Who Invented It? The Famous Inventors Quiz

Estimated Completion Time
1 min
Who Invented It? The Famous Inventors Quiz
Image: Jonathan McHugh/Getty Images

About This Quiz

Think you can pass our famous inventors quiz? Test your knowledge to see if you know the minds behind the innovations.
Who patented the first successful telephone?
Alexander Graham Bell
Michael Faraday
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Alexander Graham Bell is credited with the first patent for a telephone, although inventors Elisha Gray and Antonio Meucci also developed very similar technologies. Micheal Faraday is an English scientist who discovered electromagnetic induction, which led to electric transformers and generators.

Who created the first gasoline-powered car?
Karl Benz
Henry Ford
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Sorry, Ford fans. While Ford revolutionized the auto industry with his Model T, Karl Benz developed the first practical gas-powered car in 1885.

Who invented television?
Albert and Meyer Bernstein
Philo Farnsworth
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

While television relied on many inventors, the credit for its creation typically goes to Philo Farnsworth. The Bernstein brothers developed the frozen TV dinner in 1949, and sold more than 2.5 million foil dishes over the next five years.

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Who came up with Coca-Cola?
Dr. John S. Pemberton
Caleb Bradham
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Pemberton developed Coca-Cola, while Bradham created a product called "Brad's drink," which would eventually be known as "Pepsi."

Who invented the first commercially successful lightbulb?
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Edison
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Like television, the lightbulb had many contributors, but Thomas Edison patented the first bulb that ended up a commercial success. Benjamin Franklin had a few inventions of his own, including the lightning rod.

Which of these inventors transformed literature and learning with his movable-type printing press?
Johannes Gutenberg
James Watt
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Gutenberg changed the world with his creation of movable type in the 15th century. Watt came up with the first mechanical copy machine around 300 years later.

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Which of these men invented the game of basketball?
Walter Camp
James Naismith
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Canadian James Naismith wrote the first basketball rulebook in 1891, while Walter Camp is known as the father of American football.

Who came up with disposable diapers?
Marion Donovan
Michael Bay
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Marion Donovan developed the first disposable diapers in 1949, while an inventor named Michael Bay (not the film director) developed disposable contact lenses 30 years later.

The cotton gin revolutionized American industry – who invented it?
George Washington Carver
Eli Whitney
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Eli Whitney is credited with creating the cotton gin, while George Washington Carver transformed food science when he came up with more than 300 uses for peanuts.

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Who invented liquid paper in 1954?
Bette Nesmith Graham
Laszlo Biro
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Bette Nesmith Graham invented liquid paper, and went on to sell her company for $47.5 million. (Fun fact: She was also the mother of musician Mike Nesmith of The Monkees.) Laszlo Biro sold the world's first ballpoint pen in 1938.

Who invented the world's first successful airplane?
Karl Drais
The Wright Brothers
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The Wright brothers flew their first successful plane at Kitty Hawk in 1903, while Karl Drais was an early contributor to the modern bicycle.

You Got:
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