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Free Forgotten Figures quiz: 74 trivia questions and answers — overlooked inventors & scientists. Easy to hard, with explained answers. No sign-up.
Start this quiz →🖨️ Printable version (20 questions + answers)
From Joan Clarke to Hedy Lamarr, by way of Nicéphore Niépce, this quiz shines a light on pioneers unfairly overshadowed by more famous figures. A fun way to give history its due.
This quiz currently has 74 questions, ranging from easy to hard, available in French, English and Spanish when the Spanish translation is available.
Warm up before the quiz with these 14 trivia questions and their explained answers: click a question to reveal the answer.
Answer: Sheila. Sheila, born Annie Chancel, had a huge hit in 1963 with 'L'école est finie'. 'L'Eau à la bouche', often wrongly credited to her, is a Serge Gainsbourg song (1960).
Answer: Clément Ader. Clément Ader is a French aviation pioneer, known for building the first motor-powered aircraft, the Éole, in 1890. He is often less cited than the Wright Brothers.
Answer: Ignaz Semmelweis. His colleagues, offended at being accused of spreading disease, rejected him. He died forgotten; his ideas were confirmed a few years later by Pasteur's work.
Answer: Alice Guy. She directed hundreds of films, founded her own studio in the US and experimented with sound and colour. Long forgotten by film histories, she is finally being rediscovered.
Answer: Katherine Johnson. Astronaut John Glenn insisted that she personally check the computer's calculations before his 1962 flight. Long unrecognised, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
Answer: Nellie Bly. She even met Jules Verne on the way, near Amiens. A pioneer of investigative journalism, she had earlier had herself committed to expose conditions in an asylum.
Answer: Mary Anderson. Her system was operated by a handle from inside. Manufacturers first deemed it useless; her patent expired before wipers became standard.
Answer: Pierre Fresnay. Pierre Fresnay, although a major star of the 1930s, is today less well-known than Jean Gabin. He appeared in Jean Renoir's cult film 'La Grande Illusion' (1937).
Answer: Peter Cushing. Peter Cushing was a British actor famous for his roles in 1960s horror films, notably Hammer productions. He is today less well known than Christopher Lee.
Answer: Stewart Granger. Stewart Granger was a British actor, star of adventure films in the 1940s–50s. Today he is less well known than Sean Connery or Errol Flynn.
Answer: Tino Rossi. Tino Rossi was a French singer and actor, famous in the 1930s–40s. Today he is almost forgotten, unlike Maurice Chevalier or Charles Trenet.
Answer: Garrett Morgan. He used his hood himself to rescue workers trapped in a tunnel after an explosion. To sell his inventions in the segregated South, he sometimes posed as his own assistant.
Answer: Lewis Latimer. A self-taught draughtsman, he also drew the patent diagrams for Bell's telephone. His filament lasted much longer and cost less.
Answer: Jeanne Baret. Assistant to the naturalist Commerson, she collected thousands of plants. It was on this voyage that Commerson described the bougainvillea, named in honour of the navigator.
60 more questions are waiting for you in the quiz!