Can You Name the Historical Figure From a Legendary Fact About Them?

By: Jonnathan Chadwick
Estimated Completion Time
5 min
Can You Name the Historical Figure From a Legendary Fact About Them?
Image: William P. Gottlieb via WikiCommons

About This Quiz

They say there's nothing new under the sun, which means there are many people who have done a lot of awesome things on Earth. Planes, trains and automobiles are advancing every year. Polio and the Black Death are things of ancient history due to advancements in medicine. We've climbed Everest. We've crossed the English Channel. We've been to the moon. We invented the wheel. We domesticated crops. We created Democracy. We created the internet. We've done a lot, and although the most significant accomplishments are accomplishments credited to humankind as a whole, there are still some pretty awesome individuals behind them.

Do you know the historical figures behind some of the most legendary facts in the history of the planet? Who invented paper? Who took the first-ever selfie? What athlete earned more than $15 billion during their career, and what world leader was once worth $400 billion? Over 4.5 billion years, there have been zillions of individual accomplishments, and here are just a few of the most important ones.

Somebody had to invent the cellphone. Somebody had to become the first president to talk on TV or the first woman to win a Nobel Prize or the first African American to become a lawyer, but can you identify these people? Put your skills to the test and see if you can name the historical figure based on a legendary fact about them.


Archimedes
Domenico Fetti via WikiCommons
Do you know who ran into the street naked and yelled, "Eureka! Eureka!" after he sat in his bathtub and realized water displacement could measure an object's volume?
Archimedes
Pythagoras
Euclid
Fibonacci
Ada Lovelace
Alfred Edward Chalon via WikiCommons
Do you know this English mathematician who is considered the first computer programmer in the history of the world?
Ada Lovelace
Sophie Germain
Emmy Noether
Katherine Johnson
Tim Berners-Lee
Enrique Dans via WikiCommons
Can you name this man who invented the World Wide Web?
Mark Zuckerberg
Bill Gates
Al Gore
Tim Berners-Lee

Advertisement

Nellie Bly
H. J. Myers via WikiCommons
Can you name this reporter who traveled around the world in 80 days for one of her reports?
Ida B. Wells
Gloria Steinem
Nellie Bly
Katharine Graham
Robert Cornelius
Robert Cornelius via WikiCommons
He took the first ever selfie. Who is he?
Robert Cornelius
George Eastman
Ansel Adams
Louis Daguerre
Johannes Gutenberg
Jean-Antoine Laurent via WikiCommons
His 15th-century invention sits alongside the clock and the alphabet as the most important social technologies in the history of the world. Do you know him?
Johannes Kepler
Leonarda da Vinci
Johannes Gutenberg
Galileo Galilei

Advertisement

J.K. Rowling
Daniel Ogren via WikiCommons
This woman went from welfare to the world's first billionaire author in a few years. Do you know her name?
Jane Austen
J.K. Rowling
Emily Dickinson
Agatha Christie
Cai Lun
Huangdan2060 via WikiCommons
Can you name this ancient Chinese politician who is credited with inventing paper?
Cai Lun
Shen Kuo
Bi Sheng
Yi Xing
Amelia Earhart
Harris & Ewing via WikiCommons
Can you name the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean?
Harriet Quimby
Bessie Coleman
Amelia Earhart
Pancho Barnes

Advertisement

Harriet Tubman
Horatio Seymour Squyer via WikiCommons
Who is this hero who served as conductor of the Underground Railroad for several years?
Harriet Tubman
Sarah Parker Remond
Sojourner Truth
Mary Prince
Alfred Nobel
Unknown via WikiCommons
This guy invented dynamite and had a peace prize named after him. Who is he?
Alfred Nobel
Albert Einstein
Confucius
Bruno Kreisky
Joan of Arc
Anonymous via WikiCommons
France won one of its biggest military victories ever after this heroine joined the army in battle. What's her name?
Lady Trieu
Grace O'Malley
Joan of Arc
Catherine the Great

Advertisement

Marie Curie
Unknown via WikiCommons
Do you know who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only woman to win two Nobel Prizes?
Marie Curie
Florence Nightingale
Ada Lovelace
Mary Anning
Leonardo da Vinci
Photos.com / PHOTOS.com>> / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images
He invented the helicopter, parachute, the armored car, diving suit, machine gun, self-propelled cart and painted the Mona Lisa. Can you name him?
Archimedes
Alexander Graham Bell
Nikola Tesla
Leonardo da Vinci
Hattie McDaniel
CBS Radio via WikiCommons
Can you name the first African American to win an Academy Award?
Hattie McDaniel
Sidney Poitier
Dorothy Dandridge
Morgan Freeman

Advertisement

William Randolph Hearst
James E. Purdy via WikiCommons
Do you know this newspaper publisher who perfected "fake news" in the 1800s?
Arthur Sulzberger
Benjamin Franklin
Joseph Pulitzer
William Randolph Hearst
Charlotte E. Ray
Unknown via WikiCommons
Can you name the first female African American lawyer in the United States?
Charlotte E. Ray
Constance Baker Motley
Loretta Lynch
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander
Martin Luther
Ferdinand Pauwels via WikiCommons
In 1517, he posted one of the most viral pieces of content the world has ever seen. Do you know who he is?
Thomas Paine
Martin Luther
Socrates
Johannes Gutenberg

Advertisement

Florence Nightingale
Unknown via WikiCommons
Can you identify this woman who is widely known as the founder of modern nursing?
Clara Barton
Florence Nightingale
Dorthea Dix
Mary Breckinridge
Napoleon Bonaparte
Jacques-Louis David via WikiCommons
This master general is remembered for being short, but he was taller than the average height for that period. What's his name?
Hannibal
Julius Caesar
Alexander the Great
Napoleon Bonaparte
Jane Goodall
Jeekc via WikiCommons
Who is this woman who skipped college to study primates and is now the world's leading expert on chimpanzees?
Margaret Meade
Mireya Mayor
Diane Fossey
Jane Goodall

Advertisement

Nelson Mandela
South Africa The Good News via WikiCommons
Can you name this leader who became the first black president of South Africa after spending 27 years in prison?
Jomo Kenyatta
Halie Selassie
Nelson Mandela
Patrice Lumumba
Frida Kahlo
Carl Van Vechten via WikiCommons
Do you recognize this Mexican artist who began painting after a train crash broke her spine, collarbone, ribs, pelvis, leg and shoulder?
Joan Mitchell
Georgia O'Keefe
Dora Maar
Frida Kahlo
Mansa Musa
Abraham Cresques via WikiCommons
With a peak net worth of $400 billion, this is the richest person in the history of the world. What's his name?
Mansa Musa
Ramses II
King Tut
Shaka Zulu

Advertisement

Indira Gandhi
Yoichi Okamoto via WikiCommons
This woman was named "Woman of the Millennium" in 1999 and is considered India's greatest prime minister. Who is she?
Kamala Das
Anna Chandy
Mother Teresa
Indira Gandhi
Gaius Appuleius Diocles
Zemanta via WikiCommons
This Roman chariot racer is the highest-earning athlete of all time, earning more than $15 billion in his career. Who is he?
Diagoras of Rhodes
Leonidas
Gaius Appuleius Diocles
Phanas of Pellene
Claudette Colvin
The Visibility Project, Claudette Colvin via WikiCommons
Can you name this woman who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white bus rider nine months before the Rosa Parks incident?
Angela Davis
Claudette Colvin
Coretta Scott King
Jo Ann Robinson

Advertisement

Martin Cooper
Rico Shen via WikiCommons
Can you name the person who invented the mobile phone?
Martin Cooper
Steve Jobs
Bill Gates
Alexander Graham Bell
Cleopatra
John William Waterhouse via WikiCommons
This last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt seduced Julius Caesar by wrapping herself in a rug and sneaking past his guards. Who is she?
Queen Nefertiti
Cleopatra
Catherine the Great
Empress Matilda
Bob Marley
BBC
This Jamaican reggae artist was named the greatest lyricist of all time and his song, "One Love," was crowned the "Song of the Millennium." Do you know who he is?
Bob Marley
Peter Tosh
Jimmy Cliff
Gregory Isaacs

Advertisement

Julia Child
FoundationINTERVIEWS via YouTube
Do you recognize this celebrity chef who was a spy during WWII?
Julia Child
Martha Stewart
Paula Deen
Rachel Ray
Steve Jobs
Matthew Yohe via WikiCommons
He was given up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college, and went on to create some of the greatest inventions of the Digital Revolution. Do you know his name?
Mark Zuckerberg
Bill Gates
Larry Ellison
Steve Jobs
Sandra Day O'Connor
PBS NewsHour
Can you name the lawyer who in 1981 became the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court?
Elena Kagan
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Sandra Day O'Connor
Madeline Albright

Advertisement

Thurgood Marshall
Okamoto, Yoichi R. (Yoichi Robert) Photographer via WikiCommons
Can you name the first African American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court?
Clarence Thomas
Douglas Wilder
Thurgood Marshall
John Lewis
Margaret Thatcher
White House Photo Office via WikiCommons
Do you recognize this "Iron Lady" who is the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century?
Margaret Thatcher
Angela Merkel
Madeline Albright
Geraldine Ferraro
Pheidippides
Hammer of the Gods27 via WikiCommons
He is credited with creating the marathon when he ran from Marathon to Athens in Greece to announce the news of the Greek's victory in their battle against the Persians. Who was he?
Pheidippides
Leonidas
Pericles
Archimedes

Advertisement

Benazir Bhutto
SRA Gerald B. Johnson, United States Department of Defense via WikiCommons
Can you identify this person who was the first female leader of a Muslim country?
Khaleda Zia
Benazir Bhutto
Tansu Ciller
Sibel Siber
Susan B. Anthony
Frances Benjamin Johnston via WikiCommons
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees women the right to vote and is named after this woman. Who is she?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Ida B. Wells
Alice Paul
Susan B. Anthony
Mary Walker
George Grantham Bain Collection via WikiCommons
Can you name this woman who served as a surgeon in the American Civil War and is the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor?
Mary Edwards Walker
Elizabeth Blackwell
Clara Barton
Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Advertisement

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
FDR Presidential Library & Museum via WikiCommons
Who was the first U.S. president to speak on television?
Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Harry Truman