Q 01/05

Which English naturalist coined the word 'aquarium'?

A) Nathaniel Ward

B) Charles Darwin

C) Philip Henry Gosse

D) Robert Warington

Answer · why

C) Philip Henry Gosse

He combined the Latin aqua with -arium and used it as the title of his 1854 book.

Q 02/05

In which city did the first public aquarium open, in May 1853?

A) Paris

B) New York

C) Berlin

D) London

Answer · why

D) London

The London Zoo's Fish House was built much like a greenhouse.

Q 03/05

Which showman opened the first American aquarium in 1856 as part of his Broadway museum?

A) Florenz Ziegfeld

B) William Cody

C) Buffalo Bill Cody

D) P. T. Barnum

Answer · why

D) P. T. Barnum

Barnum's American Museum later burned down; Boston's Aquarial Gardens followed in 1859.

Q 04/05

Which chemist showed in 1850 that plants in a container make enough oxygen for animals?

A) Michael Faraday

B) Robert Warington

C) Joseph Priestley

D) Humphry Davy

Answer · why

B) Robert Warington

His experimental 13-gallon jar held goldfish, eelgrass and snails, one of the first stable aquaria.

Q 05/05

Which French marine biologist created the first experimental aquaria in 1832?

A) Marie-Anne Lavoisier

B) Sophie Germain

C) Jeanne Villepreux-Power

D) Émilie du Châtelet

Answer · why

C) Jeanne Villepreux-Power

Working in Sicily, she used them to prove that the argonaut makes its own shell rather than borrowing one.