Q 01/05

Which two men are credited with inventing the barcode, patented in the US in 1952?

A) Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver

B) George Laurer and David Collins

C) Masahiro Hara and Ray Stevens

D) Herman Hollerith and Charles Walton

Answer · why

A) Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver

Their idea was Morse code extended into thin and thick bars; it took more than twenty years to become a commercial success.

Q 02/05

Where was Bernard Silver a graduate student when he overheard a grocery executive asking for automatic checkout?

A) University of Pennsylvania

B) Temple University

C) Villanova University

D) Drexel Institute of Technology

Answer · why

D) Drexel Institute of Technology

The executive was the president of the Food Fair chain, and Silver told his friend Woodland about the request.

Q 03/05

What was wrong with Woodland and Silver's first working system, which used ultraviolet ink?

A) It could only be read in darkness

B) The ink faded too easily and was expensive

C) It required a mainframe computer

D) It was invisible to the photocell

Answer · why

B) The ink faded too easily and was expensive

Woodland then quit Drexel and moved into his father's Florida apartment to keep working on the problem.

Q 04/05

Woodland formed his first barcode by drawing in what?

A) Sand on a beach

B) Frost on a window

C) Chalk on a sidewalk

D) Flour on a kitchen table

Answer · why

A) Sand on a beach

'I just extended the dots and dashes downwards and made narrow lines and wide lines out of them.'

Q 05/05

Woodland later decided the code would scan better from any direction if printed in what shape?

A) A triangle

B) A circle

C) A spiral

D) A square

Answer · why

B) A circle

The 'bull's eye' pattern was described in the 1949 patent application alongside the linear version.