2020 summer quiz – part 2

After tackling astronomy and laser physics last month, get ready to try these fiendish quantum questions, test your Nobel knowledge, and practise your tune trivia. Answers to both parts of the quiz will be published next month.

Quantum conundrums

1 What did Max Planck, who first discovered energy quantization while working on the problem of black-body radiation, later call his discovery? An act of…

A God B Genius C Desperation D Madness

2 Founding figure of quantum mechanics Niels Bohr was given a house by which brewing company? It was next door to the brewery and was connected to it by a pipeline providing free beer.

A Tuborg B Carlsberg C Becks D Heineken

3 Which physicist was given the nickname “The Crocodile” by one of his students, who commissioned a secret carving of the animal on one of the buildings of the old Cavendish Laboratory (pictured)?

A James Chadwick B Ernest Rutherford C Paul Dirac D Arthur Compton

4 Who is reported to have said about the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics: “I don’t like it and I’m sorry I ever had anything to do with it”?

A Erwin Schrödinger B Wolfgang Pauli C Albert Einstein D Louis de Broglie

5 Which theoretical physicist was widely believed to cause experimental apparatus to break by his mere presence?

A Werner Heisenberg B Richard Feynman C Paul Dirac D Wolfgang Pauli

6 In 2017 a group led by Jian-Wei Pan set the record for the longest distance over which quantum teleportation was performed. How far did they teleport a quantum state?

A 100 km B 600 km C 1400 km D 2100 km

Nobel nuggets

1 How many women have so far won a Nobel Prize for Physics?

A Two B Three C Four D Five

2 Which order did Marie Curie win her two Nobel prizes in?

A Chemistry, Chemistry B Chemistry, Physics C Physics, Chemistry D Physics, Physics

3 How old was William Lawrence Bragg when he became the youngest person to win a Nobel Prize for Physics?

A 22 B 25 C 28 D 31

4 What happened to Roy Glauber’s Nobel medal in 2010?

A Sold for money B Stolen by burglars C Thrown in the bin D Lost in the woods

5 Which physicist almost decided to turn down the offer of a Nobel prize?

A Paul Dirac B Albert Einstein C Werner Heisenberg D Erwin Schrödinger

6 For how many years are the deliberations of the Nobel Committee for Physics kept secret after a particular prize has been awarded?

A 25 B 50 C 75 D 100

7 What informal event do Nobel laureates get invited to in Stockholm after picking up their medals?

A Dog ball B Frog ball C Hog ball D Warthog ball

Musical minutiae

1 At which institution in London did Queen guitarist Brian May study physics?

A King’s College B University College C Imperial College D Queen Mary

2 What instrument is Albert Einstein best known for playing?

A Piano B Trumpet C Cello D Violin

3 Which of these is not a song by German electronic band Kraftwerk?

A “Electricity” B “Radioactivity” C “Uranium” D “Transistor”

4 US physicist and polymath Douglas Hofstadter once wrote a book that in part examined the work of which composer?

A Bach B Beethoven C Berlioz D Brahms

5 German pop star Lena Meyer-Landrut (pictured) won the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest with a song that likens her relationship with her lover to which piece of hardware?

A Satellite B Laser C Fusion reactor D Magnet

6 In 2017 hip-hop star, philanthropist and entrepreneur will.i.am met physicists on a tour of which UK university?

A Aberdeen B Birmingham C Cardiff D Durham

7 Which 1970s rock band sang the lyric “I’m a spaceship superstar, got a solar-powered laser beam guitar”?

A Slade B Prism C Sweet D Wizzard

8 Which of these is not a song by British rock band Muse?

A “Supermassive black holes” B “Starlight” C “Neutron star collision” D “Quasar”

9 Which of these terms is not used to describe the shape of a concert hall?

A Shoebox B Vineyard C Shell D Horseshoe

10 Who sang this appallingly stereotypical description of a physicist? “The lasers are in the lab/The old man is dressed in white clothes/Everybody says he’s mad/No-one knows the things that he knows”?

A Joni Mitchell B James Taylor C Neil Young D Linda Ronstadt