Q 01/05

Which sticky substance burst from a storage tank and flooded Boston's North End in January 1919, killing 21 people?

A) Crude oil

B) Molasses

C) Maple syrup

D) Coal tar

Answer · why

B) Molasses

Molasses surged through the streets in a wave about 25 feet high, moving at an estimated 35 miles per hour. Residents said the neighbourhood smelled s...

Q 02/05

In which room of the Palace of Versailles was the peace treaty with Germany signed on 28 June 1919?

A) Hall of Mirrors

B) Royal Chapel

C) Hall of Battles

D) Royal Opera

Answer · why

A) Hall of Mirrors

The Hall of Mirrors was picked by France's prime minister because the German Empire had been proclaimed there in 1871. The empire was dismantled in th...

Q 03/05

Eight players from which baseball team were accused of taking gamblers' money to lose the 1919 World Series?

A) Cincinnati Reds

B) Pittsburgh Pirates

C) Chicago White Sox

D) Detroit Tigers

Answer · why

C) Chicago White Sox

Chicago White Sox players were cleared by a jury in 1921, yet all eight were banned from the game for life. The affair is remembered as the Black Sox ...

Q 04/05

Which physicist won worldwide fame in November 1919 after eclipse photographs showed that gravity bends starlight?

A) Max Planck

B) Albert Einstein

C) Erwin Schrödinger

D) Niels Bohr

Answer · why

B) Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein had predicted the bending in his general theory of relativity. Arthur Eddington tested it during a total solar eclipse seen from the W...

Q 05/05

What did the Volstead Act, passed over Woodrow Wilson's veto in October 1919, set out to enforce across America?

A) Conscription

B) Daylight saving

C) Income tax

D) Prohibition

Answer · why

D) Prohibition

Prohibition gained its teeth from the act, which counted any drink stronger than 0.5 percent alcohol as intoxicating. It took its name from the chairm...