Q 01/05

Howard Hughes was born in 1905 in which state?

A) California

B) Oklahoma

C) Nevada

D) Texas

Answer · why

D) Texas

A 1941 affidavit puts his birth in Harris County, though even his birth date has been disputed.

Q 02/05

The Hughes family fortune came from what invention patented by Howard Hughes Sr.?

A) A roller cutter drill bit

B) A rotary oil pump

C) A pipeline valve

D) A refinery cracking process

Answer · why

A) A roller cutter drill bit

Hughes Sr. shrewdly leased the bits to drillers rather than selling them, and the Hughes Tool Company funded everything his son later did.

Q 03/05

Which school did Hughes drop out of shortly after his father's death in 1924?

A) Stanford University

B) Rice University

C) Caltech

D) University of Texas

Answer · why

B) Rice University

His first wife, Ella Botts Rice, was a great-niece of the university's namesake William Marsh Rice.

Q 04/05

At what age did Hughes sign a will that already called for a research body in his name?

A) 19

B) 31

C) 40

D) 25

Answer · why

A) 19

The deaths of both parents within two years apparently inspired the clause; the institute finally launched in 1953.

Q 05/05

Hughes poured a then-enormous budget into which 1930 aviation epic?

A) Hell's Angels

B) Sky Devils

C) The Dawn Patrol

D) Wings

Answer · why

A) Hell's Angels

Three stunt pilots and a mechanic died during the three-year shoot; it earned an Oscar nomination for cinematography.