-long suspension bridge, which was completed in 1933, connects
San Francisco and Marin County.
5. c. Washington, D.C. The National Mall is a 146-acre stretch of lawn that extends from the
Potomac River to the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The area hosts political rallies, festivals,
and other events.
6. a. Acadia National Park, Maine. Cadillac Mountain–the tallest mountain on the U.S. Atlantic
Coast–is part of Acadia, a national park in southeastern Maine that is almost completely
surrounded by sea. Acadia National Park comprises more than 47,000 acres of land.
7. b. Washington, D.C. While you can certainly read the Gettysburg Address at the Gettysburg
National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Penn., the Lincoln Memorial is located in our nation’s capital,
Washington, D.C.
8. b. Yellowstone. Before the National Park Service was established in 1916, the U.S. Army was in
charge of protecting Yellowstone, America’s first national park.
9. a. Philadelphia. The bell, which weighs 2,000 pounds, was cast in England in 1752 for the
Pennsylvania Statehouse (now named Independence Hall) in Philadelphia.
10. c. Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge established the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park to preserve Appalachian history and its resources. The
mountains are named for the smoke-like haze that envelops the park’s more than 25 peaks that
rise over 6,000 feet.
11. c. obelisk. An obelisk is a four-sided structure, usually built of stone, which tapers from the
bottom up.
12. c. the White House. The British burned this 132-room mansion in 1814. As it stands today, the
White House has 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, 8 staircases, and 3 elevators.

13. c. American Museum of Natural History, New York City. The Museum of Science in Boston
also has a planetarium named after Charles Hayden, but the American Museum of Natural History
on New York City’s Upper West Side has both a larger planetarium and a life-sized blue whale.
14. b. Battle Creek, Michigan. Today you can visit Kellogg’s Cereal City USA, an interactive
museum in Battle Creek that pays tribute to cereal and shows its impact on our culture. Visitors can
observe a re-creation of a cereal production line, meet their favorite Kellogg’s cereal-box celebrities, and buy a personalized box of cereal with their picture on it.
15. c. Point Barrow, Alaska. The location has been home to Native Inupiat Eskimo people for
more than 1,000 years under the name Ukpeagvik or “place where snowy owls are hunted.”

Patriotic Entertainment

Answer Key

1. a. “God Bless the USA.” The refrain of “God Bless the USA” continues:
“And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today,
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.”
2. a. World War II. Frankie Muniz played Willie in the film. His gruff father, played by Kevin Bacon,
helps Dink deal with war’s many scars when he returns home from battle.
3. c. “Star-Spangled Banner.” The song officially became our national anthem by an act of Congress in 1931.
4. b. Forrest Gump. This inspirational movie follows a simple man named Forrest Gump from the
rural South to the jungles of Vietnam to the hurricane-riddled Gulf Coast. The movie won six Academy Awards.
5. c. “This Land Is Your Land.” Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” as a political song
in 1940. He recorded it in 1944. Many artists since have recorded slightly altered versions of the
song.
6. a. National Treasure. With the name Benjamin Franklin Gates, Cage’s character has big shoes
to fill! He also visits the original Constitution and the Declaration of Independence in his search for
a hidden cache of gold.
7. b. “Yankee Doodle.” In pre-Revolutionary America, “macaroni” was a fancy, or “dandy,” style of
dress. The song was originally used by the British to mock the poorly dressed rebels (Yankees),
and the rebel, “doodles,” quickly adopted the song as an anthem of pride.
8. b. A League of Their Own. The real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
(AAGPBL) took to the diamond in 1943 to continue America’s favorite past time while the men were
fighting in World War II. In this 1992 movie, Geena Davis, Rosie O’Donell, and Madonna are part of
the Rockford Peaches, an all-girls team. Tom Hanks plays the manager, Jimmy Dugan.
9. a. 31. The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy. He wrote a
pledge that could be used by any country, so our pledge was personalized with six words in 1923:
“of the United States of America,” and with two more in 1954: “under God.”
10. b. Dave. Kevin Kline plays Dave Kovic, an average guy hired to pretend to be president. When
the real president has a heart attack, Kovic finds himself assuming more responsibility and actually
enjoying himself. Watch the movie to find out what happens!
11. c. “America the Beautiful.” A version of “America the Beautiful” performed by top country
music performers Trace Adkins, Billy Dean, Vince Gill, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Toby Keith, Brenda
Lee, Lonestar, Martina McBride, Jamie O’Neal, Kenny Rogers and Keith Urban hit the charts
following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

12. a. an aborted Moon mission. In Apollo 13, Ron Howard recreated the drama of the aborted
1970 Apollo 13 Moon mission with nail-biting detail and spectacular visual integrity. It was Apollo 1
(1967) that experienced a fatal fire, and Apollo 11 (1969) that witnessed Neil Armstrong’s first steps
on the Moon.
13. c. “Take Me out to the Ballgame.” Traditionally played during baseball’s seventh-inning
stretch, “Take Me out to the Ballgame” is the unofficial anthem of baseball. The lyrics were written
in 1908 by a vaudeville performer named Jack Norworth, and were set to the music of Albert Von
Tilzer.
14. b. Air Force One. Harrison Ford plays the president who is taken hostage by terrorists from
Kazakhstan. He seems to escape from Air Force One in an emergency capsule, but he remains on
board.
15. a. “Taps.” The first documented use of “Taps” was at a funeral was during the Civil War. A
captain ordered that the call be played for the burial of a cannoneer killed in action. Since the
enemy was close, he worried that the traditional three-gun volley would cause a renewal of fighting.

U.S. History

Answer key

1. a. the Liberty Bell was rung. The bell was rung on July 8, 1776, to mark the milestone event.
2. b. Germany, Japan, and Italy. The U.S. entered WWII in 1941, after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
3. a. 27. The 27th Amendment concerning Congressional raises and was ratified in 1992.
4. c. Emma Lazarus. Lazarus, an American poet known for her powerful poems about Judaism,
wrote “The New Colossus” in 1883.
5. b. Geraldine Ferraro. Ferraro, a U.S. Representative from New York, was Walter Mondale’s
running mate on the Democratic ticket in 1984. They lost to incumbent President Ronald Reagan
and Vice President George H. W. Bush.
6. a. Thirteen stars and thirteen stripes. Although earlier flags featured a British Union Jack or
the motto “Don’t Tread on Me,” the first flag approved by the Continental Congress had 13 stars on
a field of blue and 13 stripes.
7. b. Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt was inaugurated to a second term on January 20, 1937.
8. c. 435. There are 435 representatives in the U.S. Congress, apportioned among the states
according to their populations. Their terms are two years long.
9. c. Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson. Johnson was impeached in 1867 for violating the Tenure
of Office Act, and Clinton in 1998 for grand jury perjury and obstruction of justice, charges related to
his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The Senate acquitted both men.
10. a. The Cabinet. The establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002 brought
the number of Cabinet members to 15.
11. b. life. The President appoints justices to the Supreme Court, the highest court of the United
States, and the Senate must confirm them.
12. b. Patrick Henry. During a meeting of the legislature in Richmond in March 1775, Patrick Henry
urged his fellow Virginians to arm in self defense, closing his plea with the unforgettable sentence:
“I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”
13. b. Shoshone. Sacagawea was the wife of Toussaint Charbonneau, an interpreter and guide.
Their son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, was born on February 11, 1805—less than three months
after they joined the Corps of Discovery.
14. a. Antietam. With more than 23,000 casualties in a single day, Sept. 17, 1862, Antietam holds
the dubious honor of the bloodiest day of the Civil War. Gettysburg suffered twice as many casualties, but they were spread out over the course of many skirmishes in June and July 1863.
15. b. Elephant. Cartoonist Thomas Nast is credited with making the symbols of the two major
political parties, the donkey and the elephant, famous. The Democrats claim that the donkey, their
symbol, is smart and brave.

Who Am I?

Answer key

 

1. c. Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh made the 33 ½-hour, 3,600-mile flight in his Wright-powered
Ryan monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis. He traveled from Roosevelt Field, N.Y., to Le Bourget Field
outside Paris May 20–21, 1927.
2. b. Frank Epperson. In 1905, when Frank Epperson was making soda pop, he accidentally left
the mixing bucket outside. During the night the mixture froze solid, with the wooden stirring stick
standing straight up. Frank started selling Epperson icicles for five cents, later changing the name
to popsicles.
3. b. Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, short-story writer, and critic born in
Boston, Mass. His intense, mysterious, and often macabre tales and poems reflected his personality.
4. a. Alan Shepard, Jr. Alan Shepard, Jr. became the first American in space on 5 May 1961,
when he went aloft in the Freedom 7 capsule for a 15-minute sub-orbital flight.
5. c. Shaun White. Called the “Flying Tomato” because of his flaming red hair, Shaun White is a
whirlwind on a snowboard. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, White added a second gold to his collection and debuted a new move: the “Double McTwist 1260”—a move incorporating two front flips
and 3½ twists. He renamed it “The Tomahawk.”
6. b. Theodore Geisel. “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is
youer than you.” This is a very Seussical quote from Theodore Geisel. Millions of fans mourned his
passing in 1991, at age 87.
7. a. DJ Grand Wizard Theodore. Born Theodore Livingstone in 1962, DJ Grand Wizard, Grand
Wizard Theodore, or GrandWizzard Theodore, is famous in the world of hip-hop turn-tablism for
inventing and perfecting the scratch and the needle drop. Many of his experiences were included in
a 2001 documentary film called Scratch.
8. c. Clarence Birdseye. By 1949, Birdseye had perfected the anhydrous freezing process, reducing the time to freeze foods from 18 hours to 1 1/2 hours.
9. a. George Washington. Sometimes called the father of our country, George Washington was
born in 1732, served two terms as president, was commander in chief of the Continental army in
the American Revolution, and died in 1799.
10. b. Milton Hershey. Hershey’s first foray in the candy business was caramels. He sold his
caramel business in 1900 and went on to produce what he called “the great American chocolate
bar.”
11. a. Derek Jeter. Such was Jeter’s reputation that when Rodriguez joined the Yankees in 2004,
Rodriguez moved to third base to allow Jeter to remain at shortstop.
12. c. Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz began her career in 1970, when she first went to work for Rolling
Stone magazine. She left Rolling Stone in 1983 and has been with Vanity Fair since.

13. b. Martin Van Buren. Of all our presidents, eight were born British subjects: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams,
Andrew Jackson, and William Harrison.
14. b. Bill Gates. A Harvard College dropout, Bill Gates formed Microsoft Corp. with Paul Allen.
Their Windows operating system runs on 80% of the world’s computers. Gates also funds the
world’s largest charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
15. c. Julia Ward Howe. Mother’s Day in the United States originated in 1872 with Julia Ward
Howe, a writer, abolitionist, and suffragist. In 1911, President Woodrow Wilson made it a national
holiday.

American Independence Quiz

“Name That Place”

1. This national park covers 270 square miles, and 95% of it is underwater. Divers and snorkelers
explore its shipwrecks and a bright coral reef, home to reef lobsters. Name the park.
a. Cape Cod National Seashore
b. Channel Islands National Park and Marine Sanctuary
c. Biscayne National Park
Hint: This park is located in the continental United States.

2. This state and river share a name, which comes from an Indian word meaning “Father of Waters.”
a. Missouri
b. Mississippi
c. Connecticut
Hint: This area was first explored for Spain by Hernando de Soto, who discovered the river in 1540.

3. The oldest rock in the world, the Granitic Gneiss, was found in what state?
a. Minnesota
b. Georgia
c. Alaska
Hint: This state’s motto is “L’etoile du Nord,” meaning “the star of the north” in French.

4. San Francisco is the home of a famous bridge, the Golden Gate. What kind of bridge is it?
a. arch
b. suspension
c. truss
Hint: The Brooklyn Bridge is another example of this type of bridge.

5. If you visit the National Mall, where are you?
a. Minneapolis, Minn.
b. New York City, N.Y.
c. Washington, D.C.
Hint: The definition of this type of mall is, “a usually public area often set with shade trees and designed
as a promenade or as a pedestrian walk.”

6. At certain times of the year Cadillac Mountain is the first place in the U.S. to see sunrise. In what
national park is the mountain located?
a. Acadia National Park, Maine
b. Olympic National Park, Wash.
c. Yosemite National Park, Calif.
Hint: Hikers here will see coastlines dotted with historic lighthouses, discover glaciers and lakes, and
ascend granite peaks.

7. Where should you go to read President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which is carved in the walls of
the Lincoln Memorial?
a. Gettysburg, Penn.
b. Washington, D.C.
c. Philadelphia, Penn.
Hint: The Lincoln Memorial is one of many landmarks you’ll see here.

8. Spanning 2,219,791 acres of land in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, this park was established in 1872
to preserve a wide range of wildlife, including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk, and to protect a
collection of extraordinary geysers and hot springs. Name this park.
a. Yosemite
b. Yellowstone
c. Yarmouth
Hint: Old Faithful lives here.

9. Where does the Liberty Bell hang?
a. Philadelphia
b. Boston
c. Virginia
Hint: The bell was rung on July 8, 1776, for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

10. Known as the “Salamander Capital of the World,” this national park is home to at least 30 different
species of salamanders! But most people come to these forests straddling the border between North
Carolina and Tennessee to get a glimpse of one of the park’s 1,500 bears. Name this park.
a. Rocky Mountain National Park
b. Mount Rainier National Park
c. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Hint: This national park is part of the Appalachian Trail.

11. The 555-foot-tall Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is an example of which of the following types of structures?
a. pyramid
b. geodesic dome
c. obelisk
Hint: In ancient times, these structures were thought to symbolize the sun god Ra.

12. If you are standing in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, what are you looking at?
a. the Capitol building
b. the Metropolitan Museum of Art
c. the White House
Hint: This building has 35 bathrooms.

13. This museum features a 94-foot-long model of a blue whale and the Hayden Planetarium:
a. Museum of Science, Boston
b. National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D. C.
c. American Museum of Natural History, New York City
Hint: This museum is located in the same city as the Met.

14. Snap, crackle, pop! Name the cereal capital of the world:
a. Kellogg, Minn.
b. Battle Creek, Michigan
c. General Mills, Idaho
Hint: This state borders four of the five Great Lakes.

15. Name the northernmost point of the 50 states.
a. Estcourt Station, Maine
b. Browning, Mont.
c. Point Barrow, Alaska
Hint: The answer would be different if the question was asked in 1958.

“Patriotic Entertainment”

1. The following lyrics are part of the refrain of which patriotic tune?

“And I’m proud to be an American
Where at least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me…”

a. “God Bless the USA”
b. “God Bless America”
c. “Hats Off to the Red, White, and Blue”
Hint: Lee Greenwood recorded this hit in 1994.

2. In the movie My Dog Skip, the main character, 8-year-old Willie Morris, finds an unlikely friend in his
neighbor Dink Jenkins, a former high school sports legend. Dink leaves Yazoo, Mississippi, to fight in which war?
a. World War II
b. Vietnam
c. The Gulf War
Hint: In one of their many adventures, Willie and his dog, Skip, encounter a group of moonshiners.

3. America’s national anthem is:
a. “God Bless America”
b. “America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee)”
c. “Star-Spangled Banner”
Hint: “O say can you see by the dawn’s early light.”

4. The following line is one of the most memorable from which movie, “My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”?
a. Dave
b. Forrest Gump
c. Rocky
Hint: Actor Tom Hanks played the starring role.

5. This song, written and recorded by Woody Guthrie, puts to music a walk along our country’s highways, valleys, deserts, and wheat fields. Name the tune.
a. “America the Beautiful”
b. “What a Wonderful World”
c. “This Land Is Your Land”
Hint: Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger sang a slightly modified version of this song at President Obama’s inauguration celebration in 2009.

6. This 2004 film starring Nicolas Cage showcases historic locations, from Boston’s North Church to the
Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Name this adventure movie.
a. National Treasure
b. Raiders of the Lost Ark
c. Guarding Tess
Hint: The dollar in your pocket may hold the clue.

7. This song was popular with American troops during the Revolutionary War. Here is a part of its famous refrain: “Stuck a feather in his cap, and called it macaroni.” Name the song.
a. “When the Saints Go Marching In”
b. “Yankee Doodle”
c. “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”
Hint: This song is Connecticut’s state anthem.

8. In this movie about a baseball team assembled during World War II, the manager says, “There’s no crying in baseball!” Name the movie.
a. Bad News Bears
b. A League of Their Own
c. Field of Dreams
Hint: The fictional team featured in the movie belonged to the AAGPBL, a real-life organization.

9. How many words are in the Pledge of Allegiance?
a. 31
b. 22
c. 29
Hint: The Pledge we say today has nine more words than the original version.

10. We’ve all heard of substitute teachers, but substitute president? In this 1993 movie, a look-alike temp agency owner played by Kevin Kline fills in for the president of the United States—a temporary gig that looks like it might become permanent. Name the movie.
a. The American President
b. Dave
c. The Phantom President
Hint: The “president” falls in love with the real first lady!

11. Which song, written by Katharine Lee Bates, is often confused with our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”?
a. “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
b. “God Bless America”
c. “America the Beautiful”
Hint: Bates wrote the lyrics to this song after an inspirational trip to the top of Pike’s Peak in Colorado in 1893.

12. President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 call to action spurred great advancements in our space programand launched the Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The 1995 film Apollo 13 tells the story of what space event?
a. an aborted Moon mission
b. fire in the space capsule
c. first steps on the Moon
Hint: The Apollo 13 mission took place in 1970.

13. This song celebrates our national pastime. Name that tune.
a. “Eye of the Tiger”
b. “Sweet Caroline”
c. “Take Me out to the Ballgame”
Hint: This song probably helped to boost sales of Cracker Jacks.

14. This 1997 anti-terrorist movie is set in the sky, with a fictitious President Marshall turning from a hostage into a hero. Name the film.
a. Top Gun
b. Air Force One
c. Airplane!
Hint: This movie is not a comedy.

15. This haunting and eloquent military tune originated as a signal to mark the end of the day, and is used today at funerals, wreath-laying services, and memorials. What are these 24 notes called?
a. “Taps”
b. “Call to the Post”
c. “Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder”
Hint: The tune is played on a bugle.

U.S. History

1. What event took place to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence?
a. the Liberty Bell was rung
b. an effigy of King George III was burned
c. the signers of the Declaration of Independence danced in the streets
Hint: The event took place at the Pennsylvania Statehouse (now named Independence Hall).

2. Which countries were enemies of the U.S. during World War II?
a. Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union
b. Germany, Japan, and Italy
c. Germany, Japan, and Turkey
Hint: The enemies were among the Axis powers.

3. How many amendments, or changes, are there to the U.S. Constitution?
a. 27
b. 14
c. 33
Hint: The first ten amendments (Bill of Rights) were ratified all at once in 1791. During the 1800’s,
only four amendments were ratified. Twelve were ratified in the 1900’s.

4. Who wrote the sonnet, “The New Colossus,” which is engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of
Liberty?
a. Emily Dickinson
b. Anne Bradstreet
c. Emma Lazarus
Hint: She grew up in New York.

5. Who was the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket?
a. Sarah Palin
b. Geraldine Ferraro
c. Patsy Mink
Hint: She is a Democrat.

6. The first official U.S. flag, adopted in 1777, had what component(s) on it?
a. Thirteen stars and thirteen stripes
b. Thirteen stripes and the words “Don’t Tread on Me”
c. A British Union Jack in the upper left corner
Hint: The flag represented the number of U.S. colonies at the time it was adopted.

7. Who was the first president to be inaugurated on January 20th?
a. George Washington
b. Franklin Roosevelt
c. Herbert Hoover
Hint: The 20th Amendment, ratified in 1933, states that the president-elect will be inaugurated on
January 20.

8. How many representatives are there in the House of Representatives?
a. 100
b. 50
c. 435
Hint: There are a total 535 members of Congress.

9. Which two U.S. presidents were impeached?
a. Bill Clinton and William Taft
b. Richard Nixon and Andrew Johnson
c. Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson
Hint: Neither one was removed from office.

10. What special group advises the President of the United States?
a. The Cabinet
b. The Electoral College
c. The Executive Branch
Hint: George Washington organized the first presidential advisory group, which included the heads
of the three executive departments (State, Treasury, and War) and the attorney general.

11. How long is the term of Supreme Court justices?
a. 20 years
b. life
c. until he or she reaches age 75
Hint: Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement in April 2010, just days shy of his 90th
birthday.

12. Who said, “Give me liberty or give me death?”
a. John Hancock
b. Patrick Henry
c. Samuel Adams
Hint: This patriot hailed from Virginia.

13. Sacagawea, the only woman guide and interpreter on Lewis and Clark’s expedition, was a
member of what Indian tribe?
a. Cherokee
b. Shoshone
c. Apache
Hint: The language of this tribe is based on Uto-Aztecan.

14. Which battle produced the bloodiest day of the Civil War?
a. Antietam
b. Gettysburg
c. Fredericksburg
Hint: The result of this battle was “inconclusive.”

15. What is the symbol of the Republican Party?
a. Donkey
b. Elephant
c. Eagle
Hint: Republicans say their symbol represents strength and dignity.

Who Am I?

1. I was the first person to fly nonstop over the Atlantic Ocean by myself. Who am I?
a. Amelia Earhart
b. Orville Wright
c. Charles Lindbergh
Hint: This aviator was named TIME magazine’s very first Man of the Year (now he would be called Person of the Year) in 1927.

2. I was a cool friend to have—at age 11, I invented popsicles! Who am I?
a. Danny Hood
b. Frank Epperson
c. Mark Breyer
Hint: This accidental inventor originally named his invention after himself, but decided “popsicles”
sounded better.

3. I wrote what is considered the first mystery story. Who am I?
a. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
b. Edgar Allan Poe
c. Agatha Christie
Hint: The author called the story, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”

4. I was the first American in space, flying aboard the Freedom 7. Who am I?
a. Alan Shepard, Jr.
b. Neil Armstrong
c. Buzz Aldrin
Hint: This astronaut was one of the original seven chosen by NASA for its Mercury program.
5. In 2003, at the age of 17, I became the first athlete ever to compete and medal in both the Summer andWinter X Games in two different sports. Who am I?

a. Shaun Palmer
b. Luke Mitrani
c. Shaun White
Hint: This athlete is also known for his crazy ‘do.

6. I am a famous author of children’s books. I have been awarded both a Pulitzer Prize and an Academy
Award. Actors such as Mike Myers and Jim Carrey have helped give my characters voice. Who am I?
a. J. K. Rowling
b. Theodore Geisel
c. E. B. White
Hint: The name on this author’s books is a pseudonym, or pen name.

7. In 1975, I accidentally created a new sound by trying to hold a spinning record in place. The sound
became a major element of modern deejaying. Who am I?
a. DJ Grand Wizard Theodore
b. DJ Afrika Bambaataa
c. Ice-T
Hint: He was an apprentice under Grandmaster Flash.

8. After spending time in Labrador on a fur-trading expedition, I returned to the United States intrigued
and inspired by cold. I perfected the art of freezing foods. Who am I?
a. Hiram Banquet
b. Davy Crockett
c. Clarence Birdseye
Hint: This inventor was one of the founders of the General Foods company in 1924.

9. I was described as being “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Who am I?
a. George Washington
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. Abraham Lincoln
Hint: This leader was also our nation’s first president.

10. Not only did I give the world an inexpensive yet delicious chocolate bar, but I also created a whole
town for my workers (including an amusement park!) and a home for orphans. Who am I?
a. Elizabeth Cadbury
b. Milton Hershey
c. Lady Godiva
Hint: You can visit this philanthropist’s amusement park, have a tour of the town he established, and even sample some of his chocolate—in Pennsylvania.

11. I am one of the most famous New York Yankees in baseball history. I started playing shortstop for the team in 1996, and became team captain in 2003. Who am I?
a. Derek Jeter
b. Alex Rodriguez
c. Ramiro Pena
Hint: This shortstop bats right-handed, throws right-handed, and wears uniform number 2.

12. A celebrated portrait photographer, I became known for my images of rock and roll personalities, and later, celebrities. Who am I?
a. Georgia O’Keefe
b. Anne Geddes
c. Annie Leibovitz
Hint: This artist often provokes controversy with her images, such as the pictures she took of teen star
Miley Cyrus in 2008.

13. I could be called the first truly American president, being the first president elected who was not born
a British citizen. Who am I?
a. John Quincy Adams
b. Martin Van Buren
c. James Madison
Hint: This person was our country’s eighth president.

14. One of the richest men in the world, I have so much money that I could buy and drive a new car every day for the rest of my life, and still have plenty of money left over for airplanes, yachts, and just about anything else I might want. Who am I?
a. Warren Buffett
b. Bill Gates
c. Carlos Slim Helu
Hint: This billionaire made his fortune in computers.

15. I’m widely credited with inventing Mother’s Day. I worked tirelessly to promote peace, motherhood,
and unity after witnessing the horrific carnage of the Civil War. Who am I?
a. Clara Barton
b. Georgia Hallmark
c. Julia Ward Howe
Hint: This woman wrote the words to “Battle Hymn of the Republic” as she watched Union troops march into battle in 1861.

July the 4th Independence Day

Here are some Independence Day fun facts, history and trivia.  On July the 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress. Thereafter, the 13 colonies embarked on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. This most American of holidays is traditionally celebrated with parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country.

4th of July History & Trivia -Did You Know…

• The major objection to being ruled by Britain was taxation without representation. The colonists had no say in the decisions of English Parliament.
  

  The 1765 Stamp Act, a tax imposed on American colonies by the British Parliament.

• In May, 1776, after nearly a year of trying to resolve their differences with England, the colonies sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Finally, in June, admitting that their efforts were hopeless; a committee was formed to compose the formal Declaration of Independence. Headed by Thomas Jefferson, the committee also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston and Roger Sherman. On June 28, 1776, Thomas Jefferson presented the first draft of the declaration to Congress.
  

  The Second Continental Congress

• Betsy Ross, according to legend, sewed the first American flag in May or June 1776, as commissioned by the Congressional Committee.
  

  Betsy Ross presenting the first American flag to George Washington

• Independence Day was first celebrated in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776.
  

  First celebration of the Independence Day in Philadelphia

• The Liberty Bell sounded from the tower of Independence Hall on July 8, 1776, summoning citizens to gather for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon.
  

  The Independence Hall and Liberty Bell

• June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress, looking to promote national pride and unity, adopted the national flag. “Resolved: that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
  

  The first American flag

• The word ‘patriotism’ comes from the Latin patria, which means ‘homeland’ or ‘fatherland.’
• The first public Fourth of July event at the White House occurred in 1804.
  

  The White House in 1804 ( During Pres. Thomas Jefferson )

• Before cars ruled the roadway, the Fourth of July was traditionally the most miserable day of the year for horses, tormented by all the noise and by the boys and girls who threw firecrackers at them.
• The first Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi occurred at Independence Creek and was celebrated by Lewis and Clark in 1805.
  

  A depiction of the Independence Creek in 1805

• On June 24, 1826, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to Roger C. Weightman, declining an invitation to come to Washington, D.C., to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was the last letter that Jefferson, who was gravely ill, ever wrote.
  

  Jefferson’s 50th anniversary letter

• Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on Independence Day, July 4, 1826.
  

  John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

• The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence did not sign at the same time, nor did they sign on July 4, 1776. The official event occurred on August 2, 1776, when 50 men signed it.
• The names of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were withheld from the public for more than six months to protect the signers. If independence had not been achieved, the treasonable act of the signers would have, by law, resulted in their deaths.
• Thomas McKean was the last to sign in January, 1777.
  

  Thomas McKean

• The origin of Uncle Sam probably began in 1812, when Samuel Wilson was a meat packer who provided meat to the US Army. The meat shipments were stamped with the initials, U.S. Someone joked that the initials stood for “Uncle Sam”. This joke eventually led to the idea of Uncle Sam symbolizing the United States government.
• In 1941, Congress declared 4th of July a federal legal holiday. It is one of the few federal holidays that have not been moved to the nearest Friday or Monday.

Read more on the Declaration of Independence.

Independence Day Trivia & Facts – An Inspired America:

• Thirty places nationwide with “liberty” in their name. Liberty, Missouri (26,232) boasts the highest population of the 30 at 26,232. Iowa has more of these places than any other state at four: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.
• Eleven places have “independence” in their name. The most populous of these is Independence, Missouri, with 113,288 residents.
• Five places adopted the name “freedom.” Freedom, California, with 6,000 residents, has the largest population among these.
• There is one place named “patriot” — Patriot, Indiana, with a population of 202.
• And what could be more fitting than spending the day in a place called “America”? There are five such places in the country, with the most populous being American Fork, Utah, with 21,941 residents. Check out American Fact Finder.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
–The Declaration of Independence 4 of July, 1776.