I.B.A. Academic League Round 1 - Individual Questions - November 1990
1. He spent his early career in the Judicial Branch as US Solicitor General and as a judge of the US Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1904 he jumped to the Executive Branch as Secretary of War and four years later was elected President. For 10 points, name this one-term President who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1921.
Answer: William Howard Taft
2. Mount Olympus is the highest point on this Mediterranean island which lies due west of Syria's coast. For 10 points, name this island of discord between the ethnic Greeks and Turks who live there.
Answer: Cyprus
3. This author is known for his studies of American youth in the Jazz Age. He wrote the short-story collections Taps at Reveille and All the Sad Young Men . For 10 points, identify this author of the novels This Side of Paradise , Tender Is the Night , and The Great Gatsby .
Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. William Shockley, Walter Brattain, and John Bardeen won the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing them. They were first used in hearing aids and were later utilized in computers and radios. For 10 points, name these devices which began the miniaturization revolution in electronics.
Answer: Transistors
5. As a result of her weak monarchy, this European country disappeared from the map after being partitioned by her powerful neighbors in 1772, 1793, and 1795. After being reconstituted in 1918, it was again split between Russia and Germany in 1939. For 10 points, name this nation whose capital is Warsaw.
Answer: Poland
6. Developed in the 17th century by Jean Hotteterre and Andre Philidor, this musical instrument's name comes from two French words meaning "high" and "wood." For 10 points, name this smallest and highest-pitched of the double-reeded woodwinds.
Answer: Oboe
7. A warrior at age 14, he grew up to be an influential medicine man. Furious with white prospectors who had invaded the designated Indian lands of the Black Hills, he joined his Hunkpapa Sioux with other Sioux tribes and the Cheyennes to fight the US. For 10 points, name this leader at the Indian victory of Little Big Horn.
Answer: Sitting Bull
8. "The Speckled Band," "The Red-headed League," "The Dancing Men," and "The Five Orange Pips": For 10 points, what famous character of English literature participated in mystery adventures by those names written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?
Answer: Sherlock Holmes
9. Named for an English surveyor of the Himalayas, the first eight expeditions attempting to scale it failed. In 1953 Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary reached the top. For 10 points, identify the world's highest mountain.
Answer: Mount Everest
10. When Ed Sullivan told this rock band they had to wear matching suits on his show, they rented identical Nazi uniforms. For 10 points, name this ageless rock group that gathered more money than moss on their 1989-90 Steel Wheels tour.
Answer: Rolling Stones
11. This play is perhaps the greatest example of twentieth-century tragic drama. Written in 1949, it had its greatest revival in the 1980s with Dustin Hoffman in the lead role of Willy Loman. For 10 points, identify this drama of an ordinary man destroyed by hollow values written by Arthur Miller.
Answer: Death of a Salesman
12. In 1908 he won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his theory of the radioactive disintegration of elements. In his gold-foil experiments, he proved that an alpha particle is the same as a helium nucleus. For 10 points, identify this New Zealand-born English scientist.
Answer: Ernest Rutherford
13. Britain sank twenty French and Spanish ships without losing any of her own in this battle. Fought off the southwest coast of Spain in 1805, it denied Napoleon control of the seas. For 10 points, name this battle at which Admiral Horatio Nelson was killed.
Answer: Trafalgar
14. Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia occupy portions of this island. It lies in the north center of Indonesia, southwest of the Philippines. For 10 points, identify the world's third largest island.
Answer: Borneo
15. Individual portions of this great painting have names such as "The Delphic Sibyl," "The Fall of Man," and "God Separating Day from Night." For 10 points, name this masterwork which Michelangelo created between 1508 and 1512.
Answer: Sistine Chapel Ceiling
16. British Redcoats found themselves short of money in the years preceding the American Revolution and often sought jobs to supplement their income, thus alienating the American artisans they were undercutting. On March 5, 1770 one such disgruntled worker tossed a snowball at one offensive soldier. For 10 points, what famous bloody incident arose from that disagreement?
Answer: Boston Massacre
17. Pencil and paper may be useful for this astronomical computation. For 10 points, to the nearest integer, how many light-years from earth is a star that is four parsecs distant?
Answer: 13 (13.04)
18. A teacher until 1893, he then began to write in a variety of genres. He wrote a volume of sociological essays called Anticipations and humorous novels such as The History of Mr. Polly . For 10 points, identify this author best known for the early science-fiction works The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds .
Answer: H.G. Wells
19. An orphan raised by relatives in Stockholm, she became one of the most beautiful actresses to grace the Silver Screen. The leading men of her films included Bing Crosby in The Bells of St. Mary's , Cary Grant in Notorious , and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca . For 10 points, name this Swedish actress.
Answer: Ingrid Bergman
20. First discovered in 1869 by German biologist Friedrich Miescher, it was not until 1953 that its actual structure was finally determined by Maurice Wilkins, Francis Crick, and James Watson. For 10 points, name this self-replicating double helix.
Answer: DNA or Deoxyribonucleic Acid
21. A professor for twenty-four years at Bowdoin and Harvard, his poetry was influenced by the romantic German lyric poets. For 10 points, name this popular creator of simple and kindly poems such as "The Village Blacksmith" and "The Courtship of Miles Standish."
Answer: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I.B.A. Academic League Round 1 - Consultation Questions - November 1990
1. Several tiny nations have survived the winds of change in Europe. For 10 points each, identify the small nation which is bordered by these groups of countries.
1) Austria and Switzerland Answer: Liechtenstein
2) Spain and France Answer: Andorra
3) France, Germany, and Belgium Answer: Luxembourg
2. Americans are fascinated by stories of the Old West, both in movies and in literature. Give the authors of these Westerns for 10 points each.
1) Riders of the Purple Sage Answer: Zane Grey
2) The Haunted Mesa Answer: Louis L'amour
3) "The Luck of Roaring Camp" Answer: Bret Harte
3. Two of the greatest baseball players of all time were born in Mobile, Alabama.
1) For 10 points, name the one who has hit more home runs than any other major leaguer.
Answer: Henry "Hank" Aaron
2) For 20 points, he pitched around 2500 games in the Negro Leagues and at age 42 became the first black pitcher in the American League.
Answer: Satchell Paige
4. The British Parliament passed acts to restrict the developing colonial economy prior to the Revolutionary War. Put these four acts or sets of acts in correct chronological order from earliest to latest. You will receive 5 points for each in the correct position and a bonus of 10 points if they are all correct, for a possible total of 30 points. The acts are the Intolerable Acts, Tea Act, Stamp Act, and Townshend Acts.
Answer: Stamp Act (1765), Townshend Acts (1767), Tea Act (1773), Intolerable Acts (1774)
5. Conveniently for a 30 point bonus, the nation of Iraq borders six other nations. For 5 points each, identify the six nations which border Iraq.
Answer: Iran , Turkey , Syria , Jordan , Saudi Arabia , Kuwait
6. For 10 points each, name the Shakespearean plays in which you would find these pairs of lovers.
1) Petruchio and Katarina Answer: The Taming of the Shrew
2) Claudio and Hero Answer: Much Ado About Nothing
3) Bassanio and Portia Answer: The Merchant of Venice
7. 1) Named for a German mineralogist who lived around 1800, what, for 10 points, is the most common scale of hardness of minerals?
Answer: Mohs Scale
2) For 10 points, what soft substance represents the lower end of the Mohs Scale?
Answer: Talc
3) For a final 10 points, what hard substance represents the higher end of the Mohs Scale?
Answer: Diamond
8. The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a famous non-aggression pact in 1939, but a lesser known non-aggression pact, which was also broken, was signed by France and Russia in 1807.
1) For 10 points, who was France's leader at that time?
Answer: Napoleon or Bonaparte
2) For 20 points, who was the czar of Russia who signed the pact?
Answer: Alexander I
9. For 5 points apiece, name the bodies of water into which these rivers flow.
1) Mississippi River Answer: Gulf of Mexico
2) Rhine River Answer: North Sea
3) Amazon River Answer: Atlantic Ocean
4) Yukon River Answer: Bering Sea
5) Mekong River Answer: South China Sea
6) Volga River Answer: Caspian Sea
10. When you think of "Big" works of literature, Moby Dick and War and Peace probably come to mind, but there are many other "Big" works. Name the authors of these for 10 points each.
1) The detective novel The Big Sleep Answer: Raymond Chandler
2) The Harlem Renaissance poet of "The Big Sea" Answer: Langston Hughes
3) Nicknamed "Papa," he wrote Big Two-Hearted River Answer: Ernest Hemingway
11. Consider the expression y = 6x 3 + 10 (read y equals six x cubed plus 10)
1) For 10 points, what is the first derivative of y with respect to x?
Answer: 18x 2 (read 18 x squared)
2) For 15 points, what is the slope of the curve at the point where y=10?
Answer: 0 (zero)
12. The struggle between big business and labor in the late nineteenth century experienced one of its bloodiest episodes in the Pullman Strike of 1894. For 10 points each, answer these questions about that strike.
1) Near what major city did it begin on May 11, 1894?
Answer: Chicago
2) What famous socialist was president of the American Railway Union, which led the strike? Answer: Eugene V. Debs
3) Who was President of the US who ordered the use of troops to quell the Strike?
Answer: Grover Cleveland
13. We all know that the large island called Australia is considered the smallest continent by land area. For 5 points each, name the other six continents in descending order of area. You will receive 5 points for each continent in the correct position.
Answer: Asia , Africa , North America , South America , Antarctica , Europe
14. Answer these questions about the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin for 10 points each.
1) Why was the Piper called "Pied"?
Answer: His coat was of many colors or "Pied"
2) In what country is the modern city of Hamelin located?
Answer: West Germany or Germany
3) What English poet wrote the famous 1862 poetic version of the tale? Answer: Answer: Robert Browning
15. Most Americans are so accustomed to the English units of measure that they are completely lost in the metric system or the Systeme International (SI). For 5 points each, supply the SI unit for the following basic measures. For instance, if I said "time," you should respond "second."
1) length Answer: meter
2) mass Answer: kilogram
3) quantity of matter Answer: mole
4) temperature Answer: kelvin
5) electric current Answer: ampere
6) luminous intensity Answer: candela
16. Four American Presidents never appointed any Supreme Court justices. For 10 points each, name any 3 of those 4 Presidents.
Answer: William Henry Harrison , Zachary Taylor , Andrew Johnson , and Jimmy Carter
17. All living cells can be divided into two groups. The essential difference between the two is that one group possesses a cell nucleus, while the other does not. For 15 points each, name these two groups of cells.
Answer: Procaryots and Eucaryots
18. Identify this American author from pairs of his works. If you are correct after the first pair, you will receive 30 points. If you need two pairs, you will receive 20 points, and if it takes all three, you will receive 10 points.
1) The Long Valley and The Winter of Our Discontent
2) Tortilla Flat and East of Eden
3) Cannery Row and Of Mice and Men
Answer: John Steinbeck
19. For 10 points each, name the composers of the following twentieth century operas.
1) Porgy and Bess Answer: George Gershwin
2) Amahl and the Night Visitors Answer: Gian-Carlo Menotti
3) Four Saints in Three Acts Answer: Virgil Thomson
20. For 5 points each, given a famous signer of the Declaration of Independence, name the state for which they signed.
1) Elbridge Gerry Answer: Massachusetts
2) Richard Henry Lee Answer: Virginia
3) Benjamin Franklin Answer: Pennsylvania
4) Thomas Jefferson Answer: Virginia
5) Edward Rutledge Answer: South Carolina
6) Samuel Adams Answer: Massachusetts