Pro tempore quiz

[SVCBeercats]

1. DuMont Television Network – started in 1946 but ended in 1956. Never really managed to be profitable despite having Jackie Gleason in its lineup of shows. Rocket009 knows his ABCs but not his DuMont. VAUConnFan was late to the party but with the correct answer and a wonderful Chateauneuf du Pape 1979.
2. Electric blanket – MSGRET eventually got it right, however no one else's answers were even warm.
3. Enos Slaughter – meyers7 like Slaughter did not hesitate to answer. Slaughter's “Mad Dash” won the 7th game of the 1946 World Series for the Saint Louis Cardinals. In 1954 Augie Busch traded Slaughter to the Yankees for among others Bill Virdon who returned to haunt the Yankees when in the 1960 World Series his bad hop ground ball hit Tony Kubek in the throat allowing Virdon to get on base allowing Pirates to rally and win the 1960 World Series.
4. 50th, French Men's French Championship – Rocket009 got the event but was aced by the date's significance.
5. She relapsed into heresy by donning male clothing again - Rocket009 again! Meyers7 knew it was heresy but was not specific. Gamecock77 and JRRJ thought, hey, they burned her at the stake so witchcraft, right. Ah … no! Oops! Almost missed 'nuf sed.
6. US President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the Army to force Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes out of Georgia and surrounding states - VAUConnFan, Gamecock77, JRRJ, Meyers7, 'nuf sed, and Bigboote provided accurate answers albeit with varying degrees of creative editorializing and social commenting.
7. Set out the theoretical basis for modern computers – No computer science historians among you? For shame!
8. Plant taxonomy – Where are my Master Gardeners?! More shame!
9. Julian calendar – Ahhhh, we have horologists(?) with correct answers. Accolades go to 'nuf sed, Rocket009, Bigboote, and JRRJ
10. Carolus Linnaeus (AKA Carl Linnaeus to American friends) – see question #8 as did Bigboote. Clever fellow, that one!
11. Confederate states. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free some 500,000 slaves in the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland or Delaware. Those slaves were freed by later separate state and federal actions. - Meyers7, Bigboote, Gamecock77, JRRJ, and VAUConnFan all know their history.
12. German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen – eebmg, Bigboote - eebmg says Willy was lucky. Perhaps he says the same about Percy Spencer (microwaves), Wilson Greatbatch (pacemaker), George de Mestral (Velcro), Henri Becquerel (radioactivity), Sir Alexander Fleming (Penicillin), etc. Don't forget Viagra whose active ingredient began as a heart medicine until a certain side (front?) effect was noticed.
13. Concordat of Worms – OK! This was obscure. Sorry!
14. Punch cards and associated tabulating equipemnt. He was the founder of the Tabulating Machine Company which was rename IBM. - Bigboote, JRRJ and eebmg succinctly state the answer.
15. President Dwight D. Eisenhower – Correct responses from MSGRET, Bigboote, Gamecock77, JRRJ, and VAUConnFan.

If I failed to give proper acknowledgement, please forgive.

 

[Bigboote]

Hmmmm! Wasn't he on third base and scored on a wild pitch? In any case I should have said "in 1946 World Series." Darn novice test creators!

I did give it a question mark. I doubt he did it in a World Series game. Early on in his career I do remember seeing him go from first to third on an infield out, and I'm pretty sure he scored from first once or twice on a single.

 

[Bigboote]

Oh, I was sort-of close on #2. The microwave oven (Radarange) was first sold in the correct year, but the cost was (ahem) a few thousand dollars.

 

[eebmg]

7) Set out the theoretical basis for modern computers – No computer sciencehistorians among you? For shame!

12) German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen – eebmg, Bigboote - eebmg says Willy was lucky. Perhaps he says the same about Percy Spencer (microwaves), Wilson Greatbatch (pacemaker), George de Mestral (Velcro), Henri Becquerel (radioactivity), Sir Alexander Fleming (Penicillin), etc. Don't forget Viagra whose active ingredient began as a heart medicine until a certain side (front?) effect was noticed.

Fantastic work but I would like to comment on your assessment regarding my responses (or lack of responses)

12) I am not disparaging accidental discoveries. They are very important for progress. I just think it should be distinguished from discoveries and work built from careful planning and directed knowledge which provides the guidance to build the proper experiments needed to demonstrate a certain hypothesis.

7) The Turing paper was actually discussed on this thread. I focused on the perhaps minor piece where Turing discussed the "undecidability " concept that there are undecidable propositions and no computer (or algorithm) can be built to answer them. It was actually you @SVCBeercats who critiqued this and mentioned that Kurt Godel should be the real intelligence behind this idea which I agreed with.

While the paper may also demonstrate that any mathematical "solvable" problem can be decided by a computer (Turing Machine), I do not agree that this paper should have the status of ushering in Theoretical Computer Science.

In my opinion. John Von Neumann has by a very wide margin that honor (theoretically and practically)

 

[SVCBeercats]

12) I am not disparaging accidental discoveries. I knew you were not disrespecting Willy. They are very important for progress. I just think it should be distinguished from discoveries and work built from careful planning and directed knowledge which provides the guidance to build the proper experiments needed to demonstrate a certain hypothesis. I agree. However, to recognize the accidental discovery for what it is and further develop it; should also receive an acknowledgement. Nobel Prize selections sometime baffle me. I find it irritating that Einstein never received a Nobel Prize for his General Theory of Relativity. He received it for discovering the law of the photoelectric effect. He should have at least two Nobel Prizes.

7) The Turing paper was actually discussed on this thread. I focused on the perhaps minor piece where Turing discussed the "undecidability " concept that there are undecidable propositions and no computer (or algorithm) can be built to answer them. It was actually you @SVCBeercats who critiqued this and mentioned that Kurt Godel should be the real intelligence behind this idea which I agreed with. While the paper may also demonstrate that any mathematical "solvable" problem can be decided by a computer (Turing Machine), I do not agree that this paper should have the status of ushering in Theoretical Computer Science. In my opinion. John Von Neumann has by a very wide margin that honor (theoretically and practically) You are right about Turing. Janci's primary contribution centers on the stored program concept and the required computer architecture, e.g., a Control Unit, Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU), Memory Unit, Registers and Inputs/Outputs.
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[Rocket009]

Thanks for putting this together - lots of fun!